sallyhammond.com.au

 

 

Sally, and her husband Gordon, operate the Australian Regional Food Guide Web site. This comprehensive directory has been recently rebuilt and is now a great resource for everything that is happening in the regional food scene in Australia. Make sure you visit and bookmark this site. Let Sally know if you would like to receive the ARFG Newsletter too

 

IN THE MOOD FOR ITALY

I am pining for Italy and its food – but I have a cure for it. More of that later.

However to get you in the mood I want to share a passage from my book Just a Little Italian (published by New Holland Publishers, 2008) about a trip we took through southern Italy a few years ago. High in the mountains of Basilicata (the instep of Italy’s boot-shaped peninsula) we discovered a fairytale town where we were served a surprise meal – possibly the best one of our trip.

“The road takes us higher and higher, then delivers a scene straight from a fairytale. Below us, Castelmezzano lies tucked in the palm of a mountain’s cupped hand. Tall bare peaks, said to be 15 million years old, extend like stony fingers far above the simple tiled roofs of the houses which are packed together, clutched tightly by the rocks. Beyond is an abyss it seems, before intensely forested folds of more mountains swell off to infinity.

It is as thrilling as it is sinister. At any moment, those rocks could turn from protector to avenger. Yet as we corkscrew down the road, now, stopping far too often to take picture after picture from every angle – so besotted are we with this unbelievable place – it becomes less like a fantasy. Sounds float up, ordinary noises: barking dogs, children playing, a church bell, motors revving, slowly becoming less surreal.

Once we reach the town we  can see it has been slotted in quite neatly, carefully wedged over and amongst the rocks, with some homes left to clamber the cliffs. Those roofs are not all tiles, either. Many are covered with sheets of sandstone, while the houses’ walls are painted cream and yellow, or left grey to match the rocks above. Window boxes and lines of washing add all the normality we need.

These razor-sharp rocks were ancient even when the town began as a Lombard fortress. It was later occupied by the Saracens, destroyed, then passed on to the Normans a thousand years ago with the building of a castle. No wonder all craved it. It occupies, after all, the ideal defensive position.

As we lean on a railing and look across the town, sunlight paints the flat faces of those angled pinnacles, our eyes follow a line of sharp-tipped bare peaks, marching across the valley like a stone picket fence to another town. It’s even higher and more remote with an immense ridge of rock that seems to plunge from the top of the mountain, driving like a shard into its very heart. Pietrapertosa. Its name means ‘pierced rock.’

A thin road heads off from Castelmezzano towards it, improbably tacked onto the rock face, then far below last seen disappearing into a tunnel. Just considering the dangerous feat of engineering needed to accomplish this makes my toes tingle.

Yet Castelmezzano presents itself more like a child’s play town, full of winding steps and hidden stairways, hiding spots and hollows. It is inhabited by fewer than a thousand people who possibly never think twice about it. Their families, most likely, have lived here forever. Yet its unique attraction easily makes it onto Italy’s list of I Borghi Più Belli d'Italia, the most beautiful villages of Italy.

It is lunchtime, so we decide to eat in the town, choosing for no reason at all, the Hotel Dolomiti that resembles a chalet from the outside. Inside, the dim shadowy dining room totally empty of people, does not look to me like the place for a memorable meal. In the gloom I can just make out pistols and shields mounted on the walls in an attempt to give a hunting lodge ambience. When our host comes to greet us, dressed casually in a red Polo-shirt, I wonder should we have gone somewhere else for lunch?

I am so glad we didn’t.

We order a plate of pasta each from the menu. It’s lunch time, we’re travelling, and we are not confident about what we might  receive here – three excellent reasons to eat lightly.

Within minutes our host brings us out surprise number one.

”Bruschetta,” he announces proudly, although this is no ordinary bruschetta. Thin slices of country bread have been lightly toasted, drizzled with olive oil and – here’s the real thrill – topped with wafer thin slices of fresh black truffles. We can’t believe our eyes.

Our pasta arrives next, as ordered, no ordinary dish either. Handmade fusili, prepared by rolling the fresh dough around thick wires, is al dente and sublime, paired with a tasty sugo studded with chunks of local sausage.

“Signore, what is your name?” we ask when he hurries back. It is obvious he is chef and waiter combined, and no doubt hotel manager too.

“Giovanni.”

“Giovanni, who?” we ask.

“Just Giovanni.”

We thank him profusely and ask for the bill. He reacts as if we have insulted him. It is plain he doesn’t think we have finished yet.

“Formaggio?” he enquires, “Frutta?” then without waiting for a proper reply he bustles off.

Moments later he reappears with a small plate holding a round of pecorino cheese and half a dozen purple pickled onions, the size of olives. The cheese has been heated just enough to render the centre meltingly liquid, the outside slightly crusty. The acid-sweetness of the onions provides a perfect foil. 

I am sure now that I have entered an alternative reality, and nothing could improve it – until he returns yet again. This time he has in his hands a plate of green-skinned, honey-fleshed FIGS and two crostoli, wafer-thin fried pastry strips anointed with a drizzle of honey. The man’s a mind reader!

Giovanni, his labours over for the day – it is hardly likely anyone else will come here for lunch today – spends some time with us, now, showing us the dining room and talking about the town. As our eyes have adjusted to the gloom, we now make out a boar’s head and row of bottles over the mantelpiece, and a TV in the far corner.

“We have many day-trippers come here from Bari,” he tells us, “especially on the weekends in truffle season, from September to November and again in March. Here, we use dogs to find them.”

“Do you know where to find truffles here,” I ask boldly.

“Oh, yes, of course,” he replies, tapping the side of his nose in the way Italians do when they mean ‘but it’s a secret’.

Giovanni obviously loves to cook, and he has sensed a like soul in me. He was born here, he tells us, trained for two years in Switzerland, then, tugged by nostalgia for this unique place, returning to take over this hotel 33 years ago.

Later, I see that there was another road which we could have taken to visit  the other town, Pietrapertosa, higher at 1100 metres, and some say even more devastatingly beautiful.

I am not swayed. Castelmezzano has more than satisfied me in every way.”

  +++++++++++++++

And now, here’s the cure for my yearning for food like this:
(and I am truly sorry if you do not live in Sydney and can’t get to this magnificent event)

GUSTO 2010 – A FESTIVAL OF REGIONAL ITALIAN FOOD & WINE is on again on September 12, 10am-5pmat Sydney Seafood School, Sydney Fish Market.

On this day,  the Council of Italian Restaurants Australia (CIRA) - a who’s who of Italian cookery - treats Sydney foodies to an all day festival of Italian food and wine to celebrate their diverse culinary heritage.

The festival is CIRA’s not to be missed annual signature event. Gusto will feature cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, kids’ cooking classes and tastings from some of Sydney’s leading Italian chefs, producers, provedores and importers. There will be five cooking demonstrations and three wine tasting workshops in 2010.

La Sala degli Assaggi (The Tasting Room) will be open from 11am-3.30pm with tastings of risotto, Italian cold cuts (salami, prosciutto…), antipasti, seafood, gnocchi, testaroli, formaggio, pasta and dolci prepared by restaurants and provedores with tasting tickets available on the day.

Lucio Galletto, President of CIRA and leading Italian restaurateur urges “everyone with a passion for Italian cuisine to attend the Master Classes at Gusto where you can meet the outstanding chefs who will be demonstrating at the event.” Lucio said he will be demonstrating at Gusto and is looking forward to meeting many people interested in Italian food.

More information on ‘GUSTO - a Festival of Regional Italian Food and Wine’ can be found at www.cira.com.au. To reserve places in any of the classes please call Sydney Seafood School on 02 9004 1111.

Gusto culminates with a Gala Dinner at Miramare Gardens in Terrey Hills on Monday September 13th . To book phone Miramare Gardens on 02 9450 2000

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HARTLEPOOL’S CLAIM TO FAME

The first Tall Ship to arrive at Hartlepool as part of the Tall Ships Races 2010. It is the Hansa, Class D, from La Coruna, Spain.

Maritime Experience Museum simulation of cannon fire in the gun deck of the HMS Trincomalee, Hartlepool

Maritime Experience Museum - figurehead of the beautifully preserved HMS Trincomalee, Hartlepool

Maritime Experience Museum deck and cannon of the HMS Trincomalee, Hartlepool

Maritime Experience Museum - the old waterfront

Maritime Experience Museum and the beautifully preserved HMS Trincomalee, Hartlepool

Navigational tools in the HMS Trincomalee

Click to view enlargements

‘Where’s Hartlepool?’ we asked when we saw it on the itinerary.

‘Where’s Hartlepool?’ even English people asked when we told them we were going. Those that did know, just shook their heads and said nothing.

Here’s what we learned before we went:

• Hartlepool is an industrial city and port in the Country of Durham in north-east England.
• It is an old area, founded in the 7th century by a saint.
• A port was developed here in the Middle Ages.
• It became a coal port in the 19th century.
• As a shipbuilding centre it was bombarded in World War I.
• Since WWII the area has become increasing depressed economically.

Hmmm! So why did we choose to visit such a working class city which you would think has no claim to being a tourist spot?

Well, that’s where we (and most of the people we’d spoken to before going) were wrong.

You’ll be hearing more about Hartlepool in the next few days. In 2006  the city won the bid to host The Tall Ships' Races from August 7-10, 2010. Currently it is welcoming the first of the 100 tall ships to compete in the race. They are coming from all over the world. Yesterday the Spanish vessel Hansa and the Latvian Spaniel arrived in Hartlepool Marina, and the Indonesian Class A ship, Dewaruci, is due to berth there soon.

Hartlepool was chosen by race organiser Sail Training International to be the finishing point for the race and will turn on a warm welcome for the ships, which will have sailed from Kristiansand in Norway on the second and final leg of the race.

One of the drawcards at Hartlepool for the many visitors expected to attend during the period is the magnificent Hartlepool Maritime Experience http://www.hartlepoolsmaritimeexperience.com  The quayside has been reborn. Now, restored period houses, with shops and cafes offer something for everyone and it is the ideal setting for the HMS Trincomalee, the oldest British warship still afloat.

Built in Bombay in 1817, this beautiful vessel was brought to Hartlepool in 1987 and fully restored. We took a tour of it with one of the very knowledgeable guides that are on hand to take visitors over it.

I always thought that sailors’ language was pretty, well, salty – but he explained how many of our sayings derive from the seagoing era:

• to run a tight ship
• shipshape and Bristol fashion
• know when your number’s up
• toe the line
• spend like a sailor
• black list
• the devil to pay
… and much more.

The museum also won our vote as one of the finest we’ve seen. It brings to life what it must have been like to sail on those early ships, and hearing their stories as we passed the displays gave us a new respect for these men who braved the seas in this area.

Can’t get there in time? http://www.hartlepooltallships2010.com/ will keep you up with the latest happenings.

BTW:

• If you hear talk of ‘monkeys’ in connection with Hartlepool, it’s due to a legend that during the Napoleonic Wars the local Hartlepudlians (Poolies) executed a monkey – the only survivor of a wrecked French warship . It’s a myth, but you’ll still see toy monkeys for sale, and that’s why one of the local sports clubs – the Hartlepool Rovers –  uses a monkey as its logo.
• The comic strip, Andy Capp, is based in working class Hartlepool where the cloth-capped character fictionally lived at No. 37 Durham Street.

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TASMANIA’S TABLE,

Tasmania's Table, a food lover’s guide to Tasmania’s fine food, drink and restaurants, by Paul County & Nick Osborne, published by Tas Food Books, hardcover rrp $64.95, ($59.95, postage included, from www.tasfoodbooks.com).

Handle this massive volume with care – and excitement, for it is one of the most beautiful food books on the market.

Tasmania’s Table is almost too perfect, so that the trouble with it is that it’s hard to know what to do first with it.

Do you browse through it, reading the magnificent profiles of dozens of producers and chefs? Do you head straight for the recipes, then find yourself getting out the pots and pans immediately because they are so inspiring? Or do you just marvel at the pictures which are so drool-worthy they will almost have you nibbling the pages?

Paul County, Nick Osborne and their helpers (they credit several) must be indefatigable. This magnum opus would satisfy most authors and compilers but, no, County says ‘it’s a book we’d like to update every two to three years so it becomes a library on Tasmanian food culture’. He is justifiably proud that Tasmania’s Table was a finalist in the 2010 World Food Media Awards which were announced at Tasting Australia in Adelaide in May.

Revision would be no mean feat. We’re talking a coffee-table sized book of 400 pages, so already it is a massive contribution to Australian (not just Tasmanian) food and dining records.

Let’s quote Country as he talks about the book:
‘Tasmania’s Table is definitely not a traditional restaurant guide. No restaurants received stars or hats and they all have been invited to participate. Tasmania’s Table is more about local produce and the history and eating culture of Tasmania and Tasmanians. Therefore you'll find some very sophisticated recipes alongside traditional and quite simple recipes like bouillabaisse and a scallop pie.

I like to think of Tasmania’s Table as more like a novel, which takes you on a journey and where each page tells you about the produce and the creators.’

Whatever it is, this is one gripping piece of work, beautifully written and illustrated and a tribute to  the island state which is so fiercely proud of its produce and food culture. Now you will understand why.

My guess is that Tasmania’s Table is so inspiring, you will have booked a trip south before you even get to page 400!

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MIDWINTER DELIGHT

How wonderful to spend a chilly winter day curled up with a book. Especially if there is a crackling fire, and maybe a cat or dog to keep you company. Better still if the book has a recipe that you plan to cook later.

I’ve found a bundle of books that are ideal for winter. Good reading and plenty of inspiration for hearty, comfort food – so who cares if it’s raining or blowing a gale outside?

 

Food Safari, by Maeve O’Meara, Hardie Grant Books, 2009, hardcover.

‘Glorious adventures through a world of cuisines’ – that’s the subtitle of this, the latest of Maeve’s books. Those of you who love her TV shows on SBS, can’t you just hear her voice in that? Exuberant is my private description of her and this book is just that  – a lovely, luscious, elaborate look at 34 cultures with recipes from talented cooks and chefs partnered with all the little tips and stories you could expect if you were standing right in their kitchens while the pots bubble, or the oven bakes.

There are temptations on every page. I want to try the orange and almond cake on page 123 and am intrigued to learn it is a Sephardic Passover dessert. The Maltese timpana has me reaching for my pasta pot, and I need to call half a dozen friends to sit with me and make Syrian kibbeh. There’s Indonesian chicken curry, Egyptian  basbousa and a French soufflé. Even roast beef and Yorkshire puddings from England.

Perhaps I’d better start cooking! Or maybe I’ll just keep on reading and book-marking by the fire.

 

Turkish Bakery Delight, by Deniz Göktürk Akçakanat, New Holland Publishers, 2010, hardcover, rrp $29.95

Many years ago in the Middle East I was fascinated by rings of sesame seed encrusted breads hung on sticks at bakeries and by street vendors. Now I have been able to make them for myself thanks to this lovely book. Packed full of ‘delights’ as you would expect from the name, it is the work of a Turkish-born baker who now lives in Australia. ‘Now sweets and desserts have become my profession and passion,’ she says.

With these recipes the home cook can now prepare gozleme (as seen at many food events), pide, simit (the sesame rings, I told you about), baklava, halva, and a range of cakes you’d swear were from a French patisserie. And lokum – real Turkish delight.

There’s an extensive glossary to interpret some of the unusual ingredients and terms – and the far from faint-hearted might want to try  kazandibi, an intriguing dessert that features (yes!) chicken breast.

An exquisite book beautifully illustrated with a variety of recipes underlining Turkey’s unique historical position linking east and west.

 

Dinner with the Butcher, by Pip Evans and James Diggins, New Holland Publishers, 2010, hardcover, rrp $45.

They say, when it comes to meat, butchers know best. You’ll agree once you begin to dip into this book that reveals the best of butcher-wisdom when it comes to selecting meat for your meal or barbecue.

With over thirty years of experience in the trade Evans and Diggins have picked up many tips and helpfully added some of their best ‘butcher’s tips’ as special notes on many pages.

Did you know, for instance, that it’s easier to marinate meat on the skewers? Or that for two people, thick T-bones make an easy and substantial baked dinner? Or would you like the ‘in’ on how to get the best pork crackling?

There’s much more: meat charts, tips on equipment, mouth-watering pictures, a glossary, as well as soups, chicken recipes, and of course plenty of BBQ advice.

 

Amore and Amaretti, a tale of love and food in Tuscany, Victoria Cosford, Wakefield Press, 2010, paperback, rrp$24.95.

Right there on the cover this book has all the key elements of a book that will grab attention, doesn’t it? Love. Food. Tuscany.

More a memoir than a cookbook, more a love story than a travelogue, this delightful book takes you backward and forward with the author between Australia and Italy as she ricochets between lovers over a period of several decades.

Although her devastatingly attractive Italian lover is volatile, he is an inspired chef and, due much to her involvement with him, is her development of an understanding and appreciation of food. And this proves to be every bit as riveting as her lovelife.

Across the pages of this saga, Cosford has strewn recipes collected along the way as she matures and comes to terms with herself, men in general, and her most abiding and constant love – generous, abundant, satisfyingly good food.

 

 

 

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THE HIGH LIFE

What is it about a High Tea that makes it so irresistible? Is it the featherlight scones? The dainty sandwiches? The tarts oozing creamy richness? Or is it just the whole experience that so particularly appeals to  – yes, I must get gender-specific here – women?

Recently I tripped along with my sister-in-law to the Sheraton on the Park, one of my favourite Sydney city hotels. Rather than relying on the stunning harbour views that so many hotels in this town are proud of, this one gets marks for its central position for CBD shopping and businesses, and a wonderful view of the lovely green oasis of Hyde Park.

The views from the lobby level recently refurbished Gallery Tea Lounge were sunny and green the day we visited, although I have to admit we remained pretty much focussed on the generous three-tier stand of dainties which arrived almost as soon as we sat down.

This is one of the best High Teas I have enjoyed in Sydney – and I have to admit there is a bit of an HT explosion going on here lately. In the Sheraton’s version each  tier has four plates of mini-delectables for us to share, at $79 including Vittoria Coffee and Twinings loose tea or Max Brenner drinking chocolate. For $139, a glass of Taittinger each is included.

The generous stand (did I mention there were twelve tiny tastes in all to work through?) defeated us in the end, but we did manage to sample most, discussing as we did so, was there any actual etiquette to ‘high tea-ing’? Do you start with the top and work down,  for instance? Work clockwise, anti-clockwise, savoury first? Oh, who cares, we agreed, as we reverted to childhood and dug in!

The verdict? I loved the espresso cup of chocolate mousse. My s-i-l drooled over the blueberry-topped cheesecake. I think! Maybe it was the strawberry bouche, she liked. I can’t recall. You get to the point in a really good High Tea where you lose touch with reality. Which is really what it is all about.

The High Tea is available daily from 11am to 6pm. I am told that at weekends there are also Contemporary Afternoon Tea Stands where guests can select their own items ($89 for two, $149 with champagne) and an Afternoon Tea Buffet for $45 per person ($75 with champagne).

Guess I need to make another date to go and experience those too! I am sure I’ll have no trouble finding someone (female) to come with me.

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BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS!

If there was a season for book publishing, then the past few months would have to be it. There are so many wonderful books out there, and here are just a few of them.

 

The Artful Cupcake, Marcianne Miller, Lark Books, 2010, rrp A$18.99, softcover.

Cupcakes have taken the world by storm, it appears. Afternoon tea is back as is its morning version and no self-respecting mother would consider a child’s party without a tower or two of stunning cupcakes.

Baking & Decorating Delicious Indulgences is the subtext to this pretty-as book.  It all looks so easy that even the klutziest-fingered of us come out believing we could make something as gorgeous as the Wedding Cupcakes on page 87, or the Chocolate Mousse Layered cake hiding under a chocolate cage on page 81.

This book seems the answer to everyone’s performance anxiety fears when faced with the need to prepare a few trays of such delicate confections.

The book begins with all the necessary ‘how-to’ instructions, proceeds to several basic recipes, then launches the wannabe cupcake-ier off on a swift and sugary ride.

There are crystallised flowers to please grandma and even a cupcake solar system for the bigger kids. It’s all here. Dozens of ideas to put sweet smiles on everyone’s faces.

The Salt Book, Fritz Gubler & David Glynn, Arbon Publishing, 2010, rrp A$34.99, softcover.

The last book was primarily about sugar, but this one is at the opposite end of the taste spectrum. As its name suggests, it is all about salt!

If you find it hard to imagine a cookbook about salt, this will change your mind forever. Apart from the most basic recipe – how to make your own salt! –  there is information on making flavoured salts and using a variety of salts in  your dishes.

This is not an unhealthy book. There is information of the health effects of salt and the authors are careful to counsel diners not to add salt at the table, but instead use better salts, more sparingly, when cooking.

In this, the absolutely complete book about salt, you will discover the origin of ham and salt-curing, the science of using salt, its history, uses (and abuses) and the dozens of different varieties from Himalayan salt blocks to palest pink fleur de sel, the colours ranging from red to black, blue, pink, grey and of course, sparkling white.

Buy this for the recipes and enjoy them, but do read the book right through and learn more than you ever thought you could know about one of mankind’s most basic and necessary ingredients.

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ASPERGER’S AND US

This coming Friday April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day.

Twelve years ago I would have hardly registered this event. But that was before my lovely, incomprehensible, bewildering daughter, Megan, was diagnosed at last with Asperger’s Syndrome, part of the Autism Spectrum of Disorders.

She was 26.

With that diagnosis we, her parents and brother, became three of the thousands of people affected by autism in Australia. After all, a diagnosis of any major condition always affects the others who love and care about that person, and we were no exception. The incidence is one in 166 births. Megan represents the 25 percent who are girls.

For her, though, it was almost a relief. Finally she had an answer to her baffling behaviours.

Years on, she decided to document her struggle with what was a hardly-known condition as she was growing up and facing schoolyard bullies, unsympathetic teachers and, later, irritated work bosses and manipulative lovers.

Her book My Life with Asperger’s was released this year. It is an honest account of her struggles and successes and one she hopes will help others, some of whom may still not know for sure why they act and feel ‘different’.

Most importantly, society’s growing awareness – that key word in it all – means that now children will be diagnosed earlier, families will have support, and individuals will have appropriate therapy and measures to deal with this confusing condition.

 

 

 

Press Release - download as a PDF files

 

 

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WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY - 2 APRIL 2010

World Autism Awareness Day - 2nd April 2010 On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 62/139, tabled by the State of Qatar, which declares April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD).

This UN resolution is one of only three official disease specific United Nations Days and brings the world's attention to autism, a pervasive disorder that affects tens of millions. The World Autism Awareness Day resolution encourages everyone to take measures to raise awareness about autism throughout society and to encourage early diagnosis and early intervention. It further expresses deep concern at the prevalence and high rate of autism in children in all regions of the world and the consequent developmental challenges.

By bringing together autism organisations all around the world, we will give a voice to the millions of individuals worldwide who are undiagnosed, misunderstood and looking for help.

Here are some ways you can get involved and increase awareness:

• Organise a fundraising Easter egg hunt at your school, work or community group and donate the funds to your favourite Autism Charity

• Organise a fundraising lunch or high tea with your friends and donate the funds to your favourite Autism charity

• Raise awareness by telling other parents and friends about ASD and the early warning signs, and encourage them to join our 1000 hours campaign at www.1000hours.com.au

• Attend the Autism Victoria WAAD March to the State Library in Melbourne on Thursday 1 April 2010

• Contact Austism Awareness for copies of “The Early Warning Sign’ Booklet for you to distribute to your family, friends, school parents group, area health service or community group

• If you have a Facebook or MySpace page, change your profile picture to the WAAD logo and add a message to your wall telling your friends about WAAD and how to join the 1000 hours campaign

 (From the Autism Awareness website)

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GREAT-GRANDPA’S WALL

I got goose-bumps when I discovered that my ancestors would have almost certainly played on Hadrian’s Wall. The former family farmhouse still stands, just half a kilometre from a part of the wall which intersects their land. In those days, 250 years ago, a family of boys would have simply regarded it as a great place to clamber on and test their balance and daring.

In it’s 2000-year history Hadrian’s Wall has been lots of things to all the various generations in the area, I imagine. A defence, lookout, symbol, frontier of the Roman Empire, tourist magnet, and a source of wonder – although not visible from space.

And now, it has become – albeit briefly – something else again. A beacon. A visionary project, Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall, last week created a spectacular line of light from coast to coast. The event took place on Saturday, March 13th, and followed the route of the 84-mile long Hadrian’s Wall Path National Trail. 

Around 500 flaming beacons, individual points of light, were placed by 500 volunteers at 250-metre intervals to light up  the wall. The first one was illuminated at a public event at Segedunum Roman Fort at Wallsend in the North East, with the line of light then making its way along the Wall to Bowness-on-Solway in Cumbria over the following hour. As it reached Carlisle there was a second public event ‘Welcoming the Light’ to celebrate the light’s arrival and passing through, The Guardian  reporting ‘A NASA satellite recorded the necklace of beacons from above.’

Spectators came in legions, some appropriately dressed in Roman helmets and flowing robes.

So why do all this?

The organisers aim was to capture the world’s imagination and highlight the immense scale and beauty of Hadrian’s Wall and the countryside, villages, towns and cities that it passes through.

What’s more, this year, 2010, is also the 1600th anniversary of the end of Roman Britain in AD410 – one of the greatest turning points in British history. As well as celebrating a truly iconic piece of world heritage, they felt the line of light would help to mark this hugely significant anniversary.

 

When I visited the area last year, we spent time too, following the trails and watching archaeologists still excavating parts of the ancient forts and Roman bases. Thousands of soldiers lived in the towns beside the wall, and no doubt their descendants are still there. Somewhere.

Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall was an ambitious project led by Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Ltd which forms part of North East England’s world-class programme of festivals and events developed by culture10 and presented in partnership with Lakes Alive.

I reckon my long-dead rellies would have loved to see that. They would have been pretty proud of it, and I am too. In a funny, sort-of antipodean way.

Find out more: 
http://www.illuminatinghadrianswall.com/site/
http://www.hadrians-wall.org

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SO SYDNEY!

As we ate our dinner outdoors last night, another couple sharing our table  was celebrating.

‘It’s our fifth anniversary,’ she began, ‘so we thought we’d go to a restaurant….’. ‘But then we said, let’s come here,’ he finished for her.

Good call. Instead of eating at just one restaurant, by spending the evening at Taste of Sydney, they got to choose from 16 top Sydney eateries.

We tried three. My succulent suckling pig in a Sonoma sourdough panino came from Pilu at Freshwater’s tent, Gordon’s braised Cape Grim beef cheek and glazed onion pie (pronounced ‘delicious’) from Bird, Cow Fish, and our Asian comfort food dessert of tapioca, lychees and jackfruit from Longrain.

This is Sydney’s second Taste Festival, one of several held in major cities worldwide. Last year’s one, also held in Centennial Park was a runaway success, and this one, which runs from March 11-14, seems set to do just as well, if not better.

Outdoors, in brilliant late afternoon sunshine (OK, there had been rain and wind beforehand, of course), it was a perfect autumn evening in the park, complete with the mingled aromas of so many cuisines. What an ideal spot for people to relax with a glass of wine and a plate of  something wonderful.

This is so Sydney, we said.

Wanting to absorb it all, we did a quick circuit of the grounds: stands offering tastes from most wine regions in the country, regional produce – cheeses, saltbush lamb, fruit juice – several breweries, some sensational vodkas and limoncello, knives, cookware, books.

And then of course the various restaurants ranged around the perimeter, each with menus offering three choices, priced in Crowns (the standard Taste Festival currency) that gave more than enough opportunity to create the ultimate personal-choice mix-and-match degustation.

El Toro Loco with a huge paella pan simmering with mussel studded rice offered a touch of theatre, the Longrain bar was pumping, and I got to finally meet one of my favourite sourdough bakers – The Grumpy Baker, looking anything but.

Those who weren’t eating gravitated to the coffee carts or the bars, or maybe the Taste Kitchen to watch a cooking demonstration, the Wine Theatre for a tasting session, or the Chef’s Table tent to participate in a round-table a face-to-face discussion with some of Sydney’s best chefs.

Thursday night, opening night, seemed to be for couples, the after work inner city place to be. My guess is the weekend will bring families, as it did last year.
Come one, come all. For that is what it’s all about.

Sydney is for everyone, and Taste of Sydney should suit anybody’s taste.

www.tasteofsydney.com.au

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PISCO and PICARONES

Peru is one country I have not visited. Like several South American countries I was a little hazy on exactly where it was too.  So much so that the other day when I received an invitation to attend a Peruvian brunch organised by Maeve O’Meara as one of her Gourmet Safari’s, the next thing I did after accepting (instantly) was go online to see exactly where it is.

Of course I wasn’t going to Peru. The venue was just across the city in Gordon, at the home of Peruvian food-lovers and cooks Luis and Carmen Almenara.

Fortunately it was a perfect late summer day and we arrived to find the other 40 or so guests seated outside by the pool. Nearby, hand-painted tiles on a wall announced ‘El fogón De Luis ’ (Luis’ kitchen) and it was here the various dishes were being assembled by a busy team of workers.

 

Carmen Almenara’s chocolate-making kitchen, where she makes her heart-stoppingly rich and beautiful caramel-filled tejas, is located here too, and we each got the chance to see for ourselves how delicious they were at the end of the meal.

But that was a long way from the mid-morning beginning. Peruvians take their food seriously. ‘They are the gourmets of South American cuisine,’ says Luis. ‘It is one of the top five cuisines in the world.’  He cites the many influences – Spanish, Moorish, African, and Chinese – that have contributed to the complexity of many dishes and adds, ‘Peruvian food has the most variety – more even than the USA.’

By now we had enjoyed a pisco sour cocktail (Luis imports Pisco – a grape-based distilled liquor) and choros a la chalaca, mussels cooked and dressed with limes, coriander, onions, tomatoes and corn, a piquant and perfect beginning to the meal.

Corn is big in Peru, and rightly so. This is the home of corn and so. Appropriately, the next dish was humitas, the simple homespun bread of the Incas. Basically a cornmeal dough moulded around cheese then wrapped in corn husks and steamed, it was delicious and I could have had a second one, but I knew I had to pace myself.

 

Why? The menu showed still to come were crisp little beef empanadas de carne, the semicircular Peruvian meat pasty – baked, not fried as they are in Mexico, and betraying their Moorish heritage by being dredged with icing sugar.  Then, a ‘Peruvian hamburger’ of slow cooked pork slices stuffed  into crusty French bread rolls and served alongside deep-fried cassava (yuca frita).  

Let’s just pause here. Carbo-phobes should stop reading this immediately and  go outside and take a deep breath.

Hearing our collective groans, Luis and the other Peruvians around us at the table quickly defended their cuisine saying ‘it’s not really that rich!’ Peruvians aren’t fat, they’re healthy, they assured us, straight-faced – but with such delicious temptations you’d have to wonder why not!

But back to the yuca . I will just simply say that I could have sat there snacking on those crisp, starchy cubes of comfort food for a long time. Almost too good to be true –  I could see how they would be hugely addictive. Little wonder they are sold in  Peru as the natural accompaniment to those pork rolls.

 

By now, most of us were feeling the pressure, slowing down, so Maeve decided to treat us to some activity. Two traditional Peruvian games were brought out  - dudo a multi-dice game, the rules of  which Luis attempted (lengthily) to explain. The other involved tossing a counter onto a board on which a brass frog presided. I didn’t get those rules either. Some of us still had energy to try these, but most were content to simply look on or waddle a few steps away to watch the picarone chefs

Yes that’s right – one more course was being prepared!

Picarones are Peru’s answer to doughnuts . Prepared from a very old recipe they are  circles of batter deep-fried then drenched in rich syrup. And yes, they were as good as they sound. And no, of course they are not fattening!

Well, that’s what the Peruvians said, anyway.

For more information about these foods or Gourmet Safaris: www.gourmetsafaris.com.au

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BOOKS FOR COOKING AND LOOKING

Cuisine du Temps,

Jacques Reymond, hardcover, New Holland Publishers, 2010, rrp A$60.

This large glorious book could sit quite happily on your coffee table. Its full page photographs and edgy graphics make it the sort of thing to leaf through with your friends, and ooh and aah over.

However……. you’ll be doing yourself a favour if you introduce it to your kitchen too.

Jacques Reymond is a masterchef par excellence classically trained in France, but now cool about embracing the flavours of Asia. His dishes are ingredient-focussed, and aim to bring out the best in all produce.

So, there is spiced fried quail with Asian dressing, and roasted duck breast with mango sauce, as well as subtle twists on classics such as beignet of blue swimmer crab, or calves liver foie gras style. Close-up how-to pages take the mystery out of pasta making, gnocchi and spaetzle – a German noodle.

While Chef Reymond shares his secrets of clafoutis and bavarois, it’s also apparent that he has embraced some of the native flavours of his adopted country. The lemon myrtle and bush pepper berry ice-cream is an absolute must to try, as are the coconut and feijoa sorbets. There is also a spiced chocolate ice-cream, where the spice is sizzling hot birdseye chillies.

It’s apparent that Jacques Reymond loves to play with flavours and in the hands of an expert like him, you know you are safe to follow his lead.

This book will be equally at home on the coffee table or on the bench beside the coffee-maker.

 

Shannon Bennett’s Paris 

– a personal guide to the city’s best, Shannon Bennett, Scott Murray & friends, hardcover, The Miegunyah Press, 2009, rrp A$45.

The next best thing to dining at Shannon Bennett’s Melbourne restaurant Vue de Monde is going on a guided tour of Paris with him. Well, almost with him. This compact little book is the ideal way to pack Shannon and his expertise in your suitcase when next you head to the city of lovers. Food-lovers and lovers of France, especially.

In this book, Shannon has marshalled his equally Francophile friends to help him decide (with much difficulty I am sure) on which bakery, which cheese shop, which street market to recommend. There are lists of the best places to find macaroons and wine, as well as the best parks, French films, hotels, bars, cafes, museums, brasseries and bistros.

Arranged by arrondissements (that unique Parisian method of distinguishing between districts) the book is beautifully illustrated with photographs and mouth-wateringly broken up by Shannon’s delectable recipes.

It’s not only about the capital, though. A short section, Outside Paris, deals with ‘the finest culinary journeys in France’.

I’d like to say that reading it is almost as good as going there yourself. But of course, it’s not. Nothing is as good as that!

 

The Time, The Place,

– 365 days of awesome travel experiences around the world, Sarah Woods, paperback,  New Holland Publishers, 2009, rrp A$25.

It had to happen! Here is a guidebook that doesn’t laboriously take readers from town to town or through countries but whisks them back and forth around the world according to the calendar.

After I had checked my birthday (doesn’t everybody do that with books like this?) I flipped happily through the year discovering that on June 21st, the summer solstice in Oland, Sweden, pagan fertility rituals have morphed into ‘maidens dancing around ribbon-swathed poles’ and that on August 1st, I could attend a yoghurt festival in Tibet.

On March 7th, there are ice golf championships in Uumannaq, Greenland, and the next day a stiletto run in Amsterdam, Holland. There’s oil wrestling in Turkey in July, a snow festival in Japan in February, and so much more.

I’ll need several years to catch up with all these things. In the meantime, I’m saving to get to Panama where on my birthday I should be able to dose up with seco, which I am reliably informed is a fiery liquor of fermented sugar cane. If I can still see straight , after that I’ll watch bull-roping and sandal-making contests.

 

A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi,

the ideal guide to sounding, acting and shrugging like the French, Charles Timoney, paperback, Penguin, 2009.

I have totally forgiven this author for assigning his previous book the same title as one of my books, Just Enough French. Instead I want to buy that one too, as there is an excerpt from it in the back of this, his latest book, A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi.

Both books are written in the same humorous, knowledgeable style and aim to explain so many of the things which mystify visitors to France. Timoney should know. He was born in Britain but has lived and worked in  France for many years, married and raised a family there. He doesn’t just speak French, he understands its nuances and all the little subtleties which pass straight over the heads of those with lesser language skill.

He patiently describes the second French vocabulary – that of hand signs, facial expressions and shrugs – and divides the book into chapters dealing with the sorts of things an Anglophone might encounter during a typical day or year. There are sections on how to eat and drink without linguistic incident, (including dealing with waiters and finding the loo) and the formalities of social interaction – whether to tu or vous, how many times to kiss, or when to shake hands.

Sports, blending in, children, animals, holidays and high days, it’s all here, in one of the most entertaining books I have read in years.

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ROMANTIC IN SYDNEY – my choices (are you listening, darling?)

Sydney isn’t Paris – but it’s a truly lovely city, and on Valentine’s Day, you can bet it will be warmer. If we’re lucky there will be sunshine and no storms. Pretty much what you’d hope as a forecast for any romance too, don’t you think?

So where can you go to spoil and be spoiled in this harbour city? If I could, I would start Valentines Day at Ormeggio at the Spit (D’Albora Marinas, The Spit, Mosman, 02 9969 4088, www.ormeggio.com.au). This new partly-hidden Northern Italian restaurant, is well worth learning how to locate. Hint, it’s tucked behind luxury boats sales on the western side of the Spit, where the views of Middle Harbour are stunning and Chef Alessandro Pavoni, formerly of the Park Hyatt Sydney has re-berthed his former home of Lombardy, Italy, with a rustic elegant menu. Nothing can beat a romantic breakfast here.

If you’ve planned Sunday breakfast in bed, however, go for dinner. After a glass of prosecco there will be a specially designed five-course Valentine’s Day menu encompassing some of  Pavoni’s most intricate dishes. Rather than spoil the surprise, let’s just cut to the chase and reveal that the decadent dessert finale is a Barbajada of chocolate and coffee.

Mood-enhancing chocolate is always a good romance-enhancer for me – along with half of the world, it seems. Well, at least the female half! So I would, at some point in the day, have to head for Guylian. This Belgian chocolate company which has made a name for itself with its richly swirled seahorses and other aquatic shaped chocolates, has also in the past couple of years, opened two shops in Sydney (91 George Street, The Rocks, 02 8274 7500 and Shop 10, Opera Quays, 3 Macquarie Street, 02 8274 7900, www.guyliancafe.com.au). Both are wonderful temples to decadence. And, you guessed it. They are celebrating V.Day with  a romantic degustation at the café or  – and here’s a great idea – it can be pre-ordered to pick up and take home to create a lovely  romantic surprise!

Romantic evenings need peace and quiet – and good food. That’s why I like Bei Amici (2b Mona Road, Darling Point, 02 9328 0305, www.beiamicirestaurant.com.au). If an intimate corner is your preference when dining, this little gem is ideal. Pair that with Swiss-born Chef Felix Rutz’s unique Swiss-Italian menu and you’ll possibly want to return many times to try it all. Great for lovers, there’s the sort of friendly-yet-unobtrusive service you may have feared had left town, making it a winner for me. The produce-driven menu changes seasonally, and Chef Rutz delights in letting the flavours do the talking without overdressing the food. A perfect marriage of robust Italian dishes prepared with Swiss attention to detail.

If music is the food of love, then jazz has to be the playful part of it.
Dunes Restaurant at Palm Beach (1193 Barrenjoey Road, Palm Beach, 02 9974 3332, www.dunespalmbeach.com.au) has regular jazz evenings on Thursday nights, which means you could have a ‘pre-Valentine’ romantic evening. Those who don’t live close by can make it a real event and fly by float plane to Palm Beach. It’s romantic at any time, set inside Governor Phillip Park
between Pittwater and the Pacific Ocean. Chef Stefan Leibenatus’ innovative menu and the indoor-outdoor layout of the restaurant makes this just the place I’d want to be on any balmy Sydney summer evening. Valentines Day, or not.

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AUSTRALIA DAY 2010

Australia Day has come around quicker than usual it seems. Last year was a particularly short year in my memory, as well as in those of most people I know. Great things happened, though, in 2009. And terrible things too.

So now, here we are again at this day which traditionally seems to divide the end of summer holidays and the beginning of the next work year.

Some people do not accept Australia Day. They believe it is not appropriate to celebrate the beginning of white settlement in this country, a land which had already, for many thousands of years, its own people. But this can be argued forever, without an answer.

Let’s today,  simply celebrate this huge country – a beautiful country – and all its peoples who have come from every continent on earth to make their homes here, seeking to create a better life for themselves and a better community for us all.

Here are just a few things that make Australia special to me:

Aussie attitude – laidback, with a dry sense of humour, but friendly and welcoming.

Uluru – the massive rock that is the centre of the red centre of this country.

Sydney – it’s where I live and a city I love, with as many faces as there are people living here.

Traditions – cold beer, thong-throwing, barbies, the Grand Final, picnics at the beach, the Anzac Day march and two-up afterwards,  fireworks on NYE, the Melbourne Cup. And hot Christmas pudding, even if it is 40C.

Restaurants and cafes – from home-style country ones deep in the bush to glamorous ones on the waterfront or in the city, the range of cuisines and ingredients is enormous.

Animals – in a land with such harsh conditions, Australia’s shy and often nocturnal  animals are worth discovering.

Lifestyle – plenty of sun, sand, fresh air, sport, great food and wine. Who could complain?

Immigrants – the culture of this country (especially its dining) has been enriched by people from the many nations who now call Australia home.

Agriculture ­– the wealth of produce this country has is mind-blowing, from the cold ocean fish to rare tropical fruits.

Australia Day – the day on which Australia remembers ­– and looks forward!

(Click on the images below to share some of my reflections of Australia last year.)

Every day I wake to this lovely view of beautiful Pittwater and realise again that I live in a wonderful country.	A man and his horse. A great mate for the cattle farmer	A gorgeous little secluded family beach, and it is only walking distance from my front door.	Wheat crop in the south-west of Western Australia. Part of the abundance of this country.
The sulphur-crested cockatoo is larrikin of the Australian skies. This wild bird sits on my husband's arm and eats out his hand.	We don't muck around when it comes to breeding our stud rams. Goulburn, NSW	The Yarra Valley, devasted by bushfires in 2009 bounces back to life in true Aussie spirit.	Sunrise on the beach, Byron Bay
The wide open spaces and straight roads near a part of the land I will always love. Near Kojonup, WA, close to where I grew up.	The fishing harbour in Constitution Dock, Hobart with charming historic buildings offering the best of accommodation and dining in Tasmania	Elizabeth Street Pier in Hobart is a popular waterside dining spot.	Yachts rest in Constitution Dock, Hobart after the gruelling Sydney-Hobart yacht race
Wild flowers create a carpet of colour on the top of Australia. Falls Creek, Victoria	Wallace's Hut near Falls Creek in the Victorian Alps is an icon of the mountain men who explored the high country	At the end of the day I love to walk down to the same secluded beach I mentioned earlier and watch the sun set. How lucky can I be.	It's hard to beat the tranquility of a sunset from my own balcony.

 

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HOT FOOD & TRAVEL TIPS FOR 2010

Bridges over the River Tyne, Newcastle.

Maritime Experience Museum and the beautifully preserved HMS Trincomalee, Hartlepool

Dance Festival in  Tallinn,

The Royal Scotsman.

Signs of recovery at Marysville after the Black Saturday fires of 2009

The very grand Langham Hotel, London

Summer Lodge, Evershot, Dorset

Puffins on the Farne Islands, UK

The wingtips of an Emirates aircraft

HOT TRAVEL TIPS FOR 2010

It’s the sort of question travel writers get asked a lot – ‘what’s your favourite place in the world?’ ‘What’s your favourite country?’

Even more difficult for food writers is ‘what’s your favourite food?’ or ‘which cuisine do you like best?’

These are impossible questions.

With food, it depends on my mood and how hungry I am, or (if they ask that other question: what is your favourite restaurant?) the answer will be affected by where I am and what I’m prepared to spend.

With countries or cities it’s even more complex. How do you decide between Paris and Kashgar? Should I vote for Venice or Antarctica? Tahiti or Turkey?

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The GFC hit both dining and travel hard, but the economy seems to be rebounding. It’s set to be a big year around the world. In sport alone, there’s the FIFA World Cup in South Africa;  the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, and the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

So, with all this in mind – here are some of the places that I have enjoyed enormously in the last couple of years. These are my hot tips for 2010.

Biggest surprise: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Once a grimy industrial city in north-east England (www.visitnortheastengland.com), Newcastle has become a beautiful bustling metropolis with galleries and museums and a series of magnificent arched bridges over its winding river. Nearby is Hadrian’s Wall (http://www.hadrians-wall.org) built by the Romans, forever views across the greenest pastures (possibly not this month, but they were in June last year!) castles, cliff tops and more history than you could imagine. Part of my own personal history is here, and I discovered links from 160 years ago, when my great-great-grandfather and his large family emigrated to Melbourne, Victoria.

Not far south, towards the area where Captain Cook grew up, is Hartlepool. ‘Where’s that?’ I said, as many other people would. Little-known it may be, but it’s the host port for the 2010 Tall Ships Races in August and its Maritime Experience Museum and a tour over the beautifully preserved HMS Trincomalee is an absolute must. (www.destinationhartlepool.com)

Best Event: Dance Festival in  Tallinn, capital of Estonia. Try to imagine 8000 dancers vividly dressed in national costumes that somehow survived many years of turmoil and Soviet occupation. We watched them celebrating music, the joy of life – and freedom, with lumps in our throats. This intensely moving spectacle, glorious in itself, is especially poignant when we consider how these people fought to keep their culture alive in hugely difficult circumstances. It was the stand-out occasion of my year. Magnificent medieval Tallinn, and Turku in Finland, will be joint 2011 European Capitals of Culture next year. (www.laulupidu.ee)

Most inspiring: Marysville, Victoria. Just last week we made a small detour on the way home from Melbourne, to see how Marysville, the community so badly burned in the Black Saturday fires in Victoria last year, is faring. To get there we passed through many kilometres of bush where the trees are sprouting a strange stress-induced regrowth. Who knows if they will ultimately survive. In the town, while there are still many tragically bare concrete slabs where houses once stood, the air is full of the sound of hammers and building equipment, as others are being constructed.

Seated under trees and umbrellas outside Fraga’s, a surviving main street café which reopened last September, we enjoyed a lovely meal and some great coffee. Many events are planned in the next few months for the region as visitors are desperately needed. While only time will heal the forests and the people, the seeds of this area’s future are definitely germinating. (www.watchusgrow.com.au)

Best City Accommodation: Ca’Sagredo Hotel, Venice, and The Langham, London. It’s that conundrum, again – how can you choose between two such places?  I can’t so I’m nominating both.

Ca’Sagredo Hotel (www.casagredohotel.com) a former palazzo – now a very comfortable top-end hotel – has its foundations in the Grand Canal, perhaps the world’s most unusual and colourful main street. I could have sat at the window of our room all day and watched the water traffic and the people in gondolas and other craft pass by.

By contrast The Langham hotel (http://london.langhamhotels.co.uk/en/) is a stalwart of London’s hotel scene.  It has been welcoming visitors (many of them celebs and royalty) for 140 years. Now, after an £80 million spruce-up we found it in excellent shape yet again. From our suite high up in the building we could glimpse Big Ben and the London Eye across a sea of grey slate and greyer tiled roofs and chimney-pots.

Best Country Accommodation: Summer Lodge, Evershot, Dorset. They call this land of gently rolling countryside and thatched-roof villages, ‘Hardy country’ after Thomas Hardy who loved the region. There are always places I would go back to in a moment, and this is one of them. Breakfast in the conservatory, croquet on the lawn, long walks along country lanes, an afternoon curled up by an open fire with a book – country-style luxury at its best. (www.summerlodgehotel.co.uk)

Best Train Trip: Royal Scotsman. One of the stand-out experiences of my life (not just the past couple of years) was a four-day ultra-luxury trip on this Orient-Express train through the highlands of Scotland. Day trips to castles and palaces – and distilleries, of course – then glam gourmet dining on board in the evenings. Nothing is spared, and the train is well-named. We were treated like royalty.(www.orient-express.com)                                   

Best Nature Experience: Meeting the birds on the windswept Inner Farne Islands in north-east of England. I can’t say I enjoyed the swooping arctic terns pecking at my scalp (someone forgot to mention a protective hat) but seeing dozens of puffins and thousands more of other species nesting in this bird sanctuary, more than made up for it. I now have the utmost respect for mother seabirds. How they can feed and raise a family on a slippery cliff-edge is beyond my comprehension. (www.farneislandsboattrips.co.uk)

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If we are talking favourites – and even though you haven’t asked about my favourite airline – I have to say  I am currently hooked on Emirates (http://www.emirates.com) – especially after being upgraded last year on a flight back from London to Sydney. I have to say that I could happily always travel in Emirates’ Business Class – for the first time ever sleeping in a comfy bed – in my own little cubicle with tiny mini bar and more than enough little cavities and pockets to store everything I needed for the flight. Bliss!

Well now, are armed with all this helpful stuff (it just happened to be ten tips) I hope this coming year turns out to be the perfect ’10 for us all!

Next time I’ll share my hottest food and dining finds.