Coconut Prawns

I was cooking a New Year dinner for a few friends and I wanted to come up with something special for entree - something fresh and light to counteract the dripping heat and humidity that we get at this time of year,  and zing the tastebuds after the Christmas blowout. (I'm writing this with the fan on full-blast with it as close as I dare without getting sucked into the up-draught).

Then, I had a distinct memory of eating something like this at a favourite restaurant of ours in Sydney, the Thai Nesia in Darlinghurst. The coconut prawns they served up were definitely zingy and I loved the novelty of wrapping up the tasty little parcel, served on a betel leaf, and popping the whole thing in your mouth - a true Thai taste sensation.

A WORD ABOUT BETEL LEAVES
They are not to be confused with betel nut - the red, teeth staining stuff

Betel leaf plant with stolon and rooted node

Betel (Piper beetle) is a sprawling perennial vine in the pepper family with glossy, heart-shaped leaves - which are not peppery, by the way; in fact, they don't taste of anything much.  It is very easy to grow around these parts and lives quite happily in a corner of my garden next to mint - which tells you that it likes semi-shade and fairly moist conditions.  It doesn't, however, like the cold and will die-back in the wintertime, only to pop up again in the spring (hence perennial). It can be rather vigorous but is easy to keep under control.

It is very easy to propagate from cuttings.  The mother plant will put out runners (stolons) and, at every stem joint (node), you will see little roots appearing.  Simply cut off a section with roots and stick it in some fertile compost enriched soil.









Coconut Prawns
I had tried cooking different versions of this dish but wasn't happy with any of them, and besides most of the recipes were way too complicated and contained hard to get ingredients (don't you hate that!).  The last one was one I had cut out from Gourmet Traveller - which, after one try out went straight in the bin!  So here we go - my Coconut Prawns - fully tweaked and tested.

If you can't get betel leaves, try serving the prawns on little pieces of seaweed sheet - the kind you would use for making sushi and nori rolls - I think that could work.

Betel leaves, fresh ginger, lantern chilies, mint and makrut lime leaves from my garden

8 betel leaves
8 green prawns, shelled and cleaned
1 desert spoon peanut oil
Thumb size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped finely
1 long red chilli, seeded and chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 fresh kaffir lime leaves (now known by the more acceptable makrut lime), finely shredded - I do this with scissors
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp palm sugar
Few sprigs fresh coriander and mint
1 fresh lime, cut into wedges

1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut
1 cup unsalted peanuts

1. Heat up a wok and toss in the peanuts, stirring around until they begin to turn golden. At this point, toss in the coconut and turn the heat down and keep stirring until coconut is golden too, then immediately take off heat because it burns very easily. Get ready for the smell - it's divine!!
2.  When this mixture is cool, whiz up in a food processor - don't overdo it, this should not be too fine.
NOTE:  You can store any leftovers of this mix in an airtight container in the fridge and use it to top stir fries, noodles and fried rice.
3.  Heat the peanut oil in your wok.
4.  Add the garlic, chilli and prawns and toss on high heat for 1 minute
5.  Add ginger, shredded lime leaves, palm sugar and fish sauce and toss for further minute or two until a sauce is formed.  Turn off heat.
6.  Place a prawn, with some sauce, on each betel leaf.
7.  Top with a teaspoonful of the coconut/peanut mix and a sprig of fresh coriander and a mint leaf or two.
8.  Serve with lime wedges.

NOTE:  The betel leaves are edible and simply dissolve in your mouth - they are not stringy.  You just wrap up the prawn parcel in the betel leaf and pop the whole thing in your mouth.

Chargrilled vegetables and couscous salad

We recently had a lunch invitation, and I needed to take a salad with me to go with our hosts herb crusted roast beef.   So are you thinking what I'm thinking - something robust with lots of flavour - well this is what I came up with - and from all the yum noises, and speedy returns for second helpings, it seemed like the delicious beef and this salad were just made for each other.

The inspiration for this dish came from a Karen Martini recipe; one of the many floating around my desk and kitchen on pieces of old, cut-out newspaper that are waiting for a rainy day to get sorted out.   I'm a big fan of using couscous as a base for salads - it just does the trick in soaking up yummy dressing without becoming gluggy; it's also very quick to cook,  and goes a long way!  There was an added bonus to this recipe - I love cooking outside on the barbecue and I could pre-cook the vegetables whilst enjoying the comings and goings in the garden and have a glass of something cold at the same time (cooks need to be rewarded - even if they have to do it themselves!)

Char-grilled Vegetables and Couscous Salad

A few each of the following:

Finger eggplants (aubergine)

Carrots

Zucchini 

1 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

Some fresh garden herbs, chopped - I used tarragon and marjoram, but you could substitute with rosemary, oregano or thyme

Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper

1 1/2 cups couscous cooked to packet directions

Dressing

1 tbsp light tahini

Juice of 1 small lemon

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/2 cup light olive oil

Freshly ground salt and pepper

Extra herbs for decoration

1.  Prepare vegetables by slicing lengthways, or into 3's if they are fat.  Carrots may be left whole if they are small.

2.  In a bowl prepare marinade of olive oil, garlic, herbs, salt & pepper

3.  Brush the sliced vegetables with the marinade - don't overdo the eggplant as it loves to soak up oil.

4.  Cook couscous and, 15 minutes before you need it - heat up barbecue.

5.  Place the vegetables on the grill part of the barbecue - mine has coals underneath, which is perfect because the veggies get that lovely chargrilled flavour and those desirable stripes!  Cook for about 3 minutes on each side.  This can be done well ahead of time but infinitely better if they are still a little warm when you are ready to eat.

6.  Tip cooked couscous into large bowl and whisk together dressing ingredients.

7.  Arrange vegetables on top of couscous and pour over dressing when ready to serve.

8.  Dress with some fresh zucchini or nasturtium flowers, if you have them, and some fresh tarragon.

"Never put off until tomorrow the zucchini you should pick today"

Watercress, radish and edamame salad

Watercress, radish and edamame salad

Note: Edamame are immature soybeans that you can find in the frozen veggie section of the supermarket and they are my latest food discovery - how did I ever live without them?  Simply toss the pods into boiling water for three minutes, then drain and when cool, shell them.

This is a very simple and nutritious salad that is just perfect for the post Christmas blowout - light and tasty.  When I start having to have two cold showers a day, I know it's time for a salad like this.

I love watercress, that spicy nuttiness, and we are lucky that our local farmer's market stocks it most of the year round - I get this from the same family of market gardeners that I make a bee line to every week for fragrant big bunches of dill, coriander and parsley - then leave laden and very happy.  I also love radish - the colour, crunch and taste.

Bunch of watercress, washed and dried
A few fresh radish, sliced
1 cup edamame beans (about 225 grams whole beans before cooking and shelling)
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted and sprinkled with nigella seed on top of salad just before serving.
1 tsp nigella seeds* or black sesame.

Dressing

Juice of half a lemon

Few drops of sesame oil

2 tbsp light olive oil

Freshly ground salt and pepper

Whisk together and pour over prepared salad just before serving.

*Nigella seeds are great little things to keep in the pantry to toast and toss on salads like this   or for sprinkling on top of savoury breads and biscuits.  They are the seeds from the delightfully named Love-in-a-mist flower (Nigella sativa) - which is a lovely old fashioned cottage garden plant that I grow for their spring flowering and for their seeds.  It's hard to describe the flavour - you will just have to trust me and give them a try; they are also available in speciality shops.

Blickling Hall

Blickling Hall, Norfolk, UK

This is the second in a series of some lesser known English gardens that started with Helmingham Hall in Suffolk - that I visited on my last trip to the UK in 2015. Now, some six months later, I had put the afternoon aside for some weed pulling in the veggie patch, but a summer downpour has put paid to that - so I can transport myself back to beautiful Blickling instead - and take you there with me!

Why Blickling?  Of all the wonderful old piles to choose from - why Blickling - well, there were quite a few things that had sparked my interest:

• This was the original home of the Boleyn family, Anne being born here in 1501, and I have a fascination for all things Tudor - something obviously must have sunk in at school!
• The last private owner, Phillip Kerr 11th Marquis of Lothian (1882-1940), was an intriguing fellow.  He was instrumental in getting the National Trust Act passed in Britain and Blickling was the first house to be bequeathed to it.  This was during the 1930's when his pro-fascist Cliveden Set caused quite a stir.  Along with Nancy Astor, his good friend, he entertained the Prince of Wales and Mrs Simpson (fellow appeasers) and Von Ribbentrop at Blickling - he even went to visit Hitler on two occasions.(There is currently a marvellous exhibition, throughout the house, detailing Kerr's life and times).  His pro-fascist leanings didn't, however, seem to affect his social standing as he died suddenly in America just after he was made British ambassador - I think there were a lot of influential British people in the 1930's who held similar views.
  
  Norah Lindsay's original designs for the parterre at Blickling and her painting of the famous blue poppies that she planted here in the Secret Garden.
  
  
• You have probably heard of English landscape designers Vita Sackville West and Gertrude Jekyll, but Norah Lindsay - probably not?  Well, her legacy is equally as important to the Modern English Landscaping Movement and her marvellous gardens endure at Blickling, along with her original landscape drawings and a room dedicated to her life.  Lord Lothian was something of a patron of hers and was able to introduce her to his society friends for commissions.
• Plus - the peonies were blooming!
  

The House

My first sight of Blickling was honestly breathtaking, glimpsed through a gap in the immense yew hedge that surrounds this impressive Jacobean, red-brick, manor house with it's sweeping gravel driveway and swathes of manicured lawns. 

With an estate of 4,777 acres and gardens of 55 acres, Blickling has a rich history that is full of myths and legends - and ghosts - and is purported to be the most haunted house in England but, with its history, I'm not really surprised.  The Boleyn family built the original house here, that burned down in the sixteenth century, and the current house has a lovely portrait and statue of Anne (still with her head on!)  It is said that every year, on the anniversary of her execution, Anne Boleyn's headless ghost arrives at Blickling in a carriage driven by an equally headless coachman - she then proceeds to wander around the house with her head under her arm.

Highlights of visiting the house:

We had wonderful volunteer guides that made the place come alive and I could have wandered around here all day - it is just jam packed with treasures and absolutely fascinating - but I'll be brief because we have to get to the garden!

• Fabulous collection of paintings by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Van Dyke and Canaletto.

Inside Blickling, with a Gainsborough painting of the Duke of Buckingham and flowers from the garden

• The Blue Bedroom with hand painted Chinese wallpaper from 1740!  The Duchess of Buckingham, living here at the time, was said to be very unimpressed with Norfolk so her husband, the Duke, had it decorated in this exotic style to try and keep her happy!

The Blue Bedroom with hand painted Chinese wallpaper 1740

• The 127ft long Library with one of the finest collection of books in England - would have loved to be able to sit down and pull some of the books on natural history and philosophy from the shelves. We met the young PhD student who was in the process of cataloguing the whole collection - said it would take another five years - what a dream job - and the views from the windows!!
• The kitchen!

The Garden

You actually need days to take it all in properly - all 55 acres of it - with beautiful Lindsay parterre and sunken garden, Secret Garden, an 18th century orangery (used to house the potted citrus in the winter time), herbaceous borders, and ancient ha-ha - which is a ditch, invisible from the house, used as a romantic rural landscaping device so that sheep and cows could graze almost right up to the front door without being able to escape into the formal gardens (or the dining room!).

The walled kitchen garden is currently under renovation with a huge effort to try and restore it to its former glory.  This will be just about the last piece in the puzzle of mapping the lives of the people who lived and died at Blickling - what did they grow and how did they feed themselves?

The parterre garden

                                                          The Ha-Ha and Orangery

 The Secret Garden surrounded by magnificent, towering trees

And the peonies were magnificent and worth the price of the admission

NOTE:  It appeared me, as I was wandering around the house and became acquainted with Lord Lothian and his story, that it all seemed vaguely familiar.  And then it struck me - Foyles War, the BBC WW2 drama series.  One of the episodes was called the 'White Feather' and centred around a group of 'appeasers' and German sympathisers called The Friday Club with mostly aristocrats as its members.  I know the creator of Foyles War, Anthony Horrowitz, based every episode on historical fact and just left me wondering.........?

After a marvellous day out, under a leaden sky, we drove to the Becton on the Norfolk coast and had one of the most delicious meals of our whole trip at the Ship Inn - local, dressed Cromer crab.  I can still taste it now - Michael says the local ale was pretty good too. Our overnight B & B - the charmingly named May Cottage - was one of the best too - I can highly recommend it.

NOTE TOO:  "Can you please tell me why the English have their own religion - not Catholic or Orthodox"? This was a question posed to me, some weeks before Blickling, on a ferry from Corfu to Paxos by the lovely Russian tour guide, Anna.  We had struck up an unlikely conversation, as you do, and she was very keen for "all knowledge".  She said that her compatriot clientele often asked her all sorts of questions, particularly to do with religion (being largely orthodox), and she would like to be able to answer them.  I don't know if you have ever tried to explain the shenanigans of Henry VIII and the Reformation to anyone but, in the telling, it sounds bizarre.  "Well, he made up his own religion so he could divorce his wives because he wanted a son - but some of them, like Anne Boleyn - he chopped their heads off to get rid of them"  Anna "So who his head of English church - not pope?" And so it went on. It really was a surreal conversation; when she found out we were from Australia, not England, she said "Is that near Greenland"?.  The conversation came to an abrupt halt, probably fortunately, with her question "So this Henry, he was very sexual, da?" At this point we noticed a commotion and realised that one of her party was being resuscitated on the beach he had tried to swim to after a gut full of booze and tucker - he had suffered a heart attack - he owes his life to two knowledgeable strangers.

I wish Anna could have been at Blickling with me.

Orange Flavoured Ricotta Cheesecake - Something Festive!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Where we live, in the sub-tropics of coastal Australia, it's very hard to get enthusiastic about traditional Christmas fare - although I love it - it's just too damn hot for roast turkey and boiled puddings, so I thought I would share with you this orange scented cheesecake recipe - as simple as it is delicious.  It's based on the traditional Italian recipe that has the self-forming crust - so no need for biscuit or pastry bases, but mostly an adaptation of a Belinda Jeffery recipe - and is the perfect end to any festive meal.

800 g fresh ricotta
2/3 cup fresh cream or sour cream (gives it a bit of a tang)
2/3 cup caster sugar
2/3 cup sultanas, soaked for a couple of hours in Cointreau (or any other sweet alcohol)
zest of one large orange
1/2 cup plain flour + 1 tbsp (for dusting cake tin)
6 eggs
Pinch of salt
Flaked almonds for decoration - they look nice because they become golden and give the cheesecake a bit of a crunch.

Method
1.  Preheat oven to 150oC
2.  Line 23cm springform pan with non-stick baking paper (what did we ever do without this?), lightly grease it with butter and dust with flour - this helps to form the crust.
3.  Whiz the ricotta in a food processor until smooth.
4.  Break eggs into separate jug, just to be sure - nothing worse than spoiling the whole lot with one not quite fresh or with bits of shell.
5.  Add orange zest, sugar, cream, flour, and salt to ricotta and whiz for 10 seconds.  Scrape down sides.
6.  With processor on, add eggs and continue for another 30 seconds.
7.  Stir in the soaked sultanas, with any residual Cointreau.
8.  Pour into prepared tin, smooth over surface and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
9.  Bake for one hour until firm and slightly golden. Let the cheesecake cool before you serve it - and it's very nice with any kind of berries, in fact it's the main reason why I made it - my loganberries where fruiting for the first time and wow, are they delicious!

Cycling from Innsbruck to Verona: Day 2 Bressanone to Bolzano

Day 2:  Bressanone to Bolzano 47km
For Day 1: Innsbruck to Bressanone, click here

Eiseck River on the way to Bressanone - full of roaring meltwater

Our Hotel Golden Rossi in Bressanone (Brixen) was a very welcome sight after our mammoth first day on the bike, but even though the map said we were in Italy it still felt very Austrian - in fact most folks refer to it as Brixen - its Austrian name.  As the lovely Vivianna on Reception said, "The soil might be Italian, but the brain and heart are German."  Vivianna was from Sicily and explained that this region of the southern Tyrol was still part of Austria until the end of World War I when it was annexed to Italy, and that, "you don't get to feel that you are really in Italy until you get to Trento" - another two days cycle away.

To emphasise her point she also told us that 75% of the locals still spoke Austro/German and the rest a mixture of Italian and Ladin - an old local dialect.  Our hotel was a charming 400 year old building in the Tyrolean auberge style with low ceilings and huge wooden beams; very comfortable with a marvellous spread for breakfast.

We would have loved to make use of the inviting hotel pool but instead collapsed on the more inviting bed until hunger drove us out to explore Bressanone.

Medieval backstreets of Bresanone

So here we were in Bressanone, being spoilt by yet another delightful town with plenty to keep us occupied for a few hours - we would certainly have liked to have stayed longer.  The highlight was the medieval quarter around the central square - the Piazza del Duomo, dominated by the 10th century cathedral, with cobbled streets leading in and out dotted with cafes, restaurants and the obligatory Tyrolean outfitters!
Another porky/schnitzel/cabbagey/dumplingy meal and we were off to bed for an early start and Day 2 of our adventure.

Piazza del Duomo, Bressanone

Day 2 was an absolute doddle after Day 1 - only 47 km and mostly downhill - the path following the river.  There was only one problem - I was extremely saddle sore.  I wondered why my brother had been sending me urgent text messages prior to the start of this adventure; 1. Asking me if I was bonkers, and 2. Had I got any padded shorts?  Now, I never knew such things existed but, by Day 2 I could see why one would need them.  Not possessing such an item of clothing, I resorted to stuffing 2 spare t-shirts down my shorts.

Michael breaking Rule 4 (see previous post for Rules 1, 2 and 3).  Your must dismount from your bicycle in a built up area - we wondered why we were getting such filthy looks until someone pointed out a sign to us.  Without fail, everyone gets off their bicycles and walks - it now occurs to me that I think you are actually supposed to do this in Mullumbimby too!

As we headed out of Bressanone on the bike path, I came upon this lovely garden tended by an elderly nun.  I stopped, and with hand gestures and smiles she proudly showed me around.  Fortunately I had a couple of photos of my garden on my phone that I could show her - isn't modern technology marvellous?

Our journey south took us along this lovely valley past hillsides that become a snow covered playground in winter - Bressanone deriving much of its income from all things snow and skiing.  The ski fields rolled down to verdant farmland, orchards and then vineyards - I knew when we were approaching them because the stink of fungicide began to fill the air, which was to be repeated through every wine growing area we cycled through all the way to Verona.

NOTE: Why is it traditional to plant a rose bush at the head of every row of grapes in a vineyard? Because roses also get attacked by fungal diseases and they act as a 'health' indicator to the grape grower.

The very picturesque countryside along the way provided some equally picturesque villages for rest stops and refreshment.  As usual for the early part of this trip, we ended up with some pretty average tucker simply because we didn't know the ropes as far as what to expect and being unable to decipher the menu - still, we knew that Italy - the 'real' one - was just around the corner!

After a wonderful day cycling through the South Tyrol we headed to our hotel in Bolzano with excitement mounting for Michael because he couldn't wait to meet ORTZI
- a five and a half thousand year old Iron Age man that was discovered about twenty years ago, fully preserved and poking out of a glacier and is now housed in a museum in Bolzano.  To be continued!

Mussels with Rice

This is a really easy one-pot meal - the kind we all love - that is simply delicious and very nutritious.

WHY ARE MUSSELS GOOD FOR YOU?

"Mussels are an inexpensive, sustainable shellfish that gives a boost to your immune system and your brain"

Rosie Sykes, Guardian 9 Feb 2013

• Mussels have the most impressive nutritional content of ALL shellfish containing high levels of B12, iron, zinc and calcium; ALL of the things that can be lacking from meatless diets.  They are also a good source of protein.

• They contain high levels of long chain fatty acids EPA and DHA that have many beneficial effects, including improving brain function and reducing inflammatory conditions, such as arthritis.

NOTE: It seemed timely to include a recipe like this today as new advice from the World Health Organisation is in the news for announcing the results of its findings into the correlation between cured meats/red meat and colo/rectal cancers. What did the research show; well, if you eat 50grams of processed meat (bacon, salami, frankfurters etc) every day or a total of 350 grams per week - your risk of colon cancer goes up by 18% - which is a lot! Too much red meat is not good either and we should be having less than 500 grams per week of beef/pork/lamb.  

All not good - so put away the bacon and get yourself some mussels because somehow you need to be getting all of the essential food elements in your diet from other sources if you don't want your health to suffer.  Deficiencies in B12, iron, zinc and calcium can be a concern for vegetarians; particularly B12 and iron - vital vitamins and minerals for the health of blood cells and nervous system; this can be a particular problem for pregnant and menstruating women - anaemia being all too common a problem for many women friends of mine.

Mussels with Rice (to serve two people)

1 kilo fresh mussels - fortunately these now come cleaned and de-bearded in vacuum packed bags that keep for a few days and are grown in environmentally sustainable and clean environment.  Discard any opened mussels.

3 tbsp olive oil 

1 large brown onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 red capsicum, diced

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 long red chilli, chopped

2 cups long grain rice

750 ml fish stock

Handful fresh parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1.  Heat oil in large pan and sauté onion

2.  Add chopped capsicum, chilli and tomatoes and cook for few minutes

3.  Add rice and stir around until rice becomes slightly glassy.

4.  Add stock and let simmer for 5 minutes.

5.  Add washed mussels and cook for further 10 minutes with lid on until rice is cooked and mussels are open.  By this time all of the liquid should have been absorbed.

NOTE:  You may have to stir it a few times to prevent it burning but a bit of golden crust on the bottom is quite desirable - I believe there is a special name for this in Spanish cuisine, which is the inspiration for this dish.

6.  Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley and a simple salad.

Cycling from Innsbruck (Austria) to Verona (Italy)

Day 1 Innsbruck (Austria) to Bressanone (Italy) 55km  (more like 65km)

This madcap idea was dreamt up by my husband as a circuitous way to get me back to Greece.  It went something like this.  "I know you don't like flying from Gatwick or Heathrow, well Stanstead flies to Innsbruck and from there we can cycle to Verona, take a train to Milan, fly to Athens and get the ferry back to Sifnos - how does that sound?".  Somehow I said yes, but alarm bells should have been ringing when I saw that the chap we were   dealing with at Freedom Treks (the cycling company) was called Andrew Bracegirdle - I'm still wearing one two months later.

This 220km was embarked upon in almost total ignorance and no lycra. The company provided the bikes and maps, booked us into 3-4 star hotels en route and carted the bags every day - how bad could it be - and, "it was all downhill" "level 1" (the easiest)?

Getting to the airport and the flight from the UK on easyJet was a total nightmare but all was forgotten when we were coming into land in Innsbruck - I had never been to Austria before - and it was spectacular; snow-capped mountain peaks and plunging verdant valleys - total Heidi!

View from our window Hotel Congress Innsbruck

The Hotel Congress (is this where they come for dirty weekends, says he!) was superb in a very modern, Austrian kind of a way.  Huge room with spectacular plate glass windows overlooking white peaked mountains and a milky green snow-melt rushing river.  Obviously busy in the skiing season with basement boot rooms, sauna and a chair-lift right opposite, it was very quiet now.  Realised I needed a hat that wouldn't blow off for this bike trip and bought a Tyrolean skiing cap from a display case in the darkened bowels of the hotel (it took the receptionist about 20  minutes to find the key). Buying the cap was the sum total of my preparation for what was to be my life on two wheels for the next week - silly me. But we felt everything was going pretty well so far, so went out to explore Innsbruck.  Well, all I can say is, we have to go back sometime - it was just lovely.

Innsbruck

We just happened to be reading Bill Bryson's tales about travelling in this part of the world Neither Here Nor There in 1990, but nothing seems to have changed since then and his experiences seemed to be reflecting our own.  Here are just a few of them.

1.  The Locals: I have never been anywhere else in the world where the people were so unfriendly - no passing 'hello' smiles, no eye contact in lifts, no greeting across a breakfast room - it was very weird.

2.  Dining Out:  This is one of the few places I have been where the menus were totally unintelligible and you are really a little scared about what you are ordering.  Bill Bryson talks about seeing mit schlag on a menu and thinking it sounded awful, didn't order it - only to find out later that it was whipped cream and would have been perfect with his strudel.  That's entirely our problem for not speaking the language (still, I can't see a real need for Austro German?), but it is very off-putting - everything sounds like someone clearing their throat. You just have to remember when ordering that pork is life in Austria as you are bound to get some part of the animal on your plate. So here in Innsbruck for the first time, we did our usual thing and tried to find a restaurant where the locals were eating and, of course, had what the locals were having - and ended up with something very porky, dumplingy and cabbagey (Scweinsbraten with Semmelknodel) with beer - of course.

The more that things were different the more they were just the bloody same!

Made our way back to the hotel through the Innsbruck Botanic Gardens and was very surprised to see bananas and datura growing there - how do they do that in the snow?  Our scheduled briefing with Freedom Treks and been cancelled ("because there were only two of us") and we were told that this would happen in the morning after breakfast on the way to our drop-off point near the Brenner Pass.  Just a teensy bit nervous at this stage.

Matteo from Freedom Treks giving Michael our 5 minute briefing before we set off into the unknown for the next six days (he looks a little worried, don't you think?)  

Matteo's parting words were ringing in my ears seven hours later when we reached Bressanone "it's easy today - all downhill - will only take two to two and a half hours at the most".  Finally collapsing in our hotel room in Bressanone with my legs, bum and back aching I knew two things; Either Matteo had never cycled from Innsbruck to Bressanone or he was a consummate liar AND, body willing I would do it all again tomorrow hey, we WERE doing it all again tomorrow - it was absolutely wonderful - like cycling through The Sound of Music.

Somewhere on the cycle track on the way to Bressanone

For almost all of the six days we were on a designated cycle track made from an old rail route which followed the new train track, motorway and river, but not always, and they were the best bits; the ones that ventured into the forest, along the edge of a glacier, through picturesque villages, around vineyards, orchards and fields of flowering crops.

The trail notes were very good - all we had to do was follow them - how hard could that be? Well, did get lost quite a few times but that was often down to confusing similar sounding place names (Marco and Macio?) and all the signs being in both Austro German and Italian - take your pick!

How do you know you're in Austria? - you come across a stall selling Edelweiss

On this first day there were also quite a few diversions on the trail with Achtung! signs accompanied by a picture of rocks falling - hence the lengthy delays.  What we found out about the Austrians, lesson number 3.

3.  Signs are there to be obeyed and Austrians obey them  There was no way that any other person, apart from Michael and myself and a few Italian bikies, would even investigate a track with a diversion sign on it - even if it meant untold delay and a hellish detour onto the autostrada - which was extremely dangerous and very scary (we tried it).  We quickly learned that these diversion signs were put up 'just in case' and after venturing forward on one realised that it was because of something trivial e.g. a minor rockfall and no problem to get around (as he said "They've obviously never had to negotiate the Montecollum Road to Goonengerry after a thunderstorm"!).  We saw a whole bunch of familiar obedient Austrian cyclists lurch into Bressanone about two hours after us - looking lost, fed-up, and sweaty after struggling up hill and down-dale just so they wouldn't have to disobey a sign on a bike trail!

Vipiteno

For part of the day we travelled along the Eisack River valley to the very pretty town of Vipiteno which was full of cobbled streets, clock towers and sightseeing Italian tourists..  We soon realised that one of the real joys of this journey by bike was coming across lovely places like this that we had never been to before and, were unlikely to ever visit again - which made it even sweeter.

This glorious Tyrolean countryside made your heart zing.  I spent most of the day singing to myself (you can guess what the soundtrack was) and crop spotting; maize growing on the river flats for winter fodder, home gardens that shouted self sufficiency and, as we got closer to Bressanone, grapes and orchards full of cherries, apples, pears and fields of tomatoes and cabbages.  There was one mystery;  I couldn't understand why I didn't see one cow when we had passed numerous yoghurt and cheese factories and why there was an overpowering dung odour that heralded our arrival at every farm.  Then I saw these huge, ornate sheds and realised that the cows were being reared inside them - why weren't they out in the fields?  These are the tiny thoughts that consumed me as I pedalled and pedalled the 65 km away - kind of zen?

As we cycled into the late afternoon (probably shouldn't have had that second beer and more dumplings for lunch?), warm gusts of wind, that occasionally blew in the high country, were now beginning to cook us as we headed further south along the valley and we started to strip off our layers of clothes, finally reaching our hotel in Bressanone absolutely exhausted - a hill too far!

Highlight of the day grandparents having a picnic by a river with grandchildren, she in dirndl skirt and he in lederhosen, Tyrolean jacket, long white socks, hat with feather in it and smoking a pipe - this was not a one off - we got quite used to spotting folk, just going about their everyday business dressed like the Von Trapp family.
To be continued.  Day 2 Bressanone to Bolzano .............

Zucchini and Haloumi Fritters

These delicious fritters were inspired by a Neil Perry recipe that I saw in the paper a couple of weeks ago.  This is the kind of little pre-dinner nibble that you get in tavernas all over Greece, made fresh with whatever comes to hand that day - just my kind of food.

The first batch, made to the Neil Perry recipe, needed tweaking, in my humble opinion - because they were a little too bland in flavour and way too salty.  I conferred with my go-to food person and lovely neighbour, cook book writer Belinda Jeffery, and this week saw me wandering up the street, at about 5.30pm, in apron with progressively evolving plates of these fritters with a "what do you think". I felt a bit like Goldilocks - too salty, too bland - just right!  She offered all kinds of helpful advice and a couple of alternative recipes and I think we have finally nailed it - see what you think, but I reckon they are a real winner!

The saltiness arose in the original recipe which told you to grate the zucchini in a colander and cover it in 2 teaspoons of salt - leave it for an hour or so and then squeeze out as much liquid as you can.  This is done because zucchinis contain a lot of water and the fritters would be too sloppy and not hold together if you didn't.  The downside of this is that you can't wash the salt off afterwards.
NOTE: salting food sets up an osmotic process whereby the liquid is drawn out.
What we worked out is that you only need about half a teaspoon of salt and just more squeezing to get the liquid out - as Belinda said "less salt and more elbow grease" - which works just fine.

Ingredients
About 1 kg zucchini, coarsely grated
Half teaspoon sea salt
150g haloumi, finely grated
1/2 cup grated parmesan
100g day-old white sourdough breadcrumbs
Half cup fresh chopped dill
3 free-range eggs
Freshly ground pepper
1 cup olive oil, for frying

Dipping Sauce
1 cup thick Greek style yoghurt
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 garlic clove creamed in mortar and pestle with pinch of sea salt

Method
1.  Place grated zucchini in colander and sprinkle with salt.  Leave to drain for an hour.
2.  Mix together lemon zest, creamed garlic, yoghurt and pinch of salt and set aside.
3.  Squeeze excess moisture from zucchini and place in large bowl.  This is an important step so try and get out as much liquid out as you can. DONT WASH IT
4.  Add grated haloumi, dill, parmesan, breadcrumbs and eggs.  Stir to combine and set aside for 10 minutes.
5.  Heat oil in frying pan or wok.
6.  Get small spoonfuls and form into patties.  Shallow fry for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown and cooked through.
7.  Serve with yoghurt mix as dipping sauce.

NOTE:  From another guru, Linda Ruttledge owner of LuLu's cafe in Mullumbimby, don't be tempted to put feta in the fritters as it just melts when heated and the fritters will fall apart.
ANOTHER NOTE: Most fritters of this kind have flour as the binding agent, but the breadcrumbs give them a really lovely texture, light and fluffy, that doesn't seem to soak up the frying oil.

FOOD ETHICS  I have been involved in a raging debate this week over an octopus salad recipe, that I posted on a local information sharing website, when I unwittingly incurred the wrath of radical vegans. I couldn't use a better response than this recipe as an example of MY food ethics - that is, GROW YOUR OWN OR BUY IT LOCALLY if you want to save yourself and the planet. 

Every time I cook a meal I consider three things - HOW NUTRITIOUS IS IT, WHAT DOES IT COST and WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

When I posted this recipe I got this response from a vegan:
"You can so veganise this recipe - and make it gluten free too - use rice crumbs instead of sourdough crumbs - chia seeds instead of eggs, tofu instead of haloumi. Nutritional yeast instead of parmesan. For the dippings sauce - cashews blended instead of yoghurt"

My response to this:

1.  They wouldn't be zucchini haloumi fritters anymore.
2.  The zucchini, dill and lemon came from my garden; eggs from my daughter's chooks; haloumi, bread and garlic from the local farmer's market; and I made the yoghurt with milk from the local dairy.   The only thing I bought from a shop was the parmesan cheese - which was Aussie.
3.  The last time I looked tofu came from somewhere else, processed in a factory with non-reusable packaging; chia seeds were $30 a kilo from Bolivia in the local health food shop.  Cashews from the same shop were from Vietnam at $32 per kilo.  I have no idea about nutritional yeast - whatever that is?

You can see where I am going with this.  This person has given themselves a big pat on the back for being vegan but has no concern about the source of the food, packaging, cost and food miles involved in getting it on to her plate.

Next is a visit from me and my trombone zucchini!