Europe: A Culinary Journey

Sydney is a foodie's paradise, and I know that the abundance of good, fresh, divine-tasting and relatively inexpensive food is a large part of the appeal for me of living here. However, arriving back home during October (the month of the Sydney International Food Festival) made me acutely aware of the snobbery we Sydneysiders have about our food. When I first told people I was going to Europe for five weeks, once the envy died away, it was replaced with pity, because what was I going to eat for five weeks, and good luck finding a decent coffee in London!...

So, it was with pleasant relief that I dined my way round Europe. Yes, the coffee in London is on the whole diabolical, but I found a superb cafe hidden away in Dalston called Tina We Salute You which fed me my bean, and, lo and behold, I had some wonderful culinary experiences while overseas. Here are some of the more memorable.

Gorgeous beef in 'Les Trois Garcons' for Jess' b-day

Jana's b-day chocolate cake baked by Noreen

Breakfast in 'The Blue Legume' Stoke Newington with Touf. Waffles and fruit, my favourite!

Curry night in 'The Carpenter's Arms' in Pocklington with dad

Pippa and I put on quite a spread for the Leeds family gathering

Pub lunch in the Dales with Granny

Greek beef in 'Mythica' in Corfu

Mum and I had a cheeky dessert while Keith played a gig in Corfu

Fresh figs from the tree in mum's garden in Corfu

When in Italy, gotta have pizza! Lunch with Sheila in Verona

Deborah's homemade tiramisu in Milan

Delicious pork with a gorgeous loganberry sauce in Heidelberg, Germany

Tapas in Liverpool near FACT, for Abandon Normal Devices

Fish in Liverpool docks with Jana

Vegetarian Thai in 'Mildred's' in Soho

Paella in Covent Garden with Siobhan and Sammie

Turkish kebab in Dalston with Mr Dan Smith

Ros and Fabrice treat me to cake from their local patisserie in Paris

Pancakes, bacon and maple syrup at 'The Breakfast Club' in Hoxton

The best curry in London, Noreen's homemade curry. Farewell dinner at Princess May Road

And what a culinary journey it was! It was lovely to share food with my family and friends while visiting, for me this is the purest expression of love, and I hope to dine with you again soon.

Meanwhile, back in Sydney, I'm training for the Sydney to the Gong. Cycling 90k from Sydney to Woollongong on 1 November will be made all the more difficult due to my 5 weeks in Europe doing nothing but eating the food above, drinking lots of booze and doing no more exercise than pootling around looking at the sights! I'm very scared, but determined to achieve it. If you haven't supported me yet, please sponsor me here and help me reach my goal of $1000. It's all for a good cause, fighting Multiple Sclerosis. (For those of you in the UK, it's about £1=$2.)

Ooh, all those pictures have made me hungry, I'd better pop off and make some dinner.

cx

*pats stomach in a satisfied way*

Home sweet home

Just a quick post to let you know I'm home in Sydney safe and sound after my European tour!

I stayed in Singapore for a few days on the way home, to help me get over my jetlag, and stayed with my friend Heidi who has an adorable 3-month old boy called Tino. We did very little but chilled out a lot and I really enjoyed playing with the baby.

Heidi's gorgeous son Tino

After some wonderful weather in Europe I was amazed to return to a very rainy Sydney -- there was more rain in the weekend before my return than in the entire months of August and September put together! (Here's a story about it)

The day I got home there was a severe weather warning, and now we're officially in a Cold Snap. So much for the spring I smugly mentioned on my travels, seems I ran out of good weather karma while in the Northern Hemisphere!

I shall blog more about my travels when I've unpacked and settled back in here, but I did have a wonderful time, and it was great to see those of you I managed to catch up with.

I start my new job tomorrow, and am really looking forward to the change, especially after I've had a break from work for 5 weeks. Will keep you all posted as to how it goes.

cx