Friday, 25 August 2017

Some other tasty delights


Couldn't  refuse a after breakfast snack, well after all what else is there to do with your 6 hour layover The smoke salmon with horseradish, capers and smoked turkey also got my attention.
As did the Sweet Burma cashew nut rolls

So the learning has started already.

So after surveying the buffet we settled on an Indian breakfast ... as you do! and it was just amazing. We have now goggled the recipes and will be cooking that back home or in Italy over the next few months if we are hanging for something spicy. Sandy has packed her usual pantry staples so we have most of the spices required already.
The "Amritsari Kulcha" is like a pancake/flat bread with a bit of rise and was so soft, it was a filled with very fine dices potato and spices and the Aloo Mutter was a potato and pea curry from the Panjabi region.
 
So the learning has started already.
 

Watch out Qantas ... Emirates could teach you a thing or 2

Dubai and Emirates does it all so much better with loads of style and attention to detail.
The sounds or water running through the centre of the section we were in.
 
The buffet to die for even at 4 in the morning
 
 
The Lounge is on the top floor and runs the length of the complex with your gates direct access to the lounges ... nice touch.
 

Arrived Dubai

Arrived into Dubai 4am local time 10am Sydney time after a 14 hour flight.
Thank goodness for a flatbed ... although after the last couple of months getting ready to leave I have been doing huge days so I could have slept on a bed of nails.
My bed even came with a built in massage so I let it go all night pure bliss.
Here in Dubai for 6 hours and then its off to Rome.

Thursday, 24 August 2017

3rd ¼ of our Italian Cooking Gap Year!

So here we are in the lounge at Sydney airport looking over a very hectic runway with planes coming and going.

We were to fly out at 3pm this afternoon 24th August but the flight has been delayed till tonight due to a hurricane in Hong Kong which has altered some 400 plane flights so far today.

Hay it’s just a few hour delay and our thoughts go out to the people in Hong Kong who are not having such a good day.

We are lucky as we left Tamworth this morning we were informed of the delays so were quick to get our flights rescheduled and still through Dubai than on into Rome, some other people in the lounge are now having to fly via London then back to Rome.

So it’s a few more hours here and several more bubbles so I will sleep like a baby tonight.

Tonight 24th August at 7.30pm we fly 14 hours to Dubai (with a 6 hour layover) than onto Rome arriving 1.30 Friday 25th August Italian time ready to start our 3rd 1/4 of our Italian Cooking Gap Year!
We pick up a car at Fiumicino airport which is south west of Rome and then drive 1 hour north on the coast road via Cititavecchia (Rome’s Port City) than north east 30mins into the hills to the little town of Tolfa.

This is where the first of our Italian cooking classes start, just follow the blog for where we go from there.

We will be having 3 nights there to get over the jetlag and to get into Italian time.

Check out my blog while Sandy and I are away, we would love a few little blog comments along the way so we know who is following our adventures.

Sandy won’t be doing face booking while we are away so the only place to find us will be  https://italiancookingclass.blogspot.com (our mobiles will not get us either!)

BUT just remember that I blog like I speak, that is … very fast … with no comers or full stops … sometimes no filters 😊, opps, I should try to behave … but “being have”  can be soooo over rated! … and of course the appalling spelling and grammar you will have to injury,. But that’s ME!!! so read along and sometime reread and reread again to find out what the hell is he trying to say … just think it’s a bit like cracking a puzzle … so crack away and enjoy with us this 3rd instalment of our Italian Cooking Gap Year, whatever and wherever it will take us 😊 😊

 

Ciao for now P

Saturday, 22 July 2017

It's a Big Red


Its a stunning sunny winters afternoon here in Tamworth and I'm here with my beautiful Sandy chilling out on the back deck overlooking our garden. Talking and planning for our up and coming Italian cooking adventures, the smell of the BBQ wafting through the air so we thought we should open a special bottle of red that we were given when we were doing a cooking class in Rome back in October 2014.
Andrea from "Cooking Class in Rome" and I share a birthday, when we left his class last time he presented me with a Italian red to enjoy when we got back to Australia. So today was the day to enjoy it and sure gets us into the Italian vibe. It's 12 years old and is a deep rich plum-red in color and surprisingly a BIG wine for Italy, we loveeee big reds so will be keeping an eye out when we are back in Italy.


Montepulciano d Abruzzo
Colline Terramane
Riserva
DOCG
Illuminati
2005

Thursday, 20 July 2017

Just 35 Sleeps


Just 35 more sleeps till we hit the sky's again bound for more cooking adventures in Italy.
We fly out of Sydney 24th August for the 3rd instalment of our gap year.
So armed with my new little travel computer I thought I should do a test run with the blog.
Over the next week or so I will take some pic on Sandy's new camera to make sure all is linked up.
Always a challenge with new equipment, especially me being a bit of a dinosaur with technology.
And the new computer has great spell check unlike the IPad which seamed to have a mind of its own with predictive text.