It was our second Fourth of July away from home, and it snuck up on us. I think it was hard to remember for a few reasons: it's cold here, so it doesn't feel like Fourth of July weather. We've also been watching the World Cup like mad, so our calendar has revolved more around games than dates. And overall, I suppose, our life is more AU-focused than it was a year ago.
That's not to say we didn't give a nod to the U.S. and celebrate in our own way. We both wore our red, white, and blues for the day. My work celebrated with a hot dog stand, so I did my part for America and had a veggie hot dog.
To say that the hot dogs were popular with workmates would be an understatement! The line went down the hallway, but everyone was enjoying the spirit of the celebration. And they seemed to enjoy eating this American food. It's pretty similar to an Aussie "snag," but a little different in that snags tend to have a greater bread-to-meat ratio, and the traditional toppings are different from what we'd normally throw on a hot dog.
We didn't go out on Friday, even though there were a couple expat parties going on around the city. It had been a long week so we stayed home and made pizza (with red sauce and white cheese, of course!) And I did find these red and white Australian cookies called "Creamies," so we were as patriotic as can be!
We closed out our Fourth by watching Independence Day and going to bed early so we could Skype with friends and family early the next morning!
Happy Fourth of July!
Ever since our adventure out to the Italian Festival last year, I'd been pestering T to go back out to Leichhardt for an Italian meal. It's not that there aren't Italian restaurants around us in the city, but I really believed that the food would just be so much more Italian out in the area known for settling Italian immigrants.
So on Friday, I managed to talk him into taking the 25 minute bus ride out to Norton Street, the center for restaurants and businesses in Leichhardt. More specifically, we went out to the Italian Forum, a little area that's designed to look like a Mediterranean piazza. It's tucked away back off the main street, and you walk though a little corridor of shops and cafes to get back to it.
Winter is clearly not top season for the Italian Forum. Several of the places didn't even open that night, but we had a few places to choose from. We went for the one that had soccer playing on the big screen (surprise!) and sat outside on the edge of the plaza under the heaters.
Our food was kind of a letdown. I'd been pretty sure that I was about to eat the best Italian food of my life, but it was not to be. Toby said it was because we were in a "touristy" area, but it was so deserted I'm not sure about that. My counter was that we'll just need to go back and find a different restaurant more off the beaten path, more authentic, and more what we were hoping for. And maybe more in the summertime!
Until we got to Canberra, we didn't realize how much great food we would encounter! But like lots of the places we've visited in Australia, there was tons of great local food and produce. There weren't an overwhelming number of vego options, but we found some great food at each place we visited.
Our first night in Canberra we grabbed a a small bite at A. Baker. It was a great restaurant right next door to our hotel. We got a bottle of local wine from the Canberra region and and a cheese board with three cheeses: two from Barossa Valley and one from Tasmania.
There was some other food on the menu that looked really good, but our leisurely wine and cheese dinner really filled us up. Plus after our long day of work and driving, we were kind of tired. So we passed on the intriguing homemade rag pasta dish and the peanut butter semifreddo. Next time!
Our other dinner on this trip was at Mezzalira, an Italian restaurant about at 10 minute walk from our hotel. A friend at work recommended doing the 5 course tasting menu, so we did. And we were so happy that we went for it! A happy surprise was the focaccia we started with: it was straight from the oven and so so good. We could have eaten that all night and been happy!
But our other courses were amazing too. We paired local wines with each dish, and each surprise course was so much fun!
I think we both loved the tortellini the most. Next time we're in Canberra, we'll go back just to eat that and the focaccia! =) Our other standout meal was our breakfast on Sunday before we left for our truffle hunt. Also near our hotel was Močan & Green Grout, a small little cafe/bicycle shop. The restaurant has a small open kitchen, so it felt like we were hanging out at someone's house.
The restaurant was as cool outside as it was inside.
And we had great food too: local eggs, mushrooms, goat cheese, and some bread from A. Baker.
Needless to say, even though there might not be as many food options in Canberra as we're used to in Sydney, all of our food experiences were great and really rounded out our trip!
One of the main reasons that I was so set on making the trip to Canberra was because last winter I'd read about the truffle hunts that are held on local farms. I found out about it too late last year, so I marked it on the calendar and as soon as spots were open, I signed us up for one!
There are several farms near Canberra that offer public truffle hunts, and I chose Turalla Truffles because the dogs looked the cutest at that farm. The trufferies in Australia use dogs instead of pigs for truffle hunting; our farmer guide, Damian, told us that's because pigs will eat all the truffles and dogs won't!
Damian, our truffle hunting farmer
The farm was about 40 minutes outside Canberra. It was a really beautiful drive out to the farm country, and we followed very country directions. (Like looking for a green cattle grate and other such landmarks.) It brought back happy memories of being home!
The trufferie is located on Damian's family farm. His wife and teenage daughter helped out with the day, wrangling dogs and sharing information about their farm life. The hunt itself was pretty casual: the group met at the dirt road entrance to the farm, and Damian asked all the people that didn't have "city cars" to help ferry the rest of us back across the field to the trufferie. We rode with Damian's wife and the two truffle dogs, Eight and Three Spot. We were friends immediately!
Damian and the family use the family Jack Russell Terriers as their truffle dogs rather than getting professionally trained dogs. Damian has trained them to indicate the smell of truffles with a paw on the ground when he asks "Where's the truffle?" He said it was pretty easy to train them, but it did seem that Eight did pretty much what she wanted with no regard for him! Three Spot was a really good dog, though, and he helped find lots of truffles during the day!
The truffle hunt itself was just under 2 hours long. We dipped the soles of our shoes in a solution before we went in the trufferie to prevent bringing in any fungi. Then we basically followed Damian and Three Spot from tree to tree as they worked on finding some truffles.
It was a lot of work for Damian. At each tree where Three Spot indicated, Damian would dig with his hands and smell the dirt constantly. He could tell by the aroma in the dirt if he was digging closer or farther away from a truffle. Since we were early in the season, a lot of the truffles he located were too early to be harvested. But he and Three Spot did find some good ones! Here is Toby holding the bulk of the harvest (one in hand and a few in the bag): about $1000 in truffles!
Even though there was a lot of standing around while Damian dug in the dirt, it was a fascinating couple of hours. Damian was really interesting, shared tons of information about truffles, and had a great sense of humor!
At the end of the hunt, Damian had harvested enough truffles to fill an order for a chef in Canberra, sell some at the markets the next weekend, and sell some to the group! A pretty good day for Damian!
We closed out the hunt with some truffle tastings. Damian's wife set up a table in the field and we had brie with truffles, bread with truffle butter, truffle-infused olive oil, and truffle-infused vodka. I skipped on the vodka because it sounded pretty revolting to me, but Toby said it was OK.
Our outdoor tasting was a perfect end to our day on the farm. We were happily reminded of home in many ways, and in many others, it was a unique, fascinating experience. And I'm pretty sure for the rest of our lives when we eat truffles, Damian, Three Spot, and our beautiful day at the trufferie will be in our minds!
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