She Gathers No Moss

A journey around my birthplace

Posted on 8 January 2018 by sheg4184

“…the pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps more dependent on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to…” Alain de Botton

I am currently reading a book by Xavier de Maistre called ‘A Journey around My Room.’ First published in 1825, Botton refers to it as the ‘proverbial shaggy dog.’ Under house arrest for duelling in 18^th century Paris, de Maistre writes about this one room as if he were on some great world adventure. In examining every aspect of his personal space with new eyes, memory and creative imagination, he makes us look more closely at our own environs, the surroundings we take for granted and perhaps no longer appreciate. It is a fascinating study of perception.

Returning to Adelaide, a city I have visited frequently, but in which I have not lived for almost thirty years, I am tempted to apply the same rules: to look at my birthplace anew, as if from a traveller’s view point; to appreciate all those things with which I am long familiar but which I no longer see; or to look at them from a different angle and to see as I have never seen before.

In many ways, I do this automatically, whenever I am here. I immediately acknowledge the space, the wide tree-lined streets, the open skies, the attractive suburban architecture, the birds, the scent of eucalyptus – those things that are absent from the different cities and countries in which we have lived. Yet it is, perhaps, only a superficial reaction to all the things I miss while I am away, and in which I love to revel when I come home. How much do I really notice the details?

So, I shall wander forth with my mental notebook, into streets I don’t know so well, or upon which I have only glanced, to see what I can find. I will go travelling in my home town, as I have done in Rome, Bangkok, Norwich, Istanbul, Manila, to see what I can see. Differently. Afresh.

Kerryn Goldsworthy in her little memoir-cum history book paraphrases David Malouf by saying that ‘to be a citizen of Adelaide is to know some of its streets and parks and houses from your body outwards,’ and goes on to say that ‘life is not measured in time but in accretions of lived experience.’

While I may not have lived in Adelaide since I was twenty-three, I have visited many times over the intervening years. And there is a wealth of family history and experience beneath my feet. My parents are still living in the house they bought when I was nine months old, and that area of Adelaide is firmly imprinted on my memory and my heart, despite so long away. Usually, we stay in the family home when we come to South Australia, but occasionally we rent a house or apartment in a different suburb, and it is always interesting to view Adelaide from a different perspective. It’s like discovering new rooms in a house you thought you knew perfectly well. Suddenly the whole place takes on a different shape, a different atmosphere.

I had that feeling when I first met the One & Only, who grew up by the beach, on the rim of the western suburbs. Although only a fifteen-minute journey from my neighbourhood, it was an area I barely knew, and it felt like a different city. The sea provided a natural border to the suburban homes that, in our area, was provided by wide, river-like main roads, flowing fast into the city. The houses near the beach were more modern, the blocks smaller: 1950s developments versus 19^th century ones. Fences were lower, trees were fewer, fashions were informal. The sunlight dazzled, whereas it dappled through the trees in the eastern suburbs. I knew only one strip of beach from a handful of hot days spent perched on narrow towels, daring ourselves to make the dash across burning sands to dip briefly into freezing sea. The One & Only grew up, like a seahorse, in the waves, and always carries an innate longing for the smell and the sound of the sea. So many early mornings have been spent strolling along a beach, to revive that feeling of sand between the toes and waves lapping against our ankles.

This year, we spent New Year’s Eve at Brighton, with a pop-up party on my sister-in-law’s front lawn, before we straggled down to the beach to perch on the dunes just south of the jetty. As kids raced around the beach in shorts and t-shirts bejewelled in luminescent bracelets, we waited for the 9.30 fireworks – our midnight – to mark the beginning of 2018. Alcohol was outlawed, but still the air vibrated with light-hearted laughter, as we squeezed into ever-decreasing spaces and filled the beach with bodies and bonhomie.

It was a far cry from last year, perched on a balcony high above the Thames, cuddled in duvets and woollen scarves, watching a wintry London mark the end of our years in Manila with breath-taking fireworks that flared pompously along the river, self-consciously aware of their place in the history of a great city, while the Shard’s kaleidoscopic peak corkscrewed through the clouds. Brighton’s pyrotechnics may not have been as histrionic, nor as historic, but they were perfect for a gentle summer evening on a beach bubbling with children and picnic baskets. The immediacy of the experience created an intimate encounter with the sparkling sky. And the grand finale made us gasp, as everyone burst into spontaneous applause.

Posted in Australia, Lifestyle | Tagged Adelaide, beaches, Brighton, David Malouf, Kerryn Goldsworthy, South Australia, Xavier de Maistre | Comments Off

Beaufort and Beyond

Posted on 19 December 2017 by sheg4184

It was my last weekend in Luxembourg before flying south for the winter. I was leaving my One & Only to face alone all that bleak midwinter, at least until he joined me in Australia at Christmas, so we decided to have a last autumn walk together, through the woods north of the city. We headed for Mullerthal, where we also knew of a terrific little place for lunch…

The Mullerthal trail is composed of three distinctive walking paths, one hundred and twelve kilometres long, through an area of Luxembourg known as Little Switzerland. It includes river valleys, fields and forests and leads past any amazing rock formations. We have walked small sections of it before, but today we got distracted by the beauty of the amber-leafed woods and kept driving until we reached the small town of Beaufort. We had noticed signs to Beaufort Castle on previous expeditions, but had always missed the turn-off or got distracted to somewhere else. Today, the road wound through the golden valleys and deposited us at its front door.

Unlike our previous experience of Luxembourg’s numerous castles, Beaufort is not perched high above the town, like an eagle on its eerie, but is tucked away, in a narrow valley, safely protected in the crook of the surrounding hills. The original castle is a medieval ruin, a small 11^th century fortress with thick walls, tiny arrow slots and a deceased moat. A Renaissance chateau was added in 1649 by the Governor of Luxembourg, Baron von Beck and completed by his son. The medieval fortress fell into disrepair in the 18^th century and much of the stone was dragged away by local builders. Partially restored more than a hundred years later, it was opened to the public in 1928. Both the fortress and the chateau were eventually acquired by the State, but the chateau, still in pristine condition, remained a private dwelling until 2012. Unfortunately, we discovered that we had to book in advance to view the chateau, so we will save that for the spring, but in the meantime, there was plenty to explore in the fortress below. For a tiny entrance fee of five euros, we were also given useful notes to guide us through its history. We clambered up rugged, uneven staircases that led us to the top of the towers, or staggered down into the cells. We inspected the Great Hall and the remains of the chapel. But it was in the surprisingly well-lit torture chamber that I suddenly remembered a previous visit, forty years earlier, with my parents.

As I remember it, it was our first camping trip to Europe, in our Volkswagen camper van, Bella. Our first camp site had been on the outskirts of Nancy, and we were heading for the Black Forest, when Dad decided to camp just beyond Luxembourg City. My mother remembers a long trek across the hills with four grumpy children to reach the castle – she even found a photo taken at the beginning of the walk, when everyone was still smiling. Obviously, that didn’t last long.

As I was a keen writer even then (I must have been nine or ten), Dad had suggested I keep a journal of our travels. The only entry I remember making that summer, illustrated with a postcard and an entrance ticket, was about Beaufort Castle, my description focussing almost entirely on the chamber in the bowels of the castle, filled with some gruesome instruments of torture that obviously captured my blood-thirsty imagination. A thumb screw, a spiked rack, a gibbet… today, for those with less vivid imaginations than mine, there are posters hanging on the walls to illustrate the way they were used. Then, I remember, I even wrote a couple of chapters of my first (unfinished) novel based on a medieval castle deep in the forests of central Europe.

Out in the fresh air again, we comment that the castle courtyard could be a pretty setting for a coffee shop or picnic area, but little is offered here in autumn, except the opportunity to taste the castle’s homemade blackcurrant and raspberry liqueurs. In need of sustenance, I bought one large but rather dry muffin, wishing we could engage the help of The British National Trust to set up a proper tea room and gift shop. Then we headed off for a walk, following a path beyond the chateau.

There is a multitude of walking tracks in the area. We picked up a section of the Mullerthal trail that wandered along the edge of a small lake opposite the fortress and followed the stream downhill, through thick drifts of autumn leaves and the odd muddy puddle, lined with impressive rock formations. We were delighted by the tiny stream, skipping and chortling childishly down the valley, occasionally splashing over stone ledges into clear, shallow rock pools, or twirling and swirling under little wooden bridges. We discovered creative saplings, their tap roots buried deep into fissures in the rocks above our heads. From such precarious beginnings, they had woven their roots like fingers around whatever leverage they could find, clinging tenaciously, leaning forever at inebriated angles.

Eventually hunger drove us back up the valley to the car, and a short trip to the lovely restaurant I had in mind: Brasserie Heringer Millen on the Rue des Moulins in Mullerthal. Set in a broad meadow beside one of many small streams in the area, it is an excellent location for hikers passing through, and reviews are both plentiful and enthusiastic. While many converge on the old mill for a well-dressed Sunday lunch, staff seem quite happy to welcome booted hikers, and we have sat out on the terrace on warmer days for a coffee overlooking the meadow and the woods beyond. Sadly, our meanderings meant we had arrived too late to avail of the full a la carte menu, something they didn’t bother to tell us till they had seated us and left us waiting for drinks and menus for twenty minutes. Meanwhile we watched, with mouths watering, as several dishes, looking and smelling quite superb, arrived at nearby tables. I was sorely tempted, in a fit of disappointed pique fuelled by near starvation, to walk out again after such lackluster service. But we decided to stay, and the ‘flammkuch’ with ham and bacon on an airy, crispy base (think sophisticated meat lovers pizza) proved an acceptable alternative to hungry hunters. So, we will definitely have to give it another try in the spring, when we head back to visit the Beaufort chateau. And next time I will be sure book in advance!

*Lovely photos care of the One & Only.

Posted in Food & Wine, History, Luxembourg | Tagged Beaufort, Brasserie Helringer Millen, Luxembourg, Mullerthal | Comments Off

Vines with a View

Posted on 12 December 2017 by sheg4184

Don’t you love those rare days that drift on and on, and seem to stretch like elastic? No rush, no master plan, just endless time. This close to Christmas, such a possibility seems highly unlikely, but three wonderful days in McLaren Vale last week did exactly that: stretching on effortlessly, until we felt as if we’d been away for a week. Unhurried mornings of toast and Vegemite, tea and coffee in the sunny garden of our Port Willunga beach house that flowed gently into chatty walks along the beach at Aldinga, which meandered into luxuriously long lunches with glorious views, and floated into a little wine tasting, a little sight-seeing, a farmer’s market… three days of utterly blissful, utterly relaxed indulgence.

I won’t take you through every minute – Christmas is looming, and none of us have the time – but I would love to recapture some of the highlights for you.

Let’s start near the beginning, then, with a late lunch at Coriole. For me, the view from our table, overlooking lawn and sloping vineyards, with the grey/green hills of the Fleurieu Peninsula hemming the horizon, is quite perfect. Waterfalls of bright spring flowers splash over the rockeries that encircle the cellar door, where we lean on the bar and taste some old favourites. The delicious Dancing Fig, for example, and some wonderful Italian varieties, such as the Nero and the Sangiovese. A glass of Barbera and another of Prosecco accompany us back to our table and through a shared plate of charred brussel sprouts and warrigal greens with confit duck, as we chat with the wonderful, welcoming staff and soak up the view. We procrastinate over more wine, but decide instead to try out a dessert: a wonderfully creamy, but strangely savoury, goats curd pannacotta sprinkled with hazelnuts and dehydrated mandarins that crunched like honeycomb, thus adding satisfying taste texture to the delicate flavour of the pannacotta. I’m not convinced about the basil oil on which it is served, but it certainly adds colour!

I could happily laze here all afternoon, but it seems a little early in the proceedings to take root, so we eventually wander on for a little wine tasting at nearby Mollydookers, with the irrepressible Luke, son of founders Sarah & Sparky Marquis. Here (with the bonus of another amazing view) the ‘blue eyed boy’ leads us enthusiastically through samples of these award-winning wines with their quirky names and offbeat labels. Only established in 2005, Mollydooker (Australian slag for a left-handed person) has already had five of their wines on the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list.

We eventually move on, holding hands with a ‘The Carnival of Love,’ which has made that Wine Spectator list twice. We decide to make a final pit stop at d’Arenberg, to check out the Cube, which officially opens this week. This extraordinary building sits like a twisted, black and white Rubik’s cube, juxtaposed amongst the grape vines and the more traditional d’Arry’s Verandah. It is destined to be a cellar door, a restaurant and an art gallery, and it’s a piece of marketing and architectural genius.

The second day truly seems to go on forever, ‘in the most delightful way,’ to quote Mary Poppins. We collect pretty pebbles on the beach and gleefully hop-scotch across seaweed that pops underfoot like bubble wrap. We drop into Fox Creek for a pre-luncheon tipple of my favourite GSM (Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre) before arriving at ‘Au Pear’ for my (very) belated birthday lunch. From beneath those leafy pear trees, we admire another glorious backdrop: a thick hedge of lush vines and a distant skyline of huge, chalk white gum trees stretching up to pale, puffy clouds.

A skip and a jump down the road from Penny’s Hill Winery, ‘Au Pear’ has been quietly holding court for about five years. It is set beside a vineyard – of course – and we spend several minutes discussing the best location for our lunch: inside, out on the veranda, or on the lawn beneath the pear trees? We eventually choose the shady lawn, and armed with a menu dedicated to local produce, we are spoilt for choice. I have finished a glass of local Grenache rosé and a basket of fresh sour bread served with a glorified lamb dripping before we have decided what to eat. We also enjoy a cosy chat with Chef Ryan to discuss a menu of which he is justly proud.

The new Summer menu includes a sophisticated gazpacho of butter seared shark bay bugs on a bed of finely diced onion and cucumber, an ideal entrée on a warm, breezy afternoon. My sister-in-law revels in an equally delicious ravioli, filled with caramelized onion and local goat’s cheese. Every dish is presented with fabulous flair and eye-appeal. I note that the tiny viola flower seems to have assumed a prominent role in the South Australian dining experience since I last visited, but I am enjoying the artistry and prettiness of its ubiquitous presence on my plate.

As a main course, I fall for the slow-cooked Murray Valley pork belly with stone fruit and a green spinach sauce, with which I sip on a tasty Tempranillo rosé – well who can resist another rosé on such a day? And I am more than happy to swap forks, to try a mouthful of my companion’s fresh fish. Later, appetite sated and dusted with sunshine, I turn down dessert in favour of a glass of light, sparkling wine from Finiss River, which provide a glittering finale to a glorious lunch. We clear out to make way for a late afternoon wedding on the lawn.

And then, unwilling to call it quits, we wander over to Hugh Hamilton’s to round off the afternoon with a little wine and cheese. Again, we are blessed with a magnificent view from a cellar door that hovers above a sea of vines stretching south to the ranges. Rebecca presents us with a platter of cheeses, both local and imported, and begins to pour out the wines to match. Poetically, she draws comparisons of texture between the three Black Blood Shirazes and three pieces of black fabric: denim, velvet and chiffon. It’s fascinating to see which cheeses work with which wines, and, tastes being subjective, we mix and match with differing opinions. My favourite? A Satori dipped in merlot from Wisconsin, matched with The Scoundrel. We happily continue the game as the sun topples gently down the sky, the mourvèdre vines framing our window on this achingly beautiful landscape.

Posted in Australia, Food & Wine | Tagged Aldinga, Au Pear, Carnival of Love, Coriole, Dancing Fig, Fleurieu Peninsula, Fox Creek, Hugh Hamilton, McLaren Vale, Mollydookers, mourvèdre, Shiraz, The Blue-Eyed Boy, Willunga | 2 Comments

The Caledonian Inn

Posted on 30 November 2017 by sheg4184

A wood panelled dining room. A quiet corner table by an open window. A cool evening breeze drifting in, after a molten afternoon. A glass of chilled, Limestone Coast Chardonnay. A book. A sumptuous salmon fillet with a crusty, crunchy skin, resting on a bed of al dente vegetables: broccolini, asparagus, fennel. A caper and dill aioli. A scattering of orange segments, that match the colour of the sun dropping out of the sky. Feel the serenity…

I am a lone diner at the Caledonian Inn, but I have a lovely waitress checking regularly to make sure I have everything I need. I’m thoroughly enjoying my book. I’ve had a call from a friend in Sydney who I haven’t seen in ages. The Chardonnay is crisp and soothing. My salmon is perfection. What more could a girl want?

I have been in Robe for almost a fortnight and this is my fourth visit to the Caledonian Inn. The night we arrived, we wandered down to the beach after dinner, and we ended up stopping in for a drink. Two years ago the hotel’s lease was bought by the Prest family Its hard work, they admit, but they seem to be thriving on it. Since then, the inn has been given quite a makeover. There is music most weekends, and the beach cafe in the beer garden is due to open for the summer in mid December. While my parents caught up with old friends, I joined the fun on the dance floor, as Beachport musician, Bec Willis, played all my favourite cover songs from the ’70s and ’80s.

On Sunday we went back for dinner on the balcony, where we tucked into a beautifully presented and delectable duck breast with a spicy plum sauce. It was a great spot to watch the sun set, too, but eventually I wandered down to the front lawn for an even better view from a wicker armchair above the sea.

The following week, I went again with a friend from Manila days, to relax in the courtyard beergarden brimming with sunshine and jolly holiday makers. There, we happily overindulged in a tasting platter for two, followed by a wonderfully spicy lamb curry, all washed down with a soothing Mount Benson Rosé. The antipasti included some tasty local sausage, Kalamata olives (my favourites) and crispy garlic ciabatta, which I dipped vigorously, lovingly into olive oil and dukkha. The lamb curry was thick, aromatic and full of flavour, and when the spiciness started to overwhelm my tastebuds, there was always more wine. My only sorrow was that our curry followed so hot on the heels of the tasting platter that I had to admit defeat before the bowl of lamb was even half empty.

Robe, once a busy port in the south east corner of South Australia, was established in 1847. The Caledonian Inn was built a decade later, and this handsome, heritage listed building has been an integral part of the town ever since. The most well-known story about it relates to that famous writer of bush ballads, Adam Lindsay Gordon, who dropped into the pub, and ended up marrying the publican’s daughter.

Known locally as ‘the Cally,’ the pub seems popular with locals and visitors alike: the bar and restaurant were both humming with patrons every night that I have popped in. And the staff are already running flat out, although it’s not quite summer. The chefs are a truly multicultural bunch and currently include a Sri Lankan, an Indian, a Chinese-Australian and a Frenchman, and the team is soon to be joined by a Filipino. So ‘Mabuhay‘ to Robe! Each adds an element of exotica to the menu, which is unexpectedly elegant for pub fare, and the portion sizes are sensible . With a little advanced warning, you can even reserve fresh crayfish. Trip Advisor have awarded the hotel a certificate of excellence, and it is well deserved. The food is great, the service is friendly and welcoming, and the atmosphere is lively. The wine list is largely South Australian, and includes a number of interesting local wines from the Coonawarra and Limestone Coast.

I have timed this final visit well. When I arrive, the restaurant is full, and I must wait for a table, but it’s not long before the majority of diners peel off and leave me to soak up the late evening peace. The dessert menu looks tempting (pavlova? coconut pannacotta?) but I decide to finish with a glass of my favourite Bird in Hand bubbles and return happily to my book.

Posted in Australia, Food & Wine | Tagged Limestone Coast, Robe, South Australia, The Caledonian Inn | Comments Off

Matt & Matilda

Posted on 23 November 2017 by sheg4184

“Aussie food truly reflects the multi-cultured nature of our society and we’re all the better for it.” ~ Matt Moran

Up in the lovely, leafy Adelaide Hills is the town of Stirling, with its plethora of deciduous trees and, this month, a glorious bouquet of purple jacaranda. Stirling also has a bouquet of bookshops, including one rather special little beauty called Matilda’s.

Last week Matilda’s joined forces with the Stirling Hotel and Deviation Road Winery to launch Matt Moran’s latest cookbook, ‘Australian Food: Coast and Country.’

I came across the legend that is Matt Moran when we lived in Sydney in the noughties, where he had already built quite an empire. Aria on Circular Quay was a far cry from his beginnings as an apprentice chef in Roseville, aged only sixteen. He opened his first restaurant at the tender age of twenty-two, and today, just shy of fifty, he heads an armada of restaurants across three states.

Despite all this, not to mention a significant television presence and an armful of best-selling cook books, Matt Moran comes across as an open, down-to-earth, easy-going bloke, who shared stories with sixty-odd strangers as if we were old friends.

I had booked this dinner before I flew to Australia, keen to see how East Coast cuisine had developed since we left Sydney in 2010. I came away feeling I had learned more about the man than the business machine. He talked cheerfully of his country childhood, where ‘the closest I got to seafood was a fish finger’ and home cooking was, inevitably, ‘a piece of protein and three veg.’ Even today, he told us ingenuously, he prefers to keep it simple, and ‘Sunday night at home is a boiled egg and toast soldiers.’

Having said that, tonight’s dinner was a beautifully presented, sophisticated assortment of dishes taken from his latest cookbook.

I wandered into the Stirling Hotel with a couple of enthusiastic young women I had been chatting to on the terrace, to find the room already packed with guests. As our hosts ticked off our names, we were handed a glass of 2017 Deviation Road Sauvignon Blanc, a variety, as you may know, that I usually prefer to dodge. Tonight, however, I made an exception, and it proved to be a good decision. Maybe I am just coming around to Sauvignon Blanc in my old age, but I thoroughly enjoyed this fresh and crispy start to the evening. As I sipped, and introduced myself to a room full of strangers, the staff served up the canapés: roughly moulded, very moreish zucchini and feta fritters, and crumbed fish served in a perfect, hand-sized, soft tortilla wrap with a zingy tomato salsa. I anticipated instant deconstruction down my shirt, but – hola! – I succeeded admirably in getting it in my mouth without even a drop wasted.

As we walked into the dining room, I eyeballed the phalanx of wine glasses before me, and promptly discarded my plan to drive home. One glass simply would not make the cut, when we were being offered a different wine with each course.

The seating arrangement was casual, so we all wandered in and sat at two long tables stretching the length of the room. Knowing no one, I was delighted with my extremely gracious and friendly neighbours who were happy to include a lone diner. And I soon realized we all had at least one important thing in common: a passion for food. Not to mention Matt Moran.

As wine number two was poured – a Gruener Veltliner of which I shall talk more later – we were presented with a shared platter of salmon gravlax and a salad of watermelon, pomegranate and whipped feta. Gravlax is a Swedish cured salmon that I have eaten many times, sliced almost as thin as prosciutto. Tonight, it arrives in thick slabs, like sashimi, and I immediately decided this was the only way I would be eating it in future. The salad was light and bright and summery, and while I know pomegranate has become terribly trendy, I can’t resist it, and it complimented the other ingredients perfectly.

Now the wine. Gruener Veltliner. (Spelt with an ‘e’ because I have no idea where to find an umlaut on my keyboard ). This variety originated in Austria, where it accounts for almost a third of Austrian wine production. It has also become extremely popular in the Czech Republic. Beyond Europe, it has already been discovered by the cooler climate American states and the Canadians of the Okanagan Valley. And now, it is in the Adelaide Hills, where Deviation Road is on its third vintage. Gruener Veltliner is apparently known as a food friendly wine, and it certainly matches perfectly with the gravlax. I was delighted with its slightly spicy character and its touch of oak. French oak, of course. Honestly? I read the tasting notes. It is noticeably different to an oaked Riesling, but I will have to try more before I can possibly explain why. Watch this space…

I briefly feigned disinterest in drinking more white wine, until I overheard the waiter say that it was a Chardonnay. I can’t resist a Chardonnay. ‘Ah well,’ I thought, as I belatedly raised my glass in front of the waiter’s nose, ‘the car is definitely camping in the Hills tonight.’

Second course. Spatchcock with a charred corn salad. Spatchcock, or poussin, is young chicken, and these ones had been marinaded in lime and garlic, cumin and paprika and then chargrilled, so the skin is satisfyingly crispy. The charred corn kernels were tossed together with spring onion, avocado and lettuce, and the result was a joyful blast of taste and texture. The platters were quickly wiped clean.

The wine changed colour at this point, to a DR 2016 Pinot Noir. Again, I was tempted to resist, and again I didn’t. This Pinot has a bit more oomph than its subtler European cousins to which I am slowly becoming accustomed, but it was still considerably lighter than the fuller bodied Aussie reds in which I usually indulge. But I really liked it. And it was a very happy accompaniment to the barbecued sirloin served with a ‘killer potato salad’ that I have already tested at home with terrific results, (page 164 in Matt’s new cookbook, and worth the investment for this recipe alone).

Finally, when I had just decided I was full to bursting, I was again forced to eat humble pie, or in this case, a triple chocolate tart. It was absolutely stunning, although I had to admit defeat and left a morsel on my plate. Seriously, the slices were enormous. The DR Sparkling Rosé is a nice little drop, but it would have made a better impression as a pre-dinner drink, I feel, as it’s delicate flavour was engulfed by the richness of the chocolate praline filling.

And I am done.

And yes, I did call a taxi. And the car was quite happy to wait in the hills until I had sobered up! And yes, I did get a photo with the delicious Matt Moran…

Posted in Australia, Food & Wine | Tagged Deviation Road, gravlax, Gruener Veltliner, Matilda's Bookshop, Matt Moran, The Stirling Hotel | Comments Off

Citrus Drizzle Cake

Posted on 12 November 2017 by sheg4184

Its mid-October and the sun is getting lazy, rising reluctantly well after eight o’clock. Yet, way down south on the toenail of Spain, there is still heat in that slothful sun.

Andalucia. Vejer de la Frontera. A sprawling hilltop town – un puebla blanca – with a bird’s eye view across the flood plains of the Barbate River to the Straits of Gibraltar. A strategically placed fortress town since Phoenician times, Vejer has also been occupied by the Carthiginians, the Romans, the Moors and the Castilians. Until the 21st century, the women of Vejer wore long, black cloaks and scarves – cobijada – that veiled bodies, hair, faces like nuns’ habits, a nod to a Moorish past, depicted in paintings all over town. The town has had several name changes over the years. The Moors called it ‘Vejer de la Miel,’ thanks to its many beehives and a thriving honey industry. The Castilians rebranded it ‘Vejer de la Frontera,’ after Ferdinand de Castilla took it from the Moors, wrapping it in high, castellated walls to protect it from further Moorish invasions, and to safeguard the local fisheries from the frequent attacks of the Barbary Corsairs, rapacious pirates from North Africa.

In Vejer de la Frontera – pronounced B’hair, of course – there are still many signs of half a century of Moorish rule. But it is the church bells from the neighbouring Catholic church, Iglesia del Divino Salvador, on Calle Nuestra Señora de la Oliva that wake me up before sunrise, clamouring raucously, louder than a flock of magpies, a strident alarm at the crack of dawn.

At this early hour, the air is clear, calm, cool and still. If I venture out to the echo of the bells, the town seems uninhabited by anything other than pigeons and yesterday’s litter. White washed houses hedge narrow, cobbled streets that wind up and over the hills like a mad rollercoaster, along which the bulls charge wildly every Spring. Broad, thick, wooden doors are studded with fat nails, the knocker like a closed fist. Fatima’s hand, a symbol of protection. Peek through an open doorway to see a porch decorated with brightly coloured, busily patterned tiles, or glimpse a cobbled courtyard trimmed with terracotta pots. Looking north from the Calle de los Remedios, orange orchards and olive groves lie beneath a dusty haze, and flights of wind turbines scar the horizon. Closer to home, windmills of the old-fashioned variety skirt the town, stubby and shabby with conical roofs and bare spokes. A shaded café sells a full English breakfast and a cappuccino on the pavement near the Plaza de España , where date trees encircle a vividly tiled fountain.

Despite such temptations abroad, my preferred spot this early in the day is a sheltered courtyard at the rear of my luxurious hospederia, where I sip a small, strong coffee and peel mandarins that seep sticky juice down my fingers. Here, the white walls rise two storeys, supporting a vociferous vine in dire need of trimming, while the pretty, brickwork floor is cluttered with an array of flowerpots: oleander and geraniums, gerboras and ferns. The sky is already a deep azure blue, the air warm and serene, whispering a promise of midday heat across my skin…

One unusually wet morning – the first rain we have seen after days of clear skies and sultry afternoons – my sister and I leave home early, on a culinary mission. Outside the Hospederia Convento, our hostess awaits, a diminutive Scot with a huge smile and a determined attitude. Annie Manson has lived in Vejer for over a decade, immersing herself in local tastes and traditions. She talks with enthusiastic detail of the local cuisine, and local customs. Then, two Aussie sisters, in the motley company of a Scotswoman, an Irishman, his Basque wife and a Dutch couple from Maastricht, trip down a nearby alley to a tiny market, its walls and ceilings decorated with large, hand-painted tiles depicting flowers, fish and birds in orange and blue. We examine an array of local fish, silver and blue, while Annie gathers supplies for our cooking class. Across the street, a corner grocer’s shop provides a variety of top notch tinned tuna, paprika, peach jam. Around the corner, in a narrow little carniceria, the butcher leans over the counter with samples of thinly sliced jamon wrapped around a baton-shaped biscuit. We nibble eagerly, squeezing into the tiny space to keep out of the rain.

Superb, costly, jamon iberico de bellota or pata negra comes from the small, brown, free-range iberico pig, raised on acorns or olives. My sister and I have been introduced to this amazing appetiser already. Jabugo, a small puebla bianca to the north, is ringed by huge white, windowless jamon factories, its residents experts in this ancient industry. Along the Carretera San Juan del Puerto, numerous shop windows are strung with the dark, dangling limbs of cured, air-dried ham.

Now, back to Vejer and our cooking class. As the rain sets in, we huddle under wind battered umbrellas, and scuttle up the lane to a thick wooden door in the wall sporting a head-sized hatch, like an olde worlde security camera. The house within, Casa Alegre, is a series of rooms stepping up the hillside, the bright kitchen packed to the gunnels with cooking utensils and polychromatic pottery.

‘Annie B.’s Spanish Kitchen’ has already been discovered by the likes of Jamie Oliver and Melbourne chef Frank Camerra. Annie herself even features in Frank’s cookbook ‘Movida Solera.’ My sister came across her classes on an Aussie TV show: Shane Delia’s Moorish Spice Journey. Vejer is proud of its adopted culinary expert, crowning her ‘Vejeriaga de Adopcion’ in 2013 for her contribution to local tourism. As Annie says on her website “the best way to appreciate the culture of any area is through its food and its wine.” We took the bait…

There are eight of us gathered around the large stainless-steel kitchen table: six guests, Annie, and her assistant Pepi, a sweet, smiling Spaniard with no English, who quietly tidies up behind us. Annie provides a long and daunting list of recipes. Yet, with practiced choreography, efficiency and firm organization, combined with six pairs of eager hands, it is surprising how quickly dish after dish is prepared. And despite our incorrigible tendency to chat and giggle, to constant, crisp reminders from Annie that ‘this is not a coffee morning!’ We learn to dip octopus in boiling water so its tentacles curl like Shirley Temples ringlets; to cut white onions wafer thin for the tuna salad, and de-bone tiny, fresh sardines with our fingers. We roll meatballs to bake in the oven and test the local beer, the local wine, the local sherry in its infinite variety. Is it any wonder we are giggling? In no time at all the poolside table is laden with juicy albondigas, diced pulpo, a tangy tuna salad and a luscious Tortilla de Pepi, crispy bread, white wine and more sherry. (Annie is, according to her website, fluent in English, Spanish and Sherry!’)

And the grande finale? A mouth-watering, surprisingly light Citrus Drizzle Cake, made with almond meal and drenched in an oranges-and-lemon syrup that has been imbued with cardamom, cinnamon sticks and star anise. It smells like a lush and sumptuous Christmas pudding. It tastes like heaven.

Before we leave, we climb to the roof top terrace (azotea) of Casa Alegre to appreciate the magnificent view over this glorious, white-washed town and the stark, sun-bleached countryside beyond. We have talked too much, eaten too much, drunk too much and laughed hysterically with this diverse, prodigious collection of new friends. A thoroughly Andalusian culinary adventure.

Posted in Cooking, Spain, Travel | Tagged Andalusia, Annie B.'s Spanish Kitchen, pata negra, pulpo, Spain, Vejer de la Frontera | Comments Off

Autumnal Ramblings

Posted on 5 November 2017 by sheg4184

Trees of bronze and amber drip rusty leaves onto the forest floor.
Mistletoe, like giant Christmas baubles, adorns naked branches.
A rift in the forest is a window onto verdant farmland fanning out to a hazy horizon.

Walking paths, like worm casts, wind around the edge of a lake,
where toddlers pedal frantically on small plastic bikes,
couples stroll hand-in-hand and runners huff-and-puff like steam trains.

A bashful autumn sun ekes out the last droplets of warmth onto thirsty faces
and angel wings are imprinted, lightly, on a cerulean sky.
Far below, a fountain, rising from the lake like an oil geyser, shoots for the moon.

Sparrows skitter across the drooping remains of summer wildflowers,
and a silent heron glides like a ghost across the water,
wings spread-eagled, lanky legs loosely dangling.

We picnic by a pond dimpled with ducks and geese,
and feathered with cast-off foliage,
while the sun melts slowly down the sky…

Posted in Lifestyle, Luxembourg | Tagged autumn, Luxembourg | Comments Off

Bibliomania

Posted on 30 October 2017 by sheg4184

“It borrows, it steals, it assimilates what words it pleases from all points of the compass…” ~ Charles MacKay on the English language.

Bibliomaniac. Isn’t it a wonderful word? I found it in a book called ‘Forgotten English’ by Jeffrey Kacirk that I picked up at a second-hand book shop recently. It means someone with a lunatic’s passion for collecting books.

I am mad about books, and I do mean the physical kind. Elsa, in the novel ‘My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry’ declares that ‘Soup is soup, whatever bowl it’s in,’ and books are still books on an iPad. Like the psychotherapist, however, I prefer a physical book: one to hold, to turn the pages, to drop in the bath; the kind you can smell. I hoard them by my bed and I alphabetize them on the shelves so I can always find the one I want. Whenever we move, I try to purge, but it is usually too painful, so I have travelled round the world for years with crates and crates of paperbacks. Several friends have tried to win me around to the idea of replacing my library of real books with a Kindle. I have heard all the arguments and I get the point. Perhaps I am being stubborn, and environmentally unfriendly, but I’m just not tempted to read off a computer screen.

My mother had a cousin, a rather eccentric man, whose house was filled to overflowing with books. Almost every room, as I remember it, was lined with row upon row of old metal bookcases, the books often two or three deep on the shelves. During rare visits, I would wander, awestruck, up and down the aisles, wondering if he had them all catalogued. Did he still read them? Had he ever read them all? And how on earth did he ever find that one he wanted to read again?

Recently, in Folkestone, we came across a coffee shop on the narrow, precipitous High Street which reminded me of Cousin Ralph’s mania for books. The walls of the cafe were papered with bookshelves and wherever you sat, you were in easy reach of a good read. It made my mouth water. I could have camped there for days. Later, as we unpacked the car after a month on the road, my One & Only grew despairing at the number of books I had collected in bookshops along the way.

Much to my delight, I am not the only bibliomaniac in Luxembourg. Joy of joys, at the bottom of our road is a small café and bar, relaxed, convivial, traditional, and totally chock-full of books. At Café Littéraire le Bovary, bookshelves line the walls, and occasional tables are piled high with paperbacks in at least three languages. Even the stairs to the basement are knee-deep in casually stacked tomes. And guests are invited to swap. The walls are awash with paintings and the window sills wallow in jugs and vases and more books. It is the first café with so much character that we have discovered in Luxembourg, where many restaurants seem uncomfortably formal and somewhat staid.

Outside, through the summer months, the cobbled terrace is scattered with pot plants and small tables, a sunny spot to enjoy the sunshine with a chilled glass of Rosé or an Aperol Spritz, and, of course, a magazine, journal or newspaper. Inside, during cooler seasons, you can wallow in a deep armchair with a coffee and a novel, hedged in by homely clutter and frippery. And according to the website, there are regular music and literary events here if you fancy a little cultural entertainment.

The name, Le Bovary, comes from the novel, Madame Bovary, creation of French writer Gustave Flaubert. This inflammatory tale of a promiscuous doctor’s wife became a nineteenth century bestseller, its author posthumously famous for his novel style of writing: literary realism. Flaubert was also a ‘logophile.’ Another unfashionable word, it means a lover of words. Logophile comes from two Greek words: lógos meaning “word, speech, discourse” and philos meaning “loving, dear.” Flaubert has been described by critics as a ‘martyr of style’ and ‘a zealous pedant,’ nonetheless, his reputation as a realist has lived on.

We have popped in to Le Bovary on many occasions for a coffee or a pre-dinner drink on the terrace, but we hadn’t tested the menu till last month, when a friend invited us to dinner there. The service – as always – was friendly and welcoming, the atmosphere warm and casual. We cosied up in a corner behind the bar, from where we almost needed a shoe-horn to extricate the One & Only later in the evening! I don’t believe they are used to accommodating six foot two Australians.

The menu at Le Bovary is short and sweet. A small blackboard lists half a dozen main courses, another tempts you to a choice of three or four desserts. So, will it be grilled chicken tortillas, homemade hamburgers, or fish ‘n’ chips? Most of the dishes are accompanied by chips served in a miniature metal chip strainer lined with mock newspaper. The servings – unlike the enormous and daunting helpings in many local restaurants – were sensibly sized, but filling, and tasty, reminiscent of English pub food. I found a very pleasant Chardonnay on the wine list, and the Pinot Noir was well received by the others, although no one became ‘bibulous’ (“absorbent like a sponge; addicted to alcohol”) from the excess quaffing of wine. It’s a little pricey, but we are getting used to that in Luxembourg – and we think it worth it for the proximity to home and the lovely atmosphere.

Last weekend, I wandered down the hill with my ‘Piggesnye’ (a Chaucerian endearment) for a romantic dinner à deux. We were almost the first to arrive and were given a small table near the piano. Very soon, Le Bovary was humming with activity, due to the imminent arrival of a young ‘glee-man’ (singer; minstrel) set to serenade us with Brazilian melodies on the acoustic guitar. While I sipped on a deliciously satisfying crémant, and nibbled on my perfectly crispy battered fish, my One & Only indulged in a stein of local beer and a thick, mouth-wateringly meaty hamburger. And eventually, we were duly serenaded by Gregorio and his guitar. It was a wonderfully relaxing evening, and a lovely way to usher in the weekend. So, sated and only slightly intoxicated, we wended our way home to bed, fortunately suffering from neither ‘fotadl’ (“gout”) or ‘tympane’ (“great windiness”). And I will end there, before I am accused of ‘inkhornism,’ or writing a literary composition that is overworked and gratuitously intellectual!

Posted in Food & Wine, Local Culture, Luxembourg | Tagged bibliomaniac, Café Littéraire le Bovary, Gustave Flaubert, Luxembourg, Madame Bovary | Comments Off

Living it up in London

Posted on 10 October 2017 by sheg4184

Earlier this year, I spent an unusually sybaritic week sightseeing and overindulging with a friend from the Philippines on her first trip to London: Hampton Court (food), Harry Potter World (food) and Harrods (and more food). Then there was a river cruise with a highly amusing Cockney guide, a train ride or two, and miles and miles of walking through the city parks and along the Thames.

We saw a musical in the West End from the from row of the balcony. We viewed London from the top of a double decker bus, and then from The Ned’s new roof garden in the City. We walked across Charing Cross Bridge and took photos of the Houses of Parliament in the twilight. We waved to the Queen at Buckingham Palace, and again at Windsor. Unfortunately, she wasn’t free to join us for afternoon tea at Harrods, but we wore our tiaras just in case she changed her mind. We brunched at Borough Market, lunched in a pub by the Thames, and dined at a curry house in Surrey. We drank Butterbeer at Harry Potter World – and I can promise you I won’t be doing that again. I have the souvenir mug, if only to remind me to keep a wide berth! (But the rest of that day was a blast, and we were definitely NOT the only visitors over twelve.) We sang thunderously at a Sunday service in the prettiest, white weatherboard church beside a duck pond. We chatted with the deer in Bushy Park and popped in to see Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. We dashed along Piccadilly in the rain, dodging puddles and pedestrians, armed with umbrellas we had bought at Waterloo… we were the archetypal tourists. It was a non-stop, whirlwind week and the most amazing fun. Even now I can’t think how we squeezed so much into a mere eight days. Or so much eating!

Yet the event we both remember best was a morning at Hampton Court, when the rain drove us out of the Wilderness, across the rose garden and in through the huge gateway to the Clock Court…

Once upon a time, in primary school, I did a project on the history of London, which included trips to the Monument, the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament and Hampton Court. Our class even produced a short play about Henry VIII and his six wives. I was Katherine Howard in pink satin overlaid with black lace. And I had to scream piercingly as I was dragged off to the Tower. As a result, I became obsessed with all things Tudor.

Hampton Court Palace has particularly strong ties to the Tudor Dynasty. Located on the Thames, ten miles upriver from the city of London, it was originally owned by Cardinal Wolsey, a powerful and ambitious statesman and chief advisor to King Henry VIII for many years. He fell from favour, however, when he was unable to procure Henry’s divorce from his first wife, the Spanish princess Katherine of Aragon. Accused of treason, his titles and properties confiscated, Wolsey died en route to his trial. Cheerfully requestioning Hampton Court for himself, King Henry made himself at home, with his new and heavily pregnant bride, Anne Boleyn. The Palace would become a firm favourite with both Henry and his older daughter, Mary.

Yet there is more to Hampton Court than the Tudors. In the 17th century, William and Mary of Orange added a huge Baroque extension and landscaped gardens the designer hoped would rival Versailles. In the 18th century, George I added a Hanoverian flavour, employing the architect Vanbrugh to make improvements and finish the work begun by the Stuarts. So, a tour of the Palace is like travelling through time, from the vast Tudor kitchens and the beautiful chapel with its deep blue, star-spangled ceiling, to the formal state rooms designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and finally to Vanbrugh’s Georgian suite.

As you may have gathered, I have a long-standing love affair with Hampton Court, as much for its extensive grounds as its sumptuous palace. In spring, the Wilderness, on the north side of the palace, is awash with daffodils, and three-hundred-year-old yew trees line the world’s oldest maze. In summer, the walled rose garden is sublime, lush with roses of every imaginable colour. The walled kitchen garden, recently restored to its 18th century splendour, is planted with orderly rows of historically accurate fruit and vegetable crops. In the summer months, you can even buy the produce grown there. Behind the kitchen garden, the latest addition is a magical, mediaeval themed playground for the kids, built on Henry VIII’s jousting yard.

To the east and south of the palace, lies a series of formal gardens, designed in the late 17th century by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, who also planted a grape vine there. Today the ‘Great Vine’ is the world’s longest single grapevine, and is housed in a large conservatory where it still produces a yearly crop of sweet black grapes. These grapes were once kept solely for the king’s table, but these days they are sold to the public. And if your legs need stretching, there are a further 750 acres of deer park and riverside walks along the Thames towards Kingston.

But I am drifting. On a rather drear Spring morning, awash with mizzling rain, we ducked into the palace and donned headphones to listen to some fascinating insights into life at Hampton Court through the ages, following an architectural timeline through Tudor, Stuart and Hanoverian England. We were down in the kitchens, watching a kitchen boy light the fire with a flint and straw when we were rounded up by a troupe of travelling players, and carried off to the Great Hall, where, in time-honoured tradition, we settled down to watch a short production that had been written specifically for Hampton Court Palace by playwright Sarah Dickenson. In Mediaeval England, the Royal Family would not have attended plays with the commoners in the London playhouses. Instead, acting troupes would occasionally be asked to perform at Court. In the early 17^th century, Shakespeare and his troupe performed many times at Hampton Court Palace.

Today’s historical drama is set in the summer of 1533, as the new Royal couple move into the Palace. The play begins in the Great Hall, where renovations are under way, and Anne is heavily pregnant with Henry’s desperately needed son and heir, and being a thoroughly stroppy cow, doubtless thanks to hormones and the ill-informed belief she is having a boy.

As the tale unfolds, we follow the players through the Tudor palace, who gradually expose the hopes and fears of this infamous King of England, and the complex political machinations of his courtiers. There are ten performers: Henry and Anne of course, with Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer, the politician and the pontiff closest to Henry at the time. Anne’s waiting woman, Bess, is Anne’s dubious ally. Jane Seymour has just arrived at Court with her brother Edward, from the household of the dethroned Queen Catherine, and soon, herself, to be queen number three. Two townsfolk, George and Mary provide voices for the commoners, while Grace, minstrel and narrator, weaves the threads together.

We were entranced by the performance, and the only nuisance was that the troupe split up at one point to tell opposing tales, but we could only follow one of the lead players. Nonetheless, we were both educated and entertained by this lively interpretation of an infamous era of British history. And I find I am still besotted with all things Tudor.

Posted in England, History, Travel | Tagged Anne Boleyn, Hampton Court, Harrods, Harry Potter, Henry VIII, Sir Christopher Wren, Tudor | Comments Off

Compare & Contrast

Posted on 30 September 2017 by sheg4184

Nine months ago, we packed our bags and too many boxes, and headed out to Ninoy Aquino International Airport for the last time. It was six years and a matter of days since I had first arrived in the Philippines. During those busy years, I had incredible experiences, made wonderful friends, ate amazing food (in every sense of the word), and wrote a book about it all. In six years, though, I never did acclimatize to the tropical heat and humidity. It made me sluggish and cross, and inclined to hide away in the air-conditioning during the hottest months. So, while the farewells were tough, I was over the moon to be returning to more temperate climes, where I could indulge in a boot fetish and lots of woolly jumpers…

And I must admit, I am thriving in the cooler temperatures of Europe in general and Luxembourg in particular – although I have been surprised at how hot and humid it can get here, too, in the middle of summer. I have enjoyed watching the seasons change: the crisp and misty winter mornings; the magically emerging spring; the luxuriant summer running rampant through the woods; the glorious shades of autumn tinting the trees in carmine and coral, gold and ochre, orange and vermilion. I love, love, love the long summer evenings, that stay light till forever, and I don’t even mind that the days close up so early in winter, after the never-changing routine of 12 hours of daylight nearer the equator.

That there is more aesthetic appeal to turrets and spires and ancient castle walls then concrete overpasses and tangled ropes of electric cables looping overhead is inarguable. Or that a walk in the woods in clean air full of birdsong is irrefutably preferable to sweating along broken pavements dodging bikes and jeepneys. And yet… and yet, I find myself missing our life in Manila. And I am often taken aback at the odd things that make me homesick. Recently, I re-read two articles I wrote in the early days, in which I listed all the things I already loved about the Philippines. They were light-hearted articles, but they threw me straight back to those first impressions. And I found myself unavoidably comparing them to life in Luxembourg.

My points, ten in total, included fun things like jeepneys. In Luxembourg, buckets of euros are spent on building bridges and the most frightening efficient – and cheap – transport system in Europe, and yet nothing has the quirky charm of the jeepney. And the taxis here, while they actually have suspension, cost a fortune.

And I always loved the Filipinos unique use of the English language. Here in Luxembourg, I am sure I cause my fair share of amusement for my unique use of the French language, but that is more due to rust than imaginative creativity. (And I sometimes think the Europeans have a better grasp of English grammar than I do myself.)

In the Philippines, there was the ‘suggestion’ of road rules, as most people drive like cowboys, when the traffic is moving at all. This bears no resemblance whatsoever to a driving culture in Luxembourg that seems like a nanny state by comparison. We have already totted up a handful of minor speeding fines thanks to to the constantly changing speed limits and the constant presence of security cameras. Security can be tight in Manila, but not necessarily on the roads. And I find I miss the freedom to drive like a cowboy, too.

I loved the Manila markets, and wrote copiously about them, so I was delighted to find that we have a great food market in the middle of Luxembourg, twice a week, full of the most wonderful fresh produce, home-made jams, salamis, cheeses and flowers. There is not, however, the abundance of fascinating cooked food or wonderful Filipino crafts in evidence as there were in Legaspi. And the Luxembourgers just don’t seem to have that same passion for food that was the norm in the Philippines. Even the coffee was better in Manila.

I am not yet missing the luxury of help in the house. So far, housework retains a certain degree of novelty value that hasn’t yet worn thin, but I expect that to change at any moment. After all, there’s only so much joy you can achieve with a duster and a mop. I remember one friend returning to England and bemoaning the fact that however long she hung out at Sainsbury’s, the house elves just weren’t getting the job done.

I do miss the smiling. It sounds clichéd, I know, but people don’t smile much in Luxembourg. Luxembourg is the wealthiest country in the world, per capita than anywhere but Qatar, apparently. The Luxembourgish are well educated and fluent in at least three languages. While it is a tiny city of only 120,00 (Manila has 20 million) it punches above its weight for culture, with its entertainment centres, art galleries and ridiculous numbers of eateries.

Yet, despite such affluence, few people smile here. I am invisible at worst, unacknowledged at best. I have tried wearing them down by beaming at everyone I walk past, but mostly they pointedly look the other way. Or they stare at me fixedly, unblinking, as if I had suddenly grown an extra head. They will come around eventually, I am sure, but it is taking more time than I had expected. So I do miss those fabulous Filipino smiles, whatever the weather, whatever their own personal problems or hardships. Those smiles from strangers used to make my day, and make me feel as if I were a special part of the community.

And, of course, I miss like crazy the many special friends I made in Manila, locals and expats both. I guess that will always happen when one leads a nomadic life, but I had forgotten the emptiness of facing a new life without a single friend. (And I don’t mean to discount the One & Only, but he is a bit office bound these days, and not always available for a coffee and a gossip.) After six years in the Philippines, many of my first bunch of expatriate friends had moved on, but there were plenty still in town, and more friends to be made every day. And tManila was one of the few postings we have had where we were able to make so many local friends, and not live purely in an expat bubble. In Luxembourg, in my experience, it is not only rare to find a local, but they do tend to keep to themselves. I am slowly gathering up some friends now, but it has been a long process. Perhaps this is partly because so many people working here actually live beyond Luxembourg’s borders, commuting daily from France, Belgium and Germany. This has made it hard to find a niche, as a trailing spouse, especially with no kids in tow this time.

The strangest thing I find I miss – was not expecting to miss – is the sense of adventure that flavoured every day we spent in the Philippines. Whether it was the traffic jams or the storms, the shopping or the travelling, everything we saw, heard, smelled, touched or tasted, love it or hate it, was a daily challenge to the senses; an adrenalin fix sorely lacking in this most civilized and organized of cities. At first, such methodical, structured correctness was balm for the soul, but now I find I miss the furious urgency I used to feel when trying to achieve something quite simple in Manila, and the staggering sense of delight when I actually managed to get something done.

In Luxembourg, I am reminded almost daily of Tim Winton, who wrote in his memoir An Island Home about the total domestication of Europe that he had “never encountered places so relentlessly denatured… it seemed that every field, hedge and well was named, apportioned and accounted for.”

The same could never be said about Manila. The unpredictability, the inefficiency, the pollution and the madness can all drive you crazy, but it can also be fun. While we foreigners may rant and rave when life did not go smoothly, the Filipinos faced it all with those patient, unassuming smiles. And it certainly ensures a life less ordinary.

In Luxembourg the pollution is almost non-existent, as the country is largely rural with a high density of forest: ‘the lungs of the city’ as the tourist brochures proclaim. And I certainly don’t miss Manila’s mustard coloured skies. Here the roads are wide and rarely filled with cars: the rush hour is just that. An hour. And everywhere I want to go is no more than fifteen minutes away, except IKEA which involves crossing the border to Belgium, but it’s still only half an hour in the car. Such luxury was unheard of in Manila, unless it was a major public holiday.

So, I still don’t miss the heat, the pollution or being stuck in the traffic for days. But the joy of stepping under a cold shower, when the heat was literally rising in waves of your body, was breath-taking. In the Philippines, it was a life of extraordinary juxtapositions and violent extremes, both good and bad. It was a life lived on the edge of your seat. Here I wonder if everyone is on Valium. The atmosphere of safe, unruffled calm is something I still find a little unnerving. And on a Sunday morning you can drive across the city and see no one and nothing is moving: it’s like a ghost town.

Never, can I imagine that thrumming, smog-bound, madcap tropical city resembling a ghost town. And I miss the madness. When you are immersed in it, it can be overwhelming, sometimes even a bit frightening. But you know you are alive.

Posted in Lifestyle, Local Culture, Luxembourg, Philippines | Tagged jeepneys, Luxembourg, manila, The Philippines, Tim Winton | 1 Comment