Da Noi and Sardinia GS Group Reunion

So here's a little background on the main reason I am in Melbourne this weekend. After our fantastic trip to Sardinia and Corsica in June this year, the GS group decided to meet up for a reunion. Well, the time has finally come and we all made it, all but one person. Pretty good I think for all of us who lead such busy lives.

Our reunion meet up was to have dinner at our friend Pietro Porcu's Melbourne restaurant Da Noi, located in South Yarra. I have been looking forward to this reunion as there were so many nice people I had met on that trip that I wanted to reconnect with.

Well, I wasn't disappointed. Deja vu hit me big time as more and more of us came into a specially booked room that Pietro was kind enough to set aside for us. It was located at the rear of the restaurant with it's own spit fire. As I walked in I could see a suckling pig slowly being roasted over the open fire. Wow, what a visual greeting!

The open fire also served to keep the room all warm and toasty; it being a relatively cool evening in Melbourne. I was lucky enough to be given permission to check out the kitchen, the very heart of any restaurant. It was small but occupied by a team of enthusiastic and friendly chefs and apprentices.

Reflections on the Corsica/Sardinia Tour

Wow! I can't quite believe that my holiday is over. It feels like yesterday since I landed in Cagliari all excited about the gourmet tour I was about to embark on.

Below are some pictures of some of the good breakfasts options we have been served with.

I was wondering what the group would be like and I can honestly say that it was a good group. We had common interests which made it all the much easier to bond quickly. What were the common interests? Well I can safely say they were travel, discovering the different cultures, history and great food.

Pietro and his mother Maria

We were also very lucky to have Maeve, Pietro and Liz lead us in this tour. Being the first group in this brand new tour meant we got thrown everything!! How lucky were we? Pietro's contribution was invaluable. His knowledge of Sardinia (history, culture, language and food) brought a magic factor to the group. Liz was ever so patient, kind and caring to all of us. She is a great and experience tour leader. And Maeve, well can I say about Maeve?!?! Maeve's charming personality help win over some very interesting characters and she was so dedicated in trying to give us all the best experiences possible.

Maeve with Antoine the butcher

From the group, I believe I have made some friendships that will go on even after the holidays are over. For that I am thankful. Thank you to my fellow travellers for your encouragement and support of my blog during our trip. I could not believe how you have embraced my blog and how you spread the word to your family and friends. And also the positive comments from your family and friends!

A suckling pig's ear

A Sardinian lady looking out her window

Thank you to those who had added lovely comments on some of my posts, like Annette, Maryann and Maeve. Thank you also to Maeve for mentioning my blog in the most recent newsletter that came out  a few days ago. I would also like to acknowledge the continued support from my Aussie friends at home.

Ignacio - our Sardinian bus driver singing an Italian love song!

I have received comments about how some of the posts look so professional (both while on holiday and back home). I will take it as a compliment. Maybe the saying 'practice makes perfect' is applicable. I don't mean it was perfect but I think that the daily write ups helped improve my writing skills. Maybe I was inspired by what I saw, absorbed and tasted. Maybe having someone like Pietro help explain to me in detail some of ingredients and how things were made helped me up the ante! Maybe it is a combination of all the above! Who knows!?!?!

Maggie - all relaxed while waiting for the bus

Pane carasau with grilled cheese and honey - delicious!

But one thing I will say, what a fantastic time I have had and I am looking forward to the next gourmet adventure. So Maeve, let me know when your next new adventure is and I will sign up for it!

For those of you who intend to occasionally check my blog (feel free to occasionally drop a comment!), thank you and I will strive to keep up the standards but don't be too disappointed if the standards drop just a little. I also don't believe I will be as prolific as I have been during the trip. There was just so much to write about. Maybe I need another holiday to inspire me, eh?!? :-)

Warwick and Linley - relaxing by the A Pignata pool!

Cheers to all!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Last Lunch in Sardinia

For our last lunch in the island of Sardinia, Maeve and her team took us to the picturesque town of Cannigione. Here is a town in a beautiful seaside location, looking out to Costa Smeralda. What a view, what a life! From my perspective, this town is akin to Santa Barbara or Montecito (in the US) in terms of location, real estate prices and popularity in the summer.

We were told that in the peak summer season (July/August), about 4 million Italians land in Costa Smeralda. What a thought! Imagine being surrounded by all those people and being made to go through tremendous traffic jams. I am glad it is only June.

We were all feeling quite hungry by the time we arrived here. So we were really looking forward to lunch and I myself was wondering what specialties would there be to look forward to. Well, let me say I was not disappointed at all. As this was our last lunch in Sardinia, it is fitting that it was an excellent meal.

Pietro was recommended this restaurant by another Sardinian chef and we came here with the team not having had the chance to taste test the food previously. So it was truly an adventure for everyone of us.

Luca Frasconi is the owner and chef of this seafood restaurant. He runs it with his ever efficient wife. The restaurant is called La Conia.

Chef Luca Frasconi

Our first course was a Seafood antipasto plate. There was tuna, swordfish, octopus and baked scallops. It was truly delicious! My favourite was the octopus. It was so tender and succulent.

Our second course was Seafood pasta. There were mussels, crabs and baby squids in the pasta sauce. I loved it! The pasta was once again beautifully al dente.

Our dessert was a spectacular lemon sorbet. Even though it was called a sorbet, I did not feel like it was a sorbet. It was glossy, creamy, smooth with a hint of lemon and absolutely yummy! Everyone loved it!

It ended with some espresso and we were all set for the rest of our onward journey to the top of the island.

Orgosolo

Orgosolo is a town known for its' murals. Bus loads of tourists visit this place to stroll through the streets taking pictures of the murals. Obviously one of them includes us Gourmet Safaris folks.

On the one hand I can sense that the town folk are keen to have us tourists visit as we do bring revenue to them in terms of souvenirs and food and beverage. But on the other hand, I can also sense some resentment on their part that these hordes of tourists have invaded their town to some degree.

But alas, such is life (c'est la vie) that we do what we always do when we see something unique, that is take lots of photos and enjoy the sights. On top of that, get loads of souvenirs!

Before I forget, I must mention that Orgosolo is also known for it's bandito days. Basically it means there were rival gangs in town and the news of someone being shot dead did not cause any local eyes to blink. But today's blog post is focusing on the more positive side of the town, their murals.

Murals are a form of street art graffiti and the ones that have been painted in Orgosolo are by various local artists. Many of them signify political messages and others are painted to depict the Sardinian way of life, history and culture.

One of the streets of Orgosolo

What a fascinating town. In many ways it is so artistic and yet it is the home to many town folk who live here and work here. They pass these murals every day of their life and think nothing of it. I wonder if they even truly look at them anymore or have they become so used to these murals that they seem like a normal part of their life?

Our Group Photo in Sardinia

I thought it appropriate to post a separate blog post for our group photo. While we were at Su Gologone, Maeve organised for all of us to wear our special Gourmet Safaris apron. The apron was given to the group as part of the gourmet tour.

We wore it when we were helping Pietro out during his lunch marathon session in Cagliari. I must say that the photos have turned out rather well.

So, here it is, the group looking quite uniformed. We interrupted the Sardinian singers to get the right lights for the shots. But they were quite gracious about it.

It is also the last group photo we have with Pietro as we had to say goodbye to him the next day when we departed for Corsica.

Even though we are just past half way through this fantastic tour, please do consider checking Gourmet Safaris out. They really know how to organise things to the most minute of details. You will not be disappointed.

Gourmet Safaris
Website: www.gourmetsafaris.com.au

Su Gologone

We stayed at Su Gologone for 2 nights. This is a resort set in the most glorious of settings that you can imagine. Behind the resort is  a mountain range which sets a beautiful backdrop for the resort. Around the resort are small vineyards and lots of foliage. This area certainly has some interesting plants. There is among the foliage, quite a large number of cacti.

It is located near the town of Oliena. I think we all fell a little in love with it. It is so picturesque. There is an outdoor kitchen which cooks the suckling pigs and other types of meat. There is the swimming pool and spa. On top of that, there are multiple areas to hang out for drinks or just chill out. This place is quite popular with European tourists. While I was there, I saw guests from Italy, France, Germany and obviously Australians.

For both nights, we had our dinner there. The first night was a set menu, and the waitresses kept doling out good quality food. There were dishes such as fennel fritters, cheese balls, mushroom salad, pane frattau, macaroni with tomato sauce and cheese and tomatoes with grated pecorino.

The second night, we had a la carte, so it was a little more selective for us. I chose Fresh pasta with fresh herbs and tomato sauce. Deb, Margaret and I shared 2 side dishes. These were Stewed French Beans with Potatoes and Pan Fried Peppers, Onions and Tomatoes. I think all of us enjoyed our selections.

Giovanna, who is the daughter of the family who owns the resort, was very hospitable to us and most especially, she and Maeve became fast friends.

Even the boutique is located in a beautiful setting. A lot of the craft work is done onsite and there is a kiln in the boutique for some of the onsite pottery artwork.

While we were there, Giovanna organised a Sardinian singing group to entertain us on the second evening. It was an 'a capella' group and they made the effort to explain to us their method of singing, of warming up and the type of music they were singing. This occurred before each song set.

We found their historical costumes fascinating. What was also very interesting was that they sang to each other in a circle. This was for acoustics purposes and in addition they listened to each other tones as they were singing in other to get the right tone for their own vocal range. The vocal tones were brilliant! Beautiful singing!

There was even a dancing lesson with the Gourmet Safaris team of Maeve, Pietro and Liz.

The Gourmet Safaris team dancing with the Sardinian singers

By the way, the backdrop of the singing was an outdoor bar/cocktail level with the mountain range behind us. How good is that?!?

Su Gologone
Oliena (Nuoro)
Website: www.sugologone.it

A Day at Cala di Luna

We took a boat out to the seas in the East Coast of the island of Sardinia from the town of Cala Gonone. The boat is normally a fishing boat but in this case, it took us to the coastal waters of the Gulf of Orosei.

The boat

The view as we departed from the wharf

As we were heading towards our destination, I could see all the large rock formations and there were so many caves (grottos) in the rock walls.

We arrived near Cala di Luna and one of the challenges the group found was the hard pebbles on the beach. It was quite hard to walk around and some of us (including me) struggled to walk up towards the bank when the tide was high. Honestly, we were laughing our heads off at each other. We did look quite comical.

The waters were beautiful, the water had elements of blue and green colours. The temperature of the water was quite brisk but on a warm summer's day it was so refreshing. We all had a smashing good time.

Linley, one of a few of our group who collect interesting stones, found some lovely coloured stones while walking along the beach.

The 'shady' ladies - Wendy, Florence and Betty

For lunch, the boat's team went out to catch some fish and we sat in the boat in a cove watching them grill the seafood.  Before we took anchor for lunch, it was quite fascinating to see the team work together to hook the rope to a particular hook embedded in the rocks.

The waters were pretty choppy going to Cala di Luna and in the area we stopped for lunch there was choppy waters too. So the boat did rock back and forth quite a bit. As a result, while we were having lunch, I started to feel a tad 'green'. I am glad I was not the only one feeling that way, so the few of us feeling a little ill sat at the front deck and focused on looking at the horizon.

The guys on the boat are so efficient in how they set out the tables on the tiny boat and cutleries They served the group pasta with some octopus in the sauce. That, I must say, was quite delicious. Then we were served a platter of grilled fish (so fresh), we could choose the type of fish and I ended up with a mullet. Normally I would have said that I did enjoy the very fresh fish which was grilled beautifully. But I wasn't feeling too flash by then and I lost some appreciation of the food. But there was one particular character on the boat who was such an entertainer. He warmed up to us as the day progressed and was quite entertaining and jovial. Along this trip we have met so many interesting and unique characters.

But once the boat went on its way and we felt the sea breeze, we were all back to feeling quite normal.

On the way back, we stopped at another beach and took another swim. I managed to get my feet wet and found the water quite refreshing.

In spite of not feeling too well for a certain period of time, I really had a great time and I believe the whole group did too.

These are some of the boat guys. Great team work!

The charming one - I think his name is Paolo