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Food Revolution Day!

Food Revolution Day – A day to bring together loved ones and work together to celebrate and share real good food. What better way to spend the evening?

Each day, we are surrounded by various processed and packaged foods by supermarket giants. What’s more convenient: consuming food that is naturally grown and nurtured or risking our health with numbers and long scientific words?

There is so much value in good food and where it comes from. The more I cook at home, I learn about what I am consuming; appreciate it’s origin and the effort put into making it. So I try and make better choices; explore better ways to fuel my body to have good consistent energy levels. The fun part – learning and sharing the knowledge and of course the food!

Colour me happy

My favourite blogs for bright, fun, crafty and colourful inspiration. And… The link between food… well that’s just a coincidence!

Griottes A blog by Emilie Guelpa. She is a freelance stylist, photographer, a cook book author and a columnists for Decor8. Her hands-on approach gives her work a sense of craftiness, makes it textural, playful and brings it to life. Her style is simple, soft and bright, with thoughtful compositions.

Fricote A culinary urban street magazine with a unique design look that is fun, quirky and crafty. Their work has a nice community network in which they seem to aim towards.

Design Love Fest by Bri Emery with the help of her contributors. with the above images by Stephanie from the Colourfest column. Bri Emery owns Designlovefest, a graphic design studio; is Art Director of Rue Magazine, authors Closet & Casa column on Oh Joy! The style is light hearted, fun and quirky, with the choice of elegance and cheer in the pieces used for styling.

Winter’s here and most of us start wearing our dark colours or just shades of black and grey. Colour brings life and positive energy, so don’t be afraid of using it.

Cinque Terre & Pisa, Italy

With a new group of friends from Plus Florence, we explored Florence to the early hours of the morning. I highly recommend exploring the sites both in the evening and during the day, as you get to see these historic beauties shine under the stars and with less people in your way.

As the sun rose, we freshened up and ran to the train station on our way to explore the villages, hillside and coastline of the stunning Cinque Terre. We strategised and caught the train straight to Monterosso and made our way to Vernazza, as this was advised to be the hardest hike of them all. It was a very warm day, so we were glad to be able to relax at the biggest beach at Monterrosso and enjoy a good Italian fresh seafood lunch at Vernazza, as a reward for completing the hardest hike of the coast-line early in the morning, away from the midday heat.

After a lunch break, we kept hiking down the coastline from Vernazza to Corniglia to Manorola and ending with the ‘walk of love’ to Riomaggiore. Buildings and boats of bright bold colours; the coastline of beautiful blues and strong waves; green olive groves and the plants and insects surrounding were absolutely breath taking; literally – the hike was pretty exhausting every time I stopped and thought about it. It was with sheer determination that I managed to keep going, as I was wasn’t going to give up on something I started – especially when I was half way across the world! With such a hike, we just kept going, though there were a couple that took the train from village to village to relax and go on a food scout instead! Try pesto; seafood – lobster; wine; limocello; the Anchovies from Monterosso; Farinata; and Gelato from Corniglia.

After about 8 hours of hiking through Cinque Terre, we bumped into those that took the train at Riomaggiore and decided to continue our day trip, hoping that we would make it back to Florence if we stopped by Pisa. So we took the risk, with our fate in the hands of the trains.

We were exhausted, as a couple of us were on a train rides sleep, a lunch meal and legs that hiked all day in the heat. We were delusional by that time, as we read the trains schedule over and over, to make sure we’d make it back to Florence. By the time we hopped off the train, we re-calculated and realised we only had a maximum of 30 minutes before the last train to Florence came. That meant, 10 minutes to get to Pisa, 10 minutes to take look around and 10 minutes to get back to the station. Fortunately, the main attractions of Pisa were all at the main square, which was the Square of Miracles. The sights included The Leaning Tower of Pisa; Pisa Baptisery; Pisa Cemetery Camposanto. This was the tightest schedule we were on and when it was time to go, we bolted! We ran back to the station and luckily made it onto the train just in the nick of time!

Chianti, Tuscany, Italy

I couldn’t bare the thought of being so close to Tuscany and not seeing a part of it, so I just had to get myself onto a tour. The only time I could fit one in was that afternoon, and fortunately there was one to join: 5 hours to and from Chianti Classico.

The tour where we drove through the beautiful Tuscan landscapes of vines and olive trees, villas, castles and farmhouses. Once we arrived we were told about the local wine-growing traditions, toured the cellar and sampled three prestigious wines, accompanied with snacks: Classic Chianti; Chianti Reserve; Vin Santo; a little platter of Crostini with Pecorino cheese; and Cantucci di Prato (anise-flavored almond biscotti).

This was a perfect way to spend the afternoon; relaxing with cheese, wine and good company in the beautiful region of Tuscany.

Florence, Italy

Next stop, Florence. Well known for their cathedrals, museum, art galleries and of course Michelangelo’s David, which was found in the Accademia Gallery. If you don’t want to wait in a queue for too long, grab breakfast and get there early, so you can eat while you wait and potentially avoid the queue (there was a queue before it opened) or pre-book tickets. Pre-booking tickets a day before will save a lot of queuing time, which means you can explore even more!

With the Mercato Centrale down the road from Plus Florence toward the train station, we stopped here first to find ourselves some bargains. My goal was to find a good Italian leather jacket, and I did, soft dark drown leather with a hood. What a bonus!

My main love for markets is the food! Inside we found fresh fruit and veggies, fresh pasta, meats, flowers and more. Thanks to KA, the best Pork Sandwiches were found at the Nerbone food stall. You can’t miss this stall and you can’t leave Florence without trying their Panino con il Lampredotto (tripe sandwich) with the bread bagnato (briefly dipped in the tripe cooking liquid), and have both the salsa verde and salsa piccante (a spicy cayenne sauce) slathered on top. There was a large queue each time I was here. They also sell pastas and other dishes, but I couldn’t read the menu, as it was only in Italian and Chinese, so for me, it was the pork sandwiches all the way! It was amazing to see the guys chop up the meat, serve everyone and still be friendly in such a hectic environment. The atmosphere was incredible!

In the city centre of Florence, some of the main sites we visited included the Duomo District, where located was the Duomo Cathedral; Giotti’s Tower; San Giovanni Square; the Baptistery; Duomo Museum; Medici Chapels; San Lorenzo Church. These buildings were very unique, as they were gothic in style and white with green and pink in colours. These colours amazed me, as it was such a strong point of difference being vibrant in tones and colours in comparison to the other buildings I had previously come across. Close by was the Signoria District, which included the statue of Nettuno; Clock Tower; and wild hog. Followed on was the Uffizi gallery that led to the Vecchio Bridge, which is the oldest bridge in Florence. It had many jewellery shops along it and crossed the Arno and lead the way to Pitti Palace.

On our way to catch the train to Rome, we made sure we picked up our last pork sandwich from Nerbone. It was so busy, but we managed to order and go. As we were leaving, we passed a bakery, which was in front of one of the exits that lead to the steps of the leather markets, It had delicious home made looking goodies, that had no prices or labels on any items. We took a punt and ordered a few, hoping that they weren’t expensive and were as good as they looked. We had all this on the train for lunch and wished we ordered more. The pastries crumbled and the fillings were smooth, highlighting the main flavours of each item, without being too sweet. The food at these markets were cheap and so so so good – Pure bliss!

Venice, Italy

After some drama trying to get NL’s luggage out from one of the lockers at the train station in Salzburg, we eventually managed to contact security to sort it out, which with relief allowed us to hop onto the night train to Venice.

From the train station, we caught the water bus to the city and explored through the many pathways that linked from one to another. We found our way to the St Marco’s Square and explored the beautiful architecture of St. Mark’s Basilica, where you must be covered up to enter; St Marks Campanile (Bell Tower); and the Bridge of Sighs, where I entered Doge’s Palace and managed to get a view looking out from it.

We went on a Gondola Grand Canal Tour, which gave us another perspective of Venice, as   our gondola driver told us some facts of Venice along the way. It also allowed us to see the beautiful textures and colours of the buildings along the canals, which were caused by water damage. We were also fortunate enough to receive some entertainment during our tour, as a couple were on a gondola tour that had someone who sang for beautifully to them through the canals. Bonus! I would recommend taking a tour early, or away from peak hours, as the canals tend to get jammed with gondolas, which means a stationery or very slow gondola journey.

For dinner, we managed to hit the mark with an honest, simple Italian meal at Trattoria Casa Mia, which was with thanks to the owners of Hotel Bernardi for their recommendation. We ordered clam spaghetti, lasagne and beef pizza – minimal, tasty and truley satisfying! To top that off, we did a final walk around Venice and crossed over the Rialto bridge, then ordered mini cannoli’s and gelato. A wonderful culinery start to the Italy leg of this adventure, surrounded by beautiful architecture, bridges, canals, small intertwining pathways and it’s uniqueness of it’s water surroundings.

PS. If you like Kinder – This Kinder Cereali Summer was amazing – crunchy, smooth, white chocolate, milk chocolate – all the layers, textures and how it was made to be eaten, made it ever so tasty! I had a soft spot for kinder, so this took me to another level and gave me a great idea of a kinder mission to add to this Europe adventure.

Salzburg, Austria

With little sleep, we caught the train to through the beautiful country landscapes of Austria to Salzburg for The Sound of  Music Panoramic Bus Tour. With the films’ songs as background music, the bus took us to many picturesque and historic landscapes and sites that appeared on The Sound of Music, such as Mirabell Garden; Lepoldskron Castle; Nonnberg Abey, the oldest convent in the German part of Europe; St Gilgen and Lake Wolfgang; and Wedding Curch Mondsee, where we stopped by Braun for their delicious apple strudel. This was a good tour that was informative and relaxing, as there was time to relax and explore all stops.

After the tour, we strolled along Getreidegasse, where there were shops and restaurants designed inside beautiful small medieval buildings, that had low ceilings and were right next to one another. There was a nice, warm and historic feeling of the street and the shops here.

On the menu for the dinner was Pinzgauer Specktorte, pork topped with cheese and bacon; and for dessert we had cheese dumplings that were covered with chocolate and fruit. Then we finished the evening and our day in Salzburg with a drink on the Hotel Stein rooftop, looking out at the impeccable view of the city all lit up.

Vienna, Austria

After a late night in Prague, we were lucky that CD eventually heard the alarm we had set to get us to the train station on time. Oh boy was that a rush! – 3 females taking turns for 1 bathroom, then bolting out the hotel with all our luggage and racing to the station to catch our train to the music centre of Europe, Vienna. Yes – we made it!

First stop – breakfast across the the road from Wombats Hostel, within the amazing open-air Naschmarkt. We walked up and down these markets with excitement and amazement of the cafes, fresh fruits and veggies, fresh pastas, spices, dried fruits, chocolates, teas, bakeries and more. So many goodies! My 2 favourite items were wasabi peanuts that had a nice hot crispy shell around the peanuts and naturally dried strawberries. I’ll be honest, markets are my weakness!

Next stop, with of course a take away apple strudel for the trip, the beautiful Schönbrunn Palace. So spacious and beautifully maintained, with gorgeous gardens that surrounded the Palace. We were pretty wrecked from the morning’s go-go-go speed, so we jumped onto the horse-drawn omnibus to tour the surroundings of the Palace, where we learnt a few little things. I would walk it next time around, as you get to see and explore everything in much more depth. However, this did save us some energy, for us to walk to the back of the Palace and visit Tiergarten Schönbrunn Zoo, which is the world’s oldest zoo. CD was on a mission to find the pandas, so we mapped out a route to find them and all the other animals we had never seen before and looped the zoo. We eventually found them and sat there watching them until they made more than just eating motions.

We were very tight for time, as we were gave ourselves 1 day there, so we headed off to find the Brunnenmarkt, which was unfortunately closed by the time we arrived. So we rushed off to Ringstraße, which was an impressive ring boulevard that consisted of the beautiful buildings and sights of the State Opera House, Hofburg Imperial Palace, Parliament, Musuem Quarter and Vienna City Hall. There were also many beautiful statues of famous classical composers, including Mozart that was located in the lucious green Burggarten.

Now starving, we turned off from the ring onto Mariahilferstraße, the city’s main shopping strip, on food mission. We managed to briefly settle our hunger pains with some of Vienna’s well-known sweets, which included the Mozartkugel (Mozart chocolate ball, filled with pistachio praline) and Manner wafers (biggest wafer manufacturer in Austria). While we purchased the Mozartkugel, we were recommended a must-go-to restaurant Figlmuller. There was a long line in front that we joined, which resulted in a 1 hr wait. We finally made it in and with the help of the friendly waiter, we ordered his recommendations, which included Figmuller snitzel deep fried, which was larger then the plate; potato field salad with styrian pumpkin seed oil, Vienna style boiled rump with chive sauce, apple – horseradish and browned potatoes; and an Almdudler, which is carbonated apple flavoured soft drink. The service was impeccable and if you don’t finish the massive snitzel, they wrap it up and pop it into a bag for you to take home. I must say, the wait to dine at this restaurant was well worth it!

Before we left Vienna, we had one last mission, which was to fit into our dessert stomachs the most famous cake in the world, the Viennese Sacher Torte. This chocolate cake, is thinly coated by apricot jam and topped with chocolate icing, with the original recipe only made in Vienna & Salzburg. Mission accomplished!

Prague, Czech Republic

After taking an overnight train from Berlin, we arrived in Prague the next morning. This small city is jammed packed full of history, culture and beautiful landscapes. Roads and foot paths were never ending, as many were linked together from a variety of angles. It’s a place where you can lose yourself and wonder out of the city’s centre to other suburbs across the river, either on foot or bike in a short amount of time with ease, as the bridges are easily accessible.

I went on a Panoramic Bike Tour with a tour guide from the Praha Bike company. I was the only one on this tour, which fortunately worked in my favour, as I had the opportunity to explore Prague at my own pace with Fransceko leading the way. We rode along the Vltava River and Letna Park where we saw gorgeous panoramic views of the city and visited sites including Charles Bridge (which you can only walk along), Prague Castle, Prague Metronome at what is now a skate park but was the former location of World’s Largest Stalin Statue and the Pissing Fountain by David Cerny, where the stream of water writes quotes from famous Prague residents inside the shape of Prague.

Located in the Old Town Square, the tall and beautiful architecture of Astronomical Clock is  where the 12 apostles appear every hour. Make sure you get there a little early for a good viewing spot! You will also find the beautifully detailed Hotel Rott, Tyn Church, St Nicholas, the Jan Hus Monument and a few eateries facing the square.

On the way to Wenceslas Square, we found Havelske trziste (Havel’s market), selling fruit, vegetables, flowers, art, leather goods and other souvenirs and nearby is The Cloak of Conscience by Anna Chromy, which symbolises peace.

For dinner we stumbled upon a place near Charles Bridge, where we ordered Duck leg with cabbage, Gulas and Trdelnik (a sweet pastry made from rolled dough, wrapped around a stick then grilled and topped with cinnamon).

A beautiful small city with plenty to see and do, where I was more then happy to explore and stumble across the city’s surprises.

Missed the Breakfast Rave?

Here’s a snippet of April’s Breakfast Rave at Langmeil Winery. A beautifully composed video created by Denis Smith, which captures the essence of community over wholesome food for a good start to the day.

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