Go behind the scenery

I'm quite taken with this cute new Tourism Tasmania campaign.   Many of my favourite Tasmanian people, places and ideas crammed into this 60 second clip, like Callington Mill, Cradle Mountain and MONA.  With the beautiful Theatre Royal as a backdrop, filled with antiques from the Drill Hall Emporium, I think it cleverly captures the magic of our island.

I'm still struggling to spot all the cameo appearances by many Tasmanian thinkers and do-ers, like David Foster, Rob Pennicott, Bill Lark, Sally Wise, Tino Carnevale and Ashley Huntington.   But you can't miss the beautiful Peacock Ladies from Mona Market.   

What do you think?  Does it make you want to come visit? 

Getting off the island

"Make sure you get off the island regularly" was the advice I was given when I first moved to Tasmania.  "You go a bit stir crazy otherwise."   But I'm afraid it's advice I haven't really heeded.   Mostly due to financial reasons.   And because I love it here, I don't get that feeling of isolation that perhaps others might.

But get off the island I did last week.  In the eight years since we've been here, it was the first time I've left Tasmania without the family to do something fun.   I headed off to Melbourne, a town I hardly know, to see some of the Food and Wine Festival, to eat delicious food and hang out with good friends.

I packed a lot into the weekend, but I wish had I time for so much more. There's a lot to love. Of the many highlights, the stand outs were a trip to the People's Market in Collingwood (crab sandwiches!), dinner at Movida (jamon iberico!), a session at the Theatre of Ideas (inspiring!), supping at the Urban Coffee Farm (stimulating!) and digging the Pop Up Patch (so crate!).   I loved seeing people growing their own food and re-using discarded objects to create something beautiful and useful.

But best of all, was hanging out with this sweet lady and meeting this crafty lady.  The best.

It was hot, it was big, it was fun.

I now have rather a crush on Melbourne......maybe I do need to start getting off the island a little more regularly....

Dolce far niente

Il dolce far niente.  How could I have come so far in life and not heard such old Italian wisdom?

I have "the Milanese" to thank for enlightening me and sharing their common sense.   Over the past few days we've had the pleasure of two delightful travellers from Italy staying at our place as part of the wwoofer program.  Willing workers on organic farms is an international association that links up hosts with travellers who work for food and lodgings.   It's an inspired program, and when we occasionally welcome people into our home, not only do a lot of chores in the garden get ticked off, but we get the added bonus of learning so much from our visitors.  It's a mutual exchange of ideas, culture and inspiration.

For me, it's been such a pleasure to have good eaters to cook for everyday.  And while I hope our Milanese guests might have learnt a little about gardening, it's me who has been grateful for the exposure to their Italian ways.  Sharing buonissimo recipes, sitting down to proper meals every day, tips on serving pasta, arguments about the pope, loud joyous singing and the price of an espresso in Milan.  Even just hearing those dulcet Italian conversations in the garden has almost felt like a holiday.

The garden is looking bellisimo and I've learnt like new words like "scarpetta" a term for mopping up the juices from the bottom of the pan with bread.  I feel much less embarrassed by this greedy habit knowing that there is an actual word for it in Italian.

But really, it's il dolce far niente, that has captured my imagination.  The sweetness of doing nothing.  It's a lesson I could do well to learn.  After a hard day's work, unplug, switch off, finish the chores,  stop planning, stop thinking. To sit and be in the company of the ones you love.  Why don't we do that?  Everyday?  What don't we value the importance of doing nothing, instead we seem to value busyness?

To enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing. Il Dolce Far Niente. I'm going to write it on the wall as a reminder to myself to make time for a little pleasant idleness everyday.

Why don't you enjoy doing a little nothing too?

Ciao Ciao!

In the kitchen

Oh I am so excited to see these Gourmet Farmer recipe videos!  Filmed in my kitchen a few months back and around the house a few months ago, this was such a tasty project to work on. Not only did I get to shop for ingredients, style the props and wash the dishes but best of all, the house was filled with delicious food.

It's amazing to see it finished and online.  There are ten videos all up - you can check them all out here!