Pauline’s Blog

/Pauline's Blog
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Le Logge Siena
22 10, 2012

Italy’s Love Affair with Porcini

And it’s back down to earth with a bump – I’m just back from three indulgent weeks with Taste Cook Travel in my beloved Italy and it’s Day 2 at home and already I’m missing so much of their food-centric lifestyle.   We plan our food tours to be there in Autumn because harvest is such a busy, fascinating time.  And of course it means we’re there for the eagerly anticipated arrival of the prized porcini mushrooms.

We lunched at my favourite trattoria in Siena, just off the main square, Osteria La Logge.  They are so proud of their porcini here, they display them like art, in a beautiful basket for all to admire on their front counter.  Large, plump, earthy mushrooms, with that pungent aroma that wakes your taste buds, with a jolt.

I asked the waiter how the porcini were to be cooked, and he fetched the basket with pride, bringing it to the table for me to choose one.   It was then taken directly to the kitchen, sliced and immediately tossed into a hot pan of melted butter, plated and returned to me, steaming and aromatic – a plate of pure joy.

Recipe-Asparagus-Frittata-Serve
27 08, 2012

Asparagus Frittata

Blood-oranges
25 08, 2012

Blood Orange Marmalade

Chocolate Tasting
13 08, 2012

Taste of Healesville tour

Three hours of tasting chocolate, bikkies, pasta, cider, cheese and wine in Victoria’s Yarra Valley?  Yes please!

Since I’ve been running the Yarra Valley gourmet weekends, clients have been telling me that they’d love a morning or afternoon dedicated solely to tasting all the delicious goodies produced and sold in Healesville.  So eventually I just had to give in and give them what they wanted!

And so, A Taste of Healesville has been born and we now have dates scheduled for Saturdays in the coming months and we can of course run tours on demand (if you have a minimum of eight in a group). 

So check out the itinerary and let me know when you want to come and indulge your senses on a three hour sipping and sampling, trying and tasting tour of the Yarra Valley’s most picturesque gourmet foodie town – Healesville.  

Booking enquiries: Contact Pauline today on 03 5968 3963 or at pauline@tatescooktravel.com

tuscany cooking tours
30 06, 2012

Another gourmet foodie tour of Tuscany comes to a close – I’ll drink to that!

I can’t believe it’s been six years since we started running our 10 day gourmet tours to Tuscany.  Each time we finish a tour, we love reminiscing: about new friendships made, our cooking classes in ancient castle kitchens, dining in local osteria and trattoria, olive oil tastings in those olive groves overlooking the Tuscan hills, the medieval hilltop villages we explored, not to mention shopping in Florence and Siena, and overall the sheer enjoyment of utterly immersing ourselves into the Italian way of life.  We marvel at how similar our tours are to fine wine; they keep on getting better with each year.

Gourmet tours Tuscany

We run tours in April as well as October, both of which are beautiful times of the year to be in Tuscany.  I love October because the hoards of tourists are gone, the weather is kind (we averaged 22 degrees while we were here this time) and as we did our tour of Florence with Alessandra our local tour guide, she brought alive the significance of Florence’s history all around us as we enjoying sampling the local Tuscan wines.

Explore markets, taste great food, drink fine wine

The food at Panzano market, one of Chianti’s boutique artisan local markets, was a particular highlight this trip too – it must have been a particularly good harvest – and we ate like kings as a result.  Or was cheesemaking at the farm my favourite highlight?  Each day brings its own highlights, and I have to say, waking in our gorgeous villa accommodation now feels like home from home and we’re greeted like family each time we return.  One of our guests said she had to pinch herself to remind herself she was really staying in a villa in Italy within the walls of a fortified hamlet that dates back to the 11th century!  Castello di Volpaia has a very special place in all our hearts and I’m sad to leave.

But I’m looking forward to catching up in Melbourne with some of the lovely people we had on tour with us.  We’ll have a get together to share stories and relive our foodie tour of Tuscany – like we need an excuse to open some more Prosecco!

yarra valley food tours
30 06, 2012

Why I love running our gourmet food and wine weekends in the Yarra Valley…

I love the vibe you get within a small group of people over the course of a weekend, and on our recent Yarra Valley gourmet weekend we had such an interesting mix of people.  We all, of course, had a unifying love of food and wine, giving us common ground from the outset and the group gelled within a day as people quickly got to know one another.  We were blessed with the weather too – but then the Yarra Valley is an amazing place to be – in all seasons.  The scenery is so dramatic, the sky so expressive.  Our accommodation at Susan’s in the Valley is especially lovely to return to, after a busy day of tastings, sampling and cookery classes.  

We pack so much into our itinerary yet it just seems to effortlessly unfurl, and we’ve plenty of time at each venue, meeting the valley’s artisan producers and enjoying that exclusive opportunity to go into their kitchens to try their jams, nibble on cheeses, watch chocolate being made and sample wine straight from the barrel.

Even if our guests on the tour have visited some of these iconic wineries before, they have never been invited into the barrel room for a private tasting with the sommelier.  Nor have they stood in Lisa O’Connor’s kitchen at Jam Lady Jam as she passes you some of her damson jam to try, while answering questions as to what brought her to the valley, what dishes she uses her jams in and how many vats of fruit she cooks up at the height of jam making.  It is the personal aspect of our gourmet tour of the Yarra Valley that sets us apart and what our guests love and thank us for.  As we were leaving Lisa’s kitchen, and saying our good-bye’s, one of our guests pointed out, “this is like visiting friends.”  We then boarded the mini bus, clutching our jam purchases and we were off to Bella Vedere for our cooking class with Gary Cooper.  

amaretti biscuit recipe
28 06, 2012

Amaretti

biscotti fico recipe
28 06, 2012

Biscotti Fico

asparagus-frittata-recipe
27 06, 2012

Asparagus Frittata

orange marmalade recipe
27 06, 2012

Blood Orange Marmalade