Here We Go Again

I know there was no ground swell of requests but as 2012 begins,  I’m dusting off my typing skills and returning to my blog to share and capture our stories.   I’ll have fun and that’s what counts.   Enjoy travelling with us or just being at home in Oz.

In anticipation of the year ahead,   Roger has helped craft the new Beagley business card complete with photos.  He debated about creating a series of photos for me so that it reflected the various lengths and shades of my hair.  In contrast, his look remains very familiar to all of us who know him with his beloved hats.   More soon,  Dorothy

Beagley Inc.

 

 

News Flash – Dorothy Returns to Oz

Clicking the heels to go home

The journey home begins today.  I am using the more conventional approach and Qantas will see me across the Pacific to Brisbane and then on to Adelaide.

Our 34 months of  touring has been a wonderful adventure but of course, we’re ready to chart a course to something new.  How exciting.

Thanks for traveling with us.  We are now home in Oz for a while so we’ll look forward to seeing you there.    Ciao, Dorothy

 

Leftovers, yum

Meal Number One....traditional roasted turkey dinner

Over the past week, my mother and I have moved through a dining sequence that is one of my favorites.  We started with a traditional roasted turkey dinner with stuffing, cranberries and vegetables.  It was delicious.

For me, the next meals were equally wonderful.  Cold turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce featured the next day.  Turkey curry, using the Dorothy Beagley recipe, followed.   Finally, we were making turkey soup.

It has been great fun and wonderfully delicious on these winter days.  Add a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle in the sunroom and we were very happy campers.

 

Good Listeners

Being a good listener is a wonderful gift and a practiced art.  Early in my life I learned this lesson while sitting at the table and listening to Nina.  Her stories of her trip to Rome in 1968 still remain with me.

Last evening, my mother and Art Duerksen practiced this art while Elaine, Maryanne and I enjoyed the pleasure of remembering our time together in France.  We drank French wine, ate baguette  and shared our stories with them.  There was plenty of laughter as we regaled them with tales of sore feet, bathroom stops, shopping at markets and the beautiful dinner trip the Seine.  Not surprisingly, food and wine featured heavily in our discussions.

A happy memory .... the Loire

We saved them from a full photo review since our digital pictures are in Australia.  I’m sure they are very grateful since we would still be there this morning!

 

Hockey Night in Hamilton

He shoots, he scores!

This evening, I am going to a Hamilton Bulldogs hockey game.   I was trying to figure out the last hockey game I watched .  It was the middle of the night in Morocco when we were watching  the Vancouver  Olympics qualifier game between Canada and the United States.  When the US won the game, my family around the globe asked me not to watch Team Canada again especially the Gold medal game.  I have a reputation as a sports jinx.

The last live game I attended was in Grimsby about 12 years ago and my nephew Doug was the goal keeper.  Now that was scary to watch!  I kept wanting to go out and protect him.

I think I’ll be asked to cheer for the visitors.  My brother would hate for the Bulldogs to lose.

PS  Connecticut scored in the first 10 seconds of the game and went on to win 3 – 2.

 

In Tough Economic Times, New Traditions

Guaranteeing our return

In our final days in Rome, we did not throw a Euro into the Trevi Fountain. I’ve replaced the tradition with 1 penny in a hat! Our friend Andrew didn’t realise that I had used my lucky penny and it’s now destined that we will come back to the UK.

The  suitcases are now closed for the final leg of our Grand Adventure. Adelaide beckons Roger with summer days, lovely Australian wine, a warm welcome home from friends and the opportunity to buy a car. I’m in transit for 3 weeks in Canada (strategic planning) so I’ll miss the fun and hard work of the moving van arriving with all our boxes and furniture.

I won’t start our next travel planning just yet but Andrew’s already having sleepless nights in anticipation!

 

Still Wonderful….after all these years

Still wonderful....after all these years

Ah London. Having left a great city, we arrived in London to spend time visiting friends in another of the world’s great cities. Andrew, Mary, Roger and I headed into the city for lunch at the Thomas Cubitt, a stroll through Belgravia/Green Park and Covent Garden before finishing our day with a theatre performance in the West End.

Our choice (okay, it was really mine) for our evening performance was the London staging of “The Phantom of the Opera”. Shaw, Maryanne and Mike were in our thoughts as Roger remembered a previous visit to see the Phantom in Melbourne. Scary to think that memorable performance was early 1991.

Last night’s production was lovely and the lead singers were excellent. The staging is still a feast for the eyes. I now have the strains of the beautiful music floating through my head. Guess the “angel of music” still has quite an impact.  Roger, funnily enough, is humming YMCA.

 

Note to diary

As we were leaving Rome, Adriana reminded me that we’ve been invited to dinner at Massimo’s for spaghetti con vongole. Francesca has made this generous offer to cook for us. We’ll, of course, provide the wine. Adriana and Paolo have indicated they will pick us up from the end of Via Arnobio at 7:30pm and we will drive over together. It’s all planned with only one small detail outstanding. We don’t yet know the date.

Our chef Francesca, our host Massimo

This definitely falls into the category of long term planning as we will need to fix a date for our return visit to Rome. In the meantime, we will salivate on the possibility. It was difficult to fly away from Rome yesterday and to say goodbye to our dear friends. Happily we know that we are already anticipating our return.

Leaving Italy, I feel like Audrey Hepburn at the end of Roman Holiday. Her character is asked to comment about the great cities she has visited. The diplomatic answer is about all of the places being unique etc but she finally answers her favorite was Rome. Mi anche.

 

Exclusive Cooking School

Two experts coping with an enthusiastic amateur

During January we have attended a very intimate cooking school. In fact it is so exclusive that it is not featured in any of the Rome guide books. It was conducted by one of our favorite ladies, Adriana Monoscalco. Our cooking day commenced with cappuccini and cornetti at different local cafes followed by a tour through the market to assess what was fresh and what would be on our menu at the end of the day. Once the shopping was done, Roger and I walked 10,000 steps to make sure we were ready for the end of day activities.

We have had a range of dishes with the focus being on simplicity of the menus. Her expert student was taking a break and a new junior chef was introduced to her kitchen. Adriana enlisted the help of her mother Linda to tutor me through making carciofi romana (artichokes Roman style). Linda was very patient and we managed quite well together.

Last evening we had sole with 3 different sauces to try a variety of recipes – sole meuniere, sole with lemon and capers, sole with pomegranate sauce. They were all delicious but I think we each had our own favorite. The best part of the experience was sharing the meal with lots of laughter, conversation and an occasional glass of wine.

Proof of the pudding....very happy diners!

 

Best dining experiences are more than a meal

On either side of Piazza Cancelleria and only a brief stroll from Campo Di Fiori in Rome there are two excellent restaurants apparently owned by the same person. While the cucina in Grappolo D’Oro Zampano and that featured in Ditarambo are different, they both serve typical Italian food. Apart from location and ownership what they really have in common however is a welcoming and familiar atmosphere largely driven by the personalities of the staff, a feeling that transcends the food. We’ve dined and contributed our limited Italian vocabulary to the buzz of Italian, French and English voices that reflect the restaurants international customers.

Having eaten frequently in both restaurants during our January stay here, we realise that we enjoy having places where we are recognised, greeted, and people engage with us. For Roger, this means that they will make the effort to talk to us in Italian even as we mangle the language. We’ve enjoyed getting recommendations on their Italian wine selection and the wines at these restaurants have been excellent. I could wax lyrical about many of the dishes – Roger loves to start with tagliolino con carciofi et guanciale croccante, while I prefer to start with a simple but still delicious carciofi romana.

We keep wondering if we will be able to have similar interactions in Australia. The warmth and generosity of Italian restauranteurs and their staff is something we will carry in our hearts and minds. A great vote of thanks to Alessandro and Andrea at Grappolo D’Oro Zampano who always made Monday lunch very special.

A great team makes such a difference!