The annual Margaret River Wine Region Festival is back from the 8th - 12th of April 2010.

Visitors to Margaret River will enjoy four days of delicious local produce, signature dishes prepared by leading chefs and be able to indulge themselves in over 200 samples of award winning wines at the Vintage Festival.

Our stunning region will also showcase a range of fantastic art and music experiences, some of which include:

• Friday 9th April - Cabernet Cabaret & Wine Auction, Xanadu Wines, 7.30pm to Midnight
• Saturday 10th April - Vintage Festival, Leeuwin Estate Amphitheatre, 11am to 6pm
• Sunday 11th April - Vintage Concert, featuring Daryl Braithwaite & Jon Stevens, Leeuwin Estate Amphitheatre, 11am to 6pm

So, why not book the weekend and enjoy the 'Sounds of Silence' at Wildwood Valley and immerse yourself in one of Australia's favourite wine regions.

Gather your friends and be part of the action at the 2010 Margaret River Wine Region Festival in Western Australia.

For general enquires phone 1300 765 518 or more information can be found at www.margaretriverfestival.com and for tickets, visit www.ticketmaster.com.au.

Whilst recently back in Italy, Carlo and I enjoyed one of the best meals of our lives!!

By chance, one day when we were having lunch in Cortona, where we met the owners/chef of another restaurant called Osteria il Granaio.  They invited us to come and have a meal at their restaurant.  For our last meal out in Italy, we decided to drive the 60 km to Rapalano Terme and have lunch at their restaurant.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised how they recognised and greeted us with such a warm welcome.  The chef immediately went back to the to the kitchen only to return with the largest plate of white truffles I have ever seen.  I was scared to imagine what the cost of them would be!

Once we were seated the chef returned to ask us if we were happy to let him choose our menu for the day.  I was delighted with this idea and proceeded to enjoy the most wonderful meal based around white truffles.  We started simply with hand sliced prosciutto and beautiful pecorino cheese.

The following course was two fried eggs served in a generous pool of olive oil, topped with lavish shavings of fresh white truffle.  The chef was quick to arrive and tell us that we must wait until the eggs had cooled before devouring them as this would allow the truffle to infuse.  The dish was so simple but sublime.

The next course was the signature one for me;  home-made tagliatelle sauteed in extra virgin olive oil, topped with a generous amount of white truffle.  It may not sound amazing, but it was the best pasta dish I have ever eaten!!

The main meal was Carlo's favourite,  Tuscan tagliata;  T-bone steak cooked blue, (which is the only way they eat meat in Tuscany!) sliced and served on a bed of rocket with crispy fried potatoes with rosemary and fresh green peppercorns.

Lunch was enjoyed with great Tuscan red wine and finished with ricotta crostata for dessert.

This dining experience only reinforced my love of Italian food;  simply use the best ingredients, cook it perfectly and don't overcomplicate it!!

I highly recommend for anyone to eat at this restaurant 'Osteria il Graneaio'.  For those of you that would like to have a go with truffles, then to be sure to: 

click here to download a copy of my Pappardelle with Funghi and Olio di Tartufo.

Anne, Sioban's Mum has reared a number of kangaroos and many of you would have met the most recent one, Tixi.

Tixi has lived in the bush for over a year, living the life of a typical teenager, coming and going as she pleases, maybe blessing us with her presence once every two weeks.

Last September there were signs of Tixi being pregnant and by November there was clear evidence that she had in fact given birth to a beautiful baby kangaroo.


Until a month ago Tixi and her baby were only to be seen from a distance, but as the green feed diminished, Tixi decided it was time to return home to greener pastures.

These photos were taken on our front lawn at home and even though Tixi was quite comfortable being hand fed bread, the baby had stage fright and would not show us its gorgeous little face.


On another visit we were spoilt by seeing the little bub out of the pouch and when ever it felt insecure it simply stuck its head in the pouch, but with its feet firmly on the ground.

Experience the best Geographe Bay has to offer with this 6 day getaway for four people, valued at over $4,000!!

Geographe Bay Tourism Association, in conjunction with a number of local tourism operators, including us here at Wildwood Valley Villa & Cottages are pleased to support the 2010 Visitor Guide Competition.

The lucky winner, along with 3 friends, will get the chance to experience the best of Geographe Bay over a fabulous 6 day adventure. The prize includes accommodation (2 nights in our gorgeous Ladybird Apartment), winery lunches, cellar door tour, a dolphin & seal tour, caving, tour of the Underwater Observatory at the Busselton Jetty, a voucher to spend at one of our local surf shops Hillzeez and some delicious Margaret River wine from Willespie Wines (just to name a few!).

Entries for the Ultimate Geographe Bay Getaway are open now, so if you would like to be the lucky winner then be sure to throw your hat in the ring!

Click here to enter.....

We were lucky to have some quality time to enjoy living in our gorgeous new home in Tuscany. One of the highlights of the trip was forming great friendships with our neighbours.

Tina and Leonaldo who have a house 2 doors up, asked us to come in their beautifully renovated rustic house. Carlo was mesmorized by the massive wood fired oven and when he found out it was built in 1841 said "I would love to cook pizza in this!!". The next evening that is exactly what happened, Carlo cooked us awesome pizza while all I could think about was how many meals had been cooked in this oven during its life time!! In kitchens you talk about pans being well seasoned, but undoubtly this would be the most seasoned oven I have ever cooked in and it still worked a treat!

We sat in front of the open fire place after dinner and indulged on roasted chestnuts, cooked over the hot flames. Leonaldo told us the history of Cantalena, our village, where he was born and lived until 5 when his family had to move to the city to make ends meet. The whole village was abandoned in the 1050's and left to deteriorate over the years. Leonaldo who now lives in Florence, always felt a close connection to Cantalena and started doing renovations to rebuild his run down home in 1996. During the evening he told us about his grand parents and parents lives. They had to walk to Cortona in those years to purchase the few essentials required for living that they could not produce themselves, such as candles, salt and sugar.

He then produced the log books of his ancestors dating back to 1811. Over the years there were records of their life possessions which equated to 3 cows 2 pigs and 8 sheep. Written in calligraphy, I was amazed at how beautiful the writing was.

Carlo and I are still talking about the wonderful evening that we enjoyed with our new friends, a night full of genuine hospitality, history and great food and wine of course!!

Sagra della Castagna (Chestnut Festival)

 

This week we went to the small town of Teverina, about 15km from Casalena.  In the months of September and October many towns in Tuscany hold a festival. They can be a festival for funghi porcini, cinghiale (wild boar), fresh chestnuts, olive oil, tordo (a little bird), wine, and the list goes on and on.

 

We arrived to the sound of music and the smell of a fire roasting, there was a fantastic atmosphere created by a live band playing Italian classics of course.  Outside there was a raging fire with a 44 gallon drum filled with chestnuts sitting above the roaring fire.  Two men on either side were turning in continuation to get an even roast on the chestnuts and the sparks were flying high.

 

Inside the hall was a huge open fire place measuring 2 meters long and 1 m deep. With just one cook over seeing the cooking of an abundance of bistecca’s.

 

We enjoyed polenta with funghi porcini and ragu di cinghiale both specialty dishes during this season.  Afterwards we had our fair share of roasted chestnuts that is tradition loved by Italians when they are in season.

 

After our tummies were full we went to join the dancing and it was fantastic to see so many people up dancing.  Giacomo and Shanna thought they would join in and try to learn the local’s version of line dancing.  Imagine the local festival that we have in the towns of Nannup or Kojonup, it was just like that but a must say slightly better as it was done with great Italian flare!!!

 

If only we had taken the camera, I would have loved to share some pictures with you. We look forward to participating in some of the other local sagra’s that are to be held in the next few weeks.

  

love Shiv and Carlo

We have just spent our first few weeks here in Italy and the weather has been amazing!

Summer is still here in Tuscany and on Sunday went to Eremo a very special place that was established by San Francesco of Assisi.  We decided to take the challenge of walking up the mountain rather than going by car.  With Shanna and Giacomo on our backs it was a tiring hour and a half walk up the steep mountain, but it was well worth it. Porcini mushrooms are in season at the moment and we were walking through thick pine forests which is where porcini’s can be found. Continually on our way up we passed older generation Italians who were out and about searching for porcini.  I can promise you fresh porcini mushrooms are just amazing.  They are totally different in flavour and texture to any type of mushroom that we get in Australia, I think the best way to describe them is meaty!!!

When we arrived at the top of the mountain the sun was shinning and we chose to cook our BBQ outside instead of lighting a fire inside of this amazing old monastery that has been standing for 800 years.

We enjoyed a typical Tuscan lunch, a pork feast!!  Costtolicio, salsiccie, rigatino and the bistecca.  Translation in English, pork spare ribs, pork sausages, pancetta, or thick cuts of bacon and pork steaks all cooked on an open flame wood BBQ.  To accompany our pork feast was some traditional Tuscan bread that has no salt in it, the reason being is many years ago the Medici family from Florence put a very high tax on salt, so the Tuscan people chose to omit salt from many recipes and hence that is why they make bread without salt.

Red wine was flowing of course and lots of Italian Batta, we also met up with one of the other owners of the house in our little hamlet and he had just been hunting and gave us a fagano, as we would know it a pheasant. We then walked back down the mountain to our car and returned to Casalena to enjoy the stunning sunset and sounds of silence under our Tuscan sky.  

We hope you enjoy this recipe to use with porcini mushrooms, unfortunately you will have to buy the dried version and rehydrate them in warm water. Click here for your copy!

Ciao,

Sioban and Carlo

Spring is finally here and that means three things - wildflowers, whales and walking.

Although the rains are still lingering, the days are getting longer and slowly warming up. The local Wardandi Aboriginal people call this season djilba (pronounced 'jilba') and it runs from the end of August to the middle of October.

If you want to see some wildflowers, take a drive (or walk) down Wildwood Road. After all, it's quietly famous for its abundant wildflowers and bush. Delicate orchids and purple hoveas are flowering right now as well as many brilliantly coloured bushes, creepers and kangaroo paws. Their colours will catch your eye on the roadside as you drive by pockets of bush. If you want to see them up close, venture out on one of the many walking trails in the area or just get out of the car when you spot them.

There are whales to see right now too. The southern right whales are still happy in the waters of Augusta, however the humpback whales are coming soon! The humpbacks are on their migratory way down the coast from the north western waters of WA and are expected to be in the Geographe Bay, off Dunsborough, by the end of September/early October.
Get local whale-watching updates from Naturaliste Sea Charters at www.whalesaustralia.com. This company operates whale watching boat tours for $75 per adult, and they give generous concessions to children, students and seniors.

The Wardan Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Yallingup is a wonderful place to visit to hear local Aboriginal bush stories. You can get hands-on too and make your own stone tools or learn how to throw spears and boomerangs. The Cultural Centre is open 7 days from 10am - 4pm and sessions start at $15 for adults and $8 for children.

So shake off your woollies and get out there! There is so much to see and do in this beautiful part of the world.

By Vicki Portors.

For 5 years now we have been spoilt by Gothards bread that he makes daily at the Yallingup Wood Fired Bread shop. He and Marion his wife are always so busy and have said for years that we must catch up socially sometime.  We decided to do a late lunch on a Sunday as it is the only day Gothard doesn’t bake and hence we could use his magnificent wood fired oven to cook lunch in. 

Lunch was a simple affair, Gothard provided the venue, the wood fired oven to cook the lunch in and of course an abundance of bread to go with it!!! However the ironic thing is, the bakery has no kitchen facilities, or equipment so we had to bring in the plates, cutlery, glasses and even the chairs to sit on!!

It was easy for Carlo and I to choose what to bring for the day as we couldn’t go past cooking wood fired duck, marinated in fennel and garlic with duck fat roasted potatoes.

Click here for a copy of this delicious recipe

Gothard lit the oven at 9am as it needs 6 hours to heat. The ovens are massive and with only 2 lonely ducks and a butt of beef in there they looked very empty!! Lunch was served at about 5pm and then we were spoilt by having the best coffee from Shelley and Marks coffee van. It makes it so easy to throw a lunch together when you are with industry people as everyone is happy to keep it as simple as possible.

I have just returned from 4 wonderful days in Sydney catching up with close friends and dining at some fantastic restaurants.

 

I just wanted to share with you some of the wonderful meals that I had.

 

I arrived on Friday morning and had lunch at a Japanese restaurant called Kyoto in Surry Hills, catching up with one of my closest girlfriends from Italy. A great Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc made it perfect.

 

Dinner that night was at Bistrode restaurant in Bourke st Surry Hills and it was outstanding.  I had a Jerusalem artichoke soup with freshly shucked oysters and grilled Hare with a wild mushroom and fresh chestnut sauce, it was sublime.  Jeremy the chef is exceptional at seasoning his food and making sensational sauces. (click here for the recipe)

 

I had two dinners at Longrain which of course were both incredible.  Marty bought in 2 live coral trout for us, which he steamed and served with a stunning broth.  The curries were amazing along with the famous pork hock, not to mention several great cocktails that are a must at Longrain.

 

Two more lunches were enjoyed at Sopra and Ash Street Cellars, and once again I went to heaven and back!!

 

Every restaurant I dined at, the food was delicious and seasoned perfectly.  Salt and pepper were no where to be found, the reason being it was not needed!! The chefs were definitely doing there job!!  A lot of people are not aware that you shouldn’t need to season your food once it arrives at the table.  It is the chef’s job to season your food perfectly, just as it is the waiter’s job to give you great service.  I so enjoyed experiencing the professionalism in the hospitality industry again.

 

I recommend any one of the above restaurants and am sure if you eat there you will have a great dining experience.