Local Produce

We had been looking forward to the food Sicily is renowned for and it did not disappoint. We shopped at the local markets, supermarkets, gelato shops and bars (which are a very different place from a bar in NZ) and on the side of the road.

The tomatoes are always amazing in Italy and the fruit was fabulous too.

We provided amusement for the people at the supermarket with our shopping conversations involving a great deal of mime and some Google Translate. Twice I brought home meat to cook that we never did find out what it actually was - but it tasted great.

It was a bit tricky only having a frying pan and a gas ring, but we managed to create a camp oven out of it when needed.

I do like the way meat, salami and cheese is presented when you buy it from the butcher or supermarket. It comes sliced to your requirements and neatly laid out in layers between sheets of grease proof paper then rolled and wrapped - see the photos on the right.  

It sure beats polystyrene.

Pizza and Cozze

We discovered a delightful pizza place five minutes walk up the road from our home that reminded us of Luke’s Kitchen in Kuaotunu. 

Quelli di Piana Grande Pizzeria is a family run business tucked away off the road and difficult for foreigners to find. It opens about 8.30pm in the evening and sells great pizza and cozze (mussels) and seafood antipasto.

Each time we went we were the only non-Italians there and the owner’s sister came out to take our orders as the designated English speaker.

We realised here that the greatest compliment we could pay an eatery was to forgot to take a photo because we were so enjoying the food! Hence the photos here of empty plates.

Wedding in Agrigento

During lunch today at Trattoria Il Vicolo in Agrigento we were intrigued to have a bride and groom walk up the steep stairs past us - bride in a gorgeous Italian gown and groom in glamourous military uniform - followed by a crowd of paparazzi. We had no idea if this was normal for an Italian wedding, or if we were in the midst of celebrities, and had no way of finding out with our limited Italian.

They waved and smiled at us and the owners responded affirmatively to my gestures that I would like to go and join the paparazzi, so I took some pics, including the one here that deliberately includes some of the photographers.

Nice memory and we went on our way after a great lunch.

When we returned to the carpark - deserving another story and salute to Russell safely negotiating crazy building - I noticed the church next door was now covered in flowers and had a huge florist van outside. It looked like preparation for a wedding, so, after checking with the custodian, we headed on in.

The flowers were stunning and reminded us of the work done by our friend Nat, of Flora May floral design in Auckland. We could not believe how many flowers were festooned around the church. So lots of photos were taken. 

We scuttled off as soon as we heard the first guests approaching.

Add caption

Note the little containers for rice/confetti

Panorama Bistro: Danube Menu

The Avalon team host a “Panorama Bistro Food Tasting” for a small number of guests, and having greatly enjoyed participating last week, we signed up again.  

The food is delicious and sitting in the front of the boat with 12 people in total creates a very special dinner party atmosphere- with three people to look after us, and goodness knows how many in the galley!

Here's the menu, with the photos I took:

Starters

Smoked Trout Fillet

Waldorf Salad

Basil Praline (tofu)

Schnitzel (we were sailing into Vienna!)

Soup

Goulash Soup - hat tip to Austria again

Main Dishes

Beef Roulade (certain men had two of this)

Fillet of Pike Perch

Artichokes

Desserts

Malou

Austrian Apricot

Bright Chocolate

Cheese plate

All with wines and coffee/tea etc

Clipping the ticket: lamb

The menu tonight included a rack of New Zealand LAMB, and we couldn’t resist it -we’ve only been away from home for three weeks, but it had an immediate nostalgic appeal at the end of a cold day. And the kiwi couple we were sharing the table with were perhaps even more interested as Dick farms sheep.

I don’t think the photo does justice to the delightful presentation of the three wee lamb ribs that appeared as one of the many courses. The jus, mint crust and creamy potatoes were to be expected, but we were intrigued by the sprig of rosemary fried tempura style.

In the course of the meal we heard from Dick that he got $5/kilo for selling his lambs, on average $80 per lamb. And it costs more than that to raise it. Not easy to make money from them.

At the end of the meal the chef, Johnny, came out to check how the kiwi contingent had received his dish and of course we congratulated him - cooked to perfection.  We chatted a little and Dick asked the question: “How much did he pay for the racks of lamb?”

$117 New Zealand Dollars per kilo

( 70 euro/kilo, but I have calculated the exchange rate on the day.)

Something is not right here!

On the River: Day 4 Rudesheim

River Cruise

Day 4 Rudesheim, Germany

After our journey through the Rhine Gorge and lunch we docked at Rudesheim, a wine-making town with about 10,000 people living there. Most of my notes for this stop have been posted here. This is a place that sets out to welcome tourists and everyone we encountered spoke English well.

We enjoyed our few hours there and could happily have stayed much longer and explored more.

Back on the boat we had signed up for the first of the Bistro Food tasting meals. A small group of passengers sit together upstairs and eat many tiny samples of local food the chef has prepared. They offer more if you like it, but there is already so much to taste that you would struggle to have seconds.

A sample of what we ate follows below- recorded more for the memory of local food from the Rhine than a foodie guidebook! Not recorded are the cheeses and the wines.

Notes were supplied daily by Isabel, the Cruise Director, to keep us informed and on time. Click on the links below to open and read.

City Overview

Daily Programme

Educators in Paris

Our intention in Paris was to connect with educators at a ‘system level’, rather than visit schools.  
We met with François Bocquet, Chargé de la prospective au NumériLab at the French Ministry of Education. His role would translate to “Director of Innovative and Digital Technologies”. 

Our connection with Francois is via Hapara an NZ Start-Up, (now global), that began in our school and is currently assisting with ChromeBook roll-outs in France. I had met Francois the year before when I attended Ludovia and our visit was to gain a system level understanding of whether and how we might continue to be involved as France considers “Digitising” the Learning Delivery, with some learners belonging to a population similar to ours. 

Our conversation left us grateful to be working in NZ education, as although our experience sometimes feels incoherent, at least we are to a greater extent, “masters of our own fate!”

We spent an enjoyable evening at Le Chalet Saint-Michel, near Notre Dame, with Francois. We can't say we hadn't be warned, but we succumbed to his urging to order Fondue Savoyarde aux 3 Fromages, Raclette and Reblochonade. Fortunately we had a brisk walk home afterwards.

The next day we caught an Uber to the OECD where we met with David Istance, Senior Analyst, Project Leader, Directorate for Education and Skills, Innovative Teaching and Learning. 

This visit had a similar theme to all of our visits; what are the themes and emergent patterns and learnings when considering Innovative Pedagogies for Powerful Learning? In particular, we were looking forward to discussing the global tension between the ‘Knowledge Based Metrics’ which are driving the “League Table Effect” created by PISA Testing and analysis, and the idea of Creative and Innovative Pedagogies to produce C21 Graduate Attributes. David acknowledged that this was a real problem and that the OECD were realising they needed to adjust their focus somewhat. David put us in touch with the leaders of two “Equity and Access” projects in different parts of the world who we have already corresponded with and will be able to work with going forward.

After extended conversation we walked downstairs and continued over lunch. It was a bit posh to feel comfortable taking photos of the food!

Cafe Culture

A visit to Paris includes endless cups of coffee and time spent in cafes people watching - as well as enjoying the food and wine.

One difference that caught my eye on this trip was the way the chairs and tables are all lined up to face the street - conveniently accomodating people watching, rather than huddled around a table seating some people with their back to the view, as we do in New Zealand.

Get Crackin'

After walking past the Crackin' Kitchen for a couple of days we had to go in and try it for ourselves.

Seafood with a difference - no plates and diners are dressed in big bibs before the meal is delivered. The waiter covered the table with paper and brought out our orders in buckets, which were upended in front of us. From there it was a case of on with the rubber gloves and 'get cracking'.

Photos had to be taken in advance as there were no clean fingers to use a camera with once you took the plunge.

Very delicious and it went everywhere.  

The Dorothy

This deserved a post of its own.

Tara and Miki took us to a lunch place, Ginger Cafe, serving very tasty vegan food.

The headline special, "The Dorothy" caught my eye!

The Fellowship

In October last year my husband was surprised, and delighted, to receive an unexpected letter in the mail which began….

"Message From the Woolf Fisher Trustees

The Woolf Fisher Trust is pleased to offer you a Woolf Fisher Fellowship for a 10 week study visit to North America, the UK and some countries in Europe in 2016.

Your trip will include a week long course at the Harvard Principals’ Centre in Boston…"

This precipitated a lot of excitement investigating what the Fellowship was about,  what this study visit could entail, and whether the logistics could be managed at the home end.

And the big surprise for me was that the terms of the Fellowship included me to tag along, if I was so inclined (or invited)!

Fast forward to April and this post sees us packed and ready to head to the airport, squishing clothes for Summer and Winter, work and play into one suitcase and hopefully have room for some shopping.

First stop, Hawaii.