le mystere du cafe

Today, in an art-nouveau style cafe in the old town of Tallinn, a woman of not inconsiderable years made me a hot and strong cappuccino...just the way I like it. Last week, in a small coastal village in Sweden, a young girl made me a hot and strong cafe latte. Neither had probably ever trained at a barista academy.
In France, I watched a woman in a cafe ruthlessly murder a jug of mik by boiling it, cooling it in the refrigerator, returning 10 minutes late to boil it again, cool it again...and so on. I'm not sure what the purpose of this process was, but to me it illustrated the absolute horror of French coffee making.
Pourquoi?
When it comes to food, the French are meticulous in everything they do. Their pastries and bread are devine, their sauces silky, their markets full of wondrous fruits and vegetables, the cheeses sublime...and yet....the coffee is, by and large, horrible. Is it because to the French, milk is for making lovely cheese? Is it because they tend to favour robusta beans? Or a combination of both.
We searched blogs for suggestions of good coffee shops in Paris. We tried them. We will keep searching.

favourite places to stay

Most of these you will need a car for!
To quote my husband: "In Australia you get standard accommodation for boutique prices. In Europe you get boutique accommodation for standard prices."
I guess Europe has a long tradition of bed & breakfasts/chambre d'hote.

TURKEY
Sumptious dinner and breakfast with warm, knowledgeable hosts with a view of the monuments. Can't get anything closer. In my top 5.
Gallipoli Houses

ITALY
Rome:
Out in the suburbs, but they will recommend a fantastic restaurant nearby.
Anna and Elena

Sorrento/Amalfi Coast:
Gorgeous view, eat in their restaurant. Splurge - it's worth it!

Fontecchio:
In my top 5. Remote but stunning.

Marche:
Beautiful area.

SWEDEN:
Ukna:
In my top 5. One of the few places we have been back to, and would love to stay there again.

THE NETHERLANDS:
Chosen by Steven's publisher. Both charming and interesting.
Rotterdam
Amsterdam

SPAIN:
Villanueva de Algaidas
Good base to visit Granada, Seville and Cordoba. Very helpful owners who will direct you to a lovely hidden cafe.

COPENHAGEN:
Easy bus ride to town. Helpful, friendly owners.

FRANCE:
Montreal:
In my top 5. We had a fantastic time here. Easy day trips to Dijon, Beune and Flavigny-sur-ozerain(Chocolat town). Beautiful area.

Salles de Villefagnan:
I begged Steven to leave me here....

Saulty:
My first chateau!

Morbihan:
Lovely dinner.

Brittany:
The birds nest dinner! In my top 5.

Provence:
Handy to all Provence has to offer.

near Lille:
We ate a dinner of home-grown ingredients at night then picked raspberries in the morning.

Tours:
Nice hotel in the old town.


I'm sure there will be more to come!

Warm and sticky

Wrong country, different name, but I knew what they were the moment I set eyes on those little spirals of deliciousness. The taste and smell of them was imprinted on my brain thirty years ago.
My mother made them according to a traditional recipe, passed to her by Finnish friends in Mt Isa. I would watch her prepare them with love, and the house would fill with a cinnamonny-yeasty smell. Warm and sticky, hearty and sweet.
They are called Bullar in Sweden, but I know them as Pulla.
While we’re in Stockholm, we’ll be eating one a day. And I’ll think of mum.

Chambre d'hote

No matter how much you savour every moment and refuse to take anything for granted, there are some things about travel that are... a touch tiresome.
A noisy hotel room that you pay $150 for, and can’t swing a husband in.
Translating “noix, basse and cote” on a restaurant menu as “fish coated in nuts” and ending up with a large steak with zucchini.
The answer is “Chambre d’hote”.
You get a gorgeous room filled with family antiques, often on a 17th century farm for $90 a night. You then pre-book a dinner, “Table d’hote” and enjoy whatever the host feels like cooking that night. It’s 3 or 4 courses, including wine for a paltry $22. You’ll perhaps share the table with 6 septugenarians who can’t speak English and 2 young Parisiennes who can. Laughter ensues as you try to understand a jolly old man’s joke about Napoleon. You offer each other seconds from the copper pot of vegetable soup and pour another glass of wine, knowing the carafe will be refilled as soon as it’s empty.
After three hours of stuffing yourself like a french farmer, you stumble back to your room of thick stone walls and sleep like… well, like a pickled french farmer!
You wake to a breakfast of croissants, fresh bread and homemade jams made from the fruit of the trees in the garden. Before leaving, you use the free wi-fi to book the next Chambre d’hote.