Noosa.

 Brisbane is  in between the Gold Coast to the South and the Sunshine Coast to the North. If we had more time it would have been nice to see more of the coasts and the islands, but we took a day to drive up to Noosa about 130 kilometres north of Brisbane.

Luckily mum has a cousin who lives there so it was the perfect excuse to have lunch at the surf club, staring out onto the sparkling ocean. 

 After lunch we took a stroll into the Noosa National Park. 

hello, mum!

 unfortunately, I left my camera in the rental car and only had the photographic capabilities of an iPod...

 This actually felt like we were on vacation.

I wanna be on that sailboat. 

 We were told to look up and we would pretty much be guaranteed to see some wild koalas sleeping in the trees...but we only ended up with some cranks in our necks from looking up and looking like complete idiots.

Mum Comes to Italy: Modena (aka Osteria Francescana)

Massimo explained to us how UNISG appreciates food and likes to teach us whereas if he taught at ALMA, he would take their money from teaching the class, but they wouldn't get anything out of it. Teaching and living should be two-sided, giving and taking - learning together. 

By the time we arrived in Modena, everything was closed for lunch. We wandered and wandered until we headed back to the main piazza. I don't know if it was because it was Monday and everything was closed, but I didn't like Modena as much as the other cities of Emilia Romagna. It is much smaller and definitely does not cater to as many visitors as Verona or Bologna. The main reason we went there, ok the only reason we went there, was to have dinner at Osteria Francescana - rated #6 in the world and #1 in Italy - my UNISG graduation gift. Chef Mossimo Bottura came to teach us one afternoon and inspired many of us with not only his food, but his philosophy towards cooking and life.

After ringing the doorbell to enter, we stood in the front room until we were brought to our table. Each of our coats were taken and the two girls stood there with them, in silence, until we sat down. Awkward. Massimo came out and talked to every tables and would come to explain what each of the dishes were. Servers would bring the dishes to the tables out together, so that everyone was served at the same time. Glasses of water were never empty, never even half full, as they were constantly refilled as though the servers couldn't walk by without pouring some water. The wine list was incredibly heavy, with mostly Italian wines but ranging in an enormous stretch of prices. 

11,500 euros for a bottle of wine. no big deal. happy graduation.  jk.

Mum had the traditional tasting menu and I had the classic. I thought everything was perfect. It was a lot of food although I wasn't completely stuffed by the end of it. It was very meat heavy though and would have been nice to have another vegetable dish in between, but that's not very typical Italian. Everything was "typical" but reinvented very creatively. 

Massimo's take on spuma di mortadella - served with fluffy, salty focaccia, pistachio and I think mayo?

top 10 dishes that changed cuisine: foie gras popsicle covered in hazelnuts and almonds with aged balsamic in the middle

my non-nut foie gras served with aged balsamic, freshly ground black pepper, course salt and greens

my leeks with black truffles - can actually smell the truffles when they were placed on the table. and they tasted like truffles. take that ristorante diana. and your armpit.

my parmigiano reggiano 5 ways.

mum's tortellini en brodo

my "soup" - Massimo's take on pasta e fagioli - foie gras, rosemary foam, parmigiano crisp that tastes like the "pasta"....amazing. maybe my favourite. 

mum's bolognese

my ravioli - Massimo's take on cotecchino e lentiche - typical italian dish served on New Years Eve, but now in pasta. 

mum's short ribs served with truffled jerusalem artichoke and creamy potato

my bollito misto...non bollito - head, tongue, cheek, belly, tail, and cotechino. 

"orange salad" shot with Massimo in the background

vanilla ice cream with warm cherry sauce.

chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and a fruity film. 

another dessert tray. profiteroles, fruity gel, chocolate truffles, cream cake, and chocolate with pop rocks!

Delicious and perfect. We even got a book of the restaurants in "Les Grandes Tables du Monde."I think this was once in a lifetime though. I loved it. 

Mum Comes to Italy: Bologna

Bologna.

Our next stop was to Bologna. I love Bologna and wanted Mum to see it too because I knew she'd like it just as much. Sundays in Italy though meant that most places were closed so the city wasn't quite as alive as I had remembered the last time I visited. It was still wonderful to stroll aimlessly throughout the streets, staring in disbelief at the intricate details in the architecture and creak our necks as we looked up at the massive, yet incredibly old buildings. Mum mentioned that she felt small in the city and pondered over the possibility of men erecting such grand buildings so many years ago. We ate in Eataly and lost the calories by climbing a never-ending staircase up a tower to overlook the city (impressive views, but I think Bologna is much prettier from the street). Despite the antique interior feeling of the tower, the stairs had no backing, which gave glimpses of the potential fall below. I don't consider myself to be scared of heights, but I walked up the steep stairs looking only up, feeling blind and helpless. If it wasn't for our motivation not to give up having already walked up so many flights, I would have been completely unable to go any further if I looked down.

wondering if we should keep going...

Bologna from up up above

We climbed it.

We wandered under the shade-providing porticles which block out the summer soaked sun and the humid winter rain. I wondered why Irish architects didn't think of such a thing with all their annual rain....We looked everywhere for silver bridesmaid shoes and we stopped outside the church in the main piazza to watch a parade go by, celebrating Italy's 150 years of unification.

confetti everywhere!

Later, amongst the empty, quiet streets, we came upon a gelateria (per Catherine's suggestion) with an incredible line outside where we each had a cone of two flavours. delicious! 

For dinner, we got a reservation at Diana - which the NYTimes, Mario Batalli, Food & Wine, etc all talked about, so I was looking forward to some typical Bolognese food. The restaurant was busily packed, brightly lit from large chandeliers, and it seemed like a scene out of the 1950's. The servers were formally dressed and carved meat off carts served table-side. Mum and I figured we should order the mortadella appetizers - so she ordered some sort of mortadella with parmigiano reggiano and I ordered spuma di mortadella. Her plate arrived - an obnoxiously large amount of cubed pink meat with three slivers of cheese. 

Mum just laughed.

Mine was a pot of mortadella pate with a large romaine lettuce leaf sticking out, served with three thin slices of toasted bread. 

Maybe the cubes of mortadella were unappealing to look at, bright pink with white spots of fat, maybe it is the disconnect between the amount of meat and the amount of cheese, maybe it was the association of mortadella with the gross bologni in America, maybe it is the chewy texture - but it was just too much meat and not even presented well with any effort. The spuma was nice as a pate, with a mild flavour and soft texture, but it was also too much for one person. Oh well, we thought, with our "when in Rome" mentality, we tried. We wondered if mortadella is still popular with the Bolognese locals, or if it's on the menu as such for the tourists. Not to be compared with anything found in America, I like the flavour of mortadella, I have a better appreciation for it, but mostly when it is sliced thinly. Next, our pasta courses came. Mum ordered rigatoni with melanzane, pomodori and mozarella. 

I ordered tagliatelle with tartufo. 

Mum took one of the shaved truffles off the top to taste it, as did I.....we tasted nothing. Maybe it tastes better with the pasta. Twirled the pasta with the black truffles and tasted nothing. The truffle tasted like soggy paper and all I could think of when I ate it with the pasta was "armpit." I took another bite and refused to eat anymore. The waiter came over and asked if anything was wrong and I said this isn't good. The headwaiter came over and assured me that the truffles were fresh, that it was the right season for them, and that he had just shaved them. I said, I know, but this is not good. The taste of the pasta wasn't even rich with creamy butter. He looked at me utterly confused as I refused to be tempted into eating it. Somewhere inside, I too was confused as I hardly ever send anything back. But this was not edible and not worth it. He asked me if I wanted anything else and I said no thank you, just a check. Maybe if the appetizers had been better I would have given something else another shot, but even Mum's rigatoni was ok, but not amazing. What a disappointment. Maybe we ordered the wrong things (is that even possible to consider? Shouldn't everything be good?). Trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, I started to doubt my own culinary taste - maybe I don't know what truffles should taste like - but these thoughts about this dish couldn't be justified. I think that I do know**, and these freshly-shaved but not-fresh truffles tasted like absolutely nothing. Armpit. I'd like to think I know more what truffles taste like than armpits....

**confidence regained the following night


The next day, Bologna was bustling. The food markets were sprawled onto the little streets. We wandered around the shops until we headed to Modena.

love the food in Bologna

so many types of mortadella!

(oh, and Mum did like Bologna as much as I knew she would).

Mum Comes to Italy: Milan, Colorno, Verona

Santa Maria della Grazie

Once I ended my internship, I had a week to write my thesis paper. A couple days after it was sent, mum arrived in Italy! I met her on Friday morning in Milan. Compared to the rest of the cities I've seen in Italy - especially in Northern Italy, I'm not a particularly huge fan of Milan. There's something dreary about it, something missing in personality. But, this day was particularly sunny with the blue skies promising spring's arrival. Or, maybe it was just because I was out of the Po Valley's encompassing culatello weather. We met to see Leonardo's The Last Supper - I figured, being so close to Milan and having the opportunity to see it, I might as well take advantage. As Mum likened it to seeing the Mona Lisa, it was a bit smaller than anticipated, but I was still impressed with the details in the painting and the way it has been preserved. 

Mum in front of the Duomo

Of course there's a McDonald's within beautiful Italian architecture

After wandering around Milan for a bit after lunch and getting lost any time we tried to go anywhere, we headed back to Colorno to take Mum to Al Vedel to show her where I had spent the last two months interning.

Verona

The next day we caught the train and headed to Verona to find (no such) Romeo. Verona is a beautiful old city. Architecturally, it is similarly characteristic of many in Emilia Romagna. No cars are allowed in the center so we walked up and down the busy narrow streets until we had thought we had seen the entire city at least a couple times over. The main piazza and shopping streets were filled with people, but wander off a side street and it is completely quiet. 

Amphitheatre/Arena - 3rd largest in Italy

Gladiator Shows or Summer Operas...?

Love notes outside Juliet's House

We never found Romeo. We did find Juliet's house. Or apparently so. The walls within the little archway to reach her house were covered in hearts, poems, lovers' autographs, and people trying to find empty spaces to add their own. The courtyard was filled with tourists staring up at the little balcony and groping the statue's breast for good-luck as cameras snapped.

We had an exotic lunch of: sfilacci di equino, which is shredded horse meat. Although taboo in many countries, there are butchers in Italy just serving horse meat. Veneto, where Verona is located, is one of the places in Italy that frequently serves horse meat on their menus. Sfilacciare in Italian means to fray or to unravel and refers to this dried horse meat that is reminiscent of jerky. Served on a bed of ruccola, shaved parmigiano reggiano and full-flavored extra virgin olive oil, the meat is sweet and healthier than beef.

I then had pappardelle with porcini mushrooms and mum had a trio of pastas: ravioli with a sweet tomato sauce, gnocchi with raddicchio and marscapone, and bucattini with olives. then we shared....brain! they were huge and fried - much bigger than the chicken nugget sized ones I had previously. mum couldn't eat more than one bite. I thought it was tasty - subtle flavour, crisp on the outside and a soft meaty middle. It was weird seeing the curves of the brain as you would imagine a brain to look like. One man sitting next to us had the dish too and ate all of it, but I couldn't manage more than one. I wanted to believe eating it would make me smarter. More intelligent like a cow?? not so much.