The travel tip you won't read anywhere else

and a review of Long Island Compromise

Thinking

I am in the midst of planning a glorious trip to Spain and Portugal and when I say I, I mean my husband is doing all the planning and I am looking at where I should eat custard tarts, patatas bravas and churros.

Occasionally while reading other people’s trip details I romanticise the idea of being a travel blogger,  I mean obviously everyone wants to be a travel writer or a food critic because it sounds like all sorts of exciting travels and food adventures. But then I remember that you probably have to know how to appear in a video without stuttering and hiding. Oh, and you have to be adventurous and not fussy. 

I have failed before I have even started.

I also can’t forget the time I went to Mauritius for work. Yes. Mauritius. For work. I was working at Mamamia and Travel Mauritius sent me (and some other media people) to explore and enjoy the island. It sounds glamorous but it was hectic and busy with boring detailed hotel inspections, forced activities, no down time and I was away for my son’s Year 6 leadership debates which I still regret today. 

So, I realise I’m not quite the right fit for a travel writer, but I am in the position to give you one piece of advice that I don’t think you’ll read anywhere else - do not read Smart Traveller. Especially do not read Smart Traveller if you have one ounce of anxiety or neurosis in you. I have kilograms of the stuff so I was not delighted to read what they have to say about our chosen holiday destinations.

“Terrorist attacks in Spain are likely. The national terrorism alert level for Spain is 'high'. Attacks could be indiscriminate and could occur anywhere, any time and without warning.” And that’s just the first line of five ominous descriptions of day to day life in Spain where demonstrations, petty crime, earthquakes and volcanoes are also mentioned

In Portugal the national terrorism alert is 'significant’ and Smart Traveller recommends you also be aware of strikes, public demonstration, violent crimes, such as robberies and assaults and drink spiking. They warn you of accommodation scams, drownings at Portuguese beaches and in rivers, cliff erosion, high temperatures, bushfires and localised flooding. Sounds fun.

This is taken from the Smart Traveller website where they lure you in with pretty beach pictures and then threaten you with death.

I mean these guys are worse than my mother at creating fear, and that’s saying something. Anyway I am neurotic and now feel like I should tell you that you MUST read Smart Traveller because it’s probably the right thing to do but don’t let it ruin your holiday. Those are my husband’s words ringing in my ears.

Reading

I have just finished reading Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser Akner and I need a little breathing space. Maybe a little coming-to-terms-with space. The  book is about wealthy people and the (thoughtless) lives they lead. It is sharp and cutting and the characters are detestable and compelling at the same time. It’s written from the perspective of three different members of the same family and traces their lives after a traumatic event in their childhood when their father was kidnapped (based on a true story.) As well as telling a chronological story the book occasionally breaks the fourth wall and the author pulls you in and forces you to look at the characters in the light of day without the fiction that softens them.

Taffy is a brilliant author whose words somehow add up to be more meaningful than they appear on the page because this is not simply a story  it is a treatise on capitalism and wealth and it’s hard not to take away some very confronting lessons - especially for people, like, me who are born into privilege (white skin, middle class family, every opportunity given to me).

You might hate all the characters and the lessons (facts?) the book imparts but it will make you think and you’ll be glad you read it.

Eating

My husband made this Alfredo salmon pasta from Recipe Tin Eats and like every one of Nagi’s recipes it was perfection - the woman can do no wrong. I also made this smashed cucumber salad (without the potstickers) and even though it isn’t this viral cucumber salad it was very delicious. And yes, I did cringe when I wrote the words “viral cucumber salad.” Who would have believed that the news would be reporting on a cucumber salad, but here we are.

I went to Akipan in Pyrmont and ate the best French toast in the world, made with Japanese bread from flour milled in Hiroshima. If I was a food /travel blogger I would have taken a better photo and perhaps even a photo of what it looked like when I cut it open but as we already learned at the start of this post, I am not a food blogger.

I also made this deconstructed eggplant parmigiana from

Justine Doiron

and it looked exactly like the picture on her website (which is an actual professional photograph from a real food blogger/recipe creator) and tasted AMAZING. Yet another dish that gets my husband to say ‘I don’t usually like eggplant but this is fantastic.’

Reader: He loves eggplant, he just won’t admit it.

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