I came to Griffith in September 2005, it seems like aeons ago now and so much has happened.
It is strange how things happen, I met Anna online and after many conversations, it was agreed that I would move here. Anna was tasked with finding me a flat to move into. I stayed there for around 3 months before I moved in with her. Nearly 18 years later, we are still here together. One of the first things I did when I moved in with Anna was planting an olive tree but more about that later.
When I arrived here, I was on a disability support pension, but that is another story. The first thing I did was look for a job. I found a tech support job at ClickStart IT (now Leading Edge) fixing computers. That was something I was familiar with.
The first Christmas that I had here was spent at Anna’s dad’s home and it was a different experience for me. We did a Kris Kringle and that was something that I had not done before. From memory, I had Anna’s sister G. I also bought a bottle of wine for the day. It was a bottle of Penfolds Grange, I don’t remember the year but I feel like it was around 9 yrs old at the time. We were a bit lucky that we cracked it as the cork was just about past its use-by date. That aside it went down well and I enjoyed it along with others.
Anna is of Italian heritage, such as her parents came from Italy and were not born here. I suppose typical of Italian females (and I be damned if I don’t get slammed here by someone or another) She is fiery, but that makes life even more interesting. But I drift from my point about Italian Australians, they like their traditions. And I have grown fond of them as well.
One of these traditions is Salami. This is usually done on the long weekend in June. What used to be called the Queens birthday. Day One is the slaughter of the Pig. This was a real eye-opener for me as from being a city boy meat was bought in the meat department from Woolworths. The pig was hung and gutted with the kidneys and liver being washed by me.
The carcass was then taken back to Mr Q’s house and was left for a while before being taken in and butchered into strips to be fed to a mincer. Select parts of the animal were set aside to make things other than sausages. Lardo and Capocollo were set aside and left to cure in their own right. They also take the pig skin along with other “less noble” parts and it is simmered in lard and water for many hours till it is soft this is called Frìttuli.
After the meat is minced and the spices salt wine and other bits and bobs are added it is time to test. A small portion of the meat mix is fried up and it is tasted for salt and flavor. Once this is done it is placed into skins of different sizes. Some are hung to dry and others are for fresh sausages.
One thing is for certain it is a pork feast and the first time I was involved I made myself sick with the Frìttuli.
I will bring you more stories on my life in Griffith as time goes by
Remember to LOVE LIFE!!