Mt Tamborine -- Pies

If you're an American reading this, forget everything you know about pies.  I am not here to blog about pastry desserts with a fruit filling.  If you're an Aussie reading this you'll already know that I'm talking about meat pies.  A staple of Australian cuisine.  But unless you've been to Mt Tamborine Winery, forget everything you know about pies too (and head there immediately if you're anywhere near the Brisbane/Gold Coast area).

Australian lingo lesson (Part 1):  "Pie" -- Individual sized savory pie with a pastry crust and meat & gravy filling.   The fillings vary from the most basic beef mince in gravy to curried chicken, steak and mushroom and for the vegetarian, spinach and feta (although an Aussie might debate that it's no longer a pie when you take out the meat...besides, I've yet to meet a vegetarian Queenslander!).  They can be purchased frozen at the local supermarket or ready-to-eat at just about any bakery or even the local "servo" (gas station).  And pies are acceptable fare for any time of day.

Now I know, as an American-born, former vegetarian I'm not really qualified to judge the "best pie" in Queensland, but my Brisbane-born, meat-loving husband has certainly had more than his fair share of pies in the last 30+ years (far more than the 12 per year that Wikipedia claims the average Australian eats!), and he backs me on this.   And if you need further proof, there's a real competition with real judges (whom I assume are real Aussies), and Mt Tamborine Winery has won about 6 years straight, as it turns out. 

The details...

Best Pies:  Mt Tamborine Winery & Homestead
Location:  About an hour from Brisbane, 128 Long Road, Mt Tamborine (Eagle Heights) 
Hours:  Open 9:00am - 4:00pm daily

What to order:   Any pie that suits your mood.  Choices include Steak & Red Wine, Cheese & Bacon, Beef Stroganoff, and so much more! 

While you're there... wander along the same street for some eclectic shopping (Need fiber-optic trees for your home fiber-optic forest?  Look no further.  Need a cuckoo clock?  Choose from hundreds at a shop just right across the road)  Oh yeah, and you might as well take in the beautiful views from one of the many walking trails on Mt Tamborine.  And what's a good treat after a nice, long hike?  You guessed it, more pies!

Let's Hear It From the Locals

The obvious person to start with:  my husband and resident Queenslander born-and-bred. 

Top 3 favorite things about Queensland (without over-thinking it):
1.  Straddie (a.k.a. Stradbroke Island)
2.  Mt Tamborine pies
3.  the weather

See, I wasn't lying when I said people love the weather!  Now I'm all for sunshine, but can't the sun shine without it being 100 degrees (oops, drop the American, sorry...40 degrees) pretty much year-round?!?

Anyway, the poll continues.  And the list grows.   And today I can't really complain about the weather.  A pleasant 24 degrees, clear skies, nice breeze.  On a day like today, I do actually get it.

Where to start?

Every good project needs a to-do list to give it purpose or at least direction.  I guess I could begin with the Lonely Planet Queensland guidebook that's been sitting on my bookshelves ever since we arrived.  It certainly lists all the reasons tourists come here.  But I've met New Yorkers who've never been up the Empire State building and still say New York's the best place in the world, so I know there's more to it than just the famous sites.  Plus, I can admit that Queensland beaches rival (and probably even surpass) any others in the world, but as I've made abundantly clear, I'm not won over by the whole state.

Let's start with stereotypes.  Provincial.  Country.  Outback.  Backwoods.  Small town.  Desert.  Flies.  If you need some more key words, ask anyone from Melbourne or Sydney to tell you about Brisbane.  But even a Victorian will add, "But they do have nice weather up there."  So maybe that's on the Embracing Brisbane To-Do List:

1.  Love the weather.

But I hate the weather.  It's hot and humid and feels like Mississippi in the middle of July but without central air conditioning or even a decent summer storm to cool the place down.    And have I mentioned the flies?

1. (revised) Find ways to appreciate Love the weather.

I'll keep working on that list, but it's going to be diverse for sure.  The guidebook spots and the local hideaways.  The local pasttimes (though lets face it, with 2 toddlers and little time for a social life this definitely won't be a Guide to Brisbane Nightlife).  And of course, the food.  A different kind of Australian adventure (less glamorous perhaps than the guidebooks and certainly lower budget than the movie, but who knows, you might get a laugh out of hearing how a Mississippi girl who's afraid of the water learns to surf).  And if any Brisbane readers actually stumble on this blog, maybe you'll even discover a thing or two with me that even you didn't know about your hometown. 

Why Now?

Ironically, this all started because I've finally been told that we can go back to America.  I trekked down to the big city of Sydney, got ushered by security through a maze of hallways and special elevators programmed to only stop at one floor, stood pleadingly in front of a government officer and for once was met with good news.  Our visa application is "very straightforward" and will be granted in 2-3 months.  I wanted to hug him, but the plate glass window wouldn't allow it.  Of course, it'll still take us about a year to make the move.  Lots to do first (like finding a big enough boat to fit all of the stuff we've acquired in four years).  But the dreams of Colorado were already flooding in.  And it occurred to me that my state pride these days is for a place I lived barely 8 months.  Colorado.  I talk about it like it's heaven (which it is) and defend it like it's a place I spent most of my life (which it isn't).  Queensland never had a chance.

And to be completely honest, it still doesn't have the chance Colorado does because no matter how much I let Queensland in, we're still moving back to America in about a year.  But maybe this way, one day down the road five or so years from now, we'll be celebrating Australia Day in our little mixed-culture household while every other American lets January 26th just pass them by, and when that fierce state pride of my Queenslander husband rears its head, I'll finally understand (a least a little) what he's carrying on about. 

State Pride

Queenslanders have it. Texans have it. Even us those of us who have left to live on the other side of the world have it to some extent for the state where we grew up (for me, that's Mississippi, where state pride means sorting through the scars of history to find those parts that still shine). But no matter what anybody else says, nobody has state pride like a Queenslander. Not even a Texan. And contrary to what I first thought, it's not just because they've never been anywhere else. Despite being about as far away from anywhere else as you can get, Australia pushes its young adults to go explore the world. And many do. But they almost always come flocking back home. Especially the Queenslanders. Sure some get lost in the pubs of London for 4 or 5 years. But one early morning after Australia Day celebration in the big, grey city, and they emerge from the Slug & Lettuce and next thing you know, they're back in Brisbane. So do you have to be a native-born Queenslander to get it?

I moved to Brisbane, Queensland and immediately tried to forget I was here. I put air conditioner units in our house and shut the doors to the Queensland weather. I stocked my pantry with grits and cornmeal and cooked the Southern recipes I was used to. I'd traveled all over the world, self-righteously viewing myself as anything but the American tourist I was. I embraced the cultures I visited, eating their food, learning their languages (well, at least "please and thank you"). I was determined not to be the stereotypical American tourist in the middle of an Italian piazza, loudly complaining that there's no McDonald's. Yet for nearly four years, in a place I was supposed to be calling home, I have been just that. (Well, maybe not the McDonald's part since I'm not proud of that American achievement). I have been too busy clinging to America to see what it is these Queenslanders are carrying on about.

So here's to letting go. Not completely. I'm still keeping my air conditioner. And flyswatter. But I'm ready to give it a chance. Welcome to the Sun State and my travelogue of home.