Ciao tutti, comè stai?
I know some of you have been wondering where I’ve been and whether I’ll come back or not. The good news is, I’m back – so get ready for what’s about to unleash!
Let’s start with the Father’s Day Hamper, I want to thank each one of you for supporting such a great cause! I wanted to say my biggest achievement to date for One Panino At A Time was having Sooshi Mango on board to promote the brand.
Unfortunately, we didn’t sell out like last time and that stressed me out a little because I put so much work into getting everything ready on time! However, two weeks later I was offered an opportunity to cater for a dear friend’s wedding, we served panini at the Church, and it was an absolute hit! You see Ragazzi, where there is a loss there will always be a win around the corner. Due to our catering success, we have now managed to start up something new this Christmas, keep your eyes peeled!
Once the dust settled, I managed to take a break and travelled down to Noosa where I met some amazing people and had the absolute time of my life. For a while, I haven’t felt great about myself and where I am on a personal level.
I have spent much of my time comparing myself to my friends, colleagues, and some family members, and I think we’ve all fallen victim to this. I measured my achievements and future goals based on time, time to get a boyfriend at 26, time to buy a house at 28, time to get a pay rise within 12 months of being at a firm, time, time & time.
My full-time job is being a Lawyer, our role is based on meeting deadlines, and specific dates, achieving numbers and getting the facts right. Specifically, as a Property Lawyer, you are running on tight timeframes i.e., finance dates, settlement dates, building dates, “what time can we stretch this out till?”, “What time is settlement?”. Again, time, time, time, time and…MORE TIME! I guess this is why I have called my business, One Panino At A Time.
Although, in some sick way I have enjoyed the rat race, however, this mentality has seeped into my personal life. I feel the need to apply the same method of meeting those unrealistic deadlines, those deadlines that sometimes your wog family puts on you. But the truth is, we have all lost precious time, and to be factually honest, we have all lost three years of our lives. From sitting at home, going on three walks a day, losing time with family and friends, losing time on personal and self-development within your career or just on yourself and most of all travelling.
This year was the year we tried to play catchups, but what we haven’t noticed or maybe some of us have, is that we have overstretched ourselves to the point where we have not made time for ourselves. No time to travel, no time to see the people you want to see, and barely anytime to work out, squeezing every activity or task into one day with the anxiety that another lockdown could be on the horizon.
That is probably half the reason why my hampers didn’t work out because, I didn’t take it One Panino At A Time, and that is what this business is about, taking life One Day At A Time. When you’ve experienced a tragedy in your life, even if it’s not to my extent, let's use covid-19 as an example: you are constantly trying to buy back the time you have lost. So, after I was done catering, I said to myself, f*** it I'm going back to travelling on my own because that’s what makes me feel good, it motivates me, it makes me happy, it makes me want to set new goals for myself. So, I came home, and I was ready to buy back my time, I was given a great opportunity at work, I have networked with some great bars around Melbourne and finally, after three years, I’ve felt some relief in my life. I feel like I can breathe again, and I felt like I wasn’t running on everyone else’s time, I’m running on my own time.
So, I utilised my time the best way I knew how, and I took a trip down to a new Salumeria in the North-Western suburbs known as Aberfeldie Salumeria!
Let me tell you guys, I am glad I took my time coming to this place and writing this blog because this place needs a moment!
First off, I want to talk about the aesthetics of this sanctuary, it's sleek, simple, & elegant. Their pastel palette and recessed shelving compliment the eccentric and colourful Italian products they have displayed, from the famous Bippi Chilli to decadent selection pasta, Olive Oil that will leave your tongues wagging. They even have the perfect biscotti to give to your Zia when you need to go for a visite.
It doesn’t stop there, you'll find at the back of the Salumeria they created their own dining experience where you can sit, eat a panino or even a plate of pasta al dente. They have created their own local trattoria right in the heart of Essendon, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the Maribyrnong River and the public road that is Buckley Street.
From the sophisticated décor to the library of from Pane e Pizzico that presents itself as soon as you walk in, these ladies have nailed your modern-day Salumeria!
I managed to sneak in a panino so I can obviously talk about it:
Salsicia:
Ciabatta Bread
Italian Sauage
Sauteed roasted peppers
Marooooooon, it was hot, and it was specialè, from the perfectly crusted ciabatta that was not so hard but also not so soft. The bread inside soaked up all the oil from that Italian sausage that was cooked to perfection! Do not even get me started on those roasted pepperoncini! This reminded me of when my mum used to make Italian sausages with wog peppers, you could do a scorpa with the ciabatta bread! The cooked Olive Oil was dripping out of my mouth and all I could taste was the resonance of the herbed garlic. It was so good; this is a mouthful, but it was worth it. I took my time eating this one!
Although, it isn’t just the fancy aesthetics and meaty panino that gave me a warm feeling about Aberfeldie Salumeria. It was the women that run this place, they started in lockdown and just opened last year. Stefanie a Lawyer and Connie a teacher, mothers’ and wives’ always had a dream of opening a Panino shop that reminds people of little Italy but with a twist. They wanted to have the best supplies from the shelf-life products to the bread.
However, it wasn’t their dream that I admired, it was their drive and devotion to take back their time. These two sisters-in-law wanted to do this for a long time, and, COVID pushed them to turn their passion into a reality. It was always in the back of their minds to run their own business and they succeeded.
Stephanie having a background in business as a Lawyer took matters into her own hands and it has paid off. Watch out Steph, I might just follow in your footsteps ;).
This is exactly what I meant by, we have all been running at some sort of time and if it wasn’t for COVID, and having that time for yourself, would you have ever asked yourself: "when is it going to be my time to do what I want?"
So, after I nestled my mouth into a delicious Panino with sausage and my friend ordered her usual prosciutto roll, which might I add was delicious (I always like to go different).
I then hopped, skipped, and jumped on a plane ride to Bali with my two friends. We laughed, we drank, we danced, we ate WELL, and we were happy because we took the time out for ourselves to do this for us.
During that time, we learnt that we all felt the same, we all felt that we were running on this time limit and that we have been robbed of the last three years of our lives. We realised we were playing catch-ups but in that time we’d been playing tiggy, we found that we’d lost ourselves.
Reflecting on these conversations and seeing how people have changed their perspective on what they want out of life, based on tragedy, setbacks, and pandemics has made me understand that your daily tasks at work or at home might have a time limit, but what you want out of life does not.
As we have all seen from the last three years, we have lost a lot of time, now we are just trying to take it One Panino At A Time.
Thank you, ladies, from Aberfeldie Salumeria, for showing me no matter how old you are, wherever you are personally or professionally, you need to make time for the things and people that you love.
Be sure to check these guys out at 27 Tilba Street, Aberfeldie or check them out on Instagram: @aberfeldiesalumeria.