A shout out to friends with Facebook pages

A shout out to friends with Facebook pages

It’s been a little while since I last posted anything here. I wanted this post to be a shout out to some friends’ Facebook pages and a roundup of what has happened for me in the last week. If you have Facebook pages please feel free to leave a link to them in the comments below.

I’d like to mention a couple of European blogging friends.


Ana Calin

The first is Ana Calin. Ana is an author of suspense fiction and she has a passion for psychology. Ana regularly shares psychological profile questionnaires which are fun to take and learn from. For example, Ana will share a photograph or painting and ask her readers to look at a short selection of possible captions. You need to make your choice quickly without spending too much time ‘thinking’ it through. Down the page is a list of possible interpretations.

Ana is an active responder to comments so if you want an interactive blogger Ana is great. She also has a Facebook page.



Medical Fun Facts Podcast

Okay so here is a little bit of self-promotion. A friend at work inspired me to start a podcast on medical fun facts. This started when my friend, let’s call her KMV, was working in a short-term task force and I’d visit from time to time in my role as a medical adviser. Because I like to tell stories, KMV asked for a medical fun fact each time I visited. That was a while back and now KMV is in another area and we’re working together on one or two pieces of policy work.

low-res-copy-cropped

So MFF started as a podcast on my ‘professional’ webpage and KMV suggested putting it up on iTunes. It turns out it is dead easy if you’re using a Squarespace site to load a podcast and have it submitted to the iTunes podcast store.

If you want to listen and read each show head on over to https://drgarylum.com/blog/ and check it out. Now remember the emphasis is on fun which can also mean frivolous but facts are facts. These are short snippets of information with a little jargon, some strine and hopefully a laugh every now and then. So far I have ten shows on the blog.

Do you like listening to podcasts on your iOS device? Head over to the iTunes store and subscribe. The link is https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/blog-gary-lum/id1170771102

I’d love it if you subscribed if you like what you hear. Please also rate (5 stars would be great) and review in the iTunes store. If you do, it helps iTunes rank the podcast higher so others can find it. Thank you.

You can also get the shows at the Facebook Page. Please like it and you’ll receive a notification with each new episode.


Jasper and Myrtle Chocolates

My dear friends Peter and Li Peng are going gang busters with their handmade chocolate business, Jasper and Myrtle Chocolates.

I’m in a very fortunate position to see them every so often and I get to sample chocolate. If you live in or near Canberra you’ll be able to find Peter and Li Peng at various markets. You’ll also find their products in various outlets around Canberra. If you don’t live near Canberra, you can still try their award winning chocolate by putting an order in through their website.

Award winning Jasper and Myrtle Chocolates Gary Lum
Award winning Jasper and Myrtle Chocolates | The “Silk Road” Rocky road is to die for. It’s amazing. 

They have a Facebook page and you should read the reviews.

If you like chocolate, you need to get onto this straight away!

Both Peter and Li Peng are talented in the kitchen too. Last night we had a meal which started with salt and pepper squid, then a massive steam boat (no photographs, I was too busy talking and eating), then a gorgeous tiramisu which was followed by homemade baklava.

Peter's delicious salt and pepper squid Gary Lum
Peter’s delicious salt and pepper squid
Peter's Tiramisu Gary Lum
Peter’s Tiramisu. It was delicious.

My weekly roundup

I had a really big week. It started with a publication in the Medical Journal of Australia. I also gave evidence at a Senate hearing in Sydney. On Friday I started experiencing the symptoms of man flu.

Here’s what I ate and some other stuff too!

Almond crusted custard filled croissant from Ricardo's cafe and patisserie, Jamison #afternoontea #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon
Almond crusted custard filled croissant from Ricardo’s cafe and patisserie, Jamison
#afternoontea #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon
Best way to start Monday morning. Urban Bean Espresso Bar #coffee #canberra #cbr #woden #iphone
Best way to start Monday morning. Urban Bean Espresso Bar #coffee
#canberra #cbr #woden #iphone
Cheesy streaky bacon wrapped Chicken Maryland on quinoa rice with baby broccoli and avocado
Cheesy streaky bacon wrapped Chicken Maryland on quinoa rice with baby broccoli and avocado
Chicken, bacon and avocado sandwich from Urban Bean Espresso Bar #lunch #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #iphone
Chicken, bacon and avocado sandwich from Urban Bean Espresso Bar
#lunch #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #iphone
Public art at Canberra Airport
Public art at Canberra Airport
Coffee at Canberra Airport
Coffee at Canberra Airport
Yoghurt at Canberra Airport
Yoghurt at Canberra Airport
Payday #coffee from Urban Bean Espresso Bar and reading George Korch one of my favourite people. #lovemyjob #canberra #cbr #woden #iphone
Payday #coffee from Urban Bean Espresso Bar and reading George Korch one of my favourite people.
#lovemyjob #canberra #cbr #woden #iphone
#PayDay potato scallops for the win #lovemyjob #iphone #lunch #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood Gary Lum
#PayDay potato scallops for the win
#lovemyjob #iphone #lunch #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood
Slowly cooked oyster blade steak with potato chips and avocado #dinner #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon Gary Lum
Slowly cooked oyster blade steak with potato chips and avocado
#dinner #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon
Seafood basket with chips and gravy from The Canberra Hospital tuck shop Gary Lum
Seafood basket with chips and gravy from The Canberra Hospital tuck shop
Apple and walnut scroll
Apple and walnut scroll
Steak and cheese sandwich for #nationalsandwichday #TGIF #dinner #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon Gary Lum
Steak and cheese sandwich for #nationalsandwichday #TGIF
#dinner #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon
#ManFlu Cheesy scrambled eggs with streaky bacon Saturday morning edition #breakfast #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon Gary Lum
#ManFlu Cheesy scrambled eggs with streaky bacon Saturday morning edition
#breakfast #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon
Christmas tree at Westfield Belconnen. It seems way too early for this. Gary Lum
Christmas tree at Westfield Belconnen. It seems way too early for this.
Perfect Saturday morning coffee from Everbean Espresso Bar Gary Lum
Perfect Saturday morning coffee from Everbean Espresso Bar
Crispy streaky bacon and fried eggs Gary Lum
Crispy streaky bacon and fried eggs
#ManFlu Drinking #Coffee and working at Everbean Espresso Bar #morningtea #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #iphone Gary Lum
#ManFlu Drinking #Coffee and working at Everbean Espresso Bar
#morningtea #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #iphone
Award winning Jasper and Myrtle Chocolates Gary Lum
Award winning Jasper and Myrtle Chocolates
I'm standing on Beissel Street looking towards Lake Ginninderra and there is a car park in between despite the sign. Gary Lum
I’m standing on Beissel Street looking towards Lake Ginninderra and there is a car park in between despite the sign.

14 Responses

  1. Hello my friend! I’m finally in a place/space to get back into visiting my favourite peeps & see what they are up to.
    Oh I so know how gloriously wonderful that feeling is when you step off the plane into warmth & humidity.
    Not surprised you’ve been held up with the Man Flu buddy, reckon most of my Berra buddies have been struck down, I do hope you survived without too much awfulness.
    I’ll soon be posting about Island Food….. everyone is asking me to “tell all”… but let me give you a sneak peak!!!! Living on an island & having every meal catered for you is not all it’s cracked up to be as there is another side of hospitality food that only we on the inside know about. Soon to be revealed lol. But, there’s a hint….. I have been SERIOUSLY drooling at your week of food, Oh how I miss my brunches & coffees & cakes and….. and… well everything about food I took for granted when I had a (sob, sob) kitchen to call my own. So, just to let you know….. I’ll be stalking your posts for virtual pig outs this week lol.

    1. Thank you so much Anna for commenting.
      I can only imagine how much you are missing some of the greatness that is the Canberra food scene especially the coffee and breakfast options. Especially perfect poached eggs and really fancy ways to do everything.
      That said I’d still be willing to work in the Whitsundays 😃😃😃

    2. And not having a kitchen to create in would really be difficult especially for those special things that you know only you can do just how you want.

    1. Thank you Lorraine. I’m glad I’ve usually eaten breakfast when I read NQN because I’m always wanting to taste what I see on the screen 😋😃

    1. Thanks Elissa. I’m a long time fan of potato scallops. I’m so happy the FishCo Markets in Woden Westfield do hand cut ones with a good quality batter.

      I’ve liked MinistryGroundsCoffee on Facebook 👍

  2. Congrats on the publication Gary, but so sorry to hear that your week ended with a bout of the flu. Hot, cold, hot, cold and a lot of wind this spring. I’ve been having bouts of hayfever quite a bit of late. Hope you get better soon.

    I have to agree with you on the Christmas side of things. Way too early, and here in Melbourne, I spied the Christmas things going up the day after Halloween. The festive things going up make me want to walk the other way… -__-

    Lovely crisp photos of food as usual. I see in this post quite a few food photos have a lovely white background. Well done 😀 Also, very good shot of Peter’s tiramisu. Very, very sharp, probably the sharpest and most striking of the lot. And you probably only had one chance to take a shot of it 😀 Wishing you well this week.

    1. Thanks Mabel
      Surprisingly the tiramisu was shot with my iPhone while most of the other food is with my Nikon DSLR. I’ve started playing with white backgrounds and increasing the highlights and whites to try to get better accentuation.
      Hopefully I’ll get over this head cold (manflu) soon. I feel very congested and headachy at the moment.

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