Author Archives: Gary Lum

About Gary Lum

I like living and being satisfied professionally and personally. I like to cook food, photograph it and then eat it. Anything you read in these pages is my opinion and does not reflect that of my employer. If you have concerns about what I share please contact me through the contact page.

Elk and Pea breakfast | Great omelet at @elkandpea

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Elk and Pea on Lonsdale Street in Braddon
Image from http://elkandpea.com.au/deets.jpg

On Wednesday morning I went to the Elk and Pea on Lonsdale Street with some fellow medical and scientific advisers from work. I’ve previously been there for a weekend dinner, weekend breakfast and a weekend morning tea. It’s a pretty good place and it’s getting more popular.

#breakfast omelet #big #yummy

I asked for the omelet with chorizo. This was quite large and filling. Very tasty though and I’d happily recommend it to anyone who has a big appetite and didn’t think they’d need to eat lunch. I seriously didn’t feel the need to eat until late that evening. It was a good thing I didn’t get home from work that day until 1930 AEST.

And a special mention to fellow Canberra blogger, viz., Tara from In The Taratory,  I got a butter knife but the sourdough was softened by the omelet and I wasn’t regretting my choice. That said, I continue to echo your plea that breakfast restaurants need to better consider their cutlery when serving hard toast. A steak knife would be ideal.

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The Elk & Pea on Urbanspoon

Elk and Pea http://elkandpea.com.au/
Instagram http://instagram.com/elkandpea
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ElkAndPea
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Yikes! I’m 80.2 kg | How did that happen?

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This morning I weighed myself. I haven’t done this for a couple of months. This morning standing naked I weighed 80.2 kg (or 176 lb for my friends in the USA). Since about Easter I’ve felt myself thickening a little. At the beginning of the year I was about 76 kg. At Easter I was suffering from ManFlu and then had an ankle problem which meant exercising was not a high priority for me. Coupled with some more extravagant eating it should come as no surprise that I’ve got over 80 kg.

I really need to stop eating so much, exercise more and watch what I’m eating. This last week has been a little out of control. Let’s take a look.

Now we need to remember I started the week with the ham hock (which was delicious). I also experienced my birthday (and much of Bron’s generosity). Finally I had one of the best quick meals I’ve ever had last night [click on the links for the images in the posts].

So in between I also ate pretty well.

Roast belly pork

#dinner belly pork #yummy

Yes, I ate all that to myself and there was nothing left over.

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Friday morning signalled my last Friday working in the department so I had my last Friday Mavi breakfast wrap.

#breakfast My last Friday Mavi breakfast wrap. Look at that hash brown and bacon 😃😃😃 #superyummy

This doesn’t mean my last Mavi breakfast wrap, just the last one on a Friday. From next Friday I start working as a Visiting Medical Officer in Pathology at The Canberra Hospital every Friday.

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On Friday night I was late at work and so that means takeaway

Hungry. Mmm... Char siu and roast duck. What will I buy for takeaway #dinner ?

I wanted something yummy from 2YUMMY

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I chose a laksa of course

#dinner my char siu laksa #yummy I drank the liquid straight from the bowl 😃

My char siu laksa.

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My breakfast on Saturday wasn’t sensible.

#breakfast #tart #yummy

It was a lemon meringue tart from Elk and Pea

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Before I went to see GI Joe Retaliation I needed lunch. I don’t want to spoil this for anyone. I loved the movie. It’s well worth watching if you like ninja action, guns, heavy machines and very athletic looking actors. I will definitely purchase the DVD when its available.

#lunch beef horseradish hot dog #yummy Ping @snagstand @jacquimkane @kecozanat @jesskirkham08

My Snag Stand Beef Horseradish hot dog

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A movie isn’t a movie without, you guessed it

Time for GI Joe #movies

Popcorn

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For breakfast this morning I splurged and had some toast

#breakfast #avocado and poached #eggs on toast

Not just toast but half an avocado plus two poached eggs

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For dinner I braised some gravy steak with vegetables

My #dinner tonight. Braised beef and vegetables with brown rice #yummy

This was pretty nice and it was lean

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I’ve included the rest of my week in instagram

If you click on any image in this post you’ll see the IG comments made by my IG friends. Some are pretty funny.

#autumn

It’s autumn

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Good morning Mr Owl

Mr Owl

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I really do not like speed dampening "cushions"

New speed dampening cushions have been installed on local streets. I’m not a fan of them. I am a supporter of better road safety.

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Good morning. #clouds

Saturday’s early morning clouds

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Good morning Mr Owl. Beautiful blue background

Mr Owl this morning. Beautiful blue sky. 

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This car has been here for weeks

An abandoned car outside the local cop shop

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On a depressing note, my footy teams have not done so well this weekend. The Brisbane Broncos were defeated by South Sydney. The Reds drew their game. The Melbourne Storm were defeated by the Canberra Raiders. So very very sad…

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Elk and Pea http://elkandpea.com.au/
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Pizza and profiteroles with Bron

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Tonight Bron invited me over for dinner. The plan was pizza and profiteroles and then a movie on the television.

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This is the Choux pastry just filled with vanilla custard.

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These two pizzas are mushroom and feta and then a barbecue chicken with tasty cheese.

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These two pizzas are tomato, mozzarella and basil and then a sweet potato, pine nut and blue cheese.

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These are the first profiteroles Bron has made. They look amazing.

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Do you think I added enough chocolate custard?

This was an amazing dinner. So delicious and filling. Bron is an amazing cook.

I hope you had a great dinner tonight too :-)

My birthday

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I turned 48 this week (Wednesday 01 May) and enjoyed some fun food.

Before the food though a little reflection. I’ve never really been one to ponder too much about birthdays and getting older. We’re born, we live and if we’re fortunate we age, grow old and then we die. When I turned 30 and 40 I didn’t have a party because in my mind it wasn’t a big deal. Over the last year or so I’ve experienced some evidence of ageing in terms of my health. I’ve had to think more about my weight, my blood pressure and my diet. While I still eat more, I’m more and more conscious of the need to keep my weight at a certain level. On Tuesday night I went to bed and for the first time reflected on the following day I would be 48. Forty-eight sounds old. Forty-seven seemed to be a little way before I hit 50, but 48 is two years away from 50. In my mind 50 is old. That means in 2015 I reckon I’m taking a couple of days off around my birthday and spend some time in quiet reflection. The last place I want to be is at work.

So on Wednesday I woke up feeling quite flat. I needed something sweet and refreshing. The best thing in the morning though was a text message from Miss15 who sent me a pinch and a punch for the first day of the month. Normally I get in first.

#birthday #breakfast #coffee in my Brisbane Broncos mug plus a Chinese Gooseberry and pineapple smoothie #yummy

I made the smoothie with Chinese gooseberry and pineapple pieces. The coffee was also strong.

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On checking my post office box I had a couple of cards. One from my parents and one from Bron.

Good morning. #birthday #coffee and cards 😃☕

Coffee and cards

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I work with great friends. A couple of them decorated the glass outside my work area.

Great work mates. Office decorations for #birthday Thank you 😃

The good news is I move work areas again next week.

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I decided against lunch because Bron was taking me to dinner. When we got there I got a gift from Bron.

#birthday gifts Thanks Bron

Popping candy and chocolate.

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We went to our local Canberra Southern Cross Club at Jamison. The club does a pretty good steak which is what I wanted to eat.

#birthday #dinner Scotch fillet with mash and hollandaise Thanks Bron #yummy

This is a Scotch fillet steak with hollandaise sauce and mash potato.

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Bron bought me a nice cake and we had some at the club. It was great going out with Bron and having a good meal and enjoying each other’s company.

#birthday #cake Thanks Bron #yummy

One candle was enough

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The next morning I walked

Good morning Mr Owl

Hello Mr Owl

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I had some cake for breakfast

#breakfast Leftover #birthday cake. Yes I did do this 😃

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I only had a little

#breakfast A small piece will be okay.

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Office coffee with popping candy

Good morning. Office #coffee with popping candy 😃 ☕

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I got a nerf gun for a birthday present from a work friend

#birthday gift from @jacquimkane Thanks Jac | Ping @jesskirkham08 @kecozanat

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It’s a nice little pistol

Needed to go out in the cold for a #coffee Brrr...❄❄❄

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Chicken and vegetable bake was necessary before I could finish off the cake :-)

#dinner chicken legs and vegetable bake #yummy

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Yes I ate the rest in one go

#dessert The last part of my #birthday cake #yummy

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Just so you know it’s got cold again in Canberra

Good morning Mr Owl. It's warmed up to –0.5 °C 😃❄

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So I celebrated over a couple of days.

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Jamison Southern Cross Club http://www.cscc.com.au/location/jamison/
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My pedantry about vaccination and immunisation | shoutout @sciencesarah | Custard apple | shoutout @SybariticaBlog

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Over the last week as part of my regular blog reading I’ve commented on a couple of blogs.

The first was on Science for Life. 365 which is a post a day blog by an Australian scientist and writer Sarah Keenihan. On Day 257. Killing smallpox and parasites Sarah wrote about her vaccination in Canada before coming to live in Australia. I made a comment about being vaccinated and vaccinating others and mentioned my pedantic habit of referring to vaccination in the context of smallpox immunisation and immunisation for everything else. To me Edward Jenner vaccinated with cowpox (Vaccinia virus). The process was immunisation and vaccination specifically refers to using Vaccinia virus (or a derivative) to immunise against smallpox. I once explained this to a work colleague and she told me I was wrong. She said I didn’t understand vaccination is universally accepted as the term to protect people by stimulating their immune systems and had nothing to do with smallpox. I didn’t say anything. She didn’t have a science background and it wasn’t worth an argument. When I was a lot younger I recall the early iterations of the Australian Immunisation Handbook had an explanatory footnote on the difference between immunisation and vaccination. It last appeared in the sixth edition. I’ve scanned the relevant pages and made them available in this link. I think in earlier iterations the explanation was different.

The second blog I commented on was Sybaritica by John Thompson who lives in Canada, practices law, travels the court circuit of regional and remote Canada and seems to be more Chinese than me. Recently John posted about custard apples and it made me think back to my childhood growing up in Brisbane and being an avid fan. It’s been a long time since I had a custard apple even though they’re readily available. I made a comment on John’s blog and mentioned that I didn’t recall them being that laden with seeds. I saw one in the supermarket on the weekend and knew I had to buy one.

#dinner Custard apple or Cherimoya 😃 #yummy

The one I bought had lots of seeds. Perhaps as a child I swallowed them all :-) Anyway, it was delicious.

Good night.

Smoked ham hock my way | #bestblogs13

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In February I won a competition on radio station 2CC. I won $50 worth of meat from Elite Meats at Kippax Fair in Holt (in the North of Canberra).

Today it felt like a good day to cook the smoked ham hock I chose.

Elite Meats smoked ham hock

#dinner Elite Meats smoked ham hock out of the freezer #yummy

This is the ham hock thawing because I forgot to take it out of my freezer last night.

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I looked over a few recipes and while enamoured by many of them I decided to just make it up as I went along based on suggestions from a number of websites.

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This is a heavy duty meal so it needs heavy duty cookware.

#dinner My trusty casserole

My casserole

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I thought I should add some nectar of the gods. It is such a shame I have a liver that cannot metabolise ethanol, otherwise I’d drink this every day for my health. Not to worry I did see a recipe that used beer rather than wine.

#dinner Nectar of the gods. I wish I could metabolise ethanol. For my slow cooked smoked ham hock #yummy

XXXX Gold. XXXX sponsor the XXXX Queensland Maroons. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love the XXXX Queensland Maroons and state of origin rugby league. By far and away the greatest game of all. The first state of origin game will be soon. Can Queensland make it eight years in a row?

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Of course man cannot live on meat and beer alone so there are vegetables included.

#dinner Vegetables for my slow cooked smoked ham hock #yummy

I forgot to include the Brussels sprouts in the image :-/

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It’s a fairly simple dish to make. I chopped onions and added them to some olive oil in a saucepan on a low heat. I waited for the onion to soften nicely before adding some balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Once that was simmering and well incorporated I added the tomatoes. When the tomatoes were soft I added the chopped celery and mushroom. When everything was really soft I started to prepare the casserole. I lined the bottom with thinly sliced red cabbage and laid the ham hock on top. I then added the contents of the saucepan and poured the stubby of XXXX GOLD into the casserole. I then added the carrots and Brussels sprouts. I put the casserole into a low oven (150 °C) for four hours.

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This is how it looked at about 3 hours

#dinner Half way there. Slow cooked smoked ham hock. #yummy

You can see the meat falling off the bones.

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After four hours I pulled the casserole out. My apartment has a delicious sweet smoky aroma to it. I plated up the slow cooked smoked ham hock on a bed of noodles.

#dinner My bowl of slow cooked smoked ham hock #yummy

Okay, it’s doesn’t look that colourful and I captured the image before I added some continental parsley.

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I didn’t add any salt or seasoning like a stock cube because I knew there would be so much flavour in the ham plus the flavour of the balsamic vinegar, sugar and onion really came through. I expect I may blow the sheets off the bed tonight after eating so much cabbage, onion and Brussels sprouts. It’s a good thing it’s just me :-)

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Voting closes in a couple of days

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Ham hock
Definition
Noun (n) (a small cut of meat from the leg just above the foot)
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_hock

XXXX Queensland Maroons Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/queenslandmaroons

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My beloved MacBook is fixed | #bestblogs13

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On Thursday night I blogged about the problem I had with a swollen battery in my MacBook. I had called the Apple store and made a Genius Bar appointment for Friday night and was told to expect a five to seven day turnaround. I was preparing myself for doing everything from my iPad when away from home.

As it turns out I need not have fretted. When I arrived at the Genius Bar and was seen by an Apple Genius it was obvious my battery was big and turgid and its tumescence needed relief. The Genius cleaned my MacBook and put it into a sleeve and printed a repair contract. Then when I expected him to say come back next week he said come back in 15 to 20 minutes. He also said given the amount of warping if the hard metal case didn’t spring back to shape and if the track pad wasn’t working properly they would probably need a few days.

I was hopeful. I returned after 15 minutes and to my delight my beloved MacBook was fine and straight.

A big bouquet to the Apple Store in Canberra and to the Genius who helped me.

My beloved MacBook is being repaired by an Apple Genius. So happy it looks like it's okay. Huzzah #happy

The Genius was running a diagnostic after fixing my MacBook.

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The night got better too. Bron cooked dinner and we watched an episode of Game of Thrones.

Look what Bron made for #dinner Wagyu with cauliflower cheese, potato and sweet potato cooked with duck fat plus greens #superyummy

Perfectly cooked Wagyu steak with cauliflower cheese, and potatoes and sweet potato baked in duck fat with some greens. This was amazingly good.

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This was followed by Ginger cake and ice cream

#dessert @davidlebovitz ginger cake and homade ice cream #superyummy

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Anyway, I’m pretty happy my MacBook is fixed and I can use my track pad.

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Apple store Canberra http://www.apple.com/au/retail/canberra/
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Mexican dinner party | Shout out to @davidlebovitz | #bestblogs13

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Thursday night saw Bron invite a couple of dear friends over to her place for dinner. The theme was Mexican, that is, the food theme, we didn’t do any Mexican hat dancing or tequila drinking.

For an entrée Bron made corn chips with a David Lebovitz guacamole, salsa and sour cream. Bron made the corn chips from tortillas and they were amazing. They were tasty, crunchy and light. The guacamole and salsa were fantastic. I watched Bron make some of each and had the pleasure of tasting it along the way. I could’ve eaten corn chips all night.

#dinner #entrée Bron made corn chips and salsa and guacamole #superyummy

It looks like I had a lot of sour cream. It just seemed to spread across the plate (honestly).

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For the main course Bron made a David Lebovitz chicken with chocolate mole sauce. The mole sauce amongst other ingredients contained ancho chili peppers, onions, various herbs, tomatoes, pepper, and unsweetened chocolate. The sauce had a nice kick to it but it wasn’t an unpleasant heat that some chillies have. While Bron and our friends enjoyed wine with their meal I found pineapple juice to be an excellent accompaniment to the spicy flavours.

Chicken chocolate mole

#dinner Chicken with mole sauce (chocolate sauce) #yummy

This is the chicken covered in the chocolate mole sauce. No I did not eat all of this.

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#dinner Chicken mole with tortilla being prepared #superyummy

This is my plate with a tortilla in the making and the chicken ready to be shredded. I only ate one tortilla :-)

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#dinner Chicken mole tortilla A Bron special 😃😃😃 👏👏👏 #superyummy

My tortilla. It was delicious. What you won’t see is how much chicken I ate after finishing this.

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I remember on a trip to Mexico City enjoying enchiladas and mole sauce. I blogged about it and one of my work friends was horrified that I’d eaten a mole (as in the blind mammal that lives underground). I laugh and laugh every time I think of that.

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For dessert Bron made a David Lebovitz ginger cake plus some home made non-churn cherry and white chocolate ice cream

#dessert Bron made a @davidlebovitz inspired ginger cake and home made non-churn cherry and white chocolate ice cream #superyummy

Doesn’t it look amazing? The ice cream was creamy and delicious. You wouldn’t know it was not churned. The cake had a lovely kick of ginger and a hint of pepper. It was brilliant. Bron is such a magnificent cook.

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You can find information on the recipes at the David Lebovitz website http://www.davidlebovitz.com

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Stop press

Friday morning morning tea (or mornos as defence friends say)

#morningtea Bron's ginger cake with #coffee Reading #TheScientist

Coffee and cake. What could be better :-)

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Winter has arrived so it’s time for the winter avi | #bestblogs13

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Okay it’s not really winter yet. Winter starts in June. In Canberra though the rules are that heaters should not be turned on until after ANZAC day (25 April) and they should not be used after the Melbourne Cup has run (the first Tuesday of November). There are also some similar rules about basil and tomatoes but they relate mainly to frost.

Out of all the capital cities in Australia, Canberra is the coldest and the driest. For me that makes it the most uncomfortable and frustrating place to live. This week has seen the weather settle into cold. We’ve even had some subzero mornings. I wouldn’t mind the cold if it wasn’t accompanied with the dryness. I have ichthyosis vulgaris, basically dry cracked hairless skin. I’m forever applying moisturiser and my skin feels cracked dry and at least once a day there is a degree of pain.

As a kid growing up in Brisbane I didn’t hang with my school mates or university friends that much. They were mostly well to do people who were a bit too sophisticated for me. I should qualify and say that after I started fourth year university I got into a friendlier group at university and hung out with them a lot more. Anyway my friends were from the neighborhood and we all liked cars. A couple of mates were doing apprenticeships as fitters and turners and another worked as a bank clerk. We liked V8 sedans and station wagons. I was into Mopar and Ford and my friends were into Holdens and makes from the GM stable like Chevrolets. In Brisbane such people were known as Bevans as distinct from Bogans. I’m not going to try to explain what a Bogan is. I think the term is misused and I think it’s used cruelly to describe people who are misunderstood.

The point of mentioning Bevans is that they had a standard winter garb. Jeans and a flanny. That is, a flannelette shirt. My winter avi reflects that.

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I’ll write about my car history another time.

For now though I hope this post doesn’t scare anyone and given I’m doing it on an iPad I hope it works okay.

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Frustrations with a swollen MacBook battery | #bestblogs13

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This is a short post with no images. I’ve discovered my beloved MacBook has a swollen battery and I need to hand it over tomorrow afternoon to the Apple store to have it replaced. The older MacBooks had accessible battery compartments for simple replacement. The newer ones do not.

I’ve been doing a little browsing and discovered this is a constant problem for many MacBook iterations. It seems Apple has known about this for some time.

While I can still blog, tweet and post images to instagram from my iPad and iPhone it’s not quite the same without my MacBook. Certainly blogging won’t be as good in the sense it will be more fiddly to add images.

What frustrates me more is that I will be without my beloved MacBook for between five and seven days according to the Apple store employee I just spoke with.

So while I will continue to try to be a good blogger, if the quality is less than optimal it’s because I’m using my iPad or iPhone instead.

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