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Paniyiri and a food mix | #loveBrisbane warmth compared to #Canberra | #paniyiri2013

The day started with a sleep in. It was a lovely day in Brisbane. It was about 17 °C when I got out of bed. I heard in Canberra that this morning was a frost laden –6 °C. I’m so glad I was in Brisbane and not in Canberra.

For breakfast we started with some of Mum’s pikelets with some maple syrup.

This is Mum’s recipe

1 cup self raising flour
1 egg
¾ cup milk
1 heaped table spoon of sugar
Vanilla
1 tablespoon of melted butter

Mix and then let stand for an hour if you can be arsed
Cook and flip when bubbles form and burst

Mum’s pikelets are delicious.

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We then had to go to Westfield Chermside so Miss16 could buy some things with gift vouchers she got for her birthday. Miss12 persuaded me to buy some beef jerky. I’ve never had it before. I’m not sure I’d eat a lot of it.

After taking Miss12 to school so she could help out with a junior gymnastics display I took Miss18 to Paniyiri for work experience and Miss16 and I decide to stick around and enjoy some Greek food.

As it turned out Miss18 was at the entrance and accepted our tickets to enter.

Musgrave Park isn’t that big but in the area just in front of the Brisbane Greek Club there is a stage and that’s where most people sat to enjoy the entertainment and eat the food. Behind the entertainment area were the food stalls. There were so many. Most were selling much the same sort of Greek food. Some were selling regional variations. There was a good combination of savoury and sweet.

When we arrived, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was speaking to the crowd. He was followed by the Queensland Premier Campbell Neumann.

For lunch I chose some meat

Greek lamb yiros. It was pretty good. There wasn’t too much fat but just enough.

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Miss16 chose a chicken souvlaki wrap which she enjoyed. Sorry no image.

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The main stage

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The dancing was popular

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We ate Loukoumathes (Greek honey puffs) while watching the dancing. I’d never had them before. Apparently a few hundred thousand of these sweet little treats will be made over the weekend. They were sweet and they were nice to eat while watching Greek dancing.

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I thought I would do more walking http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/182548727 but we did more eating.

My youngest brother took Mum and Dad out to yum cha for lunch while I was driving my daughters around.

Mum and Dad brought home some char siu bao and prawn dumplings for us for afternoon tea.

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My last sunset in Brisbane for a couple of months

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For dinner we had something light

Chicken lettuce and mayonnaise sandwiches

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For dessert we had a sweet Greek treat

Baklava or as Miss16 calls them sweet lasagne

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After dinner I went to pick up Miss18 from Paniyiri and her work experience day

When we arrived the fireworks were starting.

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My pre-sleep treat

Turkish delight

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Paniyiri http://paniyiri.com/#
Trip Advisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g255068-s408/Brisbane:Australia:Events.And.Festivals.html
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/K97IS

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Gymnastics and Hog’s Breath Cafe | @hogsbreath (yummylummy.com)
Places to Visit in Brisbane:The Library (australianloop.wordpress.com)

Gymnastics and Hog’s Breath Cafe | @hogsbreath

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It’s been a big day. My three daughters all had things on and I’m happy I could get them all there on time without any major problems. Okay, there are some Brisbane drivers who did not appreciate a couple of rapid lane changes when I couldn’t quite understand the new road system in Brisbane. I’ve now lived in Darwin and Canberra since the beginning of 1996 and have gone soft when it comes to driving. Brisbane has changed so much and the motorways and overpasses are something more like the roads I’ve seen in Los Angeles. I’m surprised I made it everywhere and back today. Because I only visit every couple of months, my ability to navigate traffic is a struggle. Ask anyone who knows me and I am very directionally challenged.

Today Miss18 was a volunteer at Paniyiri which is a Greek festival in Brisbane. Volunteering is part of her events management course. Miss12 had gymnastics training and Miss16 had the South East Queensland Regional Senior Women’s Artistic Gymnastics competition. I was able to watch the L9 (MIss16) and L8 competition this afternoon. Miss16 did okay. She came second on the uneven bars and third on the floor. I captured a nice video of her floor routine on my iPad but then accidentally deleted it. Fortunately I had already posted a low resolution version to YouTube. I wish I could recover the original video without resorting to paying for an app to recover the file. I know what you’re thinking, Gary was one of those dorks holding up an iPad while video recording an event. Yes I was! The camera is a good one and the quality is very satisfactory.

I tried to enhance the quality by using the YouTube enhancement tools but it’s pretty shaky and grainy.

The competition was held at Moreton Bay College

I needed lunch. A bacon, egg and hash brown burger. I hope I don’t get sick. I noticed the eggs and hash brown were pre cooked and then heated again on the hot plate. I nearly said something but figured, it’s a typical school sporting event and hopefully everything was cooked properly the first time through.

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Moreton Bay College is a pretty well endowed girls school.

I’ve never seen illuminated podia before.

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Tonight we went out to dinner to celebrate birthdays and Mother’s Day. My birthday was on 1 May, Miss16 and Miss18 had their birthday on 8 May and my Dad has his birthday on 23 May. Miss18 also got a part-time job to her her get through her events management course and business degree. We decided on Hog’s Breath Cafe because it’s family friendly and a decent meal for hungry mouths.

I had an avocado prime rib steak

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Miss12 and Miss18 asked for a crispy chicken burger each

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Miss16 asked for the TexMex chicken steak combination meal. It was huge.

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The meals took quite a while to get to us because the restaurant was so busy. They’ve opened up more recently and enhanced the parking area.

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I asked if anyone wanted dessert. Miss18 shook her head. Miss12 smiled and said yes and Miss16 said no and then Mum asked about banana bread and butterscotch sauce…Miss16 relented.

This shot doesn’t do the plate justice. It was an extra large plate almost covered in a deep layer of butterscotch sauce. Mum and Miss16 really enjoyed it.

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The plate is so long the ice cream is blurry. This is the Strawberry pavlova Miss12 and I wanted.

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It’s been a good day. Tomorrow Miss18 heads back to volunteer at Paniyiri and Miss12 has to help with a gymnastics competition for juniors. That means Miss16 and I get to enjoy Greek food at Paniyiri by ourselves.

Hog’s Breath Cafe http://www.hogsbreath.com.au/
Trip Advisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g255068-d725584-r138936888-Hogs_Breath_Cafe-Brisbane_Queensland.html
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/8AAzl Address 1401 Gympie Road Aspley QLD 4034 Telephone (07) 3263 8444

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New York Grill (minglewiththefoodies.wordpress.com)
Places to Visit in Brisbane:The Library (australianloop.wordpress.com)

My week in Instagram

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It’s been a busy week at work. I’ve changed offices again. I started my clinical attachment at The Canberra Hospital and I’ve eaten out a bit.

After the last post when I revealed I’d reached 80.2 kg I thought I should revisit the single fillet of salmon again as an evening staple

I did the salmon the way I normally do with a fry pan and lid and a 5 minute timer. I cooked the vegetables with a little soy and honey.

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and again the next night…

Another small piece of salmon

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I’ve been walking every day too

Mr Owl looks good at 0445 AEST with a black background of the night sky

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In preparation for my clinical day a week I started reading some relevant documents.

Tea rather than coffee too

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For reasons I won’t go in to, I was able to return to my old office area. The first thing I did was put up my flags. I felt immediately at home.

My two favourite places in the world. Queensland and the Northern Territory of Australia

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On Friday I started my first day at The Canberra Hospital as an Honorary Visiting Medical Officer in Pathology. I decided I could walk to work from my DoHA car spot

My walk http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/178410745

So this is where I’ll be. Building 10.

There is a lot of construction underway so it’s not possible to see the building from outside

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It was a pretty good day. I really enjoyed getting oriented back into a clinical pathology set up. It was nice to speak with clinicians about patients and visit the mortuary and see the museum named after my friend and colleague, viz., Professor Peter Herdson. It was fantastic to get back into the lingo and to start thinking about the wonderful interface being a clinical microbiologist is between the patient in the ward and the vast technological brain power that rests in medical laboratory scientists and other practitioners. I love the technology of pathology. As I grew up in medicine, Professor John Kerr’s most profound comment was that pathology is medicine. If you understand pathology you will understand medicine. Truer words there are not. He also held a firm view that rigorous examination was the best way to produce a well rounded undifferentiated medical graduate who would be ready to learn more about how to heal the sick and teach others to become good practitioners of the art and science of medicine. I love that in pathology we extend our practice into the tactile of holding plates and loops, we can sense the aroma of our friends on the plates, we can see the bright colours of the wonderful chemical reactions in solid and liquid phases. We can stand before instruments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars that reduce the time from specimen reception to result delivery to hours instead of days. But best of all I love that we can take the complex and abstract and share a story with a referring and treating practitioner and help him or her heal their patient. Working in government bureaucracy for the last five years has taught me so many things, but I cannot love it like I love being in a laboratory surrounded by wonderful people and patient specimens, machines and most of all microscopes. Four days a week at DoHA and one day at TCH is a good balance.

As I walked back to my car I was reminded that The Canberra Hospital and the Royal Darwin Hospital were designed in Canada and it was Prime Minister Gough Whitlam who sought to build hospitals in the two territories. The design may well have been good for Canberra but it was a disaster for Darwin. This is a multi-storey, air conditioned building with a furnace up the middle. Indigenous Australians in the Top End communities do not like heights, they don’t like the cold and why require a furnace in a building in subequatorial Australia. What the hell was Prime Minister Whitlam thinking? The best hospital design in the Northern Territory of Australia is the Katherine Hospital. One level, multiple wings with open flow through ventilation and lots of courtyards for patients to gather in along with their intravenous infusion stand and drugs. In Darwin, as much as I love the RDH (not the building itself, I love the people, I love the community, I love the family that is a hospital), it is unseemly to have all the Indigenous Australian patients feel like they have to mill outside on hot concrete with their intravenous infusion stands all because of a mistake from the 1970s.

The walk back had a little detour to capture that image
My walk back http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/178532953

On the walk back I passed by an excellent venue for a steak

If you visit Canberra and want a nice bistro steak, the Hellenic Club is a good place for a meal.

This is the building I spend most of my week in

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On Friday night I visited Bron’s place and we enjoyed another great meal and an episode of Game of Thrones.

Wagyu steak and salad

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Fruit covered in white chocolate served with lemon curd ice cream

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My week in Instagram (yummylummy.com)
H7N9: Pathology Queensland-developed bird flu test an Australian first (crofsblogs.typepad.com)
Gribbles Pathology and Sengenics Enter Into Partnership to Deliver Cutting-Edge Genetic Tests (pr.com)
Dinner at Eat 86 | @eat86 @EatShootBlog @hercanberra (yummylummy.com)
NACCHO good news:Aboriginal health initiative proves to be one real success story (nacchocommunique.com)
Margaret Whitlam Pavilion opens at Arboretum (abc.net.au)

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.

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.

Coffee and cards

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

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.

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.

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.

One candle was enough

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The next morning I walked

Hello Mr Owl

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I had some cake for breakfast

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I only had a little

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Office coffee with popping candy

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

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It’s a nice little pistol

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

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Yes I ate the rest in one go

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

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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/
Google maps

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Thai to die for | The best Canberra restaurant experience in some time (garydavidlum.com)
April Instagram Update (keepinitcali.wordpress.com)

My Easter | #ManFlu | #bestblogs13

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This has been a fantastic Easter weekend. For my non-Australian friends; in Australia we get the Good Friday and the following Monday as public holidays. It’s one of the best public holiday long weekends we have.

It all started on Thursday afternoon and coincided with my manifestation of #ManFlu I shared a classic YouTube video on #ManFlu in my Mamak in Haymarket post from a few days ago. Every time I get a head cold I end up with rigors and sinusitis and I feel like death warmed up.

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On Thursday evening Bron cooked dinner.

Bron’s stir fry

This was delicious

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Bron cooked hot cross buns on Thursday evening

Hot cross buns

I so wanted one that I pestered Bron to break one off and share one on Thursday evening

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On Friday morning we had hot cross buns

Hot cross buns

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On the drive to Sydney for the weekend we stopped at Goulburn for a toilet stop and a break

MaltEaster

These won’t roll down the aisle of a picture theatre lol

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On arriving in Sydney we had to work out how to find and park near our hotel. We chose to stay at the Oaks Goldsbrough Apartments (on 243 Pyrmont Street Darling Harbour NSW 2009). Originally built in 1883, The Oaks Goldsbrough was Sydney’s original Goldsbrough-Mort Wool store. Maintaining many historical features, such as the ironbark columns and tallow-wood flooring, The Oaks Goldsbrough Apartment Hotel combines the facilities and service of a modern hotel with the privacy and spaciousness of a fully self-contained apartment. At first I thought it was an old gaol but then tweeps were telling me about the building’s history.

Oaks Goldsbrough Apartments

I really enjoyed my stay here. It was a relatively quiet well appointed apartment. The kitchen is spacious and well equipped except there was no oven. The microwave oven was a little dated and old. The bathroom/laundry was pretty good too. A little more storage and bench space would have been handy. The lounge area was fine with a big screen television, cable television connection and a DVD player that also accepted USB drives. The bedroom was fine except there wasn’t a set of drawers just very tall wardrobes.

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On Friday afternoon we walked around Darling Harbour and Chinatown. We’d decided to eat at Mamak in Haymarket and I’ve already blogged about that.

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On Saturday morning we enjoyed the last of the hot cross buns

Hot cross buns

Bron’s butter with some bun

Bron claims this is a misrepresentation lol

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The plan for the day was to go shopping in Rhodes and visit Ikea.

Morning iced coffee

I was feeling pretty poorly and thought a hot coffee would make me nauseated. The iced coffee alternative was not too bad.

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I went in wanting to buy a cabinet for my kitchen equipment

Ikea purchases

I bought a heap of other things too

I also brought back a catalogue for a work mate

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Of course no visit to Ikea is complete without a meal of Swedish meatballs, Lingonberries, mashed potato and gravy.

Lunch

I chose a medium plate. Quite a number of tweeps and Facebook friends asked questions about horse meat. Ikea in Australia has declared their meat balls to be horse meat free.

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Dryck Påskmust

I tried some Swedish festive drink. My #ManFlu was so bad I couldn’t tell it was sweet.

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Enjoying a meat ball

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In the evening as my #ManFlu was peaking at its worst we went to dinner at Rockpool on George. I blogged about this a couple of nights ago. It was an amazing dinner. It was so good. Rather than repeat the food images I’d encourage you to read the post. I’ll simply insert here an image of the afternoon.

Sydney Opera House

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On Sunday morning I woke up feeling pretty ordinary. We had planned to attend the Sydney Royal Easter Show 2013. The tickets also included public transport. We got off to an okay start and caught a train from Town Hall station and alighted at Homebush. We should have alighted at Olympic Park. This created a slight delay and a delay in accessing caffeine which was our most pressing need. We eventually got to the show grounds and found coffee and food.

Bacon and egg roll with a coffee

As far as shows are concerned and for my USA friends these are like County fairs I imagine, my all time favourite is The Ekka http://www.ekka.com.au/ in Brisbane every August. The next best is the Royal Darwin Show. http://www.darwinshow.com.au/ The Sydney one is also pretty good and given its proximity to Camberra (3 hours drive) it’s a good option for me at the moment.

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One of the best parts about any show in Australia is the wood chop. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_chopping

Wood chopping as a sport started in Australia. My favourite events are the underhand, tree felling and the relay. What we noticed on Sunday was the unusual number of competitors who failed to finish. We hope there wasn’t something wrong with them. Given Australian axe men are also known for the drinking, I just hope they were hung over rather than ill or not up to the competition.

http://youtu.be/4DuLNjnpeuo

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At any show I love looking at animals, produce and cake decorating. Rather than spend the day capturing images we simply enjoyed walking around looking at things. Some things though did need to be captured.

This year’s biggest pumpkin (618 kilograms)

This years smallest pumpkin

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Dog showing

Is that the best suit you’ve ever seen or what?

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For lunch we had chair sui bao

Barbecue pork buns

We ate these while in the main arena watching moto-X

http://youtu.be/2nAP_m-QC60

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After lunch we went on the SkyView ferris wheel. It was a pretty good ride. I will be picky though.

Epic grammar fail

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After the SkyView we went to the Flyball course. Last year in my Easter wrap up I mentioned our first Flyball experience http://garydavidlum.com/2012/04/09/my-easter-wrap-up/

http://youtu.be/iW8z58SIHI8

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We started feeling weary after the Flyball and decided to leave. The train journey into the city was uneventful.

For dinner we decided to walk around Darling Harbour and look for a place to eat. I had a hankering for some meat. We came across Braza Churrascaria and walked in. We were seated at a table and the protocol explained. This is not the sort of place that you can photograph everything. The wait staff walk around with trays of meat and serve it onto your plate. It’s basically all the meat you can eat.

The menu

Look at all that meat

Chicken heart

This tasted pretty good. I’m sure Dr Offal would have loved it. http://droffal.wordpress.com/

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The beginning

Pork belly

The meal was pretty good. It was very meaty and very salty. I’d do it again but I’d want to pace myself better.

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GuyLian

We needed something sweet after such a salty dinner

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I also needed a stimulant because we were going to the movies at 2130 AEDT.

Affogato

This was quite strong but very nice.

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Bron and I shared this

Chocolate cheesecake

This was quite heavy but delicious

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While near Cockle Bay we visited the Lindt Cafe looking for macarons

Macaron display

We bought two salted caramel macarons

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We took a walk across Darling Harbour after dessert. The lights are nice.

http://youtu.be/RytQhnqOT1w

Later in the evening was went to the IMAX theatre and watched Top Gun in 3D. A great movie in terms of scenes of fighter jets and an aircraft carrier. The Darling Harbour LG IMAX theatre bills itself as the biggest and the best in the world. I have no idea if this is true.

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On Monday morning we packed quickly and drove to Balmain to visit the Adriano Zumbo pâtissier for some more macarons

We ate breakfast at Fundamental Food Fresh Restaurant

Breakfast

The Eggs Benedict with Brie were fantastic. I just wish we had sharper knives for the really crispy Turkish bread.

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On the road back to Canberra we had an uneventful drive. We even stopped for a macaroni break.

Lindt Salted caramel macaron

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If you enjoy reading Yummy Lummy please consider voting

I hope you had a really good Easter too.

Bye for now and happy eating

Ikea http://www.ikea.com/au/en/store/homebush/
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/8hFEJ

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Braza Churrascaria http://www.braza.com.au/Braza-dh
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/nRyBo

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Fundamental Food Fresh Restaurant https://plus.google.com/104976736511593045920/about?gl=au&hl=en
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/Vd5GT

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Sydney Royal Easter Show http://www.eastershow.com.au/

Rockpool on George | #ManFlu | #bestblogs13 (garydavidlum.com)
Hot Cross Buns with a Twist (foodiefriendsfridaydailydish.com)
Healthy Hot Cross Buns recipe for Easter – and Easter eggs (eatmoveachieve.wordpress.com)

My stay in Atlanta | #safetyb4schedule | My extended stay in Dallas | My love affair with the Reuben Sandwich

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CDC entrance 1600 Clifton Road with Dead Duck Dilbert (3D)

There’s not much around the CDC campus. There are some newly built shops with restaurants but really nothing in terms of stuff to buy if you’re visiting and want to share gifts with friends. There’s also not much to see or do after hours unless you’re willing to catch a cab into town. Given I write a daily report of my meeting participation at the end of each work day (even if I go to dinner) that wasn’t an option. So Dead Duck Dilbert will basically only be seeing CDC and the hotel

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A close up of 3D

Okay, not really a close up

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I’d like to note that in the last twelve months I’ve been fortunate to fulfil two dreams I never in my wildest dreams thought possible. It’s a result of having a great job and very good bosses who drive the work with vision and insight. As a clinical microbiologist, and as someone who built my own microbiology laboratory in my parent’s rumpus room when I was at high school, there are two outstanding institutions in the USA for anyone with an interest in clinical microbiology, infectious diseases and public health. Last year I was able to visit both the old and the newly constructed site of the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases. Words cannot describe the awesomeness of that visit. The second iconic place for me is CDC. With a few years under belt now as a health emergency manager I also got to see the CDC nerve centre, their Emergency Operations Center (EOC). I’m a happy boy.

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The front sign of the Emory Conference Center Hotel

This is a really good hotel. There is free wifi throughout the complex (although it’s a little patchy in the main restaurant making Instagram posting of breakfast a little tedious) and the staff are really really friendly. It may just be Dallas and Atlanta but when I’ve visited other US cities like Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago I have to fake an American accent to be understood. The people of Albuquerque (previous visit in 2009), Dallas and Atlanta seem to understand my Australian accent (strine). The bathroom in my hotel room was great. The water heated up in the shower quickly and I don’t know what it was but the tap water was some of the best tap water I’ve ever tasted. I’d bottle it and drink it every day if I could. The hotel was set in lovely grounds well away from the main road so it was quiet. The bed was also very comfortable.

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It’s still daylight in the early evening in Atlanta.

3D on the perimeter fence of CDC with laboratory smoke stacks in the background

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3D and Bermuda Ginger beer at The General Muir

In previous posts I’ve extolled the virtues of my favourite ginger beer, viz., Bundaberg Ginger beer. It’s partly because it tastes the best IMO and also because Bundaberg is such a special place for my family. I always try to support Bundaberg, it’s sugar cane and anything else to do with the town. This Bermudan ginger beer was good. Not quite as good a flavour as Bundy ginger beer though.

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My Reuben sandwich

So The General Muir is a deli style cafe/restaurant at Emory Point in Atlanta. I saw on the menu it had a Reuben sandwich. I’ve watched many American television food programs on television discuss the Reuben. I’ve heard on television situation comedies the Reuben being described. I had to try one (or possibly two). They have an Instagram account and a Facebook page plus a twitter account

An IG friend told me it is more Russian than American. I’ll take his word for it. All I know it’s one damn fine sarny.

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Reuben goodness

This was amazing. I loved it. I wanted more. Dare I use the awful term mouthgasm??? It really was like an explosion of joy and happiness and ecstasy in my mouth as I chewed tongued and masticated my way through this delightful sandwich.

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The weather is like Canberra at the moment yet I’m in the Northern hemisphere

Yes, with all the eating I did try to exercise. I wasn’t that successful. I only got out twice.

I went on this walk on Tuesday afternoon. There were some nice hills. http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/158711927

I went out again early Wednesday morning because you know, I’m a member of #teaminsomnia http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/158868445

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I walked past The General Muir to take a picture

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3D and the Emory Conference Center Hotel sign early in the morning.

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Grits. My experience of buttery goodness.

Okay so this is the first time I have tried grits. I know it’s ground corn and I know it’s a staple of the south. The taste was good. It was like butter. It was very gritty though and I don’t think I’d have it every morning. I know I prefer rolled oats.

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My waffle

To remove the grittiness from my mouth I also got a waffle with bacon, pork sausage, berries, nuts and maple syrup. I LOVE North American breakfasts.

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Grits versus a waffle

I asked twitter http://twitter.com/garydlum and instagram for opinions. The waffle won

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Lunch time Reuben

We had our Wednesday meeting at another CDC site and we got a takeaway deli order. I tried another Reuben. This was about an order of magnitude difference between this and The General Muir Reuben. I did not like this version of the sandwich.

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CDC EOC

On Wednesday afternoon we visited the CDC EOC. Happy time ×10

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On Wednesday evening we enjoyed a no host (meaning we pay for ourselves, this is important for most national government departments, it’s important not to be seen or perceived to be seen to inappropriately act by providing a free dinner or lunch). We went to the Bonefish Grill at Emory Point.

Entrée at the Bonefish Grill

The lighting was really poor. This actually looks better when I rotate the image 180°. Atlantic sea scallops wrapped in bacon (Oh I love American bacon) with a mango salsa. It looks good even though the scallops were overcooked and rubbery. The mango salsa was delightful.

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Main dish

Sirloin steak, Maryland crab cake and potatoes au gratin. I was up to my third scallop on my entrée when my main meal came out. I had to quickly rearrange my plates and finish my entrée quickly so my steak and crab cake didn’t get cold. I asked for the steak to be rare. It was medium with a hint of pink. I would never send a meal back because I’ve heard too many stories of upset chefs doing things to food that’s been sent back.

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I decided against dessert and pondered the meal (compilation)

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Thursday breakfast

I thought about a stack of pancakes but I don’t think I could have done it. I elected for a spinach, mushroom, tomato and cheese omelet with bacon, sausage, walnuts, berries and some maple syrup.

———-

We had a no host lunch at La Tagliatella on Clifton Road opposite CDC

This is a Roast duck and black truffle risotto. I couldn’t identify any duck. The black bits are the truffle. It was very salty.

———-

At the Atlanta Admirals Club after my flight to DFW was cancelled. Now on AA843.

Yep another flight cancelled. That’s two for two for American Airlines. http://www.aa.com

———-

My meal on AA843. I was craving greens after nearly 48 hours. I ate the salad and left the chicken.

The chicken breast looked and felt really rubbery. I tried to cut it but the knife wouldn’t make a mark.

———-

The cheesecake on AA843 was no where near as nice as Bron’s

———-

Sitting in the Qantas Club at DFW with 3D drinking ginger ale. Yes I like ginger. I also know that one of my favourite blogging friends Judy from http://petit4chocolatier.wordpress.com/ also likes it.

———-

And a shout out to Hilah from @hilahcooking She’s one of the coolest Texans I know. I bought this book so I know more about Texas.

If you like blogs and food videos on YouTube please visit her site at http://hilahcooking.com/ I only discovered a little while ago that she spent three months in Melbourne and knows about Aussie love for chicken schnitty.

———-

This is the calm scene at Gate D14 at DFW at 2100 CDT on Thursday night.

Little did we know what was to come

———-

I was sitting in seat 1B and I sat there for close to five hours while we taxied out and in and out and in and out and in again.

The cabin lighting gives the bulkhead a pink hue. That’s my breakfast card. It never got used

———-

Shortly after boarding all the passengers and with the doors closed we taxied out and then spent an awfully long time on the tarmac. The Captain made an announcement saying there was a problem with the engine deicing system. They needed to get the engineers to look at it. We’d taxi back to the aerobridge but not dock. We’d stay in our seats while the engineers ran a range of diagnostic tests and hopefully fix the problem. After more time the Captain said the problem had been resolved and we taxied out. The regulations state that we needed to watch and listen to the in-flight safety brief again. The flight attendants were very good about it. Out on the tarmac we sat again, we assumed the crew were running through checks. After another lengthy period, the Captain announced an associated problem had emerged and we’d be going back to the terminal but not docking. He said if he let one passenger off he’d have to make us all get off and then go through security again. He then explained the engineers would try to bypass the deicing circuits and I couldn’t quite hear the rationale but no one seemed concerned. We taxied back out and again sat on the tarmac for what seemed like more than 30 minutes. By now it as around Friday 0300 CDT. The Captain came on the public address system and apologised that the system was still indicating a problem. They had run out of crew time and would need to park the aircraft in a hanger and have the system examined thoroughly. After the second trip out onto the tarmac we’d been told that because of tight crew times instead of landing in Brisbane we would land in Auckland and another crew would take us to Brisbane. By that stage I knew I would have missed my connection from Brisbane to Canberra. I had a date with Bron and basically I knew that wasn’t going to happen The Captain made a final point that with Qantas it’s all about safety before schedule hence the twitter hash tag I started #safetyb4schedule

As we docked with the aerobridge we got off and were assigned local hotels. I scored the Marriott DFW. It was about 0415 CDT when I got into my room. I called Bron, had a shower and fell asleep not knowing what was going to happen. At about 0820 CDT I woke with a panic. I walked to the door and noticed a page of paper. Without my glasses I thought it said catch the shuttle at 0950 CDT. I went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face and woke myself up. I reread the letter and it said be ready for the shuttle @5pm. I couldn’t go back to sleep despite feeling tired.

———-

So what to do. I went to the reception desk and asked if there’s anything to do locally and they said it’s an industrial area and I’d need to catch a cab into Dallas to do anything. I’m sorry if I sound like a tight arse but I’m not going to waste money on long cab rides to walk around when I’m dog tired. I knew I could do some work and I was told there was free wifi in the hotel lobby. [This is where I am now]. We’d be given two meals and we could use our rooms.

———-

I can’t remember when we were given this block of chocolate. All I know is we weren’t provided with any toiletries or anything like a T-shirt to sleep in. When I’ve been on cancelled flights with Qantas before they’ve arranged this. At the hotel they gave us a toothbrush and toothpaste. I couldn’t access my checked-in bag for toiletries and fresh clothes (not that I had any) because they remained on the aircraft.

The chocolate was okay. I can’t remember eating it I’m so tired.

———-

So I went to the hotel restaurant for brunch (it was about 1030 CDT by the time I woke up enough to do anything.

There were all sorts of things on the menu. The first thing I saw was the Eggs Benedict. My server who could see how tired I was gave me a jug of coffee and said the Eggs Benedict are good. I asked if they served them with s soft runny yolk and he said yes. What I didn’t realise was it would come with a giant potato cake. [For friends from Victoria this is what I call a potato cake. What you call a potato cake is a potato scallop (Queenslander)]. The eggs were cooked nicely although the yolk was very very pale. I assume it wasn’t free range and not fresh. It tasted good though.

———-

Making a wish

I don’t know what the whole 11:11 is about but I see it enough times on Instagram to know that some people make a which when it’s 11:11 I wished for my same seat tonight and a safe journey.

Yes I have a lot of camera apps. Do I use all of them? No. I really like ProCamera.

———-

Free wifi in the hotel lobby

I took up the offer of free wifi in the lobby and here I am doing some work and blogging and reading blogs and trying not to think of my tiredness headache.

———-

Hotel in situ starbucks

I really don’t want to offend my North American friends. You need to visit Australia and try our coffee in a good coffee shop. Ask for a long black or a flat white or a latte or even a cappuccino. I’m pretty sure you’ll notice the difference.

———-

I’ll finish the journey blog in the next couple of days. I’m really hoping our flight leaves tonight. The plan is that QF7008 (the new designation for our flight) will depart at about 2200 CDT and I’ll get a new flight from Brisbane to Canberra on Sunday. I’ll get into Canberra just before lunch. In time to buy groceries and do lots of washing. Hopefully dinner with Bron and then hopefully sleep before work on Monday. Fingers crossed

———-

The General Muir http://www.thegeneralmuir.com/
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/EYkCP

View Larger Map

Marriott DFW http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dfwap-dallas-fort-worth-airport-marriott/

Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/zQQkI

View Larger Map

Classic Reuben (werd.com)
Vegetarian Reuben Sandwich Recipe (busyvegetarianmom.com)
Breakfast Reuben Sandwich (closetcooking.com)

A happy ending and the end of a good little break | Ping @ColouredPurple

13 Replies

On Wednesday evening I vented my frustration about a bad taxicab driver and a lost bag. I don’t really like to vent. I prefer to be more positive and upbeat. I was coming down from the high of being with my daughters and having such a good time. I was surprised how annoyed and upset it made me feel, after all I’ve had my bags mishandled five times in the last twelve months by Qantas and United Airlines. The good news is my bag caught up with me sixteen hours after I returned to Canberra. The relief was palpable. I’m just grateful it didn’t happen on the way to Brisbane given that bag contained presents for my kids and parents.

So coming back to Canberra means coming back to the same old routine.

Ice coffee banana smoothie for breakfast

———-

I received a call from Qantas at about 0900 AEDT saying my bag had been found. This is despite the website stating the bag couldn’t be located and they were still tracing. Given it had arrived in Canberra at 0900 AEDT, it’s hard to believe it just appeared on that flight. I shouldn’t complain further, I have my bag. What it meant though was I had to hang around and delay my day’s plans for it to arrive.

My bag with the offending Qantas QTAG.

———-

Routine means tinned red salmon and tomato on toasted multigrain Vienna loaf

———-

Thursday evening saw dire warnings across southern Australia of an impending heatwave. There were predictions of temperatures in some areas in the mid to high 40s (degrees Celsius).

I wasn’t feeling that warm but wanted a light dinner suitable for warm weather. Mangoes and cucumbers are cooling.

———-

Dessert. Dark chocolate covering ginger from my girls.

———-

You need refreshing drinks on warm evenings.

Crushed ice and pineapple pieces with lemon lime and bitters cordial blended with Coles sparkling mineral water. So refreshing and I forgot the mint.

———-

Even though we’re past 2012/12/21 (day with longest daylight time) it was still light until late.

Last light over Lake Ginninderra

———-

As predicted on Friday we started seeing extreme temperatures across southern Australia (with attendant bush fires destroying homes and causing injuries). I did what most people do if they don’t have air conditioning and aren’t at work, I went to the local shopping mall and watched a movie. It’s been a few months since I’ve been to a movie. I chose Skyfall, as in James Bond 007. I enjoyed it. It was longer than I was expecting. The ending was cool. I’d rate it 7.5 or maybe 8 out of 10. If you’re a James Bond fan it’s worthwhile although a little tedious in parts.

For the remainder of the day I chilled and watched a DVD or two. One of them was The Dictator. I love the quote about Crocs (footwear). “The universal symbol of a man who has given up hope.”

———-

Dinner had been in my head since Thursday evening. I watched an episode of How to Cook like Heston. It was the first episode in the series and it was dedicated to beef. In this episode Heston describes the myths around steak and his technique. I didn’t follow his method exactly because I didn’t have two days to age my piece of Scotch rib fillet. That night I unwrapped the steak and put it in the refrigerator uncovered and let it dry out. On Friday night I got a pan smoking hot and seasoned the steak with some salt. I then applied the steak to the pan and turned it every 20 seconds for a total of three minutes. I then let the meat rest for a full five minutes. I had prepared a salad with some lettuce, avocado, beetroot, Parmesan, spring onion, tomato, and Chinese sausage with some lemon juice. I sliced the steak thinly and added it to the salad.

Scotch fillet cooked Heston style with lettuce, avocado, beetroot, Parmesan, spring onion, tomato, and Chinese sausage salad with some lemon juice. I was pretty happy with the comments I received on Instagram

———-

On Thursday evening a Twitter friend @ColouredPurple mentioned after I posted my tropical drink that she had come across a nice Italian sparkling mineral water from Aldi. On Friday night I made my drink with it.

It was pretty good. Better than the $0.80 bottles from Coles.

———-

This morning I woke up a little later than normal and went for a walk.

The sun rising over Lake Ginninderra.

As the sun rose the Owl Statue looked all shiny and golden.

My view as I walked down Benjamin Way.

Another view of the lake.

———-

After watching part of the test match from Sydney I had this delicious lunch.

I’d bought the Gorgonzola cheese, and Maggie Beer pâté and Maggie Beer quince paste earlier today.

Unfortunately while biting through the toast I lost part of an upper right side molar.

That’s the bit next to an Australian five cent piece.

———-

Okay so it’s a little warm today.

Why can we just have low 30s and 95% humidity? That would be perfect.

———-

Despite a broken tooth I’m determined to keep cooking and eating. Tonight I had a raw beetroot and grated it into the salad. There’s also grated Parmigiano-Reggiano plus cucumber, celery, nectarine, spring onion, lettuce and tomato.

Nothing like a light salad as the rain falls to cool down the day and increase the humidity.

Catch you later.

Things mentioned in this post

Skyfall
Website http://www.skyfall-movie.com/site/
IMBD http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1074638/

The Dictator
Website http://www.thedictatormovie.com.au/
IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645170/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

How to cook like Heston
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/how-to-cook-like-heston
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/how-to-cook-like-heston-recipes
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/heston-blumenthal/hestons-perfect-steak

Aldi
Website http://aldi.com.au/

Coles
Website http://www.coles.com.au/

Change in jobs (garydavidlum.com)
She Makes Hats On Instagram! (shemakeshats.com)
Why Heston Blumenthal deserves the Turner prize (guardian.co.uk)
Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck – part 3 (carolynchan.wordpress.com)
How Blind People Use Instagram (gizmodo.com.au)
How to use Instagram (slideshare.net)
How Blind People Use Instagram (gizmodo.co.uk)
Instagram says users’ photos won’t appear in ads (newsobserver.com)

Boxing day and the next

8 Replies

It’s coming close to the end of 2012. It’s been an interesting and tumultuous year in some respects. I’m still not sure if this will be my last post of the year. Somehow I think I have more to give especially if I continue to eat like I am while in Brisbane.

Christmas day was a very different one for me. This is the first time I’ve spent Christmas day with Mum and Dad and no one else. I’ll get to see my daughters on Friday. My brothers were doing things with their own immediate families and there were no visitors and no visits to aunts, uncles and cousins places. We’ve all grown up and this year I spent the day with Mum and Dad.

The Christmas day post outlined the majority of the food images from breakfast and lunch.

In the afternoon we went for a short stroll. Dad now walks with a stick so we’re limited to pavement and roads.

The afternoon was glorious. It was warm and it was humid enough to not be uncomfortably dry.

———-

We ventured around the retirement village and aged care facility on site. It’s ominous when an ambulance arrives with sirens and leaves slowly in silence.

The village has its own swimming pool and lawn bowls area.

———-

Dinner was a simple affair. Mum decided we didn’t need pudding or cake or anything too sickly sweet after a big lunch. I agreed on a spread of cheese and fruit.

This was a delicious way to end the day. We had fresh mangoes, cherries, seedless water melon and cheeses.

———-

Boxing Day morning I woke up feeling good in my skin. It was warm and it was raining. I had a bead of sweat on my forehead and my skin didn’t feel dry and cracked.

———-

Boxing Day in Australia (like many countries) means that large department stores and malls have significant sales on. Department stores like David Jones and Myer do a brisk trade as do most other stores. In Sydney the David Jones stores open at 0500 AEDT. In Melbourne it’s 0600 AEDT. Brisbane is more civilised and the stores tend to open at 0900 AEST. I’d bought the girls their present in Canberra and brought it up with me. I also intended to buy them some things that were going to be on sale. With steely determination I ventured to Westfield Chermside. I arrived at 0845 AEST and car park was full.

This sort of parking is what elicits car park rage. I witnessed another person write something rude on a piece of paper and attach it to the driver’s side window.

———-

Rather than wake up Mum and Dad I elected to have breakfast at the mall.

The eggs were pretty good. The Hollandaise wasn’t that good. There was hardly enough to pour on both eggs. I had breakfast at Cafe Siena in Westfield Chermside. I wrote a Google+ review.

———-

I ended up getting my girls some extra stuff for their new Wii U plus some games and external hard drives for their photographs and other data.

On getting back to Mum and Dad’s I noticed the flowers I got for Mum’s birthday which was last week. These are Australian natives. They’ll last for weeks if not months.

———-

One of the nice things about an abundance of Christmas food is left overs.

Today’s lunch was fresh white bread filled with chicken, duck, mayonnaise and lettuce.

———-

Another feature of Boxing Day in Australia is a cricket test match played in Melbourne. When I was a boy I happily spent hours watching cricket relieved during breaks when we’d go outside and play cricket in the back yard. Today was the first time I’ve sat and watched cricket with Dad for decades. In the late afternoon though I discovered (to some horror) that Mum and Dad enjoy the television soap opera, viz., The Bold and the Beautiful. I elected to go for a walk rather than endure that.

You can see the simple route at http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/137877980

I walked past a Jenny Craig franchise and thought after all I’ve eaten I may need to visit.

That said there is a legal history between Jenny Craig and my father so I never will.

———-

This is where I bought my first Ford Falcon. Not a V8, they were to come later when I lived in Darwin when I owned three V8 Falcons and Fairmonts.

———-

This is a place we used to frequent in the 1980s and get takeaway Chinese food from. As an IG friend quipped, not exactly new anymore.

———-

Boxing day dinner was a simple affair of left over chicken and duck plus some potato bake and a salad. It was delicious with lots of avocado.

———-

This morning I woke to the tragic news that Gerry Anderson had died after a battle with dementia. Gerry was the creator of SUPERMARIONATION and the developer and producer of television programs like Thunderbirds are GO, Fireball XL5 and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. As a kid and even now I love the Thunderbirds. The whole concept of International Rescue and the story behind Jeff Tracy and his sons each named after a Mercury astronaut was so compelling. Now that I work in emergency management there are days I wish we had The Thunderbirds on-call. Virgil was my favourite character. Virgil piloted TB2. I was also very fond of Gordon who piloted TB4.

YouTube is replete with clips. I’ve added a few that I like, but there are so many more.
Thunderbirds are GO! http://youtu.be/BfIAKj3Gl1E

This is the closing theme music from AudioBoo (I hope this works)

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1027643-thunderbirds-are-go

Take off of TB1 and TB2 on YouTube. The beginning is a little tedious but once you see the swimming pool move you’ll be sucked in.

Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbirds_Are_Go

Breakfast was sombre and simple. Vegemite and jam on toast with a strong coffee.

The day itself looked good.

———-

Today Mum and Dad asked me to take them on a long drive. They don’t get out much from the retirement village except in bus trips with other residents. So we spent the day driving with no plan.

This is the car I hired. It’s a Toyota Camry. It is quite good. The remote key entry and ignition is cool. I like how it connects easily with my iPhone through Bluetooth.

———-

I suggested Caloundra and Mum said why not Noosa, in the end I decided not to turn off and we ended up in Gympie in time for morning tea. Gympie has a long history in Queensland, some of it not so positive. I think you have to be a local to share those tales so I won’t go on. I had many friends from Gympie in my university and early years as a medical practitioner. I remember one gorgeous nurse from my intern year…

Morning tea was at the Little Brown Jug cafe in Gympie. I had a pot of tea and a vanilla slice. Regular readers know my fondness for vanilla slice and my dream of one day doing a vanilla slice crawl around Australia. Vanilla slice search of Yummy Lummy.

———-

After Gympie we hit the road and headed to Noosa. In the 1970s and 1980s we would spend Easter holidays at Noosa and occasionally some Summer holidays too. As we got older, we ended buying a place at Caloundra and I remember weekends and holidays in my later years of high school on the beach every chance I could get.

In Noosa we used to stay at a place called Paramount Towers on Hastings Street. Mum said it was reasonable in the day at $50 a night. I can’t imagine how much it would cost now that Noosa is one of the most expensive tourist places in South East Queensland.

It’s now called the Settler’s Cove.

This is the famous Noosa beach. I used to love this beach. So many good boyhood memories. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the beach was crowded with locals and tourists. It was kind of exotic and there would be lots of foreign tourists. For a young fella, what I remember most was that most young women on the beach had no desire to wear much and many would lay in the sun and enter the water topless. There was a clothes-free beach a short walk away but no one seemed to care. Anyway, enough of those thoughts…naughty Gaz.

———-

Rather than eat lunch at an over priced place in Noosa, Mum suggested Buderim. Buderim is a sleepy town in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. It has a significant number of senior Australians (aka self funded retirees) and is a favourite place of art and craft lovers. Dad was feeling a little tired so rather than look too far we stopped at a cafe and enjoyed a toasted sandwich.

I had a chicken, mayonnaise and avocado toasted sandwich.

———-

For dinner tonight we enjoyed a crumbed steak and salad.

I will confess I ended up eating two large pieces of scotch rib fillet steak that was covered in fresh bread crumbs. They are irresistible.

———-

Things and places mentioned in this post

Myer
http://www.myer.com.au/

David Jones
http://davidjones.com.au

Westfield Chermside
http://www.westfield.com.au/chermside
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/dKrdP

View Larger Map

Cafe Siena
Google+ https://plus.google.com/117272677739548942732/about?gl=au&hl=en

Boxing day test match
Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day_Test

The Bold and The Beautiful
http://www.boldandbeautiful.com/

Gympie
Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gympie
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/TxtYd

View Larger Map

Little Brown Jug https://foursquare.com/v/little-brown-jug/4c9fe1f654c8a1cd2f2c9b4b

Noosa
Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosa
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/Nc7Y9

View Larger Map

Buderim
Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buderim
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/CXXfT

View Larger Map

I also came across this clip on YouTube. Okay, so you get the idea, I’m a scifi geek.

Evolution of the USS Enterprise
http://youtu.be/oAakbHMvgzI

Thunderbirds Creator Gerry Anderson Dies (news.sky.com)
Thunderbirds puppeteer Gerry Anderson dies, aged 83 (thetimes.co.uk)
Thunderbirds Creator Gerry Anderson Dies – What’s Hot and What’s Trending Boxing Day 2012 (whatshotwhatstrendingnow.com)
R.I.P. Gerry Anderson (m.deadline.com)
Twitter remembers the creator of the Thunderbirds (macleans.ca)
Farewell to puppet master who defined childhood for a generation: Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson dies (independent.co.uk)
Thunderbirds creator dies (bigpondnews.com)
RIP Gerry Anderson Creator of Thunderbirds,UFO, And Space 1999 (swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com)
Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson dies (radionz.co.nz)
Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds dies (telegraph.co.uk)

Change in jobs

22 Replies

It’s been an interesting week. Nothing much has happened with that piece of public art that I’ve posting about on Instagram. The weather has improved out of sight. It’s finally warming up in Canberra and while there have been some hot and dry days, the humidity hasn’t been as low as in past years. I know it’s only early but I really hope we have a warm and moist Summer in Canberra. Unlikely I know in Canberra but I live in hope.

=====

This image was captured on Monday morning. Since then nothing much has happened. I noticed some cabling so I assume there will be lighting at night for the piece.

=====

On Friday it was announced that I would change roles. From Monday I will be the Specialist Medical Adviser in Health Emergency Management in the Office of Health Protection. I will then no longer be the Assistant Secretary of the Health Emergency Management Branch.

My areas of interest and activities will continue to align with my specialist medical and healthcare management experience in pathogen security, CBRN medical countermeasures, the health aspects of national security, and health emergency management. This should be a good move for me. I get to focus on the areas I am best suited for. I will miss managing people but the best thing is I still work my same work mates.

=====

My weight has been much the same for the last week. I haven’t been losing any weight although I’ve maintained the walking and trying to avoid snacking. Snacking though is a perennial problem when surrounded by amazing work friends who bring in treats and have special morning and afternoon tea sessions.

I’ve also been receiving encouragement from some Twitter friends who have been reminding me that my diet lacks vegetables and has too much processed food in it.

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Toasted tomato sandwich on quinoa and flaxseed bread. No cheese and no processed meat

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A work friend has a house mate who works in a bakery and we were blessed with free pastries. This is a chocolate filled butter-rich pastry.

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Last week I blogged about my favourite beverage, Bundaberg ginger beer. Here it is as a long neck or tallie.

=====

It tasted good with some ice and mint crushed in the Magic Bullet®

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On Monday night I had some minced chicken breast meat and made a chicken burger.

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For dessert I had a couple of Neenish tarts topped with whipped cream from a can (used for the whipped cream dare from last week).

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As I said above, the weather has been improving and we’ve been getting some nice rain.

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To celebrate the rain I had salmon and potato gems.

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More celebration food. Neenish tarts and cream. This is it. No more Neenish tarts.

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Wednesday was really busy and a long day at work. I didn’t feel like cooking so I got takeaway from the local shops in the Jamison Plaza.

=====

I love battered fish and potato scallops that have been hand made like these were.

=====

We had a full moon this week. I need to cut back on the light and use a faster shutter speed.

=====

On Thursday a work friend brought in morning tea. I had a chocolate caramel fudge brownie and a Queensland nut shortbread biscuit.

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At lunch time I went to the local shops with a friend and bought some Pâté, bread and butter. Then three of us shared this for lunch. The Pâté was by Maggie Beer, I bought two types, viz., duck, sherry, and green peppercorn and duck, vino cotto, and star anise. The butter was from Tasmania. The bread was fresh and it all tasted delicious.

We’re thinking of doing it again and getting quince paste too.

=====

That night I only wanted a light dinner. Floured chicken thigh and potato gems.

=====

The moon over Lake Ginninderra. I need to cut back on the light and use a faster shutter speed.

=====

Friday lunch started out as toasted pumpkin seed bread and tomato.

=====

But then I got told about my job change and thought I needed more food This is a cheesy bacon pie and lime quench. The pie was really nice. The beef is chunky and very tender. These are made in the Urban Bean Espresso Bar.

=====

For dinner to make up for the lack of vegetables this week I made some coleslaw and cooked a piece of salmon with it.

=====

This morning I went for a walk in shorts and T-shirt. It was lovely and warm. The sky was full of dark clouds. The leaves on the trees are so green.

=====

The Owl statue, known to me as Mr Owl, looked spooky with the swirling clouds behind him.

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Today for lunch I had some toasted light rye sourdough bread topped with a mixture of avocado, tomato, Tabasco sauce, chilli flakes and pepper corns.

It looks disgusting but it tasted good.

=====

I opened my Instacanvas recently. I don’t know why. I just did it for the sake of it I think.

=====

In terms of the CPAP business I visited the CPAP technician and had my last three weeks analysed through the software associated with the machine. While I still feel worse than before and always tired it appears I get a good seal, the pressures are good and I don’t need to change from nasal pillows or add a chin strap.

So I hope you had a good week. Let me know about it, write a comment below. Eat well, sleep well and be nice to everyone.

=====

Another week in Instagram and schoolies week (garydavidlum.com)
Wanton Wonton Wonderfulness (garydavidlum.com)
Instagram: Not Just for Smartphones Anymore (hispanicbusiness.com)
Instagram on the Web (iphonelife.com)
Integrate Instagram with WordPress: 6 Plugins (wpjedi.com)
CATO – CBRN crisis management: Architecture, Technologies and Operational Procedures (sunnyromy.wordpress.com)

A wonderful weekend of gardens and food

18 Replies

This past week has been a bit emotional for me. On Friday we remembered the events of ten years ago in Bali. I needed a break and Bron had very kindly organised a weekend away with her sons and me. The destination was to be Cowra with nothing specific planned except dinner at Tommy’s Bistro in the Imperial Hotel. We knew that Cowra was known for the Japanese Garden and the prisoner of war camp. The POW camp is the site of the Cowra Break out.

We stayed at the Vineyard Motel on Chardonnay Street in Cowra. This is a small but well presented motel. The best thing is the heated floor of the bathroom and main living area. This is so good on cold nights and mornings. I would recommend this motel as accommodation a little out of the town centre and in amongst grape vines.

For higher resolution views, click on the images and they’ll open up into bigger clearer images.

Vineyard Motel

In amongst the grapevines

Grapevines

Bird bath

In the Afternoon we went and headed into town to find a pie for lunch and then ate it in a local park.

Tomato and onion pie with coke

After lunch we ventured to the Japanese Garden. This is truly a delightful place to visit. It is so serene and tranquil. I would highly recommend visiting.

Bonsai

Water feature

After the garden we went to the Cowra POW Camp site.

The replica guard tower

The grounds where the site was

On Saturday evening we went and had dinner at Tommy’s Bistro in the Imperial Hotel.

Both Bron and I enjoyed the crispy crackling pork belly and scallops for an entrée and then a rare Scotch fillet steak on Paris mach for our main meal. For dessert I had a sticky date pudding with Queensland nuts and ice cream. The service was fast and friendly. The decor very warm and inviting. I would highly recommend Tommy’s Bistro for a dinner.

Garlic bread

Crispy crackling pork belly with scallops

Scotch fillet and prawns with Paris mashed potato

Sticky date and Queensland nut pudding

After a good sleep we enjoyed a motel breakfast. I had peanut paste and orange marmalade on whole grain toast.

Our intention for the morning was to go for a walk in a national park and then visit a winery for lunch.

The Wallaby Walking Trail in the Conimbla National Park is an easy walk of a couple of kilometres. The brochure from the Cowra Visitors’ Centre suggested the walk would take 30 minutes. The sign at the trail suggests 1 hour. In the end it took us about 40 minutes after a couple of water stops. You can see our route on my RunKeeper site.

In the end we didn’t get to a winery but we did find Taste Canowindra. A delightful venue for wine, art and music plus great food.

I had a chicken terrine made with crushed strawberries. It was really very good. I would recommend this place to anyone who wanted a good lunch on the way home to Canberra.