I’ve had an interesting week. Work has been busy and on Wednesday I flew to Perth for work. I heard from Ms18 that the Queensland state gymnastics competition has been going well. She did well on the first day and I’m hoping her second day of competition finishes with even better results.
In terms of sleep, it hasn’t been great. Despite my CPAP machine I seem to be going through a period of early waking and an inability to return to sleep. My tinnitus has been worse and I’m not sure why. I’m quite careful not to expose myself to loud sounds and before bed I try to observe good sleep hygiene. I guess I should try to do more exercise. That always seems to be a good option.
So this week I’ve enjoyed some nice food.
On Monday I had leftover slow cooked beef, speck and spam for lunch
Leftover slowly cooked beef, speck and spam
For Monday dinner I enjoyed some greens with a piece of baked salmon
Baked salmon with peas, sugar snap peas and broccoli
Tuesday breakfast was scrambled eggs Gordon Ramsay style
Cheese and chives scrambled eggs
Tuesday lunch was leftover corned beef congee
Corned beef quinoa congee
Tuesday dinner saw me flake some baked salmon and enjoy it with noodles
Baked salmon with ramen noodles with cheese, avocado, and beef, speck and spam gravy plus sugar snap peas
I had sugar and cinnamon doughnuts for Wednesday breakfast
Coffee and doughnuts
My Wednesday lunch was a repeat of Monday, this time with different reading material
Slow cooked beef, speck and spam
A friend at work likes to share with me when Urban Bean Espresso Bar is selling really nice cheesecake. This photograph shows three things I really like. A Queensland flag, a photograph of a FA-18 Hornet which was a gift from the CO RAAF Tindal and Squadron 322 and of course a caramel almond toffee cheesecake.
Caramel almond toffee crunch cheesecake from Urban Bean Espresso Bar with a Queensland flag and a gift from 322 Squadron Tindal, NTCaramel almond toffee crunch cheesecake from Urban Bean Espresso Bar
I was in Perth on Thursday morning and stayed at the International on the water hotel.
Bacon and eggs with mushrooms and a hashbrown
On Thursday night I had room service for dinner
Chilli mussels International on the water HotelStuffed mushrooms International on the water Hotel
Friday night was an easy one with leftover corned beef quinoa rice congee
Corned beef quinoa congee
On Saturday I had a leisurely breakfast of cheese and chives scrambled eggs with a cup of coffee
Cheese and chives scrambled eggs with coffee
Saturday much was tinned pink salmon with an avocado on Vita-Weat with cream cheese
Tinned pink salmon with avocado on Vita-Weat with cream cheese
Chicken thigh, drumstick and giblet congee with black fungus
Sunday lunch was a chicken breast hot pie
Garlo’s chicken breast hot pie
This dish is known as “Jacqui” after my friend Jacqui
The ‘Jacqui’ aka Garlo’s chicken breast hot pie with cheesy potato gemsThe ‘Jacqui’ aka Garlo’s chicken breast hot pie with cheesy potato gemsPotato gems
So it’s been a pretty yummy week in food. None of this is really helping my waistline. Oh well, I will work on that later.
Slow cooker rump roast isn’t something for every day not even once a quarter. As I was grocery shopping in Coles on Saturday I came across a small roll of rump and through why not. It’s Autumn and the Canberra weather has started to turn cold (as normal). I thought I would add some different flavours just to see how it turned out. I knew I could get at least two more meals from the roll by vacuum packing and freezing the meat after it had been cooked.
Capsicums were going at a reasonable price in Coles so I added the tops and tails plus a potato, a brown onion, some arborio rice and white and red quinoa.
A lump of rump with vegetables for slow cooking Sunday
The nice thing about my Breville slow cooker is that it’s also a pressure cooker. I’m yet to use it as a pressure cooker mainly because I like cooking my meat low and slow. This cooker has a 6 hour and an 8 hour option. I tend to go with the 8 hour option.
I think I added a little too much water, normally the rice and quinoa has the consistency of congee.
Slow cooker rump beef with capsicum, red quinoa, white quinoa, onion, potato and rice
There’s nothing like the fatty goodness of rump. The flavour wasn’t too bad. The texture of the meat was perfect. If I had some beef bones I would have added them for extra beefy flavour.
Male prawns use the petasma during copulation (sex) to grasp a female prawn and transfer the sperm sac. This was a highlight of a dinner party I attended last night.
Let’s rewind a little. Regular readers of Yummy Lummy will be familiar with my friends Peter and Li Peng. Li Peng has recently started a handmade chocolate business known as Jasper and Myrtle Chocolates. I recently shared some photographs and information in a post about Good Friday.
Last night Peter and his friend Dave hosted a dinner for ten people including Bron and me. It was a fabulous event and I met some new people. Of course around food the conversation can roam all over the place. We unpicked some historical stories about Peter’s past as marine biologist in Far North Queensland.
Peter even appeared in an episode of Ask the Leyland Brothers. I reckon any Australian around my age would know about the Leyland brothers and their documentary style television program which extolled the exploits of brothers Mike and Mal. As a marine biologist Peter did quite a bit of work with dugongs. You can see Peter from about 18 minutes and 15 seconds. He’s the skinny bloke in the speedos with all the hair.
The conversation didn’t stop with dugong though, from time to time it got a little ribald and Peter raised the subject of the petasma. It lead to an hilarious exchange that extended to descriptions of claspers on sharks and a recent YouTube video I’d watched after a recommendation from Jennifer Paetsch of Little Monster Girl fame about Japanese chickens and eggs. I never knew how difficult it is to differentiate between male and female chicks.
Anyway if you have an interest in the copulatory behaviour of animals it’s worth looking up some of these things. While I will always have a passion for medicine and microbiology, there is something very satisfying in reading zöology.
I suppose you’re wondering what we ate given Yummy Lummy is a food blog.
Peter and Dave went to the trouble of making a menu and everything. We ate outside in the cool (read bloody cold Autumn) Canberra night on the back deck, hence the name of this ‘pop up’ restaurant.
The Big Deck menuSesame crusted tuna with wasabi pannacotta, nori and caviar
The entrée was pretty amazing. The tuna was perfectly cooked and crusted and protected by a layer of nori from the pannacotta. The wasabi pannacotta was a revelation. The amount of wasabi was just right. Any more and it would have been too much and any less, could have raised questions of lack of punch. The caviar was a nice touch. I reckon finger limes or salmon roe would also be a nice touch.
Lamb backstrap with peanut and coconut crème, red onion salsa, and sweet potato cake
The lamb was perfectly cooked and the salsa was to die for. It was so refreshing and flavoursome. The sweet potato cake was also very tasty. The peanut and coconut crème was really nice. I wasn’t sure though it was the best fit with the lamb.
Apple rosettes with pistachio cream and salted caramel sauce
This dessert was a fantastic finish to a most delicious dinner. The granny smith apple was cooked really nicely. It retained its firmness and tartness and complemented the pastry nicely. The pistachio cream had a nice sourness to it which offset the salted caramel sauce really well.
Jasper and Myrtle Chocolates
As you might expect we finished with hot cups of tea and chocolate.
Thanks Peter and Li Peng for a great dinner. Here’s to all male prawns having an healthy petasma.
Good Friday hot cross bun with maple streaky bacon
Have you ever had a Good Friday French toast hot cross bun?
I made my French toast hot cross bun better with maple bacon
Last night I went to XO Restaurant at Narrabundah and enjoyed a meal with Bron. We had Shantung Baos, XO FC Wings, Sexy Squid, Char Siu, Crispy Lamb Ribs and XO Hot Cross Bao. The char siu was a revelation. One of the owner chefs came and had a chat with us and explained how he was inspired to make the char siu after trying a Malaysian version. XO cooks the pork for many hours by sous vides and then when a ticket arrives blast the pork with a blowtorch and then it hits a hot oven and then a little more charring. I am happy to say it’s the most tender and flavourful char siu I have ever eaten. Just for that dish the meal was worth it. The evening meal was topped off with an Easter inspired dessert, viz., Hot cross bao. For the best description check out the XO Facebook page
I only shot one photograph last night and it was the hot cross bao.
XO Restaurant’s hot cross bao! Fresh bao made in house with Sichuan chilli raspberry jam and salted praline peanut paste ice cream drizzled with dark chocolate. They’re vegan and dairy free!
So back to today.
I started with the French toast hot cross bun. I just used hot cross buns from Coles and soaked one in some egg, cream, brown sugar and vanilla extract. I then fried it off in some butter. The streaky bacon was cooked in my benchtop oven with some Canadian maple syrup poured over each rasher.
Good Friday hot cross bun with maple streaky bacon and coffee
This afternoon I was invited to afternoon tea. Peter and Li Peng are friends who have featured in Yummy Lummy many times. Li Peng has just started a new business hand making chocolate.
The label is known as Jasper and Myrtle Chocolates. Li Peng is currently working on a website but she has a Facebook page and an Instagram account which I hope Yummy Lummy readers might consider following.
Jasper and Myrtle Handmade Chocolate being made
Peter made hot cross buns which were really good.
I had 3 fresh hot cross bun with butter
I highly recommend Li Peng’s Jasper and Myrtle chocolates
Jasper and Myrtle Handmade Chocolate
Check out these links for more on Jasper and Myrtle Chocolates
So I ended Good Friday 2016 watching the Brisbane Broncos play the North Queensland Cowboys and ate some slowly roasted beef and coleslaw. The Broncos defeated the Cowboys in a really tight game.
Good Friday slowly roasted beef with beetroot coleslaw
I hope you had a good Good Friday. What did you get up to?
I first heard of Corregidor Island while watching “World War II in Colour” on Netflix recently. If you’re interested in modern history I highly recommend this documentary. I binged watched the entire program over a weekend.
Corregidor Island day tour is the trip I took. It was with Sun Cruises and a day tour cost me Php2549.00 (AUD$75).
I had a 4.30 am start because I’d been told the roads around the Seaside Esplanade Terminal would be closed from 4 am to 10 am for a fun run. I thought about walking but I’d been feeing a bit under the weather (fever, chills, sore throat and headache) for much of Saturday so I arranged with the hotel to hire driver to take me. It cost about P575 (AUD$17).
I ended up having a poor sleep filled with odd dreams and some nightmares.
At 6 am I got into the hotel car and explained to the driver some of the roads would be closed and suggested a road we should attempt to take based on the map I’d been shown of the path of the fun run. He ignored me. We got close to the Seaside Terminal and he exclaimed, “roads closed!”. I said “yes, that’s why I tried to show you a different route based on the information about the fun run.” “You should get out here and walk. I cannot drive.” So I walked to the Seaside Terminal. The driver had got me most of the way there so I shouldn’t complain.
I quickly found myself amongst the fun runners. I still think it’s an odd concept…fun…run! I really don’t like running.
I got to the terminal at 6.15 am. Check in was at 7. I’d been told the night before in an e-mail that I should get there well before 7 to avoid the fun run traffic which would start at 4 am! The ticketing and check in process was really confusing. An inordinate amount of time was spent just standing with very little activity.
I had time for breakfast from 7 Eleven. A snickers bar and a bottle of water. That would have to sustain me until lunch time. Little did I know that lunch would be delayed.
Snickers and water at Seaside Terminal Manila
We boarded the boat at 8 and didn’t shove off until 9. I just wish I could have slept in my seat. We all wore stickers that had our names, seat number and bus number on them. I had no idea what anyone was saying so I followed the crowd. At one stage I nearly got on the wrong boat.
The trip across from Manila to Corregidor Island takes about an hour. The water was flat and calm which was good. I didn’t need to add nausea to a headache and sore throat that I had worsened overnight. I think Sun Cruises must be owned by a church. The music being played on board were gospel choruses. On the way over we also watched a documentary on the WW2 activities on Corregidor Island. Veterans, especially former members of 503rd Regimental Combat Team (part of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment) who surprised the Japanese forces who were expecting an invasion force by marines from the north of the island. I was fascinated watching Japanese tourists sitting in front of me on the boat. They started watching and then they went quiet and they all tried to sleep. Listening to these veteran parachute war fighters was fascinating. They were asked why they joined the parachute regiment and many conceded it was because they were paid an extra $50/month. In the 1940s that was a lot of money. Notwithstanding their motivation, these war fighters were incredibly brave.
When we arrived we were instructed to climb on board buses which we would stay with for the entirety of the tour. One of the buses was dedicated to Japanese tourists. Their tour guide could speak Japanese fluently.
Tour buses waiting for usFred our tour guide
The island has a fascinating history in terms of the Spanish occupation and then the American move into the Philippines. The World War 2 history is the most fascinating. I just wish we had stopped next to the flagstaff made famous by MacArthur when US Forces raised their flag when he returned (as promised) to the Philippines after being sent to Australia by the president to plan the Pacific Ocean war strategy.
We saw the armoured batteries, the huge mortars and the barracks that were all bombed and disrupted by the Japanese Imperial Forces.
They hold separate Japanese tours which we’re told tell the truth but not in harsh terms. It was interesting and I will say troubling to see Japanese and Italian tourists just lounging over the weapons and spending their time taking selfies. The Filipinos say they forgive and forget and reap the rewards of Japanese investment.
The tour guide we had was Fred and his driver was Bert. Fred is laid back and easy going. Bert likes to keep to time. They made a good good cop bad cop duo.
I’ve created a gallery of photographs here. Because of the number of photographs, when you click on the first one and you scroll through you may need to wait a second or two for each image to resolve to a sharp picture. Please take the time because the photographs look much better when they’re viewed as sharp images.
Battery Way
Battery Way mortar
Battery Way mortar barrel
Battery Way
Mortar shell
Battery Hearn bomb crater
Eternal Flame at Pacific War Memorial
Eternal Flame at Pacific War Memorial
Pacific War Memorial
War fighter statues at Pacific War Memorial
Barracks ruins
Barracks ruins
Barracks ruins
The tadpole Corregidor Island or is it a spermatozoon?
We were scheduled to have lunch at the Corregidor Hotel at 12 noon but they couldn’t accommodate us so we went on to the Japanese War Memorial and then on to the Malinta Tunnel light show. The bus passengers moaned when we were told lunch would be delayed by about 90 minutes. Apparently lunch in the Philippines is 12 noon and eating later is not the norm. I didn’t say anything. I try to eat my lunch at about 11.45 am most days at work.
At the Malinta Tunnel the dioramas were very good and very well done. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in those tunnels with bombs and mortars going off above and around.
A lot of the information for the tour focuses on the 503rd paratrooper regiment. These men basically run out of the back of aeroplanes at low altitude with almost no time. If their main parachute failed they had 3 seconds to deploy a reserve. If that failed they died.
When we finally made it to lunch it was a buffet in the hotel. I think I had pork and chicken but I can’t be sure of what it was.
Crumbed pork and braised chicken on a bed of sweet corn at the Corregidor Island Hotel.
The trip back to Manila was trouble free. We were shown a film about Todd Burpo who had a son who thought he had been to heaven and back. As I looked around I couldn’t see one passenger who was interested in the film. I thought I may end up walking from the Seaside Terminal to the Pan Pacific Manila but I managed to haggle with a cab driver to take me back to the hotel for an extra 50 pesos.
I think a trip to Corregidor Island is worthwhile for many reasons. You get to escape the pollution and smog of Manila, you learn some modern history and it reinforces a better understanding of how awful war is and why we must do all that we can to avoid armed conflict. I’ll add that in my opinion, that does not extinguish a need for nations to have national security and defence measures and to have trained and battle ready war fighters in case of armed conflict. It’s just as important to be well equipped and I support the need to wisely spend money on defence measures.
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