Dedicated to my parents and daughters
Landmark Chinese Restaurant has been on my list of restaurants to visit and try for a year or so now. It’s a relatively new restaurant in the recent big renovation of Westfield Chermside’s food precinct.
Unlike the regular recipe posts on Yummy Lummy, this post is about what I ate while in Brisbane last week.
Serious eating is serious business for Canberra’s Eating Machine! I was visiting my parents and because their 54th wedding anniversary occurred during the week I wanted to do some serious eating with Mum and Dad.
Regular readers will know my routine. I’m one of those people who handles life better if I don’t have to think too much about things that shouldn’t require a lot of thought. So I like routines and finishing February was no different.
Before I get to the food, though, it was an odd week where I mentioned a dream about my maternal grandfather and then I shared a little about my family history.
I hope you answered salmon!
Please do me a favour
I think I’ve managed to work out how to use e-mail lists for sending post notifications and newsletters. I’d love it if you would sign up using the ‘form’ in the side bar (if you’re using a laptop or desktop) or at the bottom of the post (if you’re using a mobile device).
By subscribing you’ll receive a personalised e-mail from me and from time to time, apart from the blog post I’ll share something new, like my ideas for a cook book sometime this year.
Before I get to the chicken, Wednesday lunch meant Burger Wednesday at Urban Bean Espresso Bar and I enjoyed the Korean barbecue beef bulgogi (grilled marinated beef) burger with chips and aioli.
I posted a status update on Wednesday afternoon that Wednesday meant chicken tonight and of course, I received comments that included references to the jar of stuff called “chicken tonight” which I’ve never used.
Before I get to the Spam, for lunch because it was pay day I enjoyed the SHISH special from Urban Bean Espresso Bar. It was delicious.
I had half a tin of hot and spicy Spam left in the refrigerator and it needed to be eaten because I was going to spend the weekend in Brisbane. Some people would say unkindly that it wouldn’t matter because Spam can’t go off, but I’d like to remind the haters that Spam is food, it contains meat from the porcine shoulder as well as ham.
I was spending the weekend in Brisbane with my parents and daughters so Friday night’s dinner was on QF1554. It was a chicken and rice dish.
Of course, I spent Friday at the Canberra Hospital and for lunch, I had this dish which I think maybe a quiche but it could be called something else. It contained asparagus, mushroom, rice, cheese and egg. You could carve it.
I had a big day in food on Saturday. I took my youngest two daughters to Sandgate for fish and chips.
I took everyone out to dinner on Saturday night to Hog’s Breath Café at Aspley to celebrate my youngest daughter turning sixteen.
So, if we count Friday night, I’ve eaten chicken, fish, calamari, beef (steak) and pork (ribs) so far.
For breakfast, Mum and Dad cooked a bacon (pork again) omelet and some lamb chops plus some scones. So that’s all five food groups in a weekend.
I think I need to fast for a while.
This coming week will break my routine so strictly speaking I won’t be finishing February with my routine. I’m interstate on Monday, going out on Tuesday night and Wednesday is senate additional estimates hearings. Who knows what I’ll be eating on Wednesday.
Hopefully, I’ll be back to normal next week.
Can you do me another favour please
I’m sort of transitioning my blogging to balance between food blogging and light hearted ‘medical’ podcasting. Please check out the podcast at drgarylum.com/blog
All my alimentary tract! I’ve just returned from eight nights away from Canberra, five of which were spent in Delhi, India. I was participating in a World Health Organization meeting on poliovirus containment.
One of the highlights, apart from the meeting, was the food. Every meal was filled with flavourful spices from all parts of India.
TGIF. I’ve loved that my entire alimentary tract has come alive with smells sights and sounds this week.
— Gary Lum (@garydlum) February 3, 2017
Please do me a favour
I think I’ve managed to work out how to use e-mail lists for sending post notifications and newsletters. I’d love it if you would sign up using the ‘form’ in the sidebar (if you’re using a laptop or desktop) or at the bottom of the post (if you’re using a mobile device).
I ate breakfasts in the hotel and each morning I had an omelette with bacon and most days spicy baked beans. I also added a few Indian treats including the different types of bread.
Each day I tried something different and yet each day there were elements that were the same, like pappadums. The main regions with distinctive flavours are the north, south and east.
Monday night was a buffet with a northern touch.
Tuesday night I had a Thai duck curry.
On Wednesday night, I went out with some WHO colleagues and we went to Barbecue Nation. It was a barbeque pit with hot coals placed in the middle of the table with spicy meat on metal skewers cooked as you want it.
Thursday night was my last night staying at the Imperial Hotel, and I ate at Daniell’s Tavern. I enjoyed Burra memsahib’s favourite pepper mutton from Coorg. It was mutton tossed in spicy marsala with lots and lots of black pepper corns.
Sure, if I need to return to work there, of course, I would. Would I go to Delhi for a holiday? I wouldn’t in winter, maybe summer. I’d probably want to explore the other regions.
My reason for not returning in winter is not so much the cold, it wasn’t. It was the very low humidity. My skin became a mess. I was forever applying moisturiser and it didn’t feel like anything would help. It was very uncomfortable.
I titled this post “My alimentary tract has come alive with the smells, sights and sounds of Delhi”. Every mouthful of food was like having a party in my mouth. Some meals were spicier than others. The food from the south seemed to be hotter and more intense. The food from the east seemed to be milder. Each meal though was very nice. I didn’t go much for the desserts, I was eating so much rice, I don’t think I needed any more carbohydrates.
The good news is I didn’t feel unwell at all and there were no episodes of gastroenteritis. That said, there was an awful lot of gurgling noises from my bowels. Some nights it was almost musical.
The food is also very colourful. It was like art on a plate or in a bowl. The only meal I had that didn’t look pretty was my favourite meal, the pepper mutton. Best meal but nothing to look at.
In terms of smells, each dish had amazing aromas, and given the title of this blog post, the fragrant aromas passed completely through my alimentary tract. I suppose I shouldn’t write anything more about that.
Apart from my iPhone, I didn’t bring a camera. You can tell the images are not as sharp. My iPhone photography suffers from motion blur, especially on aeroplanes.
I regularly post photographs of food to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Please feel free to connect with me on any social media platform.
I also have a podcast. It’s not food related but each show is short and it’s named Medical Fun Facts. You can find it in the iTunes podcast store as well as Stitcher. A show drops every Monday and Tuesday. It has a little cynicism, a little scepticism and occasionally some sarcasm.
I’m currently travelling to Delhi for work. Poliovirus containment is a part of what I do at work. The World Health Organization’s global effort to eradicate polio (the disease, as opposed to containing poliovirus, the microorganism that causes polio) also includes poliovirus containment. The distinction is important, it’s important to eradicate the disease and contain the ætiological agent.
Australia has been polio-free for decades and we’re well advanced in poliovirus containment.
Please do me a favour
I think I’ve managed to work out how to use e-mail lists for sending post notifications and newsletters. I’d love it if you would sign up using the ‘form’ in the sidebar (if you’re using a laptop or desktop) or at the bottom of the post (if you’re using a mobile device).
Spending time in Delhi had me thinking about potential travel-related health problems I might encounter. In addition, if you visit the smart traveller site hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, you’ll see there are some important statements about India.
It’s important to speak with a travel doctor, even for work-related travel. That’s what I did. January and February are low-risk times in terms of mosquito-borne infections, especially if I’m mainly going to be in a building with other health professionals. It’s winter so I’ll be in long sleeves and trousers the whole time.
Eating street food isn’t on the agenda because I won’t have an opportunity. I arrived late the night before the meeting and the schedule is packed for all the days I’m in Delhi.
Eating cooked hotel food is part of my staying healthy plan. I have a colleague who is Indian and she returns to the northern parts regularly to visit family and she told me to eat deep fried food. Exactly the opposite of the nutritional advice she shares with me each Friday at the hospital.
One of the problems that India is experiencing is widespread antimicrobial resistance. So much so, that the usual antimicrobials for diseases like typhoid fever are no longer useful.
I flew Qantas in a Dash 8. There was a snack. It was a little container of a savoury dip and biscuits along with a small piece of apple and coconut cake. I also drank a Bundaberg ginger beer.
Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of people trying to cross over into the secure zone. For some reason, there was an apparent randomness to queue allocation and while some people went through unhindered after the electronic assessment I was directed to speak with an Australian Border Force officer. He was very friendly and processed my paperwork very quickly.
One poor Englishman though had to say goodbye to his pocket knife. He was remonstrating with security about how other countries let him travel with it but this was to no avail to the private security contractors at Sydney International Airport.
Dinner at the airport was good. I had a caramelised lamb shoulder and chickpeas and then a small deconstructed pavlova.
I flew Malaysia Airlines on MH140. The flight left on time and soon after take-off, we enjoyed some Malaysian satay, some smoked salmon and then a piece of beef. I also had a piece of cheesecake.
The flight was turbulent enough that breakfast wasn’t served. The flight landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at about 3.40 am. It was dark but warm (26 °C).
My next flight, MH190 didn’t leave KUL until 4 pm in the afternoon I spent a pleasant day in the airport reading work papers and walking around. Free Wi-Fi is marvellous. I’m so grateful I brought an ‘English’ power adapter as well as the Type C adaptor for India.
MH190 left Kuala Lumpur on time and the flight arrive in Delhi a little early. It was a comfortable flight with a little turbulence on approach to Delhi.
Again, the food started with some satay followed by a small salad and then a round of beef with vegetables. The beef was nice. Not very tender, but it had a nice flavour.
Getting off the aeroplane was trouble-free. I’d packed three small bags and had no check in luggage so I didn’t have to wait at a carousel hoping that my bags hadn’t got lost. Delhi airport immigration area has a specific line for diplomats and official passport holders. I got straight in and out in less than one minute. My best experience ever.
As I moved through I could see long lines of people wanting to buy rupee. I’d been told I could get by with my personal credit card so I elected not to wait in line.
WHO takes personal security very seriously so whenever a delegate lands there is someone to meet them and arrange transport to the hotel. This was no different and it worked well.
India celebrated republic day on 26 January, the same date as Australia day. As I drove past all the government buildings they were lit up beautifully in white light bulbs.
The meeting is at the Imperial Hotel in the middle of New Delhi. It’s an older building, built in the early 1900s in an Art Deco style. It’s very comfortable.
I’ll catch you later.
I regularly post photographs of food to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Please feel free to connect with me on any social media platform.
I also have a podcast. It’s not food related but each show is short and it’s named Medical Fun Facts. You can find it in the iTunes podcast store as well as Stitcher. A show drops every Monday and Tuesday. It has a little cynicism, a little scepticism and occasionally some sarcasm.
