Personal travel

Personal travel blog posts

Goodbye, Number 69

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Dear Reader,

Introduction

I hope you’ve had a good week.

Guess what? I’ve moved to Adelaide. I wanted to live closer to Kathleen. I now live a few minutes from her place.

I’m still working the same (main) job and will be doing the same work. I’m also likely to work as an Honorary Visiting Medical Officer like I did in Canberra.

I’ll soon have a gas cooker installed, so I can cook with gas. I also have a Weber Q+ barbecue that uses gas for fuel.

Weber Q+

Once I connect to the NBN, I can watch the new TV, too. This will occur later this week. The previous tenants didn’t connect to the NBN, so I require a formal installation service. That said, my new place has an aerial for TV reception, so my new TV is delivering some entertainment. Unfortunately, I can’t watch the footy live in Adelaide on free-to-air TV. Once the NBN is connected, my streaming services will see me as a happy dolphin.

Adelaide is the fourth city I’ve lived in, and it’s the first time I’ve lived in a bicameral jurisdiction.

How is the foot?

What’s happened this week?

The foot and knee are continuing to heal. While I can walk without a cane, some stiffness and pain remain in the knee, ankle, and toes.

The move

The removalists arrived, lifted my things from the flat (number 69), and then packed the things I had in long-term storage. They arrived in Adelaide about 48 hours later.

Kathleen did the amazing thing of driving from Canberra to Adelaide with me. We shared the driving. Kathleen has a lot of experience driving between both cities.

The drive from Canberra to Adelaide was great. Kathleen is a terrific driving partner. To break up the drive, we stayed overnight in Narrandera.

The roads were pretty good. On the first day, the ambient temperature got as high as 38 °C, while the second day was much cooler at 25 °C. My car is over 15 years old and seems to manage the drive well.

What have I been eating?

Equipment

  • Weber Q+

Ingredients

  • Scotch fillet steak.

Instructions

  1. Dry brine the steaks overnight.
  2. Heat the barbecue and then clean the grates with a wire brush.
  3. Cook the steaks on the barbecue and flip the steaks every 30 seconds until the meat is nicely caramelised.
  4. Rest the meat for 5 to 7 minutes (minimum).
  5. Slice the meat.
  6. If you’re following a meat-only diet, just the steak will be more than sufficient to satisfy your hunger. You can pick up the steak and just bite into it. This minimises washing.
  7. If you’re low-carbohydrate eating, steak and some plant-based foods like avocado, leafy green leaves, olives, and tomatoes are a good combination.
  8. If you’re not concerned with carbohydrates, fill your boots.
  9. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, this steak won’t be suitable.
  10. Always give thanks to the Lord.
  11. Eat with whatever implements you prefer.

Thoughts on the meal

This was my first time using the Weber Q+ (which I’d bought second-hand). I was happy with the outcome. I will need to use it more often to get a good feel for it.

It was great cooking a meal and sharing it with Kathleen in my own place.

Final thoughts

  • Do you like moving?
  • Do you like having a driving partner to share the load?
  • Do you like cooking on a barbecue?

Disclaimer and comments

This post and other posts on this blog are not medical or health advice. I’m sharing my personal experiences from my lived experience. My opinions remain mine.

For health advice, see your regular medical practitioner. For diet advice, consult with appropriately registered professionals.

Kangaroo Island

If you continue having problems, message me via the blog’s contact page.

Dear Reader,

Introduction

I hope you’ve had a good week. I’m now back in Canberra after spending nine nights in South Australia visiting Kathleen. Last week, it was Kathleen’s birthday. It was her daughter’s birthday this week and we went out for dinner. We also visited Kangaroo Island and spent three nights there.

How is the foot?

What’s happened this week?

The good news is that being away in South Australia did me good and my foot and knee while weak and limited feel good.

What have I been watching?

Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager

One of the amazing things about Kathleen is that she understands my enjoyment of Star Trek. There were times when we watched some Star Trek together and times when I watched while Kathleen was doing something else.

Restaurant reviews

The Meat and Wine Co

We went with Kathleen’s daughter out to dinner at the Meat and Wine Co. in Adelaide’s central business district.

It is a restaurant which features a lot of beef. The restaurant also does two different types of dry-aged steak. One is done the traditional way, and the other is butter dry-aged.

I went with a bone-in scotch fillet steak, which was traditionally dry-aged. It was a very nice piece of steak.

Kathleen decided to have chicken breast for dinner.

Penneshaw Pub

We arrived on Kangaroo Island on Tuesday and on arrival enjoyed lunch at the Penneshaw Pub.

We shared six oysters. Kathleen enjoyed some rare tuna and I had some lovely lamb cutlets.

For dinner, we called around a few places and couldn’t get a table so we returned to the pub for our evening meal.

Kathleen had crispy skin salmon while I had a T-bone steak. We shared another six oysters too.

I decided to make my meal a reef and beef.

The house we stayed in had a fully equipped kitchen with both a wood stove and oven plus a gas stove and oven.

This meant I could scramble eggs in butter each morning for breakfast.

Kangaroo Island Fresh Seafoods

We spent the morning in Kingscote and decided to try some fish at Kangaroo Island Fresh Seafoods. This place it collocated with a servo (that’s Australian slang for petrol station). We both asked for flathead fillets. Mainly, because we knew that flathead being a cartilaginous fish like a shark or a ray wouldn’t have bones.

The flat head was okay. I had mine grilled while Kathleen’s was crumbed. Unfortunately, the fryer the restaurant uses for battered fish wasn’t working.

Drakes steaks

For dinner we bought some scotch fillet steaks from Drakes. Drakes is a local independent supermarket in South Australia. The steaks looked great in the packaging and cooked nicely that evening. We also bought some blue cheese and goat cheese and enjoyed it with the steak.

The Oyster Farm Shop

On Thursday lunch was a seafood platter (also known as the Aquaplatter) from the oyster farm shop in American River.

The term aquaplatter niggled my brain because aqua normally refers to fresh water while marine normally refers to sea water.

The platter had oysters, prawns from Port Lincoln, King George whiting, smoked salmon wings, pippis in butter and garlic, plus some condiments.

The platter was okay to good. It was the first time Kathleen and I have eaten pippis. I’m not convinced I’d have them again.

We were told the oyster season finished that Thursday, so we were pleased to enjoy the last of the oysters.

Reflections Mecure Kangaroo Island Lodge

There was a Mecure Hotel near where we were staying and we decided to have dinner that the hotel’s restaurant on Thursday night.

This was partly because at dusk, kangaroos were likely to be out and about. On the Tuesday night we’d seen a large roo hop across the road in front of us as we were driving to Penneshaw.

Kathleen is an experienced and expert driver in regional and remote areas. Experience and expertise also mean, don’t put yourself at increased risk if you can avoid it.

Kathleen enjoyed the Lamb Rogan Josh, while I thought the rump steak was okay.

Fat Beagle Coffee Shop

On Friday morning, Kathleen enjoyed brunch at the Fat Beagle Coffee Shop. She enjoyed the breakfast hot dog which featured sriracha sauce and jalapeño peppers. Kathleen also had the vanilla slice which she said was possibly the best she’s ever had.

One of the best things about Kathleen is her love for a vanilla slice which equals my love for them too.

Kathleen’s Kitchen

On Friday, we took the ferry home to Cape Jervis and drove back to Adelaide. Kathleen had purchased tickets for a show at the Adelaide Fringe. Prior to the show, we needed to eat, so Kathleen put some beef short rib fingers into her pressure cooker, and we enjoyed a plate of beef rib meat, cheese, cream cheese, pâté, and avocado, plus some butter.

The show that Kathleen took me to was very funny.

Final thoughts

  • It was a fabulous holiday. The best ever.
  • I even slept better than I have in years. I was able to get between five and six hours most nights while I was away.
  • Holidaying with Kathleen is awesome.
  • If you don’t have someone Kathleen, it’s still worth visiting Adelaide and Kangaroo Island.
  • While the food was mostly good, I think Kangaroo Island is less food destination and more for the flora, fauna, and environment.

Disclaimer and comments

This post and other posts on this blog are not medical or health advice. I’m sharing my personal experiences from my lived experience. My opinions remain mine.

For health advice, see your regular medical practitioner. For diet advice, consult with appropriately registered professionals.

The Ekka 2023

Introduction

Dear Reader, 

I hope you had a good week. Mine was reasonably busy.

I don’t have a recipe this week. I spent the weekend in Brisbane for my annual visit to “The Ekka” or “The Show” as we knew it as kids.

The Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland hosts the Royal Queensland Show.

Mmm… Dog Sushi at The Ekka. This is a joke, I’m joking. Sushi Hub sponsors the dog and cat pavilions.

I took my daughters plus my eldest daughter’s partner and his nephew. It was the young fella’s first Ekka experience. We all wanted to make it special for him.

It was a glorious day. The sky was clear for most for the day, the sunshine was bright and brilliant, and there was little to no wind. It reached a maximum of 28 °C and it was a perfect day to convert cholesterol to vitamin D.

The Ekka main arena. Mmm… beef 🤤

One of my favourite things about The Ekka is the wood chopping competitions. We sat and watched a few events including some amazing axe men and women at the standing cut, underhand, and team sawing. The sawing event was mind blowing. Those saws are so sharp.

What have I been reading?

I elected not to tackle any new books this week. I caught up on some podcasts and read work-related journal articles.

A couple nutrition-related pieces caught my eye.

Obesity may get a new name. It’s not clear at this stage what name might be chosen because there is debate about obesity as a disease. It could simply be clinical obesity rather than obesity. Many people object to obesity being classified as a disease rather than a symptom of other diseases. The article is a simple read.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has a new name. I don’t know that I’ll remember metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). It doesn’t roll off my tongue like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. I understand the words “alcoholic” and “fatty” cause stigma for some people. The new name does convey an accurate physiological process.

What did I eat?

I declined food on the flight between Canberra and Brisbane. I noticed the other passengers were eating hot pies. Everyone had smiles on their faces. I drank mineral water.

On Saturday morning, I ventured to the local mall and sat down to beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and fungi in the form of a steak, bacon, liver, eggs, and mushrooms. There were also four packets of Lurpak® butter too.

While I was at The Ekka we did the usual visits to all the food stalls, especially in the Food Pavilion where there are often samples available to taste and try.

I enjoyed a couple of yummy olives. One had a Sichuan chilli flavour and was delicious.

I elected not to eat lunch, I wasn’t hungry, so I waited until later in the afternoon when everyone was keen to enjoy a strawberry sundae. The Ekka’s strawberry sundaes are a tradition and worth a momentary departure from my low carbohydrate, healthy fat eating lifestyle.

I savoured every lick as I moved my tongue and lips across the rich creamy ice cream and whipped cream. I slowly allowed the sweetness of the strawberries and ice cream to coat my tongue and buccal cavity. I explored the cone with the tip of my tongue making the most of every new exposure to the ice cream and strawberries. It was worth it.

I know some readers are critical of foods like ice cream, I understand why. The amount of sugar and processed chemicals is obscene. The delight it gave my daughters to sit with me and for us to each enjoy an Ekka strawberry sundae in the sunshine next to the main arena of the RNA Showgrounds while some magnificent cattle were on show was worth every gram of sucrose.

At about five o’clock we made our way to Machinery Hill to find a piece of concrete to establish a position for EkkaNITES. We took it in turns to mind our spot and bags while we foraged for something to eat for dinner. I found some roast beef while my daughters found dumplings, baos, and toasties. The young fella had his first Dagwood dog experience, and he almost inhaled it. I think we’ve turned on a love for deep fried battered pork sausage.

On Sunday morning, I found a place and enjoyed poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, bacon, and pork belly.

Poached eggs with hollandaise on bacon and pork belly. I left the muffin behind.

EkkaNITES

I love EkkaNITES which is the evening entertainment program at The Ekka. This one was pretty special. The Queensland Governor and her husband, both of whom I know personally opened the Royal Queensland Show because it was the first night of The Ekka. The Governor’s husband was my boss for three years when I was a pathology trainee. It was a little weird standing to attention in honour of Her Excellency and her husband as she inspected the Royal Queensland Show guard which comprised ninety-nine ADF members from all three services. Her personal guard consists of mounted Queensland Police. I didn’t know this, but QPOL buys former thoroughbred racehorses for the mounted police.

The other interesting aspect of the opening was praying with an Anglican Priest as he blessed the plough. This is part of Ekka tradition and is a good demonstration of the RNA’s roots in agriculture and primary production. I was surprised by the priest’s prayer, because, as a diocese, Brisbane is not regarded as evangelical which is code for the priests don’t believe the bible is the inspired Word of God. The prayer however had words I could really get behind and it made the day even better as we communed with God. Maybe the Brisbane-based priest understood that rural Queenslanders are a bit different.

The entertainment consists of a wide variety of parts, and it culminates in fireworks. The horse-work this year involved Texas Longhorn steers and a small herd of bison being mustered by stockpersons. There were some other parts which involved singing, dancing, and circus performers. This is all good stuff for those that like that sort of thing. I loved the V8 utes doing circle-work and racing around the arena. The freestyle motocross part was fantastic. Each time one of the young riders was in the air pulling and twisting his motorcycle around in what seemed to be impossible situations I was praying God would keep the rider safe on landing. It’s hard to beat the noise of V8 and motorcycle engines and the smell of ignited petrol. Give me internal combustion engines any day. They bring so much joy.

You may wonder why the horse-work involved North American bovines. The show featured a competition between an Australian stockman and an American cowboy.

EkkaNITES ends with fireworks. Each year the show seems to get better. I love fireworks and The Ekka never disappoints. The whole arena is used and the choreographed work with fire dancers, motorcyclists, scooter riders all trailing sparks and flames from back packs as they speed around and across the arena is fantastic. The music is loud. The engine noise is loud. The smell of smoke and exploding fireworks along with ICE exhaust fills the nostrils. It’s a fitting climax to what was a fantastic day. I was spent afterwards and slept well.

Airport drama

I’m posting this from Brisbane airport. My flight home has been cancelled so I’m waiting to see what might be available later tonight.

Flying this weekend hasn’t been good. My flight from Canberra to Brisbane was delayed by three hours.

I don’t know what time I’ll be home tonight.

 

Have a good week.

Holiday in Adelaide

Hello reader,

I recently enjoyed a brief holiday with Kathleen—a few days in Adelaide (also known as the city of churches). We have been exploring unfamiliar eateries in our respective cities, along with the usual tried and tested favourites.

I’m not going to go through every meal we enjoyed because there were so many bites to eat and because while each moment was special, I doubt you’ll find them all interesting to read. 

These are the highlights.

Veneziano Coffee Adelaide

While this is a coffee-focused shop, it was two of the pastry treats which grabbed my attention. The first was an apple and custard Danish, which was delectably light and airy, yet rich and buttery with plush custard and delicately spiced apple. The pastry was firm yet biteable. It was delicious. The second was a cinnamon scroll that wasn’t like those awful oversweet franchise creations. The scroll was delicate and flaky, with a nice balance of cinnamon and sugar. 

The River Torrens café

From the Winter Feast menu, we enjoyed:

House-made focaccia with hummus 

A tapas board with 1. Lamb shank croquette with minted peas; 2. Salt and pepper squid; and 3. crostini, mushroom pâté, and ricotta.

For main meals, we selected the free-range chicken with chermoula rub, fennel and yoghurt, and the crab linguini with a rosé sauce, tomato, and mild chilli.

House-made Petit Four cinnamon rolled ricotta doughnut with Davidson plum jelly.

Upon arrival we were promptly attended and shown to a window table overlooking the Torrens River and Adelaide city. Soon after ordering drinks the charred light and soft focaccia arrived, finishing the scene for a lovely meal. The tapas board was a good appetite stimulant for the main courses. I also enjoyed the pasta and some of the chicken, especially the skin from the chicken thigh. Kathleen said the chicken was perfectly cooked. We didn’t need to ask for dessert because the doughnut and Davidson plum rounded out the meal perfectly. We both enjoyed a cup of tea to help with our digestion.

Vietnam House – Pho and Bread Rolls

This place was so good we ate there twice over two days. Over the two meals, we enjoyed:

  • Chilli lemongrass chicken Bánh mì
  • Pork crackling Bánh mì
  • Vietnamese coffee
  • Tofu and vegetables vermicelli noodle salad
  • Young coconut juice

The Bánh mì were very good. The bread roll crust was crunchy outside, and the bread was pillowy soft. The vegetables were crispy. The chilli was hot, but the heat lasted only about five minutes after savouring the last bite. While the chicken was probably the better sandwich, I’ll always choose pork over chicken if given a choice.

Vietnamese coffee is sublime. Should all my coffee be made with condensed milk?

MEATER™ made lamb shoulder roll

One of the treats was cooking a small roast. We used a MEATER™ wireless meat thermometer to cook the lamb roast, accompanied by baby green peas, potato mash and gravy.

It was a simple, relatively cheap meal and most enjoyable.

Bakery on O’Connell

This place is an institution in Adelaide. It trades all day, apart from a couple of weeks around Christmas and New Year.

We bought an apricot turnover and a vanilla slice. Both were delicious, and I’m happy to recommend their coffee.

Apricot Turnover from Bakery on O’Connell

Last supper in Adelaide

Our last dinner was phenomenal. We’d been grocery shopping and bought some cheeses, lavosh bread, rye sourdough, quince paste, and an apple. The highlight was a La Vera pancetta wrapped camembert. This product which I’ve never seen in Canberra, also includes some thyme and garlic. The wrapped cheese is prepared in an oven for about 15 minutes until the pancetta is brown and the cheese starts to ooze.

We also had a few slices of the leftover lamb shoulder which we cut and ate with the various elements.

The blue cheese was a La Vera product called Adel-Blue. This has a compelling creamy funkiness. 

Final thoughts

It was a marvellous holiday, and I enjoyed seeing more of Adelaide. I’ll be back as soon as I can.

A weekend in Brisbane

Hello Reader,

I hope you are well. If you live in eastern Australia, I expect you’ve been experiencing a wet weekend. The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts this weekend in Southeast Queensland to be the wettest this year. I love La Niña, although I don’t love the destruction and mayhem caused by the floods. The last time it rained like this was about seven years ago. I was there for a special event, and it got washed out.

Smoked salmon on a poppyseed bagel. The final meal before leaving Canberra.

The last time I was in Brisbane was Christmas 2021, which is more than 12 months since the time before that in December 2020.

In 2019, I visited my parents and daughters six times. COVID-19 has made a significant difference. I telephone my parents every few days and Group FaceTime my daughters weekly to compensate.

I love living in the 21st century—better communications tools 😊 not to mention flushing toilets and heating.

When I landed in Brisbane, I went to the car rental place to pick up a car. I had asked for a small compact car and discovered a large Mazda BT-50 4✖️4 in the bay. I was taken with the luxury of wireless Apple CarPlay plus many other features.

Mazda BT-50 4X4. I’ve never driven one of these before.

When I got to my parent’s place on Friday night, I was in time to watch the footy with Dad. It was joyful to watch Brisbane defeat Manly convincingly. I also ate about ten of Mum’s jam drop biscuits.1

Travel Moka pot. ABC of travel. Always. Bring. Coffee.

Saturday breakfast

Café 63 at Westfield Chermside

Rather than buy some spinach leaves to cook a steamed egg and wilted spinach leaves2, I went out by myself and enjoyed breakfast at a local café near my parent’s place.

I had intended to eat some muesli and fruit. I saw liver and bacon and went with a plate of potato rösti, liver, bacon, onion rings, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, and barbecue sauce.

It was pretty filling. The liver would be gout inducing if I went overboard and ate a lot.

Saturday lunch

Aspley Oriental yum cha

We had planned to go to Sandgate for fish and chips. The driving rain, the need to bring Dad’s walking frame, and the general frailty of my parents meant it was easier to drive to the Aspley hypermarket. I could stop the car, engage the hazard lights, help my parents alight from the BT-50 with Dad’s walking frame and then find a car park.

It also meant Mum could indulge her passion for bargain shopping at Aldi. Mum rarely gets to an Aldi, and she prefers the cleaning products from there.

The lunch was okay. As far as yum cha goes, it has almost everything I would need. It had the waitstaff who seemed most interested in getting us in and out quickly, the deep-fried foods, the usual dumplings, and the egg tarts. What we didn’t get were my favourites, i.e., a turnip cake3 and rice flour noodles.

The shopping more than made up for the yum cha disappointment. Mum and Dad are hilarious. Dad goes off with his walking frame, confident he won’t fall. Mum likes to look around. Dad will be off in the distance, and Mum is looking at shoes she will never wear. We get into Aldi, and it’s on for young and old. Mum is piling the shopping trolley with cleaning products like no tomorrow. Then she changes her mind and puts things back after having misgivings. It made me laugh out loud.

Saturday dinner

Kinn and Derm, Takeaway dinner

Mum thought I might want to cook. I didn’t. After an afternoon of eating jam drop biscuits and drinking coffee and chatting, I didn’t want to cook. I wanted takeaway Thai food.

One of my daughters and a brother came along, and we all enjoyed chilli jam soft-shelled crab, red duck curry, crispy pork belly, chilli jam crispy pork, and crab fried rice. Mum cooked some noodles, and we were content.

After dinner, Mum surprised us with ice cream and jelly. The jelly had been “leftover” from when Mum had her last colonoscopy. She bought red instead of yellow and couldn’t use it, so we enjoyed it Saturday night.

The food from Kinn+Derm is always delicious, albeit expensive. It was worth seeing happy faces as we cleaned up our plates with yummy food.

Sunday breakfast

My Mistress café, Clayfield

I caught up with my eldest daughter and partner, plus my youngest daughter.

I am no longer an Açaí bowl virgin, although I’m sure I’ll become an Açaí bowl convert. I’m susceptible to “brain pain” with cold foods. The taste was okay. I’m grateful for the granola I also asked for with the Açaí bowl. The granola added a delightful crunch to the dish.

My Mistress Café Açai bowl with granola

Thoughts

It’s been a wonderful whirlwind weekend with my parents and two of my daughters. It was good to celebrate, to some extent, Mother’s Day and Dad’s birthday.

The weather was soaking wet, which meant warm and moist conditions and anyone who knows me knows how much I love everything warm and moist.

How was your weekend? Tell me what you did.

Footnotes

  1. Not Mum’s recipe.
  2. My usual breakfast.
  3. Usually not made with turnip. My maternal grandmother made the best turnip cake.