It’s been a nice few days Brisbane. I’ve been with my kids, I’ve spent time with my parents, and I’ve thawed a little while Canberra freezes. I know there’ll be more subzero mornings in Canberra and apart from the weather, time in Brisbane reinforces why I like to live in small quiet towns like Darwin and Canberra. I especially like small towns that have all the amenities of larger cities.
This weekend proves again just how much I dislike traffic and complicated road systems. Brisbane has grown and developed so much that it looks like an engineered city rather than an evolved city. If it wasn’t for my iPhone and the TomTom app connecting seamlessly through the rental car’s audio system I would be a nervous wreck. As it was there were times when despite “Jane” giving me instruction and direction I was confused. I’m sure if I lived here again I’d get used to it but the city’s roads are more like a concrete jungle and it is unattractive. I grew up in Brisbane knowing that in the context of area rather than population it was the largest city in the southern hemisphere. The Brisbane City Council is bigger than some national economies. Getting from one side to the other can take the better part of a day’s drive.
If it wasn’t for the daily pain and discomfort of living in cold and dry Canberra (Ichthyosis vulgaris sucks) I’d love it rather than simply like it. Canberra is small and friendly, relatively easy to navigate and there isn’t any appreciable traffic, at least at the times I drive. Bring on global warming I say (facetiously), if the seas can come closer so there is a beach front (Pacific Ocean not Lake Burley Griffin) for Canberra so much the better. Then it would approach the glory that is Darwin
Canberra is a great place to live in full of friendly hard working people. It’s a great place. It would be perfect if it was situated where monsoons exist.
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.
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.
Last night I flew to Brisbane to have an extended weekend with my daughters and parents.
Thursday was a pretty big food day and I just didn’t think about my weight.
A work mate shared his Mum’s Macedonian sweet treats
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For lunch about eight of us in the branch had chips and gravy. One of us even had a pie, chips and gravy (not me).
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I got to the Qantas club with about 30 minutes to spare
I was given the mango sorbet to try. It was pretty good.
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On board QF960. The 737-800 has been updated.
I watched a movie during the flight
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I may not have had a pie with my chips and gravy but I did have one for dinner on the flight
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Dessert cake
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When I got to my parents’ place they were eating dinner and Mum gave me a small plate
Shepherd’s pie
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Miss16 started making some cupcakes at about 9 pm because a friend of hers is having a birthday on Saturday so she wanted to make something to share with her on Friday.
Some friends on Facebook, twitter and IG suggested I may have applied a Daddy tax. I didn’t do anything to discourage that notion but truth is Miss16 didn’t make enough to fill the baking tray.
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They look good don’t they? Vanilla cupcakes with passionfruit icing.
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We had an early start for the school run this morning
Peanut paste on toast with coffee
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One of the annoying things about Canberra (and in fairness Darwin) is the ban on plastic bags.
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Today I was taking my parents in town by bus so I had to buy a go card
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I promised Mum for Mother’s day I’d take her to the refurbished City Hall. Mum used to work as a volunteer at the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and spent a lot of time at City Hall.
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I remember winning school prizes at school speech nights and being down there
Mum tells me she used to sing down there for her school choir
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City Hall now contains the Museum of Brisbane. It’s a really nice little museum. I’d happily go again and again. One of the features for now is the exhibit on World Expo 1988 Brisbane.
Do you remember what you were doing in 1988? I was in medical school and we’d catch a train from Bowen Hills to the Mater Hospital and walk through Expo.
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I think it’s fantastic that Doug Anthony the deputy PM and leader of the National Party usurped Malcolm Fraser the PM of the day and supported Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen in the bid.
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The Light Fantastic
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After spending about an hour in the museum we walked over to the Treasury building to meet up with Miss18 and have lunch. Miss18 announced she’d got a job to help her get through her TAFE/QUT courses so we celebrated.
The Treasury building
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In the Treasury Casino building is Luke Nguyen’s restaurant Fat Noodle
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We waited near some stand up tables and read through the menu and I noticed the cloth napkins
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We could see into the kitchen too
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After being seated at a large table near a window we received a pot of Chinese tea
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Dad asked for the Fat Pho Noodles
His only concern was the large fillet of beef in the bowl which he would have preferred sliced.
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Miss18 had pork and prawn wonton
Not as good as Mum’s wonton of course
If you want to read about Mum’s wonton click here and here
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Mum and I both asked for the Singapore noodles
This was spectacular
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The after lunch Belgian chocolate mint was delicious
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Apparently this German sausage hut also serves big pork hocks on request
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All in all it’s been a good day.
Now to rate Luke’s restaurant. The meal was fantastic and I would recommend anyone visiting Brisbane to try it out.
The dunny was interesting. The pedestal was solid and sound. The urinal was an older stainless steel model with a sturdy grate. It was big enough for two well proportioned men to stand next to each other without inducing hesitancy. I like a good firm grate to stand on so there is less of a chance of urine spray on the floor. The hand basin was motion detector activated but a little shallow. The hand drying unit was a pseudo air blade. It was pretty pathetic. If you’re going to use an air dryer and try to imitate a Dyson Air Blade, just buy the Dyson. My dunny score is 3.5 out of 5.
The napkin score is pass. Cloth napkins always pass.
The last weekend in Sydney was amazing My Easter | #ManFlu | #bestblogs13 We ate so well. This week albeit a short one I was back to the run of the mill. On Monday evening I considered a Meatless Monday but reconsidered and cooked a chicken schnitzel.
Meatless Monday
A nice green salad
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Chicken Schnitzel
I love chicken thigh schnitzel
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Of course after dinner I needed to try a couple of Zumbarons®
Zumbarons®
I have no idea of the flavours. They were delicious.
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Breakfast Smoothie
Back to the routine. Iced coffee banana smoothie with spinach.
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Morning office coffee and Zumbarons®
It’s so nice to enjoy a morning coffee with macarons
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On Tuesday evening I was going to make chicken schnitzel and salad again. For some reason I wanted to try something different. I thought about chicken and potato gems but after a weekend of really rich food I wanted salad but I also didn’t want salad. I think I’ve been watching too many cooking competitions on television, I thought about a salad in a different form. I love my blender so why not liquefy my salad. It contained the usual elements, viz., salad leaves, spring onions, red onion, tomato, coriander, plus some lemon juice and zest and olive oil. I added some chilli flakes and coarsely ground black pepper. I then liquefied it in my blender.
Experimental food
Honestly it looks like I vomited my salad. It tasted good though.
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Zumbarons®
My last Zumbarons®
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My morning office coffee felt empty just like the box without Zumbarons®
Adriano Zumbo Zumbarons® Box
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There were still Easter eggs at work. I was told I needed to help out and eat chocolate.
Chocolate
Who am I to object
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Wednesday night Bron came over to help put together my Ikea bookcase from the weekend.
Laying out the fasteners
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We took a break for dinner
Lamb Cutlets
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Bron made homemade non-church ice cream. There was violet crumble and Queensland nut ice cream.
Ice Cream
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The finished product
Bookshelf
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Thursday morning office coffee
Bertie Beetle
Bertie Beetle is having its fiftieth anniversary this year. Check out the wikipedia entry.
Thursday was a pretty long day, we’re ramping up at work to monitor the situation with Influenzavirus A H7N9 so when I left work I felt like takeaway
Fish and chips
Nothing better than freshly cooked battered fish, potato scallops and chips. I love potato scallops. I have friends from Victoria who call them potato cakes which cracks me up. A good potato scallop is hand cut, not too thick and not to thin. The best I’ve ever had came from a cafe in Brookside Shopping Centre in Brisbane.
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After the fish and chips I ate the rest of Bron’s ice cream straight from the plastic container
Ice Cream
This was Queensland nut caramel. It was delicious.
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Breakfast on Friday was a Mavi Breakfast Wrap
Breakfast wrap
These are so good. Sadly I ate this without Bron. I had an early start and needed to work through.
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Coffee
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On Friday evening after work I went to the local club with Bron to have dinner
Reef and beef
This is a scotch fillet and prawn cutlets with chips.
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So how is my ManFlu? It’s okay. I’m still coughing and spluttering. I should be fine by the end of this weekend.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Last night after a little anticipation we dined at Rockpool on George. This is Neil Perry’s restaurant. Neil is a famous celebrity chef in Australia and is also responsible for the Qantas http://qantas.com cuisine, especially the business and first class menus.
To get into the mood of Sydney we walked around a little.
Sydney opera house
The sun was in the right place at the right time for this. We arrived a little early we were so keen on the evening’s dining experience.
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Rockpool on George
Bron captured this image of me outside the restaurant
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Bread
The whipped butter went so nicely with this bread which had the crustiest of crusts.
This was one of the finest dining experiences we’ve had together or apart. The restaurant’s ambience is perfect. Bron noted the lack of art work which didn’t seem out of place for the elegant simplicity of the surrounds. The wait staff were very helpful and informative without being intrusive on our evening. They were great at anticipating our needs, e.g., for topping up water and clearing away crockery. Bron was really impressed with the sliver tablecloth brush
The evening is definitely worth the money we paid given the location, the excellent service to customer ratio, the ability to watch the chefs in action and most importantly the quality and complexity of the food. In the menu frontispiece Neil Perry ensures he attributes correctly the source of all his produce. I think this is a mark of quality.
One of the things that really struck us was the intelligent way in which the service was arranged. For example, the seating times for each table seemed to be calculated to ensure each group of guests were not sitting on adjacent tables. This gave us a sense of a space and tranquility. We could have a conversation without the need to be guarded or to whisper.
My one regret was that I was at the peak of my #ManFlu which means I don’t think I really enjoyed the subtlety of all that was on offer. It simply means we need to come here again.
I left Brisbane today after a little over a week of joy and happiness. I’ve had a fantastic time visiting my parents and my daughters.
This morning Dad made us breakfast sausages and bacon.
Looks odd but it was tasty.
For morning tea we had pavlova
It’s always better the day after when the cream goes a little more stiff.
My parents had to attend a matinee session of South Pacific this afternoon and I had to deliver the girls home. I had a couple of hours to kill so I got to the airport a couple of hours early. I checked in my bag using a QANTAS QTAG. A simple and convenient method to avoid paper based luggage tags. The process seemed to work okay.
I boarded my flight after getting an upgrade thanks to Qantas. For an afternoon snack, I had a cheese plate.
It was delicious.
Then on arriving in Canberra I discovered my bag was not put on flight QF961. This is the second time in two months that this has happened with Qantas.
I caught a cab home after being told my bag would be delivered when it’s found. The cab driver of TX73 was not the driver on the dashboard card which was for A2278. He didn’t indicate to change lanes or turn corners and he was speaking on his mobile telephone throughout the drive from the airport to my place (this is now illegal in the ACT unless he has a proper handsfree set up which he didn’t). He didn’t know the directions to my place so I had to direct him. When I asked about his authority card it was in his pocket. I called the taxi company and they didn’t want to do anything. I would have to put the complaint in writing.
At 2055 AEDT I called QANTAS but they had closed their baggage service area despite their brochure saying it is open until 2100 AEST (which is 2200 AEDT). I called the Canberra baggage claim area and was told I should avoid using the Qantas QTAG system in future and there was still no trace of my bag. I am so annoyed. This has made me feel quite upset after what has been a wonderful break from work seeing my parents and daughters. I have stuff in that bag that I need to use not least of all the value of the contents.
I try not to rant too much on this blog but tonight I’ve ranted all over twitter and I felt the need to ventilate here.
I hope my bag shows up soon. Word to the wise, avoid the use of the QANTAS QTAG system.
Today is 2013/01/01 (YYYY/MM/DD this is the way I shorthand dates), the first day of 2013. It was also the last day we spent on the Gold Coast. I promised Miss11 and Miss15 a shopping trip in the tourist shopping centre, viz., Pacific Fair.
This was done on a Turkish bread which was very nice.
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Having spent more than a week away from home, I planned my 3G data usage to perfection.
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Okay Pacific Fair with Miss11 and Miss15 meant lots and lots and lots of dress and shoe shops. It also meant looking at some novelties.
I never knew you could buy Plants v Zombies plush toys
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I haven’t posted pictures of everything they looked at. I am fortunate that my daughters like looking and are careful when choosing to spend money, even my money. In the end everyone came away happy.
For morning tea, you guessed it, it had to be another vanilla slice.
This one I shared with Miss15 who reminded me that when we lived in Darwin every Saturday or Sunday morning I’d walk to the local pastry shop and buy them caramel tartlets and buy myself a vanilla slice or bee sting.
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After more than half a day of shopping we needed some food before the drive back to Brisbane. We opted for a mall Chinese takeaway. This was a $10 plate of self service. It was awful. Truly disgusting. The worst I’ve ever had. The place is called Cathay Oriental at Pacific Fair shopping centre. Don’t do it is my advice. McDonald’s or KFC would be better.
It looks nasty. Tasted worse.
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Miss15 and Miss17 needed new wrist watches. I bought them some very nice looking watches.
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As we were driving home Mum and Dad were cooking dinner. Basically it was wonton soup without the wonton wrappers. Instead it was served with noodles.
For my last night in Brisbane with my parents and two of my daughters, Mum made her “world famous” pavlova. One of the greatest Australian inventions ever (I write this to deliberately stir up my friends and family from New Zealand*).
This one had passion fruit, pitted cherries, banana and mango topping.
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Okay, tomorrow, I return to Canberra. I have had a great little break in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
*For all I care, New Zealand can keep Russel Crowe and Richard Wilkins as their own. Pavlova is ALL AUSTRALIAN.
It’s the last day of 2012 and the second last day of my holiday with my daughters. Today we went to Wet’n'Wild Water World on the Gold Coast. There aren’t many images because I was dressed in a pair of speedos, boardies and a rashy. No pockets and for the major rides you can’t carry things like cameras or smart telephones. Besides, at a water park, it’s all about the fun in the water. Today the weather was perfect. It was mostly around 29 °C and overcast with occasional sun bursts. That meant it was warm and not hot. It also meant that with four applications of sun screen throughout the day none of us got sun burnt.
Breakfast this morning was at McDonald’s because we were in a hurry.
After a day of water activity we enjoyed ice cream at the ice cream parlour.
You can buy small medium and bucket sized sundaes.
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I had a small caramel sundae. It’s all self serve through a series of dispensers. I chose mango and sprinkles plus caramel sauce.
The sprinkles came out in a rush. There was more on the floor than in the cup.
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Goodbye Wet’n'Wild Water World.
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As the sun was setting
Jupiter’s casino was lighting up for New Year’s Eve.
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It was nice to extend the water theme and have a bath. Sadly the spa didn’t work.
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Tonight it was Miss15′s turn to choose a meal.
She chose Chicken Kiev and Caesar salad.
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After dinner we walked the streets of Broadbeach watching people. Today I pondered that the Gold Coast, especially around places like Broadbeach is for the “beautiful people” while places like Wet’n'Wild Water World is for everyone in all their shapes and sizes, colours and backgrounds. What is great about a water park is that everyone is just in their togs. You see almost everything, especially the tattoos and body art, plus the fat and obesity that is plaguing our nation. You also see the wonderfully crafted and honed bodies of the fit and healthy. I know I’m using strong words, I appreciate all the diversity and I’m not meaning to offend. At a water park, everybody is there to have some fun and get some Vitamin D. The streets of the Gold Coast though are about being seen and looking good to be seen. That is, except for blokes like me. Middle aged Australians with kids in tow. Tonight I chose a daggy T-shirt, King Gee work shorts and thongs. I reckon I got stared at as much as the tall leggy women and the muscle men. It made me laugh on the inside.
The best thing about walking the streets tonight was the lovely gesture from Miss15 to shout me and Miss11 a gelato. Miss17 had already left for a party with her BF so it’s just me and my two youngest daughters.
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Of the rides at Wet’n'Wild Water World, only a few have cameras that worked.
I put my hand up to hide my fugly face lol This was on the Kamikaze ride.
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This is from the Mammoth Falls ride.
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We went on a heap of other rides. It’s hard to pick the best. I loved them all. The faster and higher the better. It’s probably best to visit the website if you’re interested.