Tag Archives: Artistic gymnastics

A quiet weekend in food and halfway through the London Olympic Games 2012

I had hoped this Olympics I’d take more time and watch more of the coverage and enjoy the sport. So far that hasn’t happened. Other things have got in the way like just being too tired to bother. Instead, I’ve been listening to the coverage on the radio while in bed (yeah I know, that’s not going to help my tiredness). The television coverage from Channel Nine has been as expected, i.e., parochial, disjointed and riddled with advertising. The radio coverage has been good but mainly because of the sporting experts accompanying the sports broadcasters who have been boorish.

One day I hope to watch an Olympic games live. I’d like to watch the swimming and women’s artistic gymnastics mostly. If I could I’d like to watch the weightlifting too.

Yesterday morning I had a simple breakfast with avocado on toast and coffee.

Avocado on toast, with coffee (Nikon D90)

I love a nice firm Hass avocado on toast. Unfortunately when I did the grocery shopping yesterday, the local Coles had run out of the Hass variety and only had Reed avocados. I found a site at http://www.avocado.org.au/foodservice/australianGrown/common_australian_grown_varieties.aspx which describes the difference. I’m hoping the Reed variety are okay. I’m waiting for them to ripen before I try them.

I spent most of the day washing, cleaning and vacuuming and also did some exercising by going for a walk. The weather was pretty good yesterday. While it was overcast it wasn’t as cold as it could have been.

Lunch was a simple omelet with spinach (inside) on toast.

Spinach omelet on toast (Nikon D90)

Bron invited me to dinner. She had whetted my appetite with images on Facebook during the afternoon. The images were amazing.

The main course was lamb on a skewer with haloumi cheese, and capsicum served on flat bread with aioli and asparagus. It was delicious especially when the eating it like a big sandwich. The bread soaked up the extra aioli and was like having two meals in one.

Lamb on a skewer with capsicum and haloumi cheese

For dessert Bron made two different meringue creations. The first was banana and caramel and the other was cherry chocolate. These were very rich. They tasted wonderful. I am seriously spoilt by Bron.

Banana caramel and Cherry chocolate meringues

For breakfast this morning Bron made an amazing baked egg in risotto with pancetta. The image doesn’t do it justice. It was amazing with sourdough toast dipped into the runny egg yolk. I am very spoilt.

Baked egg on risotto with pancetta and spinach

I spent most of today at work. Not the ideal way to spend a Sunday but necessary to keep on top of things. Along with some fruit that I brought along with me I needed a sugar and caffeine hit late in the morning.

Morning snack. Top Deck and Diet Coke.

For dinner I made salmon again and put together some left over mince and cauliflower to make a I don’t know what to call it. It tasted okay. In fact it tasted pretty good.

Salmon with broccoli and the cauliflower thing

I hope you have a great week. Take care.

How to Eat Hass Avocados (avocadocentral.com)
Hass Avocado Recipes (avocadocentral.com)
Olympic Games welcomes Usain Bolt to London (itv.com)
Pick & Buy Hass Avocados (avocadocentral.com)
Olympic champion: ‘We just won the Olympics!’ (itv.com)
Olympics and Social Media: The View From London (mashable.com)
Wi-Fi Police at Olympic Games? LOCOG says no (pocket-lint.com)
‘Social Olympics’: Officials ask Londoners to go easy tweeting and texting (nextlevelofnews.com)
What’s in the Water? Chinese Girl Faster Than Lochte (abcnews.go.com)
The London Olympic Games 2012 opening ceremony, dinner with friends and pondering one’s mortality. (garydavidlum.com)
Subway’s Mysterious Olympic Avocado Graph Explained [London Olympics] (gawker.com)

My weekend in food while in Brisbane

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This weekend I visited my daughters in Brisbane. Miss14 was competing in the Queensland Women’s Artistic Gymnastics championships for 2012. It also included the trials for the state team to compete at the national titles in June in Sydney. Miss14 is Level 9. On Saturday she came third overall in Queensland. She freely admits her vault lets her down. Her routine is not as difficult as the others in the competition. When I asked why, she simply said she’s uncoordinated. That is the biggest understatement of her life. Compared to the rest of us in the family she’s amazing. So today as I was returning to Canberra Miss14 was competing to make a place in the Queensland team. She got in and received an award for her floor routine. I recorded her routine from yesterday which was ranked second.

On Friday I had lunch with some work mates and also some colleagues from another agency. We ate at the Hellenic Club. The Hellenic Club is a fantastic Canberra institution. It has a range of restaurants including a pretty good Chinese restaurant which is a nice touch for a Greek establishment. I love the Hellenic Club’s bistro. It does a really good steak with pepper sauce and chips (which is what I had) while others had chicken breast schnitzel or a roast dinner.

Hellenic Club's pepper steak (rib eye fillet) and chips (iPhone)

After a very squishy flight to Brisbane and then discovering I had rented a General Motors Barina (beep beep) I got to my parent’s place and enjoyed some time with the kids. Let me digress and discuss the rental car. I rent through Hertz and normally I get a small compact like a Toyota Yaris or Ford Focus. Both are good small manual transmission cars that I don’t find uncomfortable. I should declare that after Chrysler left Australia I switched my allegiance to Ford. For non-Australian readers, in the main, if you’re a bloke, you’re either Ford or Holden (GM). There’s not debate. The Barina, even if Ford produced it would have been and remains a lemon. For someone who is only 170 cm (short arsed), it’s hard to believe that leg room posed such a problem. I would NEVER purchase a General Motors Barina.

In the morning we had a light breakfast. By light I mean toast. I don’t mean warm bread either. I like toast that has a good amount of colour. Not burnt, but at least browned. I also like Vegemite. For non-Australians, Vegemite is a yeast extract and it is a salty dark paste the consistency of cream cheese. It is an acquired taste. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. I don’t get how some Australians go on and on about it. It’s good. Just don’t carry on about it.

Toast with a smear of Vegemite (iPhone)

For lunch I had a sausage roll and chips (no photograph). Most of the day was spent driving between Chermside, Clayfield and Chandler (Sleeman Sports Complex). The competition was at the Sleeman Sports Complex while Miss11 had to also train at Clayfield. I had Miss16 to keep me company

I also had fudge that Miss14 had cooked the day before. This is GOOD fudge.

Fudge after a bite (iPhone)

Miss14′s competition ran late, very late. We didn’t leave until nearly 2000 AEST. When we got back to my parent’s place, Mum and Dad had cooked a roast dinner. We had roast chicken, stuffing, roast potato, roast sweet potato, roast pumpkin, broccoli and beans. Mum also made gravy from scratch. I love Mum’s roast chicken with gravy and stuffing.

Roast chicken (Nikon D90) Click on the image for a more detailed view.

May is a big month for birthdays in our family and it’s not clear if I can visit in May so Mum made a cake. Miss14 and Miss16 become Miss15 and Miss17 on the same day in May. I turn 47 in May. My Dad also has a birthday in May.

Birthday sponge cake with almond chocolate (iPhone)

This morning we were in a rush but that didn’t stop Mum cooking us some snags, scrambled eggs and mushrooms. Mums and Dads are like that and I love my Mum and Dad for being like that.

It doesn’t look all that flash but it tasted great.

Sausages, eggs and mushrooms for breakfast on a plastic picnic plate. Classy (iPhone)

At the airport I sat in front of a container of macaroons. I will not say if I had any or not.

Macaroons (iPhone)

This afternoon after arriving back in Canberra I bought some baby spinach leaves, salmon and a tomato. Dinner was inspired by breakfast and I had the last of the very fresh free range eggs to cook. I cooked the scrambled eggs with cream, a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt. I also added a little blue cheese for flavour.

Atlantic salmon and fresh free range eggs (Nikon D90) Click on the image for a more detailed view.

Look at how yellow and creamy the folds of egg are. They were amazing.

All in all it’s been a good weekend. Miss14 made the Queensland team. I hope Miss16 is watching the Brisbane Roar win the A-league soccer grand final tonight. Miss11 did an awesome job cheering today and being an all round great kid.

Roast lamb and smashed potatoes (garydavidlum.com)
Roasted Sausages, Peppers, Potatoes and Onions (savoringeverybite.com)
Perth Glory to meet Brisbane Roar in A-League Grand Final (tribalfootball.com)
Splitting Queensland (mindfullofopinion.wordpress.com)

Kids, sport and injuries

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If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know that I’ve taken a few days off work to attend the 2011 Women’s Artistic Gymnastics National Club Championships at the Australian Institute of Sport Arena in Canberra this week. It’s the last time they’ll be be managed by ACT Gymnastics. Gymnastics Australia will manage them from next year. However, it seems they may keep on being staged in Canberra.

I’ve been tweeting the hash tags #WAGNatClubChampionships and #DeltaBrisbane I am pretty confident every entry will belong to me

Two of my daughters are avid gymnasts. They previously trained at AIS and now are with Delta Gymnastics in Brisbane. Both have won performance (academic and sport) scholarships to a GPS school in Brisbane. They have talent. More importantly they love gymnastics. They love life.

Miss10 could not come to Canberra as part of the WAGL5 team. She has an elbow injury. She should be in the team and I know she’ll be disappointed. I would have loved for her to be here, she is such a delightful child. She is always smiling and encouraging others.

Miss14 is here as part of the Delta Brisbane WAGL8 team. She’s carried a number of injuries over a long period of time, she’s broken an elbow (avulsed medial epicondyle), she has bad knees and ankles and a strained back. Prior to this competition she strained her back again. Her mental toughness and determination is remarkable. I know she is in pain, yet during her routines she continues to smile and encourage others. After she’s finished an apparatus she reaches for her back and then lays down with a tennis ball under the sore area to massage it. I’ve seen her coach and the resident competition physiotherapist treat her after each apparatus to help her get to the next routine. As a parent, I sit in the stands and think about what she’s going through. I wonder if I should wander down and try to do something. I realise then that is more about me and my feelings rather than what is good for Miss14. She loves gymnastics. She has scars, they are her badges of honour. She is so strong. I love and worry about her mental toughness and determination. My mother says she reminds her of me as a kid. She says this in a positive way so I take it that way and hope Miss14 can apply the same level of determination to everything she does. Academically she’s bright, she excels at other sports, she knows what she wants. I only hope for her happiness. She tells me she wants to study physiotherapy and university. Miss10 on the other hand wants to be a surgeon.

In the end Miss14′s team came third overall. In previous years in previous teams they have come first. I ask if she’s happy. She beams and says yes. She knows her sore back has limited her. She understands, a place is a very good result. I am proud of her. I am proud of all three daughters.

Miss10′s team won all their events and won gold overall. They were a dominant force in that level. A Delta Force ha ha… I am sad that Miss10 could not be part of it. I wish she was here.

Delta Brisbane won Champion Club. This is well deserved. They are a fantastic club. Head coach and director, John Mitchell has a great philosophy to coaching.

I tend not to publish images of my daughters. I’m cautious about doing that. I will post some partial images and a couple of videos of the team cheering on their mates.

I’ve posted the videos to YouTube. I like the entrances when the gymnasts march on. They always looks so smart. If you look at the video on the entrance for the final presentation you’ll get a sense of the number of gymnasts who entered. Many of them had already left for their homes because it’s still school time. These are the top four or five gymnasts in each level from many of the clubs in Australia able to afford to send a team.

If you live in Brisbane and if your kids want to do gymnastics I highly recommend Delta Gymnastics. The coaches are wonderful. They have a fabulous outlook on life. They treat their charges well. They understand balance.

If you live in Darwin I recommend Gymnastics Metropolis. This is where Miss10 and Miss14 got their start.