Tag Archives: Blog

Australia Day and other thoughts

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Yesterday was Australia Day. It’s a day that most Australians celebrate to remember the landing of the first fleet in what would become Sydney in 1788. When I say most Australians there are many Indigenous Australians who refer to 26 January as Invasion Day. Australia Day is a national day and a public holiday is always gazetted. Given this year 26 January falls on a Saturday all the celebrations occurred yesterday yet we get Monday as a public holiday. I love Australia. We get so many public holidays and everyone receives four weeks of recreation leave a year as a basic employment entitlement. That said, statistics show that Australians work longer hours per week than most member countries of the OECD so while we get plenty of holidays, we also know how to work hard.

English: Dick Smith

English: Dick Smith (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Australia Day, I always think about how fortunate I am to have been born in Australia and to be Australian. For many Australians the celebration revolves around food and alcohol. As a non-drinker (which is pretty uncommon in Australia), I focus on food. In recent years the lamb industry has invested significantly in advertising that real Australians eat lamb on Australia Day. While I don’t believe it’s unpatriotic not to eat lamb on Australia Day, I do like lamb so that’s what I had.

There was also a very cheeky YouTube and television video played this Australia Day by Dick Smith who is an entrepreneur, business man and advocate for buying Australian made.

WARNING It’s a little rude.
YouTube video http://youtu.be/VHP-znJv9ps

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So for my Australia Day lunch I had some very nice Maggie Beer products, viz., some pâté and quince paste.

#AustraliaDay #Lunch Yummy pâté, quince paste and Gorgonzola

For dinner I pan fried some lamb cutlets and served them with a salad.

Of course I'm enjoying lamb for #AustraliaDay #Dinner #yummy

I’m taking a break from work soon and a book I plan to read is Food Photography for Bloggers. David Lebovitz did a nice blog post on it with the author.

I have a new book to read :-) Thanks to @davidlebovitz for blogging about it

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English: Maggie Beer at the Australia Day citi...

English: Maggie Beer at the Australia Day citizenship ceremony at Commonwealth Park in Canberra. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Super Sweet Award!

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Barb Beacham, a wonderful blogger friend whose site is called, “Life in the Foothills,” included me this week for the Super Sweet Award! Thank you Barb. Barb and I started following each other soon after I started blogging. Barb is the wonderful person who sent me a bottle of Spike to try. Barb blogs about food and her marvellous life in the Sierra Foothills.

Please visit her site at: Life in the Foothills http://salmonfishingqueen.wordpress.com/

Now the rules of this award are:

1 – That I give credit to the person who nominated me. Again thank you Barb!

2 – That I answer the super sweet questions. Here are the questions and answers:

Q1: Cookies or cake? I’m a cake person. Although I do like white chocolate and Queensland nut (Macadamia nuts) biscuits (cookies) best. In terms of cake I like a nice Queensland nut (Macadamia but) carrot cake made with crushed pineapple and vanilla icing (fristing).

Q2: Chocolate or vanilla? I am a real fan of vanilla. Vanilla icing on anything really. Vanilla ice cream. Vanilla slice is my favourite sweet.

Q3: What is my favourite sweet treat? Vanilla slice is my favourite. I’ve blogged about vanilla slice before. Check out 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Q4: When do I crave sweet things the most? After a long day at work especially if it’s been tedious and there have been lots of people issues.

Q5: If you had a sweet nickname what would it be? Easy, Yummy Lummy.

3 – The last part of this award is that I nominate a Baker’s Dozen of super sweet bloggers:

Wayfaring Chocolate
Jude the Foodie
Live2EatEat2Live Blog
petit4chocolatier
Back Road Journal
Sybaritica
she cooks, he eats
Putney Farm
BunnyandPorkBelly
Rantings of an Amateur Chef
Texana’s Kitchen
Susartandfood’s Blog
Spoon Fest

These are in no particular order, and each one of them is special to me in one way or another! My very best to those listed.

Thank you again Barb!

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Shout out and thanks to @phonakins

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A couple of weeks ago I blogged about a big day and this year’s first state of origin game. In that blog I also mentioned I’d won a prize in a competition run but a well known Australian tweep and blogger, viz., @phonakins or Fiona the littlelioness.

Today my prize arrived. Thanks Fiona :-) Thanks Red Rock Deli.

Importantly Fiona has decided to do something crazy for her 30 years on year. She’s giving up caffeine for a month. She’s doing this for charity. Please visit http://www.everydayhero.com.au/phonakins30 to learn more.

Red Rock Deli hamper from above (iPhone)

 

Inside the Red Rock Deli hamper (iPhone)

These are the Red Rock Deli corn chips that were inside (iPhone)

This is a gratuitous photograph of my dinner tonight. Avocado with drumsticks and peas and corn.

I like symmetry when plating up (iPhone) my avocado and drumsticks :-)

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Kreativ Blogger Award

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A fellow blogger, viz., Susartandfood‘s Blog was generous and has passed on to me the Kreativ Blogger (award). Thank you very much Susan.
I’m now passing this on to seven fellow bloggers (I’m sorry if they’ve already shared in this happiness).

The rules for this award are:

  • Thank the blogger who gave me the award and provide a link. My thanks go out to Susan from across the Pacific. Please stop by and visit her and catch up on her thoughts about life, living and eating at http://susartandfood.wordpress.com/.
  • List 7 things about myself that my readers might find interesting
  • Nominate 7 other bloggers, provide links, and let them know

Seven things about me that aren’t exactly exciting but you may not have known.

  1. I’m an ABC (Australian Born Chinese) and fifth generation.
  2. My great grandmother was Irish.
  3. I always wanted to study medicine because my Dad is a doctor.
  4. I also wanted to be a zoologist but didn’t because I couldn’t grow a beard and all the great zoologists seem to have big bushy beards.
  5. I don’t drink alcohol because my liver doesn’t produce the enzyme to hydrolise alcohol. I often want to drink to understand what my friends are enjoying.
  6. Despite my carrying on about Canberra being too cold, I don’t like it really hot, I like warm and humid weather because it makes my skin feel better. When it’s too hot I get a headache.
  7. I do not like, sorry I hate gardening and yard work.

Now for my seven nominations (again sorry if you’ve already had this passed on to you)

  1. TheBernieBrand because she is just so light happy and funny with a great sense of humour http://theberniebrand.com/
  2. The anonymous hotel worker because she is new and tells funny stories about guests at her hotel. I’ve travelled a bit and have seen the truth of it too http://hotelanonymous.wordpress.com/
  3. The Diane Lee show because Diane is open and honest about life, gives great advice and writes from the heart http://dileeshus.wordpress.com/
  4. Invisible Ink because Sarah is so heart felt. She’s not a frequent blogger but her words are worth reading http://invisibleink.posterous.com/
  5. Domestic Diva MD because she’s a fellow medical practitioner who likes food http://domesticdivamd.com/
  6. Wayfaring chocolate because Hannah is a Canberra resident who loves chocolate http://wayfaringchocolate.com/
  7. In the Taratory because T1 and T2 are now Canberra residents and write great restaurant reviews for Canberra http://inthetaratory.wordpress.com/

So there you have it. Please visit all these sites and leave comments.

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Merry Christmas WordPress bloggers

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This year I discovered the joy of WordPress blogging. I feel like I’m in a community of like minded friends. I wish everyone who reads and writes a blog a very Merry Christmas and a happy blogging new year.

Happy holidays everyone :-) Happy cooking, photographing and best of all eating!