Tag Archives: Brisbane

Goodbye Brisbane | #likeCanberra | #LoveBrisbane | #adoreDarwin

Gymnastics and Hog’s Breath Cafe | @hogsbreath

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.

———-

Moreton Bay College is a pretty well endowed girls school.

I’ve never seen illuminated podia before.

———-

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

———-

Miss12 and Miss18 asked for a crispy chicken burger each

———-

Miss16 asked for the TexMex chicken steak combination meal. It was huge.

———-

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.

———-

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.

———-

The plate is so long the ice cream is blurry. This is the Strawberry pavlova Miss12 and I wanted.

———-

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.

Hog’s Breath Cafe http://www.hogsbreath.com.au/
Trip Advisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g255068-d725584-r138936888-Hogs_Breath_Cafe-Brisbane_Queensland.html
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/8AAzl Address 1401 Gympie Road Aspley QLD 4034 Telephone (07) 3263 8444

View Larger Map

New York Grill (minglewiththefoodies.wordpress.com)
Places to Visit in Brisbane:The Library (australianloop.wordpress.com)

Cupcakes and @luke_nguyen Fat Noodle

7 Replies

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

———-

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).

———-

I got to the Qantas club with about 30 minutes to spare

I was given the mango sorbet to try. It was pretty good.

———-

On board QF960. The 737-800 has been updated.

I watched a movie during the flight

———-

I may not have had a pie with my chips and gravy but I did have one for dinner on the flight

———-

Dessert cake

———-

When I got to my parents’ place they were eating dinner and Mum gave me a small plate

Shepherd’s pie

———-

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.

———-

They look good don’t they? Vanilla cupcakes with passionfruit icing.

———-

We had an early start for the school run this morning

Peanut paste on toast with coffee

———-

One of the annoying things about Canberra (and in fairness Darwin) is the ban on plastic bags.

———-

Today I was taking my parents in town by bus so I had to buy a go card

———-

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.

———-

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

———-

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.

———-

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.

———-

The Light Fantastic

———-

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

———-

In the Treasury Casino building is Luke Nguyen’s restaurant Fat Noodle

———-

We waited near some stand up tables and read through the menu and I noticed the cloth napkins

———-

We could see into the kitchen too

———-

After being seated at a large table near a window we received a pot of Chinese tea

———-

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.

———-

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

———-

Mum and I both asked for the Singapore noodles

This was spectacular

———-

The after lunch Belgian chocolate mint was delicious

———-

Apparently this German sausage hut also serves big pork hocks on request

———-

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.

Fat Noodle http://www.treasurybrisbane.com.au/Dining/Pages/Fat-Noodle-.aspx
Menu http://www.treasurybrisbane.com.au/Dining/Documents/FN%20Brisbane%20Menu%20web%20081212.pdf
Trip Advisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g255068-d3748303-Reviews-Fat_Noodle_Restaurant-Brisbane_Queensland.html
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/R6hAE

View Larger Map

My pedantry about vaccination and immunisation | shoutout @sciencesarah | Custard apple | shoutout @SybariticaBlog

18 Replies

Over the last week as part of my regular blog reading I’ve commented on a couple of blogs.

The first was on Science for Life. 365 which is a post a day blog by an Australian scientist and writer Sarah Keenihan. On Day 257. Killing smallpox and parasites Sarah wrote about her vaccination in Canada before coming to live in Australia. I made a comment about being vaccinated and vaccinating others and mentioned my pedantic habit of referring to vaccination in the context of smallpox immunisation and immunisation for everything else. To me Edward Jenner vaccinated with cowpox (Vaccinia virus). The process was immunisation and vaccination specifically refers to using Vaccinia virus (or a derivative) to immunise against smallpox. I once explained this to a work colleague and she told me I was wrong. She said I didn’t understand vaccination is universally accepted as the term to protect people by stimulating their immune systems and had nothing to do with smallpox. I didn’t say anything. She didn’t have a science background and it wasn’t worth an argument. When I was a lot younger I recall the early iterations of the Australian Immunisation Handbook had an explanatory footnote on the difference between immunisation and vaccination. It last appeared in the sixth edition. I’ve scanned the relevant pages and made them available in this link. I think in earlier iterations the explanation was different.

The second blog I commented on was Sybaritica by John Thompson who lives in Canada, practices law, travels the court circuit of regional and remote Canada and seems to be more Chinese than me. Recently John posted about custard apples and it made me think back to my childhood growing up in Brisbane and being an avid fan. It’s been a long time since I had a custard apple even though they’re readily available. I made a comment on John’s blog and mentioned that I didn’t recall them being that laden with seeds. I saw one in the supermarket on the weekend and knew I had to buy one.

The one I bought had lots of seeds. Perhaps as a child I swallowed them all Anyway, it was delicious.

Good night.

Winter has arrived so it’s time for the winter avi | #bestblogs13

2 Replies

Okay it’s not really winter yet. Winter starts in June. In Canberra though the rules are that heaters should not be turned on until after ANZAC day (25 April) and they should not be used after the Melbourne Cup has run (the first Tuesday of November). There are also some similar rules about basil and tomatoes but they relate mainly to frost.

Out of all the capital cities in Australia, Canberra is the coldest and the driest. For me that makes it the most uncomfortable and frustrating place to live. This week has seen the weather settle into cold. We’ve even had some subzero mornings. I wouldn’t mind the cold if it wasn’t accompanied with the dryness. I have ichthyosis vulgaris, basically dry cracked hairless skin. I’m forever applying moisturiser and my skin feels cracked dry and at least once a day there is a degree of pain.

As a kid growing up in Brisbane I didn’t hang with my school mates or university friends that much. They were mostly well to do people who were a bit too sophisticated for me. I should qualify and say that after I started fourth year university I got into a friendlier group at university and hung out with them a lot more. Anyway my friends were from the neighborhood and we all liked cars. A couple of mates were doing apprenticeships as fitters and turners and another worked as a bank clerk. We liked V8 sedans and station wagons. I was into Mopar and Ford and my friends were into Holdens and makes from the GM stable like Chevrolets. In Brisbane such people were known as Bevans as distinct from Bogans. I’m not going to try to explain what a Bogan is. I think the term is misused and I think it’s used cruelly to describe people who are misunderstood.

The point of mentioning Bevans is that they had a standard winter garb. Jeans and a flanny. That is, a flannelette shirt. My winter avi reflects that.

I’ll write about my car history another time.

For now though I hope this post doesn’t scare anyone and given I’m doing it on an iPad I hope it works okay.

———-

Chicken rissoles | Elite Meats @2CC | #bestblogs13 | The Castle

16 Replies

As a kid growing up in Brisbane one of Mum’s regular dishes was salmon rissoles. If you’re not from Australia or New Zealand you may not be familiar with what a rissole is. The wikipedia entry is pretty reasonable. I know for Mum’s salmon rissoles the main ingredients were tinned pink salmon and mashed potato, as well as bread crumbs and lots of finely cut vegetables. One of my favourite Australian movies is “The Castle” which contains so much that is typically Australian. As a result when the producers tried to adapt it for an American audience various words had to be changed, i.e., meat loaf instead of rissole (alternative versions).

Anyway, I’m quite fond of rissoles so yesterday when Bron pointed out rissoles in the Elite Meats display I jumped at the chance to buy some. When speaking with one of the butchers he said there were made in-house and like everything in the shop all the produce is organic and free-range. The rissoles were made from chicken mince and cheese and vegetables and then coated in fresh bread crumbs. All that was needed was some shaping and then a shallow pan fry.

Yesterday’s meat acquisition

I got six rissoles. Four for me and two for Bron.

———-

Chicken rissoles ready for the fry pan

———-

Chicken rissoles plated up

———-

The rissoles tasted pretty good. I’d happily recommend them to anyone living in Canberra and is venturing to Kippax Fair in Holt.

———-

My prize meat tray | Thank you @2CC and Elite Meats | #bestblogs13 (garydavidlum.com)
My Easter | #ManFlu | #bestblogs13 (garydavidlum.com)
Rockpool on George | #ManFlu | #bestblogs13 (garydavidlum.com)
Daily Recipe : Rissoles (fooddelicious21.wordpress.com)
Rissoles (hopefulau.wordpress.com)
Chicken Mac and Cheese & Chicken Mac and Cheese Recipe | Pottery Barn (potterybarn.com)

Thai to die for | The best Canberra restaurant experience in some time | Morks of Florey

17 Replies

On Wednesday evening Bron and I ate dinner at Morks in Florey. When Bron mentioned Morks and said it was Thai I wondered why it was named Morks. It didn’t sound Thai but what would I know. Bron had found Morks on-line (TripAdvisor.com) when searching for a good place to eat locally. She’d also heard recommendations from work friends.

Florey is in the northern suburbs of Canberra in the town of Belconnen. I didn’t realise until speaking with a friend at work that the rent at the Florey shops is pretty high and the move of Morks to the Kingston Foreshore in August this year will be economically wise.

Morks

It will be interesting to see the new shop front presentation in Kingston. As you walk out of the restaurant you are confronted by a Dominos pizza sign which immediately makes you feel happy you’ve had a fantastic meal in Morks

———-

Tasting menu

Sorry about this poorly focused shot, it gives you an idea of the tasting menu. As soon as I saw this I wanted it. Then I looked at the rest of the menu and wanted that as well. Bron and I have agreed we will return to eat through the menu. Tasting menus are fantastic to get an idea of the style and tastes of a restaurant. This tasting menu had us wanting to try everything. We’ve had degustation meals before which we’ve always enjoyed but this one just looked so balanced.

Mork’s menu PDF

———-

Scallop and pig

Okay, so it doesn’t sound that great unless you’re an offal lover like me and @DrOffal http://droffal.wordpress.com/ The scallop and the pig’s ear were beautifully cooked. The chilli relish and grilled spring onion gave the flesh amazing heat and taste. The taste is amazing. I loved everything about this dish. The scallops were soft with a beautifully caramelised surface.

———-

Eggplant

I love the way the tasting menu alternates between a meat-based dish and a vegetarian offering. This eggplant was delightful. I loved the fried shallot. It had a wonderful smoky flavour and the coriander sauce was a great accompaniment.

———-

John Dory

For both Bron and I this was the surprise dish of the night. I’ve been a long time fan of John Dory. I don’t think Bron has tried it before. It was cooked with a crispy crusty coating and the flesh was delicate and tender. The Kaffir lime curry was superb. Words cannot describe the sauce and the lovely wombok surprise hidden in the fish. I wanted a spoon and had to make do by applying the back of my fork to the sauce and quickly licking the sauce from it and repeating the process. I seriously was wanting to lick the plate and mentioned this to Bron. I asked her to distract the other customers somehow while I applied my tongue to the plate. She declined When Benn took our plates we mentioned how much we loved the sauce and he jokingly offered to get us more.

———-

Lychee sorbet

This sorbet did exactly as it was meant to. It refreshed our palates. On putting a spoonful in my mouth I was transported to my childhood in Brisbane. My grandparents and my grandfather’s brothers all lived together and raised me when I was very young. There was a farm just outside of Brisbane and the owners grew lychees with small seeds. I remember going there once a year and getting large wooden boxes of lychees and spending days eating lychees. We also grew a tree in our back yard and it was right up to when my parents sold the house a few years ago that we were still enjoying lychees from that tree. Thank you Morks for reviving olfactory memories.

———-

Cauliflower

Bron mentioned she needs to do more with cauliflower after tasting this dish. The cauliflower was coated in a crumb and cooked just right. All too often we over or undercook cauliflower. I want to know how these fritters were cooked. I could eat this all day. It’s a vegetable right? It must be good for me and more must be better for me.

———-

Prawn

I’ve been watching MasterChef Australia the Professionals and admiring Marco Pierre White. His common refrain when served one of something is why wasn’t there two. This prawn and pea open wonton dish (it says prawns [plural] on the menu Mork) was delightful and I wanted a second prawn http://www.marcopierrewhite.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Pierre_White

———-

Pork rib

I assumed when we sat down and decided on the tasting Menu that this would be the dish of the night. It almost made it. The John Dory pipped it for me. That said, this was a great dish. The flesh fell from the bones and melted in my mouth. We got some rice to soak up the sauce which was so nice. The sauce was a perfect consistency, not too thick not too thin. It was soy salty and soy sweet.

———-

Coconut

This dainty dessert was just right. Coconut and passionfruit together. A party time of happiness in my mouth. The ice cream was complemented nicely with the warm sticky sweet rice it was served on.

———-

We got home to my place and I still had macarons that Bron had given me.

Rose water and vanilla macarons

These were lovely with a cup of peppermint tea.

———-

The Tasting Menu cost $130 for both of us. The restaurant is BYO and doesn’t sell alcohol. This suited us well. I cannot say in words just how much we both enjoyed this dining experience. We’ve both eaten well in Canberra and have had many dining experiences, but this rates amongst the top of any resturant we’ve eaten in in Canberra. The service was perfectly paced. We were never ignored and plates weren’t removed in haste. The team were friendly and they all looked like they worked well together. There was a familiarity amongst them that was clear to the entire restaurant. It was nice to see Adul out and about from the kitchen. Benn was friendly and helpful when he could see I was posting images to Instagram he told us the Instagram handle for the restaurant and the blog address.

Morks is so worthwhile, I’d say if you live in Canberra and if you like food, you should eat here. I know we will be going back again (and again and again).

———-

Morks http://morks.com.au/
Google map http://goo.gl/maps/AO0WX

View Larger Map

Morks Dining Menu http://morks.com.au/index.php/menus/main
http://morks.com.au/templates/wa_theme/images/mork_menu.pdf

Meet the team at http://morks.com.au/index.php/team I am assuming Benn maintains the social accounts.
You can follow Morks on instagram at morksrestaurant facebook and Tumblr

My weekend in Brisbane

17 Replies

I love my visits to see my kids and also my parents. The weather has recently turned sour in Canberra and Brisbane is maintaining its warm and wet weather. It rained most of the time I was in Brisbane. It was lovely. Driving in the rain is not something that worries me. It seems to cause Canberra drivers to panic a little. On Thursday afternoon Radio Station | @2CC reported nearly ten road incidents that afternoon. I suppose it’s what you get used to. I loved driving in Darwin and Katherine in the wet season. That said Canberra drivers are expert at driving in fog. Fog freaks out a lot of drivers from other places. Canberra is so fog laden in winter you get used to it.

Miss11 turns 12 this week so this visit was well timed. I had already bought her a new Wii U game and she wanted some books. Miss11 is an avid reader so part of the weekend was going to be devoted to buying books. Becoming 12 also means she becomes eligible (at least in our family) to have a mobile telephone. It had been worked out by Miss17, Miss15 and Miss11 that Miss11 would get Miss15′s old fashioned Nokia and Miss15 would get a new smartphone for her 16th birthday. So this weekend was also about telephone buying for Miss15.

The weekend started well. I left work and Bron also came to the airport to spend some time with me before I left Canberra.

Canberra Qantas Business Lounge

Liquorice all sorts and jaffas shared with some soda water with Bron.

———-

The flight into Brisbane was uneventful and as usual the landing was delayed because BNE is in such poor shape with its runways that only one was working. This is a constant problem to the extent I never believe the arrival time and always assume I’ll be between 30 and 60 minutes late. I picked up a hire car, a Toyota Yaris, and drove to my parents. I love that modern cars can all connect seamlessly through Bluetooth to my iPhone. It was good to drive to my parent’s place with my tunes.

As well as a birthday gift for Miss11 I also had a bag full of chocolate for all the girls (including Mum). I had recently spent some time in Adelaide and bought up big at Haigh’s and menz. I also bought Mum some Almond Roca from Costco. She loves Almond Roca.

We watched a movie and slept well.

———-

We woke up to another day of clouds and rain. I heard from Bron that Canberra was cold with 40 km/h winds. I felt for her but I was feeling pretty good. My skin was moist and I could walk around in shorts and a T-shirt.

———-

My type of weather

I love overcast rainy warm days

———-

Breakfast at my parents’ place on a Saturday

Peanut paste and strawberry jam

———-

Shopping for Miss11′s 12th birthday this week

I loved these books when I was in primary school. I know the words have been modified to make them politically correct. I understand why but I am disappointed. I would hope kids are smart enough to distinguish between modern language and old language and want to learn what it means. I only ever read one novel at primary school and one novel at high school. I loved short stories like these though.

Miss11 also got two other books.

———-

Plastic shopping bags

Queensland is yet to introduce legislation banning plastic shopping bags. In Darwin and Canberra before legislation was introduced to ban their use, I would use them to line bins at work and in my bathroom. I found them very useful for multiple uses rather than single use. I still use plastic bags to lin bins, I just buy them now.

———-

Lunch with Mum and Dad

Mum had some lamb meatballs which she cut up and with some Havarti cheese she made toasties. These were magnificent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havarti

———-

After lunch fruit

This is my first sugar plum. It was nice.

———-

After picking up Miss11 and Miss15 from gymnastics training they needed something to eat. On Saturdays they train from 1100 to 1500 so lunch is difficult. An afternoon snack is always necessary. Usually they have fruit or a sandwich. With me today though they asked for a treat.

They had this white chocolate mocha frappuccino with cream and some coconut loaf.

———-

Someone couldn’t get my name correct

I don’t mumble. I speak clearly. I also speak with an Australian accent. The person behind the counter didn’t have English as his first language. For a second I wondered if there was a “Gally” waiting but then realised it was for me.

———-

Dinner preparation

Tonight I promised my daughters I’d cook dinner. They like it when I cook for them. I made salmon and salad. They love salmon. Yes that is a tomato vine in one of the salmon containers. I used it to impart a little flavour when cooking the salmon. As you can see there was a lot of beetroot. We all like beetroot.

———-

This was my plate

We all like lots of feta. Everyone liked the lemon zest too.

———-

Miss11 becomes Miss12 this week.

Yes, she is gorgeous.

———-

Dessert

Mum made the cake and we bought some Weis’ sorbet to go with it.

———-

The rain continues

The constant rain has been a feature of the weekend. It’s been warm and it’s been moist. It’s been good.

———-

Breakfast preparation

My job was setting the table while Mum, Dad and Miss17 cooked.

———-

My Mum’s Sunday breakfast

A big pikelet with bacon, maple syrup and whipped cream

———-

A snack before leaving Brisbane

I know I didn’t need it but I do like cheese.

———-

The snack on QF957 from Brisbane to Canberra

I love salted caramel

———-

Dinner tonight

This is a beef hamburger with spinach leaves, coriander (cilantro), grated carrot, sliced beetroot, tomatoes, sesame seeds and Havarti cheese.

———-

It’s been a good weekend. I enjoy them with my daughters. When I leave Brisbane there is always a touch of sadness. I hope I get to see them again soon.

———-

Weis’ is a well known name in Queensland. As a kid we would crave Weis’ bars.

I don’t think any person from South East Queensland of my age could not have heard of a Weis’ bar. They were and are amazing.

The sorbet tubs are a relatively new addition http://www.weis.com.au/#/products/sorbet-tubs and extraordinarily good.

My week in Instagram and I won $50 of meat. Shout out @2CC and Elite Meats Canberra (garydavidlum.com)
Pho Viet Review 2 | The Aldi Expressi Coffee Machine | Back with Bron | My week in Instagram (garydavidlum.com)

University hijinks and fish fingers

5 Replies

I was on the telephone chatting with a friend the other night and she was cooking herself fish fingers for dinner. I explained that when I was in university we used used to visit a friend’s house and have fish finger sandwiches.

That was a really good time in my life. I had entered medical school as one of twenty boys from my high school into a class of 220. In my third year I decided to take a year off and complete a Bachelor of Medical Science. This meant I said good bye to people I’d become very familiar with and some friends who I’d sat in classes with for eight years. After I completed my BMedSc I had to join a new class and get to make new friends. I happened to be put into a group with five others who had all spent the first three years as university college residents. None of them were from Brisbane. This was a great group of people. During the winter one of my fondest memories is spending some lunches at Jo’s place. She shared with another medical student in a different group and a physics student. We would go to Jo’s and make toasted fish finger and cheese sandwiches.

At the time a couple of the blokes in the group were still residents of a university college and when we spent days at hospitals they would get a cut lunch. The lunches consisted of sandwiches and fruit and were presented in a brown paper bag. One day I remember taking his brown bag out of his bag. I carefully unwrapped the sandwich and then took a single large neat bite from his ham and cheese sandwich. I then wrapped the sandwich again and put it back into the paper bag which went back into his bag. I then waited patiently for lunch time. It was so funny. I did it a couple of times after that and became known as someone not to be trusted.

Toasted fish finger and cheese sandwich for students and adults

Fish fingers
Students pan fry the fish fingers in butter until golden.
Adults cook fish fingers in an oven without any extra fat.

Cheese
Students use four slices of Coon. Two on each side of the fish fingers in the sandwich.
Adults use a little blue cheese on one side.

Bread
Students use white bread and liberally apply butter to the outside so the sandwich has a rich buttery smell.
Adults spray a little olive oil on the sandwich press and nothing on the multigrain or wholemeal bread.

Accompanying drink
Students enjoy their toasted sandwich with Coca Cola.
Adults enjoy theirs with sparkling mineral water or a cup of tea.

A sour end to a wonderful break

25 Replies

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 went to the Qantas Club and spent time reading. They had iced vivo biscuits which are a real treat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iced_VoVo

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.

Gaz

Yummy Lummy

Gary's rants and raves about food (and a little about life)

Tag Archives: Brisbane

Goodbye Brisbane | #likeCanberra | #LoveBrisbane | #adoreDarwin

Gymnastics and Hog’s Breath Cafe | @hogsbreath

Cupcakes and @luke_nguyen Fat Noodle

My pedantry about vaccination and immunisation | shoutout @sciencesarah | Custard apple | shoutout @SybariticaBlog

Winter has arrived so it’s time for the winter avi | #bestblogs13

Chicken rissoles | Elite Meats @2CC | #bestblogs13 | The Castle

Thai to die for | The best Canberra restaurant experience in some time | Morks of Florey

My weekend in Brisbane

University hijinks and fish fingers

A sour end to a wonderful break

Follow “Yummy Lummy”

Related articles

Please feel free to share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Please feel free to share this:

Like this:

Please feel free to share this:

Like this:

Please feel free to share this:

Like this:

Please feel free to share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Please feel free to share this:

Like this:

Please feel free to share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Please feel free to share this:

Like this:

Please feel free to share this:

Like this:

Please feel free to share this:

Like this:

Follow “Yummy Lummy”