Brisbane

Weekend in Brisbane

Dear Reader, 

I am writing this from Brisbane. I’m here this weekend to share some time with my family. May is a month of many birthdays in my immediate and extended family, not to mention Mother’s Day. In years past, I’ve tried to make sure I get to Brisbane so we can do something special together. This year, for many reasons, it was more special than usual. We enjoyed a few different events to spend time together the way families do. 

One event I’m happy to share is that my daughters bought me tickets and took me to a football game (unfortunately, one of them was unwell and couldn’t come along). We went to Lang Park and watched the Dolphins play against the Melbourne Storm. 

The highlight came in the first half when Jamayne Isaako scored his first of two tries. We were seated a couple of rows back from the grass at the south end to the left of the goalposts. Seeing Jamayne Isaako in full flight and scoring right before us was amazing.

I was so happy to see the stands full, and there were so many fans of both teams, mostly in family groups. I was taken by a couple of young boys behind me. They were both less than ten, and I got all warm and fuzzy when I heard the older boy explain the rules to the younger boy, who was asking why the referee had made certain decisions. My daughters and I, plus one of my daughter’s partner, had the best time.

Football entrance tick Dolphins

Lang Park holds strong memories of me growing up. I spent my earliest years just up the road living with my maternal grandparents. While I do not imbibe alcohol, the other strong memory of that area is seeing the XXXX brewery neon sign at night from my window with Mr XXXX winking. For non-Australian readers, XXXX is a beer brand iconic for people from Queensland.

This weekend has been the indigenous round in the NRL, and being in Brisbane meant we could see the traditional Welcome to Country from local Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Island people. I particularly love how Torres Strait Island people perform their Welcome to Country.

Food reviews

I ate well, and while I don’t have many photographs, I did write two reviews for Google Maps. Both were my breakfast experiences.

Saturday Breakfast

“The Gunshop Cafe”, Chermside

Here is my Google Maps review.

Sunday Breakfast

“The Farm House”, Kedron

Here is my Google Maps review.

You may find this interesting.

In other news, the World Health Organization released guidance this week on non-sugar sweeteners. 

The Australian Institute for Health and Welfare also released some reports on obesity in Australia. 

Final thoughts

I hope you have a wonderful week.

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.

Where it’s warm and moist

Where it’s warm and moist

I spent the weekend in Brisbane to visit my family. It was lovely to be somewhere where the weather was warm and moist. This week, on Thursday, Canberra experienced a maximum daytime temperature of 38 °C (100.4 °F). I don’t like hot weather. I like warm weather. It was also dry. I don’t like dry weather, I like moist, humid, sultry, muggy weather. I like to sweat while not doing anything. I like sitting down and have beads of sweat form on my forehead and other parts of my body and move with gravity to a pool of sweat somewhere on the floor. When I got home after work, I closed all the windows and doors and turned on a humidifier.

Flying from Canberra to Brisbane

My flight from Canberra (CBR) to Brisbane (BNE) was delayed at both ends. With all the bush fires, the east coast had been affected by thick smoke haze and Sydney was also being affected by storms. That meant Sydney airport (SYD) was closed for parts of Friday so flights had been diverted to CBR and BNE. The departure from CBR was only slightly delayed; about 20 minutes. The arrival into BNE was okay but because of all the diversions, no aerobridges were available for docking so the aircraft I was in sat on the tarmac in BNE for close to half an hour.

Cafe 63 Westfield Chermside

After arriving in Brisbane on Friday evening, I went out and enjoyed a light meal at Cafe 63 at Westfield Chermside. I had a plate of pulled lamb shank meat with some sweet potato chips, mushrooms, and gravy. It was a pretty good meal.

Lamb shank Sweet potato chips Mushrooms Gravy Cafe 63 Westfield Chermside

It was good to catch up with Mum and Dad and my daughters this weekend. It’s always good to see them and hear what is happening in their lives in a bit more depth. I mean, we tend to send each other text messages each day, we chat on the telephone each week, and I can video call my daughters too. It’s not as good as being in person and hearing what has been happening.

Ivy & Lark Westfield Chermside

On Saturday morning I ate breakfast at Ivy & Lark in Westfield Chermside. I had the “Ivy & Lark Breakfast Bowl” which was a whole heap of spinach leaves with lean thick cut bacon, two poached eggs, about a tablespoon of smashed avocado, and lots of halved cherry tomatoes. It also came with a couple of slices of sourdough bread which had been toasted. Everything tasted great but it was awkward cutting bacon in a bowl. The toasted sourdough bread was also tough. I really needed a serrated steak knife for the bread.

Ivy & Lark
Ivy & Lark Breakfast Bowl | Bacon, eggs, avocado, spinach, tomatoes, and sourdough toast

Cricket anyone?

After breakfast, I sat down with Dad and watched some of the test match (cricket for those not familiar with sport of the former British Empire) between Australia and Pakistan which was being played at The Gabba. I’ve lost interest in watching cricket, the players no longer hold any fascination for me. When Michael Clarke became captain and cricket became more about the dramas of his personal life rather than the sport I lost interest. I mean, Ricky Ponting was also a bit dramatic off field too but not as much as Clarke. The players of that era to the present day have been more about drama and less about cricket so my reason for sitting down with Dad was enjoying his enjoyment of watching cricket on TV.

Sandgate Fishmonger

Lunch was at the Sandgate Fishmonger and there were six of us so we got the family pack (four pieces of fish, four potato scallops, a serve of crumbed calamari, and a serve of chips) plus some extra battered fish, more potato scallops, and I got myself a pineapple fritter. The fish wasn’t as good as it usually is, and the chips could have been cooked a bit longer. That said, the potato scallops were nice and the pineapple fritter was delicious.

Check out the comments on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

I posted photographs of what I ate on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and got some great interaction from people mostly on Facebook and Twitter. There was lots of confirmation from Queenslanders on Twitter that the correct term is “potato scallop” and not “potato cake”. There were also questions about the pineapple fritter which is a pineapple ring covered in doughnut batter, deep fried, and covered in sugar. I mean, what could be better. It’s even vegetarian.

I spent Saturday afternoon chatting with Mum, Dad, and one of my daughters while we sat with the cricket on TV.

Dad’s pickled daikon radish

I also got to try some of Dad’s pickled daikon radish. There’s a story to this…

A few months ago, I’d mentioned to Mum and Dad I was enjoying daikon radish (Chinese white radish) in salads. Dad thought I might like pickled daikon so he made some for me. At about 9.30 am on Saturday without any warning he went to the refrigerator, pulled out a jar, went to the top drawer and got a fork and then headed them to me and said, “Here Gary, I made you some pickled daikon radish. Try it.”

I was taken aback. I’d just finished eating the Ivy & Lark Breakfast Bowl and I normally don’t eat pickles in the morning. I think I may have hurt Dad’s feelings. I made sure mid-afternoon I went to the refrigerator and got the jar of pickles and tried the pickled daikon. Dad could see what I was up to and before I opened the jar both he and Mum warned me that it has a pungent odour. Geez, they weren’t wrong. Not only did it smell like someone had farted in my mouth it was also really spicy. Dad had used a few Birdseye chillies to make the pickles. I also learnt on Sunday that Dad hadn’t pasteurised the bottle. If this is my last post, you’ll know why.

The pickled daikon did taste good. The after taste did linger though.

Mum gave me her recipe for pickling so I may give it a go over summer.

Little Singapore Westfield Chermside

On Saturday evening we went to Little Singapore in Westfield Chermside. It’s a relatively new restaurant in the newish food precinct in Westfield Chermside. It’s popular. We had a reservation for 6 pm and there was a queue to get a table when we arrived. I was pretty relieved to have a reservation as we were shown to a nice booth which had one side opened to the outside so we could people-watch the queuing crowd trying to get a table.

For an entrée we had chicken satay sticks, some prawn wontons, and some pot sticker dumplings. For a main meal, I had Marmite Pork Ribs. I think it would have worked with Vegemite too.

After dinner, we had a gelato. I had a chocolate mint brownie gelato in a small cup.

Choc Mint Brownie gelato

Saturday evening was spent watching The Lion King on TV.

Sleeping in Brisbane is always a double edged sword. The weather was really pleasant. I could just sleep uncovered in the ambient temperature. However, the lack of a CPAP mask meant there was snoring. That meant waking up with a sore throat and a feeling that sleep could have been better.

Farm House Kedron

Sunday morning was an early start at the Farm House, Kedron. I had a Farm House Breakfast which was sourdough toasted bread, some fatty bacon, poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, and tomato relish.

Farm House Kedron Farm House Breakfast with bacon, poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, relish, and sourdough bread

The rest of the morning, consisted of chatting and watching more cricket and actually enjoying the notion that Pakistan may be defeated by Australia. Australia seems to fair badly to teams from the Indian, Pakistan, and Sri Lankan region. I miss the glory days of Jeff Thompson and Denis Lillie bowling, Marsh keeping wicket, and Doug Walters being the larrikin we could all admire.

The flight back to Canberra was uneventful. The flight was packed. I’m guessing parliament is sitting this week. It’s usually the reason why my BNE to CBR flight on a Sunday is packed like a can of sardines.

What else happened this week?

Mezzalira Ristorante Canberra

I went to Mezzalira Ristorante in Canberra on Wednesday night. A friend from Darwin was in town so we went to dinner. I had the suckling pork.

Suckling Pig Mezzalira Restaurant

Why Darwin is better than Canberra

It was good to catch up with a friend from Darwin and get the latest news of what is happening. I really miss living in Darwin. There are lots of similarities between Darwin and Canberra. Both have really very friendly people. Both exist in territories and not states. Both are unicameral with only a single house of government and no house of review. Both are small with low population density. Both are reasonably cosmopolitan with a significantly diverse population. Both have a focus on Indigenous Australians. Both have no traffic. Both have a public hospital of the same Canadian design because the Whitlam government seemingly had no idea. The difference that makes all the difference to me is that Darwin is subequatorial and is positioned on the beach. The surf is only decent during a tropical cyclone, but at least it does have surf. Darwin’s position means it is humid even in the dry season. Whenever I visit Darwin, my heart is filled with joy. Darwin will always be special to me. Two of my daughters were born there. It really is heaven on earth. If I didn’t love my job, I’d happily move back.

Okay, so not the usual post this week. I’ll probably be back to normal programming next week.

Serious eating in Brisbane

Me with Mum and Dad at Alfie’s Mooo Char

Serious eating in Brisbane

Unlike the regular recipe posts on Yummy Lummy, this post is about what I ate while in Brisbane last week.

Serious eating is serious business for Canberra’s Eating Machine! I was visiting my parents and because their 54th wedding anniversary occurred during the week I wanted to do some serious eating with Mum and Dad.

Continue reading

Nut crusted Chicken Maryland for Christmas Day lunch

Nut crusted Chicken Maryland for Christmas Day lunch

This recipe is for one of my nieces, M. We shared Christmas Day lunch and M was keen to know how I cooked the Chicken Maryland. This recipe is dedicated to Miss M who is a wonderful human being.

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Unexpectedly, because of unusual family circumstances, I enjoyed Christmas Day lunch with some close family in Brisbane.

The tasking was clear. One brother cooked a 12-hour slowly roasted lamb shoulder, a butternut pumpkin, lamb jus, potato salad and roasted onions. My sister-in-law made a pavlova with mixed berries. My role was cooking chicken, buying prawns and preparing a salad.

I took easy options. I bought a few packets of coleslaw and garlic aioli for my salad. I was asked not to purchase my favourite kale coleslaw! Packet coleslaw is quick and it’s easy. I bought 1 kilogram of cooked unpeeled king prawns on Saturday and kept them cold in the refrigerator. After an hospital visit early Christmas Day morning all I had to do was peel the prawns and serve them with some purchased 1000 island sauce.

The only real effort was in cooking the chicken. I come from a family of dark meat lovers. We eschew the breast and crave the thigh. We want our meat to be tender, juicy and moist rather than dry and stringy.

Recipe

Nut crusted Chicken Maryland for Christmas Day lunch for Miss M
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 15 mins
 
An easy way of roasting pieces of Chicken Maryland while being interrupted and keeping the meat juicy, tender and moist with a little crunch.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Australian
Servings: 6
Calories: 500 kcal
Author: Gary Lum
Ingredients
  • Chicken Maryland pieces
  • Olive oil
  • Iodised salt
  • Black pepper
  • Mixed dried herbs
  • Queensland nuts
  • Peanuts
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 140 °C.
  2. Line a baking tray with baking paper and place the tray into another baking tray which is slightly larger.
  3. Place the pieces of Chicken Maryland into the lined baking tray and pour some olive oil over each piece.
  4. Gently rub the oil all over the outer surface of each piece of chicken.
  5. Sprinkle a little of the dried mixed herbs onto each piece of chicken.
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Place some Queensland nuts and peanuts into a zip lock bag and then crush the nuts with whatever tool you have available.
  8. Sprinkle the crushed nuts onto the chicken and gently press them into the skin to ensure the nuts adhere to the surface of the chicken.
  9. Pour some water into the outer baking tray. I used enough so the water was about 1.5 cm deep.
  10. Place the trays and chicken pieces into the oven and cook for 1 hour.
  11. At 1 hour turn the oven off and keep the door closed.
  12. Go and visit the hospital for a few hours safe in the knowledge the chicken will continue to cook for a little while, the water in the outer tray will maintain a humid moist environment and keeping the oven door closed with ensure the chicken remains warm and doesn’t go cold.
  13. When you get home, prepare the Christmas Day lunch banquet and make sure everyone gets a piece of Chicken Maryland with a nut crusted skin.
  14. Enjoy your Christmas Day lunch with family and good food.
Recipe Notes

I default to 500 Calories for the energy calculation for all my recipes.

 

Photographs

This is a gallery of photographs

Click on one photograph and then scroll through them all.

Questions and answers

Why dark meat?

It has more flavour and it’s more forgiving to cook. Breast meat can be tender and juicy but it requires a lot more attention to detail when cooking and life’s too short for that. Thigh meat will almost always be tender, juicy and moist.

Can this be applied to other poultry?

Yes. This advice is suitable for turkey and duck, although the fat content in a duck breast is higher and duck breast is more forgiving.

I thought breast was best?

Not when it comes to roasting a chook 😂

One ‘pot’ Chicken Maryland with crunchy quinoa rice

How long do you cook a Coles Chicken Kiev?