Since returning from a weekend in Brisbane I have posted so many photos to @instagram. It really is an addiction. This week I went past 2300 photos and 68 000 tweets. Of course most of the images are of food. I had also hoped to make an effort this week to eat better. You know more leafy greens, more fibre and less fat and cholesterol. I don’t think I was very successful. My waist has started to thicken a little and my trousers are feeling a little tighter. I have been walking and exercising, I need to increase that and decrease the food intake.
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You can also see images on my Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/garydavidlum
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On Monday morning I met Bron for coffee at our regular coffee shop, viz., Metro Espresso Bar in Phillip
Bron gave me a gift. She really is sweet.
Take a look inside…
Homemade chocolates. Aren’t they gorgeous.
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Bron also gave me something for lunch.
A homemade hot cross bun and some butter. These were fantastic. The glaze was so sticky and sweet…YUM.
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For dinner I made something without too much fat.
Salmon and salad.
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After dinner I indulged with tea and…
Bron’s chocolates
Delicious
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I had a really crook sleep on Monday night. So much so I needed a real caffeine hit.
Nō-Dōz PLUS and a spinach laden vanilla banana smoothie. My Facebook friend Bernie thinks I’m weird.
Looks good hey!
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My Aldi Expressi is so good.
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Tuesday lunch was a mushroom quiche.
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Dinner was chicken and salad
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I began Hump Day with a coffee
I like flags especially the NT Flag. I also have a giant QUEENSLAND flag.
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Sorry this is blurry. I made a warm beef salad for dinner with Bron.
The beetroot had been roasted the night before. It was delightful.
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Bron brought over a Stephanie Alexander cherry pie she made. It was amazingly good. So many layers of flavour.
Take note of the double cream and salted caramel that Bron also made. This was so good.
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Take a look at the cream splitting and forming a river of buttery love
This tasted so good I’ve asked Bron to make it again (and again and again).
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The next morning (Thursday) I made my iced coffee banana smoothie with left over beetroot.
Looks like a strawberry milkshake.
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Thursday morning was a beautiful blue sky morning in Canberra. I started a new hash tag #coldanddry Those who know me know I like #warmandmoist
Blue skies. One of the beautiful things and why I #likeCanberra
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Some light reading with a coffee
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On Thursday evening Bron and I went to dinner with a couple we’re friends with to The Chairman and Yip in Civic (P and LP are our special friends we often have dinner with at their place). We arrived at 1800 AEDT for the Early Bird Specials (because we’re old people). We chose the Early Bird Banquet. We’ve previously eaten there.
Look at this lovely stuffed mushroom.
It was amazing. In the background is some steamed wonton and fried calamari.
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For our entrée we had 1. calamari tossed with spicy salt and chilli, 2. steamed wontons dressed with hot chilli infused oil, and 3. grilled field mushrooms with cashew and herb pesto.
For our main course we shared 1. sesame crusted salmon with cinnamon infused soy, 2. portuguese spiced corn fed chicken, 3. beef and scallop ground pepper hot pot, and 4. pumpkin and cucumber with caramelised chilli and kaffir lime.
This salmon was a little over cooked but the taste was amazing.
All in all the experience was really good. The Chairman and Yip is well worth visiting for dinner, even the early bird dinner. The service is fast and the wait staff are friendly. It’s definitely worth the $38.50 per person for the flavours.
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We went to Koko Black for dessert. Koko Black is an institution in Canberra and one of the places to go for a chocolate hit after dinner or after a movie at the Dendy cinema.
I had a chocolate affogato. Delicious. I’ve been told because it has no coffee it’s not really an affogato. Who cares?
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Another shot of coffee on a Friday morning before breakfast.
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For Friday breakfast we have restarted our Mavi Breakfast wrap tradition, with a change.
We now share it so we don’t feel so full all day. Connor wasn’t cooking this morning so it was a little loose and had too much barbecue sauce. That said, the bacon, egg, cheese, mushrooms and hash brown all tasted good.
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For lunch we were meant to do @snagstand but didn’t get to because we were busy. I elected to have a pie with @jacquimkane
These was a cheesy bacon and chunky beef pie along with an extreme chocolate whoopie and a Bundaberg ginger beer (nectar of the gods).
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In the afternoon we had planned a little afternoon tea, really a birthday party for @jesskirkham88 who was 25 on Friday.
Flowers from Jess’s husband
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Preparation for the party begins
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More preparation
Note the sausage rolls are made by Jess’s mum. They were delicious.
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Mars bar cars
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Fairy bread. Jess is an expert at making fairy bread.
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Someone made a rookie mistake and cooked cheerios in the microwave oven.
This is another lesson in regional differences. In Queensland (God’s own country) we call them Cheerios (Hans even makes a product called Cheerios)
In other parts of our island continent there are other names like saveloy, “little boys”, franks or cocktail sausage. I’ve even heard them referred to as “little dicks”.
I will have to write another time about the battered sav and Roy and HG Nelson during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games (SOG2000).
Anyway, cheerios need to be treated delicately, like a “little boy” would be treated lol
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Jess is on the left of the image and Jacqui (pie friend) is on the right
It’s Jacqui’s birthday on Thursday. Will we do it all over again? I hope so.
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Nettie made cupcakes. They were delicious.
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We even got loot bags.
This is mine. Yes that’s a balloon.
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For Friday dinner I caught up with some Canberra tweeps at Lemon Grass in Civic.
Regular readers will note many previous posts and Lemon Grass in Woden. We were here to compare and contrast.
If you’re interested here is a search for previous posts http://garydavidlum.com/?s=Lemon+Grass&submit=Search
http://garydavidlum.com/2012/07/21/four-strikes-lemon-grass-four-strikes/
http://garydavidlum.com/2012/04/05/three-strikes-and-youre-almost-out-lemon-grass-woden/
http://garydavidlum.com/2012/03/04/dinner-at-lemon-grass-woden-and-max-brenner-belconnen/
http://garydavidlum.com/2012/10/07/a-weekend-in-darwin/
http://garydavidlum.com/2012/05/25/a-big-day-for-chinese-food-noble-palace-dumpling-inn/
So how did it compare. It compared very well. The service was friendly and attentive and timely. The staff appeared interested in the customers. They were also helpful. Two of our party asked about gluten-free options. On asking about a redistribution of crispy egg noodles, this was greeted with enthusiasm so everyone else received extra noodles and as a lovely touch we received a large extra plate of noodles and fried basil. Without asking we had more than enough rice which was a constant problem at Woden. The dish, i.e., #39 tasted better too. More spicy and more flavours. My only concern was the restaurant is quite small and therefore because of its popularity it’s very noisy. With my hearing deficit and tinnitus I had trouble hearing my friends. I had placed myself next to a wall mirror to improve my photography which meant my bad ear was ‘facing’ my friends. I know what you’re thinking Gary puts photography ahead of friends…
We will go back, probably multiple times. I would recommend Lemon Grass in Civic over Woden and independently as a Thai restaurant in Canberra.
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We all wanted #39
When dining at the Woden franchise we had come to love #39 the creamy red curry. We had even set up a WhatsApp group called #39. We were all basically keen on #39.
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Everyone except me had wine.
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Yum, creamy red curry with beef and lots and lots of egg noodles.
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Sadly it came to an end.
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For dessert we went to Koko Black. I didn’t mind two nights in a row.
What should I choose?
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I went with the vanilla ice cream spectacular.
The caramel sauce was smooth, warm and sweet and oh so good. We joked a bit about warm smooth purulent discharges.
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I also had another chocolate affogato
I felt pretty full after this.
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On Saturday morning I went for a walk
The sun rising over the Belconnen Arts centre
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Hello Mr Owl
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Coffee at Gormet Deli in Belconnen
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At lunch time I had a coffee with Bron. I love lunch with Bron at Ricardo’s Cafe.
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I also had a Black Forest Cake (Bomb)
WOW
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The inside
YUMMY
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Who knows what I’ll do
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Metro Espresso Bar http://metroespresso.com.au/
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/GWQZ2
The Chairman Group http://chairmangroup.com.au/
The Chairman and Yip http://thechairmanandyip.chairmangroup.com.au/
The Chairman and Yip is one of Canberra’s better restaurants.
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/fXj3C
Koko Black http://www.kokoblack.com/
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/01hEL
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