On Thursday evening Bron took me to dinner for my birthday (which was last week). We went to Eat86 in Braddon. This is relatively new and a new venture for the people who run Ellacure in Bruce.
Having enjoyed previous meals at Ellacure and hearing great reviews from work mates plus reading a blog post on Her Canberra by Trish, I was really looking forward to a nice meal and night out with Bron. Bron had heard good things so we were pretty confident of a great night out.
On walking in you can feel the vibe of the place. The staff are friendly and helpful. We had a table reserved near the bar and fairly central in the restaurant. The menu is written in chalk on the wall and as items run out they are rubbed out. We were advised to try a couple of cheaper meals and one large meal as a guide for the evening. We went for the ceviche, pulled pork terrine and ghetto beef.
These were all delightful. The ceviche was amazing. It was refreshing and full of heat but the chilli didn’t linger and was certainly sharp but not unpleasant. It was a perfect entrée to the evening. I love terrines and the pulled pork was pretty special. I’d happily eat more of it. Finally, the ghetto beef was perfectly cooked. The beef was tender and tasty and chewy in a really good way.
All these images are from my Instagram feed. Click on the image and read the comments.
The ceviche was a perfect start to the meal
The pulled pork terrine broke apart and could be scooped up on the bread
The ghetto beef is a must have
The serving sizes are modest and so by the end of these dishes dessert was not an option but a viable proposition. I chose a caramel popcorn sundae and peanut brittle. The restaurant was pretty dark so my iPhone photography wasn’t too flash. That said, the Instagram comments were pretty good. Click on the image to see the number of likes and comments.
Dessert. Nothing more needs to be said.
Okay onto other things.
It was noisy. My tinnitus was bad that night. I had to concentrate on looking at Bron’s lips the whole night. Not a bad thing Dunny score was 4.5+ out of 5. The music is piped into the dunny. The pedestal was of high quality. The towels were paper. The + comes because of the Aēsop hand products provided. This was a very good touch. If there was a Dyson air blade in there it would have received 5+/5 Nakpin score was fail. Bron believes I’m too harsh in having only a pass/fail for napkins. To me cloth is pass and paper is fail. Fair enough, these were thick paper napkins and better than most. What do you reckon?
Would I eat at eightysix again. Most certainly I would. I’d like to try a seat at the bar looking into the kitchen. If not for anything else, the lighting would be better for my iPhone camera. I feel embarrassed my images do not do the food justice. This is a great place to eat and I look forward to returning again and again.
Last night Bron and I went to Italian & Sons for the first sitting dinner (in at 6 pm and out at 8 pm). We’ve been here before and enjoyed a number of excellent meals. We’ve been keen though to attend on a Tuesday evening. The day of the week is important for Italian & Sons. The menu varies, that is, the major main meal changes each night. Tuesday is suckling pig night.
If you take a look at the sample menu you’ll see what I mean. You can see a sample menu here
The ambience is really nice. It’s quiet, it’s dark and it’s warm. Unlike Ned Stark’s northern kingdom whose words were “winter is coming”; winter has arrived in Canberra. It was a very cold last night even at 6 pm as we were walking to the restaurant. Being dark was a bit of a problem though. Darkness is the enemy of the amateur food blogger armed only with an iPhone. Despite the iPhone 5 having an enhanced low light camera, it can’t compensate for really dim light. I am very sorry to Italian & Sons that the images I captured do not do the food justice.
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For our entrée we asked to share one of the specials. It was a Gorgonzola and polenta croquette on a delicate cheesy white sauce. I’m sure there’s an Italian name for the French word that describes cheesy white sauce but I don’t know either of the words. Happy to be educated if you know
Entrée croquette
There were three on the plate. We had one and a half each. They were delicate yet they cracked open easily and the cheese and polenta were combined perfectly. The odour and taste of the Gorgonzola was present but not too strong. It was delightful. If offered, you should take it.
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For the main course Bron seemed tempted by a lamb special but in the end we both went for the suckling pig on lentils.
Suckling pig
This was sublime. I’ve not had better pork. The crackling came away easily. It was thin, crispy and easy to cut and eat bite sized pieces. The muscle was perfectly cooked. It could be cut with a spoon but it wasn’t falling apart. The taste was exceptional. The lentils with the meat were delightful. Combined with a forkful of salad it was perfectly balanced.
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Rocket, pear and shaved ricotta salata
This was a lovely salad
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The service was really very good. Our main server was a dead ringer for Freddy Mercury. He was attentive and helpful and knowledgeable about all the dishes and the wines. The other wait staff were also very helpful and attentive. I feel a bit bad we didn’t stay for dessert. We talked about it and we both wanted to go to Koko Black for dessert and have some chocolate.
As promised in a previous post I’m going to start adding a napkin and dunny rating. For Italian & Sons the first thing I noticed was the cloth napkins which means pass, that said after I went to the dunny I noticed on my return it had been refolded neatly which gives Italian & Sons an exceptional napkin rating. The toilet has earnt a 4/5 dunny rating. If it wasn’t for the bulk toilet paper dispenser it would have been a 4.5/5. I really don’t like the bulk dispensers. I understand why they’re installed but as a user rather than an owner/cleaner, I prefer a standard toilet roll. The hand basin, taps, soap dispenser and paper towel dispenser were all good. The toilet pedestal itself was clean and it looked well maintained. The room itself was a nice size.
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For dessert we walked around to Koko Black in the cold night air. I was shivering and my teeth chattered a little. Getting into Koko Black was cosy and warming. Bron chose a chocolate mousse and I asked for a chocolate affogato.
Chocolate affogato
Yay the lighting in Koko Black is more photo friendly
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The night was a wonderful combination of food. The entrée and main at Italian & Sons was something all Canberra residents should try. Look through the sample menu and choose a night. I can’t say anything else is better than the suckling pig if you’re a meaty like me. Koko Black appears regularly in this blog. You know that means it’s good.
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The finalists for the Best Blogs 2013 have been announced. Check out the finalists here Congratulations to all the finalists especially Christina the hungry Australian
On Friday night Bron and I had dinner at Sanur’s in Belconnen. It’s on Emu Bank near the Belconnen Arts Centre.
We’ve eaten here a few times before and enjoyed ourselves. From the images from that meal you can see why for me it’s always difficult to go past a deep friend whole snapper. There’s just something special about a whole fish dish.
The service is best described as friendly and quaint. Nothing is too difficult but sometimes I’m not sure all that is said is understood. My guess is that part of the accoutrements of this restaurant are sourced from Bali. I say this because in the toilets (rest rooms for my North American friends and the Dunny for my school mates) the hand dryers are not made for the Australian electrical system, they use UK pins. Sadly the rest rooms also do not have a paper or cloth towel option, just the underwhelming and underpowered air dryer. I’ve mentioned on this blog before the standard for air dryers is the Dyson Air Blade. Anything less is not adequate.
Okay, back to the food which the most important aspect of any restaurant experience.
For an entrée we shared the Udang Goreng Tepung ($10.90) [King prawns in spiced, crispy coconut batter served with cucumber relish (4 pieces)]. This was pretty good. The prawns were really tasty and the cucumber relish refreshing. I found my prawns a little tough; slightly over cooked. The restaurant was busy and the prawns looked like a popular dish from what I saw around me. The coconut batter was really nice and the subtle taste of coconut was very pleasant.
For mains we asked for the Panggang Iga Kambing ($24.90) (available for dinner only) [Char grilled marinated lamb cutlets served with sambal kecap] and the Ikan Balado/Udang Balado/Cumi Balado ($28.90) [Deep fried of whole fish served with padangnese style mild chilli sauce]. The lamb cutlets were divine. They were succulent, tasty and the dipping sauce really gave off a fantastic aroma. The fish was okay. It was good as a fish dish but you know you really need to be okay with bones. Nearly every mouthful has bones in it and unless you like swallowing bones careful mastication is the order of the day. Being deep friend it meant the bones in the head and tail were edible. I ate through most of the head and tried valiantly to consume the head without putting off Bron. I refrained from making sucking noises as I ate the eyes and crunched on the head bones. The tail was amazing. There was quite a lot of garlic in the dish which was really nice given I haven’t eaten much garlic of late.
We also had some Roti Pratha (V) ($5.00) (2 pieces) [Indonesian style bread, good accompaniment for curries] to eat instead of rice.
Sanur’s
Sorry the lighting wasn’t good for iPhone photography.
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Entrée prawns
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Main fish
Main fish close up
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Main lamb
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As we left Sanur’s we walked past a small Chinese restaurant named 2 Yummy BBQ Noodle House
I had a waffle with chocolate and Bron had a chocolate lick (no picture of Bron licking chocolate sorry)
Waffle
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While we both enjoyed the meal at Sanur’s it was a fairly salty experience and something sweet and chocolate flavoured was necessary. Max Brenner was a very suitable solution to our desires.
Sanur’s is a very worthwhile restaurant for a nice meal. The eating area is cosy and warm. Sanur’s is popular with families and there were a few babies in prams on the floor on Friday night. The food comes out in good time, not too quickly and not too late. The wait staff are friendly and always very accommodating of requests for more water and changes in food requests. The restaurant is also close enough to Westfield Belconnen and the Hoyts Cinema complex that an early meal followed by an easy walk and movie is pretty convenient. Alternatively, on a Friday evening, an early meal can be followed with some late night shopping at Westfield Belconnen.
At a later date I want to share with you my rating system based on the presence or absence of cloth napkins. Just a hint, I really think a restaurant that uses cloth napkins is a better quality restaurant.
So how did the saga end? To summarise very quickly I’ve traveled to Atlanta for a meeting at the CDC. I’ve had three of six flights cancelled. On Friday afternoon USCDT after I published my last post outlining the most significant cancellation I went to my room and noticed a voice mail had been left for me. The message said that Qantas was sending a bus at 5 pm and I should be in the lobby by then. I’d been in the lobby all day lol
I grabbed my stuff and went back to the lobby and set up my devices again, you know MacBook, iPad and iPhone plus my BlackBerry. At about 1630 CDT a Qantas agent arrived and started marking off peoples’ names. The bus arrived at 1700 CDT, we got on board and then drove to the airport. We all nearly died when the driver had to slam on the brakes because the person in front had stopped so he could enter another lane. There was a heap of road to merge but this driver stopped and wanted to enter immediately. Our bus driver let him know what he thought. The bus horn blasted for at least a minute and some more after we passed him.
On getting to the airport some passengers assumed they could use yesterday’s boarding pass and go straight to security. I assume they don’t travel much. The rest of us found the Qantas check-in counters and queued. The queues were huge because there was the regular QF8 plus our special flight, viz., QF7008. There were five economy lines, one premium economy line and one business class line. Well that’s the official story. The signage made it look like two business class lines. When one line kept getting preference tempers frayed and some passengers started remonstrating with the Qantas agent who, poor fellow, was just trying to do his job. It’s sad how some people get really nasty with people who have no real control.
Anger was demonstrated again from some passengers who were told last night they would have an opportunity to upgrade from economy to business class at the check-in counters. The staff at the check-in counters had enough on their plate and there were no upgrade seats available anyway.
I felt sorry for one bloke who didn’t seem to know what to do. He had entered the line correctly but he looked impatient so he tried to go to another area of the terminal I assume he was an American Airlines code share passenger and tried to check-in there. When I saw him next he was the last person in the longest line looking quite disturbed.
The security area was the next challenge with a couple of the lines closed which meant long queues. I wonder about some people who assume they can just push into lines because they don’t like waiting. It’s a good thing human beings are largely kind hearted. I expect the presence of TSA officers also keeps people calm knowing they can be carted away if they create a disturbance.
Once through security I made my way to the lounge which was already filling up. I parked myself in the business centre and set up my devices and kept myself busy.
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Dallas Fort Worth International terminal check-in zone
I liked this. It was high up on a very tall wall. It was so bright it kept me awake.
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Dinner
When I got into the lounge they had just put out Bain-marie with hot food in them. This plate had turkey chilli and beef sausages on it with chips (crisps). The beef sausages were quite tasty, a mild spice but not too spicy.
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Tea time
After a couple of hours it was tea time. Dead Duck Dilbert needed a soothing cup of Earl Grey “black and hot” just the way Captain Picard likes it.
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Concorde
On the way out of the Qantas club I noticed an old British Airways model Concorde and thought it would be a good photograph with 3D.
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I left the Qantas club a few minutes before the designated boarding time of 2115 CDT. As I arrived at gate D11 there were already lots of passengers assembled. They were obviously keen to get on board. After a few minutes I noticed from the aerobridge Qantas crew were emerging. They were the crew from our aborted flight from the night before. They were headed to another gate. A few passengers tried to engage them in conversation but they wouldn’t stop. They weren’t rude, they just didn’t look like they wanted to speak. Minutes later an announcement was made that passengers for flight QF7008 needed to head to gate D14. As we approached the gate we noticed our crew from the night before. Shortly after another announcement was made that passengers for tonight’s QF8 would need to proceed to gate D11. We all started wondering what was going on. Then another announcement, passengers for flight QF7008 were told our flight would be delayed. we weren’t told for how long. In the end we waited over an hour. We heard snippets from the crew about our bags being moved from one aircraft to this one mating with the D14 aerobridge. We also heard the aircraft we were originally assigned to had no food on board. An earlier announcement had flight QF8 being delayed so that QF7008 could get away on time. There were not enough staff to handle two identical flights simultaneously. When we boarded flight QF7008 well over an hour late, we sat on board for another 30 minutes further delaying our departure. We were told it was because cargo was being transferred from QF8 to QF7008. I assume because it was already a day late. As time passed the Captain made a surprise comment that the loading shouldn’t take anything more than 10 minutes assuming the ground staff weren’t lying again. It took longer. This reminded me of a great e-mail I received from a fellow blogger Barb the Salmon Fishing Queen | Click here for the story of Kulula airlines.
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Interestingly the crew had kept our dinner and breakfast requests from the night before. I had chosen the rib fillet and potatoes au gratin. I was asked if I wanted to change my mind. I said yes, I’d go with the chicken schnitty given last night when I chose steak we didn’t fly. In an attempt to be optimistic I even changed into pyjamas and folded up my day clothes.
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QF7008 Dinner
Green salad and schnitty sandwich with coleslaw.
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QF7008 Dessert
Creme brûlée
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QF7008 Breakfast
Muesli with a plate of bacon and eggs and some mushrooms (not in shot)
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The flight was good albeit a little bumpy. The head winds weren’t a problem and the total flight was a little under 16 hours. We didn’t need to stop in Noumea or Auckland. I managed to get about six hours of sleep and did some work while on board. On landing my passage through passport control and customs was uneventful. There was a DAFF Biosecurity labrador and handler in the baggage claim hall. The labrador was so cute. He came and sniffed at me and my bags. Australian passport control is so easy now in an age of electronic passports. I proceeded with no difficulty. I was optimistic my bag would come through, it was one of the last on the conveyor belt. I was just happy it was there. I managed to check it in for my last leg and took the bus from the international terminal to the domestic terminal.
It was good to be home in Australia in my home town as I waited for my flight to Canberra
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3D in the Qantas Club Brisbane
3D wanted some yoghurt
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QF953 Lunch
With the time difference between Brisbane and Canberra this is lunch.
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The last flight was uneventful. Quick and easy. I caught a cab and unlike previous airport cab journeys the driver was competent and knew exactly where to take me. He didn’t even smell bad.
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Green food
After getting home and showering and starting some clothes washing I went grocery shopping. I’m craving home cooking.
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Dinner with Bron
Pork with green vegetables. It was so good to have a home cooked meal and vegetables.
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Dessert
Chocolate ganache tart made with port and berries and cream
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So I’m home. My washing is nearly complete. I’ll iron my clean shirts tomorrow night and I’ll be back at work in the morning. It was a great meeting in Atlanta and an adventure in terms of travel. Out of six flights, three were cancelled. The major disruption was the DFW to BNE flight which had to be cancelled and rescheduled >24 hours after the original flight time. I missed Bron. It was good to see her tonight and have a home cooked meal at her place
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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This was my plate
We all like lots of feta. Everyone liked the lemon zest too.
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Miss11 becomes Miss12 this week.
Yes, she is gorgeous.
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Dessert
Mum made the cake and we bought some Weis’ sorbet to go with it.
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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.
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Breakfast preparation
My job was setting the table while Mum, Dad and Miss17 cooked.
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My Mum’s Sunday breakfast
A big pikelet with bacon, maple syrup and whipped cream
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A snack before leaving Brisbane
I know I didn’t need it but I do like cheese.
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The snack on QF957 from Brisbane to Canberra
I love salted caramel
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Dinner tonight
This is a beef hamburger with spinach leaves, coriander (cilantro), grated carrot, sliced beetroot, tomatoes, sesame seeds and Havarti cheese.
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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.
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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.
In a remarkable coincidence I went to Elk and Pea with a friend for breakfast. Without thinking about it we had the same breakfast as T1 and BF on 15 January. Without wanting to offend T1, I did recall she had been to Elk and Pea but in my mind it was for dinner rather than breakfast. Sorry T1 I’d forgotten
In terms of the experience we arrived at 0930 and were shown to a table in the back near the toilets. The tables were all pretty close to one another and I could hear what other diners were saying. This is a worry because I’m deaf in one ear and it was on my deaf side. It was all pretty cosy. The table we had was very wobbly. We were grateful that a waiter came over and shoved napkins under the base. After a few napkins the amount of movement was reduced but not completely. Along with the quality of napkins I get judgy about restaurants if they cannot manage decent tables and chairs. This was not a good start. It was also dark and my immediate thought was poor lighting for iPhone photography. Fortunately, as I alluded to in my end of 2012 post I’ve recently acquired an iPhone 5 and the camera is a much better tool for food photography.
We ordered coffees and then food. My breakfast buddy asked for the Paprika eggs and I asked for the smashed avocado and mushrooms. The place was busy and fairly full so we accepted it would be a longish wait. The coffees seemed to be delayed especially when later orders (from the table next to ours) came out sooner than ours. Once the coffees arrived, the food arrived in quick order
The paprika eggs looked really good and tasted great too. My avocado and mushrooms was delightful. The bread was nicely toasted and the mushrooms perfectly sautéed. There was a good amount of avocado and my poached egg was perfectly cooked with a nice runny yolk. Unfortunately the poached paprika eggs were on the solid side. Marks off I’m afraid. Poached eggs really need to have soft runny yolks.
I had to use the toilet and didn’t see one specially for men. There were two women’s toilets and I used the unisex/disabled toilet. It was well appointed and also had a shower. This is a good thing for those customers who rely on a wheelchair. There were no paper towels and the air drier was pretty pathetic. I know they’re expensive but the Dyson air blade should be the standard for any restaurant toilet.
The food at Elk and Pea is really good. There is no question about that. I’m looking forward to going there for dinner this Saturday night with friends. I’ll happily go back for breakfast again. The coffee was good and I want to try the other items on the menu.
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I spent all afternoon at work today and came home to my ironing and decided on an easy dinner.
Chicken thigh seasoned with Madras curry powder and a simple salad.
I can’t really nominate a highlight for a food based post. Almost all of the entries in this blog are about food (I’m happy for people to tell me their favourite post). More lately there has been a certain monotony and in some ways that comes from the new “style” I’m using based on images uploaded to Instagram (IG). I find this a convenient method but it seems a little programmatic. For readers who use IG, if you’re happy with the quality of your image on IG, this is the quickest way to post on the blog. You also get the benefit that by clicking on the image all the likes and comments on the IG site become available to everyone. It used to take me ages to upload a series of images. I’m also using Notepad for Mac to write my text out in advance. It’s a simple txt based app with nothing fancy so it’s quick and reliable.
I know that I want to upgrade soon to an iPhone 5 for the improved camera and low light capability it has. Many posts have images captured with my iPad and those images are superior to the iPhone images. A good number of images from my apartment are captured with my Nikon D90 DSLR. Even the Instagram images are often from the Nikon D90. There is many a time when in a nice restaurant I have been heard to say, I don’t like the lighting because it won’t let me capture a good image. For me the dining experience has expanded beyond the enjoyment of the food and the company at the time to the technical aspects of capturing an image and then writing a review albeit in fairly loose terms on this blog. I’ve considered from time to time the notion of taking a more structured format to reviewing restaurants and eating houses, but that just isn’t me. I have no intention of monetising this blog and I never see myself as a writer so the need to take a more structured approach seems pointless. That said, if I received sufficient feedback to suggest a better way of writing, I’m always happy to receive criticism.
This year my work has been mostly interesting. While I can’t really say much about what I do, I have written about a recent change in positionhttp://garydavidlum.com/2012/12/01/change-in-jobs/ and this year I have described some of my travel. This year I’ve travelled to Washington DC, Fort Detrick, Ottawa and Leesburg. Each time I’ve flown with United Airlines and I’ve blogged about the food and exciting experiences.
I’m hoping to dedicate more of 2013 to reviews of television programs and movies plus other places I may visit. While I may not travel as much as this year, I hope wherever I go, especially domestically in Australia to be able to describe something of my travel, especially the food enjoyed (or not as the case may be).
This year also saw me find and lose a GP. I’ve also had some investigations into my health with a range of diagnostic imagery and combined nuclear medicine scans and clinical examination. The outcome has been a greater concern on my part for my sleep, exercise and nutrition. I’m still evaluating how I feel about CPAP. I’m spending more time exercising and I hope everyone has noticed lately a greater emphasis on salads.
This has been another cold dry year in Canberra and my dry skin has suffered significantly. I will always say, I love the people of Canberra, I love the way Canberra is set out and its smallness and the fact it is a country-capital. I love every day I see kangaroos and some days I can see echidnas and wombats. There is never really bad traffic. The people are friendly and there are plenty of things to do, places to see and restaurants to eat in. The thing that I dislike about Canberra and the thing that will eventually see me leave is the weather. I can handle the cold, what I cannot stand is the dryness. Everyday I’m in pain from dry cracked skin. Whenever I get a chance to visit Brisbane or Darwin I feel better. As soon as the doors open on an aeroplane in Darwin I feel like a new man. I have a very good job, I have very good and understanding bosses, I work with really good people, many of whom I count as friends and my job gives me contacts with like minded colleagues around Australia and internationally. I’ll stay until I can’t stand the weather anymore.
There are a few elephants in the room that regular readers may ask about. They’re elephants and they’re in a room. They don’t like being talked about and they won’t be talked about.
I hope everyone who reads this post and this blog has had a good 2012. I hope that everyone has a bigger and better 2013. I hope to get more balance in my life to read more blogs and write more in my blog. I want to take some cooking lessons. I’m thinking of taking some photography lessons. I know I need to better balance my work and life. I need to better handle my interests in social media, especially twitter. My aim is to reduce my addiction to twitter, foursquare, getglue and Facebook.
Finally a shout out to some WordPress blogging friends who make my blogging experience so worthwhile.
Saturday night I went to a Christmas barbecue with some friends. It was a good night with lots of tasty food and good company. I’d like to say it was unseasonably cold, but this is Canberra. It’s snowed close by on a Christmas day before. What can I say, I’m looking forward to being in Queensland for Christmas where the weather is more to my liking.
Again like Friday night I was a bit slow with my iPhone and I didn’t capture images of the nibbles. There were lots of nibbles. Lots of nuts, dips, cheese, pâté, crackers, bread, chips, and stuff. For dinner we had a barbecue with steak, hamburger patties and sausages plus potato bake, coleslaw and other salads.
Like a lot of my previous posts I’m using images from my instagram profile. You can get more information on each image by clicking on it to see comments from other IGers.
The spread
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My plate
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Some of my friends queried my burger contents of steak, sausage, hamburger pat tie, coleslaw and potato bake. I thought it all went well together.
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For dessert we had pavlova.
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I was cold
I was cold. I’m glad I brought a hoodie and was given a wrap.
View the twitter conversation here and here and here
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I spent most of Sunday relaxing. I did a little grocery shopping and then got into watching series two of Breaking Bad. This is a surprisingly good series. Like The Walking Dead I’m addicted.
I felt pretty full from the night before so my breakfast and lunch was an iced coffee banana smoothie.
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You can tell it’s Christmas with cars wearing reindeer antlers and candy canes. I’m not a fan
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I love pineapple and a pineapple smoothie was in order for afternoon tea.
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I took home a left over potato bake from Saturday night so now I have potato bake for a few nights this week.
This meal was a piece of salmon, some potato bake and some salad.
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On Monday morning as I was checking out my post office box the new art was standing proud, all shiny and new.
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One of my work friends turned 32 on Monday.
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Monday evening’s dinner was a rasher of pork, some salad and some potato bake.
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I read today the new terms and conditions of use for Instagram. If Instagram wants to use my images I really don’t mind, I can’t imagine any of them are worthy. My only concern is that some of my images contain people and I may not always have permission to include them. Many IGers moved to Flickr. I received more e-mails from Flickr in the last few days than in the few years I’ve had an account. http://www.flickr.com/photos/garydlum
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Tuesday night’s dinner was a piece of salmon, some salad and the last of the weekend’s potato bake. The drink is made from pineapple and mint leaves plus some lime cordial.
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On Wednesday I forgot to make my lunch.
This was a smoked salmon and capers quiche from Urban Bean Espresso Bar. It was very nice. The raspberry soft drink was also pretty good too.
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Food regret
Jess went out for doughnuts and I said yes. I shouldn’t have. It came from Breadtop in Woden. The Breadtop franchise has grown well in Australia. See below for details.
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A friendly visitor
This cute blue tongue lizard greeted me when I alighted from my car in the apartment garage. Wikipedia entry
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Wednesday dinner was a pork rasher and mango salad. It was delicious.
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On Thursday we had our branch Christmas morning tea.
Many sections, branches and divisions have out of office get together. When we’ve tried that in the past something has gone wrong like a health emergency necessitating staff to return to the office. It’s just part of working in an emergency management team.
These were amazing. Cylinders of crunchy nutty brownie goodness topped with a chocolate ganache with a white chocolate tipped strawberry which is sitting in a white chocolate disc for stability. The person who made these has made some great strawberry based treats in the past, especially her chocolate drizzled strawberry and marshmallow kebabs. I think nearly everyone in the branch has a cooking or food bent. It’s amazing.
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Everyone in the branch received an end of the year award.
I think everyone knows I love capturing images of food and then posting them to Instagram.
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At lunch the other SES (Senior Executive Service) staff from the division went to lunch. We went to The Palette which is in the Beaver Galleries.
I’m sorry this is so blurry. I was so excited to be having crumbed lamb brains with a capers and vinegar side. The piquancy of the capers and vinegar offset the fattiness of the brains perfectly. The brains were lightly crumbed and not overcooked. Kept into small portions like these, the taste is delicious and not overpowering. Lambs brains brings back great childhood memories of Mum cooking crumbed lambs brains with a white sauce with onion and parsley.
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The Beaver Galleries are a landmark of Canberra art and culture. I’ve been there a couple of times now. The gallery is full of exquisite pieces. That said, the prices are very high.
The trifecta for Thursday was Christmas dinner with dear friends.
We started with freshly cooked prawns. These were cooked in sea water, yes sea water that had been specially collected.
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The main was a roast pork and vegetables. The crackling was sublime.
The peas were home grown in the garden along with the snow peas.
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For dessert we devoured a violet crumble semifreddo.
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While Friday was not the last day of work for 2012, it had a very holiday feel. Ursula, our branch executive assistant gave me a toy car filled with lollies for Christmas.
I played vroom vroom throughout the day.
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I moved offices as part of my new role. In my old office I had a big pin board on which I could hang my favourite flags. The top one is Queensland’s flag. A quick search of this blog will reveal how I feel about being a Queenslander and Queensland.
The bottom flag belongs to the Northern Territory of Australia. Brisbane may be my home town and I am a passionate Queenslander, however, Darwin is my spiritual home, it’s where my soul lives. For that reason the flag has always been hung upside down in my office. An upside down flag is a maritime distress signal. I want to return home. I expect Australian readers to recognise it’s upside down, for my non-Australian readers, the stars represent the Southern Cross and it is upside down.
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We’d heard some weeks ago about the Snag Stand. A new franchise from Sydney and Melbourne had opened two outlets in Canberra, one very close to where we work.
They cook and assemble onsite. It’s a pretty busy place.
The menu for the Sydney outlets is here and for the Melbourne outlets here. They don’t have the Canberra ones posted. I assume they are similar.
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We brought our food back to work.
I chose a Swiss Bratwurst. It was topped with a really yummy Sauerkraut
It was excellent. Not too big and not too salty.
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Last night I needed something light.
Organic free range chicken drumstick and salad.
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This morning on my walk I tried the new Instagram Mayfair filter when saying hello to the Owl Statue.
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I hope at the end of next week to write a short piece about 2012. It won’t be much. Hopefully I’ll be enjoying myself in Brisbane where it will be warm and moist.
Places and things mentioned in this post in more detail.
I’m quite enjoying featuring my Instagram images in my blog. It’s such a versatile way of sharing images. If you have an iPhone or Android device I highly recommend it. Coupled with the Evernote Food it’s a great way of keeping track of my food likes and dislikes.
Before we get to the food images I just wanted to write about Schoolies week. Schoolies began when I was at high school. I attended Brisbane Grammar School between 1978 and 1982. I remember as a junior, the senior boys in fifth and sixth form talking about spending a week down the Gold Coast (Wikipedia article) for a long “never ending” drinking and sex session. I remember when it first started it was basically for the GPS group of schools, i.e., the Great Public Schools in Brisbane. It also included the corresponding girls schools like Brisbane Girls Grammar School.
So yes I was one of “those” private school boys. That said, I wasn’t a drinker and didn’t really mix with others except for sport. I represented the school in swimming and still water life saving. Academically I won the Biology prize in fifth and sixth form. Hence my desire that if I couldn’t study medicine I would have studied zöology (although I knew I’d never be any good because I couldn’t grow a bushy beard. You see at the time all the famous zöologists were bearded men of great stature.) Somehow I managed to be popular enough amongst my peers and teachers to be elected a school prefect. Okay enough showing off. When I was in sixth form my friends were all talking about going to schoolies week, getting drunk, having lots of sex and just carousing. I had other plans. I finished school on the Friday, attended the valedictory dinner and then the following Monday started work at Queensland Medical Laboratory as a technical aid. I cleaned benches, faeces sieves and kept stocks of stuff up for the technicians and scientists. I also worked in the media kitchen making media for bacteriology. I heard about the “good time” my mates were having but I was having a better time making money and learning the skills needed to become a pathologist.
I’ve been conscious of not being an annoying father, so I waited until Tuesday morning to send my first text message just to see that Miss17 was okay. After that we had a short Kik chat each morning. It’s certainly reassured me to maintain just some contact without imposing myself on Miss17.
Some friends have asked why I would be supportive of my daughter attending schoolies. I know Miss17. She’s a mature young woman. I know she’ll look after herself and she’ll look after her friends. I have faith in Miss17′s ability to do the best thing in any situation. Schoolies has now become a huge event as a rite of passage with school leavers spending a week in major tourist spots like the Gold Coast, Bali, Byron Bay and Airlie Beach. It’s also created a by-product, viz., toolies. Toolies are older men who prey on vulnerable girls for sex.
As for Miss11 and Miss15 they’ve been in Geelong this week for the National Club Championships. Their team, Delta Brisbane was again named best club and Miss11′s WAGL5 came first while Miss15′s WAGL10 came second. Miss15 didn’t compete with the team because of an ankle injury so she competed as an individual on the uneven bars and beam. She seems pretty happy. She’ll be back to school on Monday and completing examinations.
Before we get to the food images, I wanted to share a YouTube clip that has taken off here in Australia as a safety message. Dumb ways to die
To see the images more clearly and to read the comments from Instagram users please click on the image.
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On Monday I had a nice quiche from the Urban Bean Espresso Bar. This is a Camembert, onion and sun dried tomato quiche. I had it with a mug of Earl Grey tea.
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That evening I roasted a chicken thigh on top of a piece of Multigrain Vienna loaf and served it on top of some freshly made coleslaw. I also added a dollop of Buderim ginger lemon and lime marmalade.
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For breakfasts I’ve gone back to a smoothie for ease, convenience and as an attempt to control my weight.
Iced coffee banana smoothie with an egg white.
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That piece of public art near my office that I wrote about last week is taking shape.
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On Tuesday one of our work mates had her last day before her wedding this weekend. The relevant section put on a curry lunch. Here are the slow cookers doing their thing.
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The curry was really good. On my plate are three types, lamb, beef and chicken. There is also some yoghurt, bread and rice.
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That evening I only needed a small dinner. I “poached” some salmon by placing it skin side down in a hot fry pan and adding a lid. I turned the heat down and then waited five minutes to turn the heat off. In the pan I also had a piece of sourdough bread that had some blue cheese on it. I grew a little addicted to the cheese and bread this week. I need to stop this now.
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The piece of public art had more work done on it Wednesday morning.
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When I got to the post office there was a parcel waiting for me.
It’s nice they had Christmas wrapping on the parcel.
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After last week’s Friday Fries (that actually sounds better than Friday Chips) with the Cascade Lime Quench, I wanted another Lime Quench. This time with a house made sausage roll from the Urban Bean Espresso Bar.
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When I got home I unpacked my parcel. It is a Magic Bullet®. I had one of these when I lived in Darwin. I’ve been feeling a little down lately so I thought I’d buy a kitchen appliance to make me feel happier, especially with Summer coming. The Magic Bullet® is great for crushed ice drinks and for smoothies. While I’ve been making by breakfast banana smoothies with my trusty Bamix® wand and a jug, the Magic Bullet® is quicker and easier. It is also fantastic for making small quantities of things like whipped cream.
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Dinner Wednesday night. Roast chicken thighs on sourdough with blue cheese served with asparagus and broccolini.
This tasted really good. I roasted at a low heat for an hour. The bread became really crispy and cheesy. It was delicious with the chicken skin and the tender moist thigh meat. I prepared the chicken with salt, pepper, chilli flakes and Tabasco sauce.
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On Thursday morning I pulled all the bits and pieces out of the dishwater and tried my new Magic Bullet®. Breakfast caramel coffee banana smoothie made with my new Magic Bullet®
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When I got to work and went to get my mail, I saw men on the piece of public art. I still don’t know what it is. There’s lots of speculation in the office.
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This is what I tweeted through Instagram for lunch. “Cheesy bacon pie. For store bought this was a really good pie. Chunky tender beef and visible bacon. #winner”
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Extreme naughtiness. Chicken thighs roasted on blue cheesy sourdough with potato gems and washed down with Agrum and minted ice #MagicBullet
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On Friday morning I tweeted No work on new #publicart today. #igerscanberra
I did see men the afternoon before pouring a lot of concrete into the tubing.
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You may be aware the Tasmanian devil is currently endangered because of the Devil facial tumour disease. This is a pretty sad image of a poor little devil who is suffering from the disease
Anyway, the connection with me is my love of Ginger beer, especially Bundaberg Ginger beer.
For lunch, the Urban Bean Espresso Bar does not stock Bundaberg brewed drinks but it does stock Cascade beverages.
So I had a Cascade Ginger beer and a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich.
These were pretty good and it really helped the briefing.
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Last night I cooked a pork cutlet. I put a piece of sourdough in a square pyrex container and soaked it in XXXX Gold beer. I laid the cutlet over the top and cooked in a slow oven for an hour. I served it with potato gems. The pork was surprisingly tender and not dry.
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So today I had my plans disrupted because of the loss of my landline on Thursday. I’ve blogged about that here. The technician (Grant Munro) was very helpful and found a loose wire at the exchange. Once fixed I was back on-line but it was still too late to do the things I wanted to do this morning.
This afternoon I went to a wedding of a work mate. She’s the one who we had lunch for on Tuesday. She looked great and it was a beautiful ceremony at Lanyon Homestead. I got lost because that’s how I roll. I am really very poor with directions and I should have spent much more time looking at a map. What I didn’t realise was that Tharwa Drive forks and remains Tharwa Drive. Friends at work joke that the North side is Mordor yet all I could mumble as I was driving lost was “this must be Mordor”. When I arrived my friends laughed.
I know I could have captured images of the bride and the wedding party but my friend Nat was there with her camera and I figured I could get a nice photograph from her later. Nat is also a photographer. Check out her site at http://www.kecozaphotography.com.au/
I was more interested in the car Nat and Ursula arrived in. It’s a Corvette which Ursula’s husband recently imported from the US.
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When I got home this afternoon I had to complete a Twitter challenge from Thursday. In March this year I posted an image to satisfy the same challenge from TheBernieBrand and PeskyPippi
Tonight I had a pork cutlet. I served it with coleslaw that I made this afternoon. It tasted pretty good.
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So that’s it for another week. A long post I know. I could have split it up and next week I might do that.
Mentioned places and products
Bundaberg is where my mother and her parents spent many years owning and working on sugar cane farms. There’s even a street named after them, viz., Que Hee Street. Google map http://goo.gl/maps/32wOb
XXXX Gold is the beer my grand parents drank and it’s the only beer I’ve ever tried. It is also a sponsor of the greatest rugby league (representative) team in the universe. http://www.xxxx.com.au/
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia but I did learn how to carve a turkey from a Thanksgiving site.
5 Turkey Carving Tips – From Armand, The Butcher
I travelled to Darwin on Wednesday for meetings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Wednesday afternoon when I arrived I was interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s (ABC) Mick Coggan on my memories from ten years ago and what has happened in my career since then. This Friday, 12 October, we will remember the people killed and the people injured after terrorists detonated bombs in Bali. I hope on Friday I will blog about my memories from 10 years ago.
I’ve not seen nor listened to any of the recordings. I’ve been told by work mates, my parents and friends on Twitter that I came across okay.
On the Thursday I co-chaired a national governments meeting which went well. It was held at the Royal Darwin Hospital. My old hospital from 1996 to 2007. Whenever I visit the RDH I soak in the atmosphere and the changes. I love that hospital.
I was also in Darwin for the War and Disaster 2012 conference. The meeting consisted of a dinner on Thursday night, a clinical teaching symposium on Friday and a clinical conference on Saturday. On the Saturday afternoon a public forum had also been planned. I attended all the functions.
On the Wednesday evening however, I took my work colleagues to the Hanuman restaurant in Mitchell Street. This is a famous restaurant in Darwin known for its fusion of Thai, Indian and Chinese cuisines. Its signature dish is the Hanuman oysters. I suggested we enjoy the oysters, Pandang chicken, red curry duck, a whole fish and some Chinese pork belly. My colleagues and I really enjoyed the meal. The lighting in the restaurant is not conducive to photography with an iPhone so I have not posted any high quality images here (just a poor image of the oysters and the fish). The oysters are always good. They are done in a multi-welled terracotta dish with little terracotta lids over each well. The oysters are steamed in lime, lemon grass and coriander. If you ever venture to Darwin and dine at the Hanuman I will always recommend the Hanuman oysters.
Hanuman oysters
This was the fish after we had finished. Yes I ate the eyes. I did it discretely to not upset my work mates.
The Thursday dinner was held in the Darwin Convention Centre (if you use iOS6 Apple maps will send you to the wrong place) in the Darwin Waterfront Precinct. We enjoyed speeches by the new Chief Minister, Mr Terry Mills and former Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, OM AC. We were entertained by Kamahl. My friend Robyn Cahill also sang. Previously at a RDH review Robyn coaxed me and some other senior clinicians onto a stage to do YMCA. Unfortunately photographs recently surfaced. I will not be posting them here. If you’re curious I was the Native American.
The dinner itself was very good. We enjoyed a mixed cold entrée of salmon, chicken and beef. For a main meal I was fortunate enough to enjoy an incredibly well cooked rib eye fillet steak. Dessert was a mix of small and light pastries which were delightful. By the end I was hanging out for a cup of tea.
On Friday the clinical symposium was held at the RDH in the auditorium. I hadn’t been in there for years. I had forgotten the place had virtually no 3G signal. I was without communication with the office which wasn’t good. The symposium itself was excellent. I learnt so much. It was good to be immersed in a clinical milieu. I felt at home not only because I was in Darwin at RDH but because I was sitting amongst clinicians. I understood what was being put up on the screen. I didn’t doubt myself and have to question myself like I do when seated in policy presentations or budget discussions. Having just spent five years in my current job it was remarkable how comfortable and happy I felt being surrounded by clinical discussion and thinking.
At lunch time I did something I haven’t done for more than five years. In 2003 I weighed about 100 kilograms. I was very heavy for my height. I decided I needed to lose weight rapidly so I could begin exercising again. I chose a high protein and low carbohydrate way of life. My lunches often consisted of meat, just meat alone. On Friday I lined up at the hospital canteen and asked for a small serving of pork belly. I used to do that every day. I’m the sort of person who enjoys repeating old habits. I like nostalgia. This made me happy.
A small serving of pork belly to relive old memories when I lost a lot of weight.
That evening after a very stimulating day I attended a reception at the NT’s Parliament House for the opening of a small photographic art exhibition to remember the ten years since the Bali bombings. As far as formal receptions go it was pretty good. The nice thing about Darwin is the recognition that the usual formalities can be modified. The appropriate attire for such an event in the presence of the NT Minister for Health is Territory Rig. That is long trousers, a long sleeve shirt and a neck tie. Very simple. Unfortunately the Governor of Bali could not be present. The exhibition was opened by Hon. David Tollner and Dr Wayan Sutarga the President Director of Sanglah Hospital. Dr Sutarga is a real character. He was in charge of the hospital for the first and second Bali bombings. He has done an enormous amount of work for the hospital and has worked with Australians like Dr Len Notaras, AM and Colin McDonald, QC to cement a strong bond between Darwin and Bali.
After the reception I had a hankering for some fish and chips. I wanted Barramundi.
Barra and chips
The Saturday clinical conference was held at the Darwin Conference Centre, it was a long day. We registered at 0745 ACST and didn’t finish until after 1800 ACST. It was a very good day. Many of my friends presented. Some relived the events of ten years ago and others looked at changes in their specialty areas. Given I had moved from the NT government to the Australian Government I presented the changes that had occurred in the Department of Health and Ageing and how we have evolved into a better prepared area for health protection matters.
I got in early and captured this image before all the seats filled up.
The afternoon’s public forum was inspiring. Julian Burton, OAM spoke about his experiences as a victim of the Bali bombings. Sally Sara, AM spoke about being an ABC journalist in war zones and gave her perspective on the importance of telling stories so that Australia as a nation can know what is happening in places where reporting is not encouraged and journalists are often in danger by the kinetic forces of war.
On Saturday night I was invited to dinner by Len Notaras to Char Restaurant at Admiralty House on the corner of Knuckey Street and The Esplanade. I’d eaten here once before for a work related lunch. The venue is delightful. The food is sublime. The lighting was good but the group I was with didn’t really allow for me to whip out my iPhone and capture food images. I admit, I haven’t really come out to this group of friends that I am an amateur food blogger.
At present I’m in Adelaide waiting for a flight to Canberra. I love visiting Darwin and catching up with friends. I love Darwin. If you’ve never been there you should visit and stay for a while.
A park in the waterfront precinct just before arriving at the convention centre.
Conference lunch
My lunch on the flight flying from Darwin to Adelaide.
