Tag Archives: Qantas

Cupcakes and @luke_nguyen Fat Noodle

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Last night I flew to Brisbane to have an extended weekend with my daughters and parents.

Thursday was a pretty big food day and I just didn’t think about my weight.

A work mate shared his Mum’s Macedonian sweet treats

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For lunch about eight of us in the branch had chips and gravy. One of us even had a pie, chips and gravy (not me).

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

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

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

I watched a movie during the flight

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

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Dessert cake

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

Shepherd’s pie

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Miss16 started making some cupcakes at about 9 pm because a friend of hers is having a birthday on Saturday so she wanted to make something to share with her on Friday.

Some friends on Facebook, twitter and IG suggested I may have applied a Daddy tax. I didn’t do anything to discourage that notion but truth is Miss16 didn’t make enough to fill the baking tray.

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

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We had an early start for the school run this morning

Peanut paste on toast with coffee

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

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

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I promised Mum for Mother’s day I’d take her to the refurbished City Hall. Mum used to work as a volunteer at the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and spent a lot of time at City Hall.

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I remember winning school prizes at school speech nights and being down there

Mum tells me she used to sing down there for her school choir

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City Hall now contains the Museum of Brisbane. It’s a really nice little museum. I’d happily go again and again. One of the features for now is the exhibit on World Expo 1988 Brisbane.

Do you remember what you were doing in 1988? I was in medical school and we’d catch a train from Bowen Hills to the Mater Hospital and walk through Expo.

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I think it’s fantastic that Doug Anthony the deputy PM and leader of the National Party usurped Malcolm Fraser the PM of the day and supported Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen in the bid.

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The Light Fantastic

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After spending about an hour in the museum we walked over to the Treasury building to meet up with Miss18 and have lunch. Miss18 announced she’d got a job to help her get through her TAFE/QUT courses so we celebrated.

The Treasury building

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

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

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We could see into the kitchen too

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

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Dad asked for the Fat Pho Noodles

His only concern was the large fillet of beef in the bowl which he would have preferred sliced.

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Miss18 had pork and prawn wonton

Not as good as Mum’s wonton of course

If you want to read about Mum’s wonton click here and here

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Mum and I both asked for the Singapore noodles

This was spectacular

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The after lunch Belgian chocolate mint was delicious

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

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All in all it’s been a good day.

Now to rate Luke’s restaurant. The meal was fantastic and I would recommend anyone visiting Brisbane to try it out.
The dunny was interesting. The pedestal was solid and sound. The urinal was an older stainless steel model with a sturdy grate. It was big enough for two well proportioned men to stand next to each other without inducing hesitancy. I like a good firm grate to stand on so there is less of a chance of urine spray on the floor. The hand basin was motion detector activated but a little shallow. The hand drying unit was a pseudo air blade. It was pretty pathetic. If you’re going to use an air dryer and try to imitate a Dyson Air Blade, just buy the Dyson. My dunny score is 3.5 out of 5.
The napkin score is pass. Cloth napkins always pass.

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

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Rockpool on George | #ManFlu | #bestblogs13

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Last night after a little anticipation we dined at Rockpool on George. This is Neil Perry’s restaurant. Neil is a famous celebrity chef in Australia and is also responsible for the Qantas http://qantas.com cuisine, especially the business and first class menus.

To get into the mood of Sydney we walked around a little.

Sydney opera house

The sun was in the right place at the right time for this. We arrived a little early we were so keen on the evening’s dining experience.

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Rockpool on George

Bron captured this image of me outside the restaurant

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Bread

The whipped butter went so nicely with this bread which had the crustiest of crusts.

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Canapé

Queensland spanner crab, parsley, egg, fennel fondue

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Caviar on a perfectly poached egg

with soft poached egg, crispy potato, Allemande sauce

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Caviar on a perfectly poached egg

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John Dory

“ginger and shallot” scampi, fennel and macadamia

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Beef

Rib cap (deckle) infused in tobacco with fennel, mint, green olive and potato

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Beef

This looks a little naughty and sorry my photography is not that good

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Bron’s chocolate

grand cru from Valrhona with peanut butter and jelly

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Vacherin

pandan custard, coconut parfait, jasmine sorbet and lime granita

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Petit four

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Neil Perry

I found this image at http://cdn.taste.com.au/images/articles/neil03281319.jpg

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This was one of the finest dining experiences we’ve had together or apart. The restaurant’s ambience is perfect. Bron noted the lack of art work which didn’t seem out of place for the elegant simplicity of the surrounds. The wait staff were very helpful and informative without being intrusive on our evening. They were great at anticipating our needs, e.g., for topping up water and clearing away crockery. Bron was really impressed with the sliver tablecloth brush

The evening is definitely worth the money we paid given the location, the excellent service to customer ratio, the ability to watch the chefs in action and most importantly the quality and complexity of the food. In the menu frontispiece Neil Perry ensures he attributes correctly the source of all his produce. I think this is a mark of quality.

One of the things that really struck us was the intelligent way in which the service was arranged. For example, the seating times for each table seemed to be calculated to ensure each group of guests were not sitting on adjacent tables. This gave us a sense of a space and tranquility. We could have a conversation without the need to be guarded or to whisper.

My one regret was that I was at the peak of my #ManFlu which means I don’t think I really enjoyed the subtlety of all that was on offer. It simply means we need to come here again.

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Please vote for me

Rockpool on George http://www.rockpool.com/sydney/

Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/oTyd6

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Thai to die for | The best Canberra restaurant experience in some time (garydavidlum.com)
Aldi’s show win has artisans cheesed off (smh.com.au)

How my journey to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention ended | Three out of six flights cancelled | American Airlines | Qantas

16 Replies

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.

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Brisbane Qantas Club

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

Until next time…good night

Qantas and Virgin claim on-time lead (bigpondnews.com)
iPads for Qantas In-flight Entertainment (ubergizmo.com)
Qantas cancels Adelaide-Singapore flights (abc.net.au)
Dreamliner cash lifts Qantas profits (bbc.co.uk)
American Airlines adds Android in the sky (reviews.cnet.com)
Qantas expands in-flight iPad program for passengers (tuaw.com)
I never want to fly again. I mean it this time. (whichwaynow101.wordpress.com)
Qantas expands in-flight iPad program for passengers (applios.wordpress.com)
Kangaroo Route Turns Chinese With Flights to Guangzhou – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)

My stay in Atlanta | #safetyb4schedule | My extended stay in Dallas | My love affair with the Reuben Sandwich

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CDC entrance 1600 Clifton Road with Dead Duck Dilbert (3D)

There’s not much around the CDC campus. There are some newly built shops with restaurants but really nothing in terms of stuff to buy if you’re visiting and want to share gifts with friends. There’s also not much to see or do after hours unless you’re willing to catch a cab into town. Given I write a daily report of my meeting participation at the end of each work day (even if I go to dinner) that wasn’t an option. So Dead Duck Dilbert will basically only be seeing CDC and the hotel

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A close up of 3D

Okay, not really a close up

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I’d like to note that in the last twelve months I’ve been fortunate to fulfil two dreams I never in my wildest dreams thought possible. It’s a result of having a great job and very good bosses who drive the work with vision and insight. As a clinical microbiologist, and as someone who built my own microbiology laboratory in my parent’s rumpus room when I was at high school, there are two outstanding institutions in the USA for anyone with an interest in clinical microbiology, infectious diseases and public health. Last year I was able to visit both the old and the newly constructed site of the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases. Words cannot describe the awesomeness of that visit. The second iconic place for me is CDC. With a few years under belt now as a health emergency manager I also got to see the CDC nerve centre, their Emergency Operations Center (EOC). I’m a happy boy.

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The front sign of the Emory Conference Center Hotel

This is a really good hotel. There is free wifi throughout the complex (although it’s a little patchy in the main restaurant making Instagram posting of breakfast a little tedious) and the staff are really really friendly. It may just be Dallas and Atlanta but when I’ve visited other US cities like Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago I have to fake an American accent to be understood. The people of Albuquerque (previous visit in 2009), Dallas and Atlanta seem to understand my Australian accent (strine). The bathroom in my hotel room was great. The water heated up in the shower quickly and I don’t know what it was but the tap water was some of the best tap water I’ve ever tasted. I’d bottle it and drink it every day if I could. The hotel was set in lovely grounds well away from the main road so it was quiet. The bed was also very comfortable.

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It’s still daylight in the early evening in Atlanta.

3D on the perimeter fence of CDC with laboratory smoke stacks in the background

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3D and Bermuda Ginger beer at The General Muir

In previous posts I’ve extolled the virtues of my favourite ginger beer, viz., Bundaberg Ginger beer. It’s partly because it tastes the best IMO and also because Bundaberg is such a special place for my family. I always try to support Bundaberg, it’s sugar cane and anything else to do with the town. This Bermudan ginger beer was good. Not quite as good a flavour as Bundy ginger beer though.

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My Reuben sandwich

So The General Muir is a deli style cafe/restaurant at Emory Point in Atlanta. I saw on the menu it had a Reuben sandwich. I’ve watched many American television food programs on television discuss the Reuben. I’ve heard on television situation comedies the Reuben being described. I had to try one (or possibly two). They have an Instagram account and a Facebook page plus a twitter account

An IG friend told me it is more Russian than American. I’ll take his word for it. All I know it’s one damn fine sarny.

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Reuben goodness

This was amazing. I loved it. I wanted more. Dare I use the awful term mouthgasm??? It really was like an explosion of joy and happiness and ecstasy in my mouth as I chewed tongued and masticated my way through this delightful sandwich.

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The weather is like Canberra at the moment yet I’m in the Northern hemisphere

Yes, with all the eating I did try to exercise. I wasn’t that successful. I only got out twice.

I went on this walk on Tuesday afternoon. There were some nice hills. http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/158711927

I went out again early Wednesday morning because you know, I’m a member of #teaminsomnia http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/158868445

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I walked past The General Muir to take a picture

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3D and the Emory Conference Center Hotel sign early in the morning.

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Grits. My experience of buttery goodness.

Okay so this is the first time I have tried grits. I know it’s ground corn and I know it’s a staple of the south. The taste was good. It was like butter. It was very gritty though and I don’t think I’d have it every morning. I know I prefer rolled oats.

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My waffle

To remove the grittiness from my mouth I also got a waffle with bacon, pork sausage, berries, nuts and maple syrup. I LOVE North American breakfasts.

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Grits versus a waffle

I asked twitter http://twitter.com/garydlum and instagram for opinions. The waffle won

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Lunch time Reuben

We had our Wednesday meeting at another CDC site and we got a takeaway deli order. I tried another Reuben. This was about an order of magnitude difference between this and The General Muir Reuben. I did not like this version of the sandwich.

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CDC EOC

On Wednesday afternoon we visited the CDC EOC. Happy time ×10

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On Wednesday evening we enjoyed a no host (meaning we pay for ourselves, this is important for most national government departments, it’s important not to be seen or perceived to be seen to inappropriately act by providing a free dinner or lunch). We went to the Bonefish Grill at Emory Point.

Entrée at the Bonefish Grill

The lighting was really poor. This actually looks better when I rotate the image 180°. Atlantic sea scallops wrapped in bacon (Oh I love American bacon) with a mango salsa. It looks good even though the scallops were overcooked and rubbery. The mango salsa was delightful.

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Main dish

Sirloin steak, Maryland crab cake and potatoes au gratin. I was up to my third scallop on my entrée when my main meal came out. I had to quickly rearrange my plates and finish my entrée quickly so my steak and crab cake didn’t get cold. I asked for the steak to be rare. It was medium with a hint of pink. I would never send a meal back because I’ve heard too many stories of upset chefs doing things to food that’s been sent back.

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I decided against dessert and pondered the meal (compilation)

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Thursday breakfast

I thought about a stack of pancakes but I don’t think I could have done it. I elected for a spinach, mushroom, tomato and cheese omelet with bacon, sausage, walnuts, berries and some maple syrup.

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We had a no host lunch at La Tagliatella on Clifton Road opposite CDC

This is a Roast duck and black truffle risotto. I couldn’t identify any duck. The black bits are the truffle. It was very salty.

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At the Atlanta Admirals Club after my flight to DFW was cancelled. Now on AA843.

Yep another flight cancelled. That’s two for two for American Airlines. http://www.aa.com

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My meal on AA843. I was craving greens after nearly 48 hours. I ate the salad and left the chicken.

The chicken breast looked and felt really rubbery. I tried to cut it but the knife wouldn’t make a mark.

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The cheesecake on AA843 was no where near as nice as Bron’s

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Sitting in the Qantas Club at DFW with 3D drinking ginger ale. Yes I like ginger. I also know that one of my favourite blogging friends Judy from http://petit4chocolatier.wordpress.com/ also likes it.

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And a shout out to Hilah from @hilahcooking She’s one of the coolest Texans I know. I bought this book so I know more about Texas.

If you like blogs and food videos on YouTube please visit her site at http://hilahcooking.com/ I only discovered a little while ago that she spent three months in Melbourne and knows about Aussie love for chicken schnitty.

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This is the calm scene at Gate D14 at DFW at 2100 CDT on Thursday night.

Little did we know what was to come

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I was sitting in seat 1B and I sat there for close to five hours while we taxied out and in and out and in and out and in again.

The cabin lighting gives the bulkhead a pink hue. That’s my breakfast card. It never got used

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Shortly after boarding all the passengers and with the doors closed we taxied out and then spent an awfully long time on the tarmac. The Captain made an announcement saying there was a problem with the engine deicing system. They needed to get the engineers to look at it. We’d taxi back to the aerobridge but not dock. We’d stay in our seats while the engineers ran a range of diagnostic tests and hopefully fix the problem. After more time the Captain said the problem had been resolved and we taxied out. The regulations state that we needed to watch and listen to the in-flight safety brief again. The flight attendants were very good about it. Out on the tarmac we sat again, we assumed the crew were running through checks. After another lengthy period, the Captain announced an associated problem had emerged and we’d be going back to the terminal but not docking. He said if he let one passenger off he’d have to make us all get off and then go through security again. He then explained the engineers would try to bypass the deicing circuits and I couldn’t quite hear the rationale but no one seemed concerned. We taxied back out and again sat on the tarmac for what seemed like more than 30 minutes. By now it as around Friday 0300 CDT. The Captain came on the public address system and apologised that the system was still indicating a problem. They had run out of crew time and would need to park the aircraft in a hanger and have the system examined thoroughly. After the second trip out onto the tarmac we’d been told that because of tight crew times instead of landing in Brisbane we would land in Auckland and another crew would take us to Brisbane. By that stage I knew I would have missed my connection from Brisbane to Canberra. I had a date with Bron and basically I knew that wasn’t going to happen The Captain made a final point that with Qantas it’s all about safety before schedule hence the twitter hash tag I started #safetyb4schedule

As we docked with the aerobridge we got off and were assigned local hotels. I scored the Marriott DFW. It was about 0415 CDT when I got into my room. I called Bron, had a shower and fell asleep not knowing what was going to happen. At about 0820 CDT I woke with a panic. I walked to the door and noticed a page of paper. Without my glasses I thought it said catch the shuttle at 0950 CDT. I went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face and woke myself up. I reread the letter and it said be ready for the shuttle @5pm. I couldn’t go back to sleep despite feeling tired.

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So what to do. I went to the reception desk and asked if there’s anything to do locally and they said it’s an industrial area and I’d need to catch a cab into Dallas to do anything. I’m sorry if I sound like a tight arse but I’m not going to waste money on long cab rides to walk around when I’m dog tired. I knew I could do some work and I was told there was free wifi in the hotel lobby. [This is where I am now]. We’d be given two meals and we could use our rooms.

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I can’t remember when we were given this block of chocolate. All I know is we weren’t provided with any toiletries or anything like a T-shirt to sleep in. When I’ve been on cancelled flights with Qantas before they’ve arranged this. At the hotel they gave us a toothbrush and toothpaste. I couldn’t access my checked-in bag for toiletries and fresh clothes (not that I had any) because they remained on the aircraft.

The chocolate was okay. I can’t remember eating it I’m so tired.

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So I went to the hotel restaurant for brunch (it was about 1030 CDT by the time I woke up enough to do anything.

There were all sorts of things on the menu. The first thing I saw was the Eggs Benedict. My server who could see how tired I was gave me a jug of coffee and said the Eggs Benedict are good. I asked if they served them with s soft runny yolk and he said yes. What I didn’t realise was it would come with a giant potato cake. [For friends from Victoria this is what I call a potato cake. What you call a potato cake is a potato scallop (Queenslander)]. The eggs were cooked nicely although the yolk was very very pale. I assume it wasn’t free range and not fresh. It tasted good though.

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Making a wish

I don’t know what the whole 11:11 is about but I see it enough times on Instagram to know that some people make a which when it’s 11:11 I wished for my same seat tonight and a safe journey.

Yes I have a lot of camera apps. Do I use all of them? No. I really like ProCamera.

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Free wifi in the hotel lobby

I took up the offer of free wifi in the lobby and here I am doing some work and blogging and reading blogs and trying not to think of my tiredness headache.

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Hotel in situ starbucks

I really don’t want to offend my North American friends. You need to visit Australia and try our coffee in a good coffee shop. Ask for a long black or a flat white or a latte or even a cappuccino. I’m pretty sure you’ll notice the difference.

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I’ll finish the journey blog in the next couple of days. I’m really hoping our flight leaves tonight. The plan is that QF7008 (the new designation for our flight) will depart at about 2200 CDT and I’ll get a new flight from Brisbane to Canberra on Sunday. I’ll get into Canberra just before lunch. In time to buy groceries and do lots of washing. Hopefully dinner with Bron and then hopefully sleep before work on Monday. Fingers crossed

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The General Muir http://www.thegeneralmuir.com/
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/EYkCP

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Marriott DFW http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dfwap-dallas-fort-worth-airport-marriott/

Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/zQQkI

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Classic Reuben (werd.com)
Vegetarian Reuben Sandwich Recipe (busyvegetarianmom.com)
Breakfast Reuben Sandwich (closetcooking.com)

I find myself in Atlanta via Dallas

17 Replies

I’m travelling for work at the moment. I’m attending a meeting at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. I flew with Qantas from Canberra to Sydney (QF704) and then onto Dallas (QF7).

The morning of my departure started well. Bron offered to drive me to the airport. It was remarkable seeing some people at the airport I never expected to meet there.

I hadn’t had breakfast so I had a yoghurt and coffee.

———-

Bron gave me some popping candy truffles she’d made on Sunday. They were delicious.

———-

I flew from CBR to SYD on QF704 and had a snack.

———-

Normally when I fly to North America I fly with United Airlines because they offer the best fare of the day. For this flight Qantas offered the best fare. This meant I could enter their international lounge at the Sydney International airport.

You may have noticed a rubber duck in some of the images. He is Dead Duck Dilbert (aka 3D) and he’s like a travel gnome. My work mate and instagram buddy @kecozanat suggested we have a branch travel mascot. 3D won the gig.

———-

In the Qantas lounge you can get a nice lunch. I chose a crumbed fish burger and chips. The burger was pretty much like a McDonalds fillet of fish only with tastier mayonnaise and better fish. The chips were good but not Urban Espresso Bean Cafe good.

———-

Flight QF7 was pretty uneventful. It was bumpy throughout the flight but not scary bumpy.

———-

I ate well.

A lovely yellowfin tuna and Moroccan eggplant as an entrée followed by a main course of crumbed pork, fennel jam, potato gratin and roasted carrots. The pork had great flavour and was tender although a little dry (not to be expected when flying).

———-

and some cheese

———-

Breakfast

I enjoyed some muesli and a savoury breakfast waffle

———-

Getting into Dallas Fort Worth airport (DFW) was pretty hassle-free. I did wait for my bag for some time. I think it was the last one off the conveyor belt. I caught the light rail from the international arrival terminal to the C concourse and found the American Airlines Admirals club to have a quick soft drink (diet coke).

———-

I was booked onto AA1884.

That’s it out on the tarmac having it’s front door looked at.

———-

In the end, a new aeroplane was sourced.

———-

We waited for a while. I notice in the US the cockpit door is often open on the ground.

———-

There was bad weather in Atlanta brewing so the Captain announced a ground stop. We waited on the tarmac for over two hours. The rules say you can’t be on the tarmac for longer than three hours so American Airlines cancelled the flight. I was worried I’d have to spend the night in Dallas (secretly wanting to so I could explore) and make my way to Atlanta the next day. In the end I found a seat on AA2222.

We don’t have SkyMall in Australia. I love flicking through this catalogue.

———-

On arriving in Atlanta at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (ATL) I wondered if my bag made it from AA1884 to AA2222.

———-

It didn’t. I went to baggage claims and was told it was on AA1602 and if I wanted to wait it would arrive later in the evening (close to midnight). I waited. If you are a regular reader you’ll know I have a long history of bag problems on aeroplanes, especially flights to and from North America.

YouTube upload http://youtu.be/6WzJzRoJx40

———-

So around midnight I checked into the Emory Conference Center Hotel. It’s nice. Best of all free high speed wifi throughout the hotel.

I woke up and needed coffee

———-

Then breakfast

Tomorrow I’ll try grits. This morning I had a cheese, mushroom and tomato omelette with bacon and a spicy pork sausage plus a breakfast biscuit and gravy and breakfast potatoes. Sorry to my US friends, I’m not a fan of the breakfast biscuit. This was quite soggy and the gravy I think will sit in my stomach for days.

———-

This is what the morning looked like at about 0800 EDT.

The local birds are singing and chirping. It’s quite lovely.

———-

That’s it for now. I’ll update soon. I hope you have a lovely day or night whenever you’re reading this.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/i1kwl

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Emory Conference Center Hotel http://www.emoryconferencecenter.com/
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/1M5tL

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Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport http://www.atlanta-airport.com/
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/oI1FK

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Dallas Fort Worth International Airport http://www.dfwairport.com/contact/index.php
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/kNB1X

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Go first class or go home!!! – Atlanta, GA (travelpod.com)
American Airlines adds Android in the sky (reviews.cnet.com)
Qantas and Virgin claim on-time lead (bigpondnews.com)

A sour end to a wonderful break

25 Replies

I left Brisbane today after a little over a week of joy and happiness. I’ve had a fantastic time visiting my parents and my daughters.

This morning Dad made us breakfast sausages and bacon.

Looks odd but it was tasty.

For morning tea we had pavlova

It’s always better the day after when the cream goes a little more stiff.

My parents had to attend a matinee session of South Pacific this afternoon and I had to deliver the girls home. I had a couple of hours to kill so I got to the airport a couple of hours early. I checked in my bag using a QANTAS QTAG. A simple and convenient method to avoid paper based luggage tags. The process seemed to work okay.

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

I boarded my flight after getting an upgrade thanks to Qantas. For an afternoon snack, I had a cheese plate.

It was delicious.

Then on arriving in Canberra I discovered my bag was not put on flight QF961. This is the second time in two months that this has happened with Qantas.

I caught a cab home after being told my bag would be delivered when it’s found. The cab driver of TX73 was not the driver on the dashboard card which was for A2278. He didn’t indicate to change lanes or turn corners and he was speaking on his mobile telephone throughout the drive from the airport to my place (this is now illegal in the ACT unless he has a proper handsfree set up which he didn’t). He didn’t know the directions to my place so I had to direct him. When I asked about his authority card it was in his pocket. I called the taxi company and they didn’t want to do anything. I would have to put the complaint in writing.

At 2055 AEDT I called QANTAS but they had closed their baggage service area despite their brochure saying it is open until 2100 AEST (which is 2200 AEDT). I called the Canberra baggage claim area and was told I should avoid using the Qantas QTAG system in future and there was still no trace of my bag. I am so annoyed. This has made me feel quite upset after what has been a wonderful break from work seeing my parents and daughters. I have stuff in that bag that I need to use not least of all the value of the contents.

I try not to rant too much on this blog but tonight I’ve ranted all over twitter and I felt the need to ventilate here.

I hope my bag shows up soon. Word to the wise, avoid the use of the QANTAS QTAG system.

Gaz

Week 52 2012 Christmas

16 Replies

I hope I have one more post for 2012 to close out the year. This post however, will focus on the lead up and execution of Christmas 2012.

The last weekend was another quiet one. I didn’t have much to do besides wash clothes and clean the apartment. I’d completed all my Christmas shopping and so I enjoyed a weekend of lounging and watching DVDs. I ended up seeing the end of series three of Breaking Bad and watching what in the US is the first series of Strike Back. Apparently in the UK, there were six episodes shown before the US saw the seventh episode which it calls the first episode. I don’t understand the reasoning. The story can be found at IMDB and Wikipedia.

Because I was travelling for Christmas and New Year I needed to go through the contents of my refrigerator. Toasted sandwiches are always a good weekend lunch option.

Tomato, tinned red salmon and pumpkin seed bread.

———-

For dinner I had a scotch fillet steak.

I served it with a mango salad that also had salad leaves, cherry tomatoes and lots of Australian feta cheese. I made a light gravy from the marinade which was sherry, oil and soy plus some honey and mixed herbs and some minced garlic. I thickened it with some corn flour and used a little red wine to deglase my fry pan. I like my steak rare so this got about 90 seconds on each side and was rested for 10 minutes.

———-

On Saturday night a storm brewed but we didn’t see any rain. The clouds though were very pretty. I captured this image from my balcony but there were some much better ones from other IGers.

———-

I forgot to mention in my last post, that on Thursday evening when dining with my friends they gave me a book for Christmas. http://garydavidlum.com/2012/12/22/week-51-2012-christmas-party-season/

I like watching Jamie Oliver on television and if you search this blog for Jamie Oliver you’ll see a number of references. http://garydavidlum.com/?s=Jamie+Oliver&submit=Search I’ve heard though with Jamie Oliver’s recipes that sometimes they’re wrong, that is, quantities can be significantly off. This doesn’t always get corrected. If you know enough to know that’s fine but if you’re pretty ignorant like me, that can spell disaster.

———-

WARNING Sad Image

One of the saddest images I’ve captured is this one. Last week I posted this image of a friendly blue tongued skink. Sadly it was run over in my apartment car park.

From last week

What I came across on Sunday morning.

———-

I love pistachios

Snack time.

———-

Another toasted sandwich for lunch.

This time with blue cheese because like bacon and butter, everything tastes better with blue cheese.

———-

On Sunday night I cleaned out the refrigerator.

Salmon with mango salad and blue cheese.

———-

Normally when I’m walking back from the post office you can see heaps of people at work.

Barren on Christmas eve.

———-

There are no calories for the next two weeks.

Caramel doughnut.

———-

I was tempted, but this was for a work friend.

Jam filled doughnut.

———-

Because a work mate was ill last week when we went to the snag stand, we went back with her on Monday.

Spicy cheese kransky on brioche. This was delicious. Our plan is to eat through the entire menu.

———-

I finished work early on Christmas eve and I went to the airport as soon as I could.

A White Christmas snack at the Qantas lounge.

———-

I also had a couple of chilli beef pastizzi in the lounge

They were a little hot.

———-

I managed to secure an upgrade on flight QF960. The flight was meant to leave a little after 1745 however a couple of storm cells hit Canberra and to keep the ground crew safe they were evacuated from the tarmac and we stayed in the aeroplane for more than an hour connected to the aerobridge. If you follow me on Twitter you’ll see were we able to use our telephones.

For dinner I had the crumbed beef. The crumb also contained feta cheese. While the beef was well done and tough, everything else was very nice.

———-

When I got to my parent’s place I put out presents for them and my girls (who I’ll see later this week).

———-

It’s Christmas Day. I had a poor night’s sleep, not through Christmas excitement, but because I’m sleeping on my childhood bed. Dad woke up early and we sat together for a couple of hours while he told me stories.

I had a light breakfast in anticipation of a big lunch. The breakfast of champions, vegemite on toast with a couple of coffees.

———-

And so lunch preparation begins…

This is chicken after we’d tightened the skin with boiling water.

———-

Mum made a 1000 islands dressing for our lunch time prawns. If you click on the image you can work out the ingredients in a chat with Hilah from hilahcooking.com

———-

The poultry preparation continued with a duck drying and draining.

———-

The bowl may not look elegant but that mattered nought.

———-

I love prawns.

———-

I could not help capture an after image.

———-

The duck had a reasonable neck attached. You can tell my intent by the strategically placed Chinese meat cleaver.

———-

I want a role on The Game of Thrones as an executioner.

———-

Because everything is better with bacon.

———-

Side by side, don’t they look a treat (and very cute too).

———-

Mum makes a mean stuffing. Check out https://www.evernote.com/shard/s183/sh/b0224e03-ecac-4ec6-93cd-7f8246b75d18/45f16c08058a64d34147000cbd21095d for the details. I had my eye on the Maryland at the top of the image. It has the cloaca attached. I love a chook’s cloaca when it’s been roasted.

———-

With the duck added. I like to cut the breast off and slice it. It makes it easier to eat because you bite end on into the grain of the meat. Do you see the size of the duck’s neck and cloaca? I’d already bagsed (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bagsed) them.

———-

Because of the small size of Mum’s kitchen and oven, rather than roasted vegetables, Mum made a potato bake yesterday and we heated it up in a small toaster oven at lunch time. We also had broccoli, asparagus and peas.

———-

This is my plate. Mum made a nice orange flavoured sauce too. It was sublime.

———-

The neck has such nicely flavoured meat. I also managed to dissect out the trachea too. This started a nice little chat on twitter and instagram.

———-

So that’s it for now. Mum decided against making a pudding or a pavlova. This evening we’ll have fruit and some cheese. I’m pretty grateful. I don’t really want to blow out. I can fit into a pair of shorts I like to wear at Christmas time so I’m happy holding back a little.

I hope everyone reading this blog had a wonderful time if you celebrate Christmas. I hope your day was full of happiness and peace and good food.

Merry Christmas friends,

Your friend and fellow blogger

Gaz

Things and places mentioned in this post

Kransky sausage
Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kranjska_klobasa

Strike Back
Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_Back_%28TV_series%29
IMDB entry http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1492179/

Pastizz
Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastizz

Another week in Instagram and schoolies week (garydavidlum.com)

CPAP update and my week in Instagram

12 Replies

Thanks to everyone who made contact about last week’s CPAP post asking for updates as I go. Well this week was much the same as the first week. Interrupted nights and a feeling of being more tired than normal. It made the days at work long and tedious. The abrasion lesion on my occiput is healing in that I think a callous is forming.

On Tuesday night I flew to Brisbane for a Wednesday meeting. I thought about taking the machine but in the end didn’t. I was just too busy and the extra weight in a bag wasn’t something I needed to focus on with so much on my mind.

I thought for this post I’d tell a story by Instagram (Check out my profile at http://instagram.com/garydlum). I know they’re mostly food images but then what else would you expect.

If you click on the images you’ll also be able to see the Instagram comments.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

On Monday at lunch I had a quiche. It was a ham, cheese and shallot quiche. I like quiche and no matter what anyone says, men do eat quiche. The quiches I buy for lunch come from the Urban Bean Espresso Bar in Scarborough House and the cost $4.90 each. I enjoyed my quiche with a mug of Canadian ice wine tea.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

On Monday evening I had some left over beef mince with the seed mustard and XXXX Gold beer. I wrote about this last week at http://garydavidlum.com/2012/11/11/cpap-shogun-japanese-restaurant-a-burger-with-a-difference/
I was feeling pretty tired and lazy. I just made an open sandwich and used the yoghurt and Worcestershire sauce to add a little flavour to the gravy.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

On Tuesday I was packed for a night away and wanted something light. I chose a sausage roll and a Cascade Lemon, lime and bitters. The sausage roll costs $4.50 from the Urban Bean Espresso Bar.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

On Tuesday evening after a full on day at work I drove to the Canberra Airport and relaxed a little in the Qantas Business Lounge.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

On the flight I enjoyed a salad of ocean trout on an Asian coleslaw.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

The meal also came with a chocolate and caramel brownie. Some Instagram friends unkindly likened it to a log of faeces.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

On Tuesday evening I checked into the Oaks Aurora Tower. It’s a residential apartment block which also has some hotel style apartment rooms that the Oaks group uses. This was my second stay. My first stay was earlier in the year for a work meeting. I found the room then a little grimy and things like the remote controls were sticky. It was cheap for the taxpayer so I thought I’d try again. This time I had a different room. The carpet felt dirty and the kitchen area was a little grimy. The remote controls were also sticky. I don’t think I’ll stay there again. At $130 a night it is a cheap hotel when compared to other places in the city, especially for an apartment style room with a kitchen. On Wednesday morning I woke up to this view of Brisbane.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

The meeting went well. It was a full day and I spoke for a good part of the meeting. My flight back to Canberra departed at about 1900 AEST and wouldn’t land until 2200 AEDT. For dinner on the flight I had a pork chop and vegetables.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

The Wednesday marked the 40th birthday for a work mate. We have a great culture in the branch with many of my work mates being terrific cooks. They often bring in cakes, macarons, biscuits and other sweet treats. To celebrate another work mate made a baked raspberry cheesecake. The best thing about my work mates is they remember me and kept me a slice. Of course they also had cream

There were some comments from Instagram followers asking how I’m not huge. Truth is I try not to eat too much. I try to exercise every day and when I feel myself thickening, I pull back on the intake. Over the last week or so I’ve dropped a couple of kilograms through reduced intake, stress and poor sleep.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

On Thursday evening I was exhausted. I wanted something simple and tasty to eat. I was craving something salty. I had some chicken thighs with skin on them and needed to cook them over a few nights. I floured the thigh with plain flour, mustard, spike and curry powder. I served them with potato gems (I think in the US you call them Tater Tots.
The chicken looked like it was fried, it was oven cooked.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

For some years Canberra taxpayers have been investing in public art. I like public art and I reckon every city should have some nice art works for everyone to enjoy. Every morning at 0730 I take a walk from my office to get my personal mail from the post office. It looks like there will be a new installation soon. It’s a pity the surrounding buildings aren’t looking too flash at the moment.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

On Fridays some work mates in the branch enjoy chips from the Urban Bean Espresso Bar. A small container costs $4.00. They are pretty good chips (or for my north American friends, fries). I ate Friday lunch with a friend who is about to get married. She’s been watching her diet to ensure she can fit into her dress. This week however, she decided to get in her words “sucky in” pants which sound like elasticised support underwear. She felt at liberty to eat chips which I thought was cool.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

Friday night came and I wasn’t hungry. I just had no appetite. It wasn’t really the chips, I was just exhausted and mentally wasted. I cooked a chicken thigh alone and ate that.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

I decided yesterday I would clean out my home office of two year’s worth of papers that I’d been meaning to get to and file. It took a good part of the whole day to go through it all.
My lunch was a nice piece of multigrain Vienna loaf that I toasted and topped with tinned red salmon and a vine tomato.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

Last night I made some coleslaw and had a chicken thigh.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

On the subject of Canberra public art, this morning on my work I captured the image of my favourite piece, viz., the Owl Statue. From the front it’s clearly an owl, from behind however, many Canberra residents have likened the phallic shape as a piece of Canberra’s pubic art.

On my walk this morning I also came across this piece of graffiti which I can relate to.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

After my walk I felt like eating some eggs and drinking a strong cup of coffee.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

I spent a few hours at work this morning and again didn’t feel that hungry. Lunch was pretty boring. The rest of the tinned red salmon on toast.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

This evening I had a piece of Atlantic salmon (from Tasmania) along with some more fresh coleslaw. I cooked the salmon by placing in a fry pan and adding a lid. I cooked it on a moderately high heat for five minutes. The skin was crisp and the flesh was perfectly cooked. The coleslaw was fresh and tangy and nothing beats adding a bit of Kensington Pride mango. This was a nice cooked dinner with a tropical touch. I also added chilli flakes and a little Tabasco Sauce to the salmon to add some bite.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

This week Miss11 and Miss15 are in Geelong for the National Club Championships. Miss15 has a bad ankle and will only be doing uneven bars and beam.

_ooo000OOO000ooo_

Urban Bean Espresso Bar http://www.beanhunter.com/cafes/review/Urban-Bean-Espresso-Bar
Foursquare https://foursquare.com/v/urban-bean-espresso-bar/4da224be7aee5481e133d0fe

Scarborough House https://foursquare.com/v/scarborough-house/4bbea14182a2ef3b45c12bd2
Google Map http://goo.gl/maps/qGN6Q

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Canberra Airport https://foursquare.com/v/canberra-airport-cbr/4b1896c3f964a52068d423e3
Google Map http://goo.gl/maps/MqQ4t

View Larger Map

Qantas Business Lounge https://foursquare.com/v/qantas-business-lounge/4b889f09f964a520fd0432e3

Aurora Tower https://foursquare.com/v/aurora-tower/4b1ba1fdf964a52054fc23e3
Google Map http://goo.gl/maps/9ydtD

View Larger Map

Oaks Hotels and Resorts http://www.oakshotelsresorts.com/

Tater Tots http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tater_Tots

Woden Wind Tunnel https://foursquare.com/v/woden-wind-tunnel/4de2bb3ac65b7a3e21223baa

Owl Statue https://foursquare.com/v/owl-statue/4dd44c5352b18e28aa120356

Wanton Wonton Wonderfulness (garydavidlum.com)
Instagram on the Web (iphonelife.com)
Instagram Now Available for Android [NEWS] (epicagear.com)
What you could do with your Instagram pix.. (j0annesim.wordpress.com)

Flight food

12 Replies

On today’s flight from Canberra to Darwin Qantas served lunch.

I enjoyed crumbed beef and a vegetable stack plus some fruit followed by ice cream.

I composed this blog post on my iPhone while in flight.

Brisbane high rise and food glorious food

9 Replies

The last few days have been fairly busy and on Thursday and Friday I had to be in Brisbane for an important meeting.

On Wednesday I forgot my lunch and after a frantic morning I was in a café and spied a Chiko roll. I haven’t had one in years. My maternal grandfather‘s brother told me many times when I was young that our family had somehow been involved in the invention of the Chiko roll. At the time they owned a Chinese café at a truck stop in Rocklea in Brisbane. They used to sell these super large spring rolls mostly composed of cabbage and chicken. They sold them as chicken rolls. Mum and her brother have confirmed this story for me. They claim someone got the idea for the Chiko roll from my grandparents chiekn rolls at the Golden Pagoda in Rocklea. The Golden Pagoda was destroyed in the great flood of 1974 and the loss destroyed my grandparents and immediate family. They never really recovered.

Later that afternoon a work mate said she was going out to get some chocolate and I asked her get me some. I love my work mates. They know me. Look at what came back

Check out the size of the block.

That night I didn’t feel that hungry but had some chicken thigh meat thawing (and no I didn’t eat all that chocolate in one sitting).

The chicken burgers were tasty, you can see I used an English muffin for one and a hamburger roll for the other.

The next morning I woke up early for a 0620 AEST flight from Canberra to Brisbane. I like that the Qantas Club has breakfast.

On board the flight I had another breakfast.

I spent Thursday night in my hotel room working. The view of the Brisbane River from the twenty-fifth floor was pretty good.

I went and bought a couple of hot pies and an apple crumble to get me through the night.

In the morning the view was better. I left Brisbane in 1995 to live in Darwin until coming to Canberra in 2007. Brisbane city has certainly grown.

Look at the huge tree. they are amazing. I love them.

I indulged in a Starbucks breakfast of toast and a caramel mocha with cream.

So on the way back to Canberra I spent time chatting with a work mate and eating.

The pork buns here were crap. They are from the Sydney Qantas club and rubbish. You want to see a nice barbecue pork bun go to the Dumpling Inn. Check out the image here.

The soup was a spicy Mexican lentil dish.

On Saturday we went to Costco to buy some food. I hadn’t had lunch. I tried a Costco hot dog. It wasn’t that good.

For afternoon tea we went to Ricardo’s Cafe at Jamison and had a caramel praline mousse.

Last night Bron and I cooked dinner together. I cooked a steak with an onion dijon sauce and Bron cooked the cauliflower blue cheese gratin. The gratin was amazing. I ate two. I wanted more.

Bron cooked a caramel chocolate tart and a lemon tart for dessert. They were out of this world. Bron is amazing.

Caramel chocolate tart

Lemon tart

This morning we went light and had a poached egg before our big lunch.

Five years living in Canberra (garydavidlum.com)
Brisbane (garydavidlum.com)
Brilliant Buffet at the Hilton (durbandiva.wordpress.com)

Yummy Lummy

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

Tag Archives: Qantas

Cupcakes and @luke_nguyen Fat Noodle

Rockpool on George | #ManFlu | #bestblogs13

How my journey to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention ended | Three out of six flights cancelled | American Airlines | Qantas

My stay in Atlanta | #safetyb4schedule | My extended stay in Dallas | My love affair with the Reuben Sandwich

I find myself in Atlanta via Dallas

A sour end to a wonderful break

Week 52 2012 Christmas

CPAP update and my week in Instagram

Flight food

Brisbane high rise and food glorious food

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