Tag Archives: Royal Darwin Hospital

My week in Instagram

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It’s been a busy week at work. I’ve changed offices again. I started my clinical attachment at The Canberra Hospital and I’ve eaten out a bit.

After the last post when I revealed I’d reached 80.2 kg I thought I should revisit the single fillet of salmon again as an evening staple ;-)

#dinner Salmon and vegetables with a honey soy flavour #yummy

I did the salmon the way I normally do with a fry pan and lid and a 5 minute timer. I cooked the vegetables with a little soy and honey.

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and again the next night…

#dinner salmon and vegetables #yummy

Another small piece of salmon

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I’ve been walking every day too

Good morning Mr Owl

Mr Owl looks good at 0445 AEST with a black background of the night sky

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In preparation for my clinical day a week I started reading some relevant documents.

Good morning. Office #tea Earl Grey while refreshing my knowledge of AS ISO 15189—2009

Tea rather than coffee too :-)

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For reasons I won’t go in to, I was able to return to my old office area. The first thing I did was put up my flags. I felt immediately at home.

I'm "home"! 😃😃😃 I moved back into my old office. First things first. Flags up 😃 #Queenslander #Territorian

My two favourite places in the world. Queensland and the Northern Territory of Australia :-)

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On Friday I started my first day at The Canberra Hospital as an Honorary Visiting Medical Officer in Pathology. I decided I could walk to work from my DoHA car spot

My walk http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/178410745

So this is where I’ll be. Building 10.

My new Friday work place

There is a lot of construction underway so it’s not possible to see the building from outside

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It was a pretty good day. I really enjoyed getting oriented back into a clinical pathology set up. It was nice to speak with clinicians about patients and visit the mortuary and see the museum named after my friend and colleague, viz., Professor Peter Herdson. It was fantastic to get back into the lingo and to start thinking about the wonderful interface being a clinical microbiologist is between the patient in the ward and the vast technological brain power that rests in medical laboratory scientists and other practitioners. I love the technology of pathology. As I grew up in medicine, Professor John Kerr’s most profound comment was that pathology is medicine. If you understand pathology you will understand medicine. Truer words there are not. He also held a firm view that rigorous examination was the best way to produce a well rounded undifferentiated medical graduate who would be ready to learn more about how to heal the sick and teach others to become good practitioners of the art and science of medicine. I love that in pathology we extend our practice into the tactile of holding plates and loops, we can sense the aroma of our friends on the plates, we can see the bright colours of the wonderful chemical reactions in solid and liquid phases. We can stand before instruments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars that reduce the time from specimen reception to result delivery to hours instead of days. But best of all I love that we can take the complex and abstract and share a story with a referring and treating practitioner and help him or her heal their patient. Working in government bureaucracy for the last five years has taught me so many things, but I cannot love it like I love being in a laboratory surrounded by wonderful people and patient specimens, machines and most of all microscopes. Four days a week at DoHA and one day at TCH is a good balance.

Looks so much like Royal Darwin Hospital because it's the same design

As I walked back to my car I was reminded that The Canberra Hospital and the Royal Darwin Hospital were designed in Canada and it was Prime Minister Gough Whitlam who sought to build hospitals in the two territories. The design may well have been good for Canberra but it was a disaster for Darwin. This is a multi-storey, air conditioned building with a furnace up the middle. Indigenous Australians in the Top End communities do not like heights, they don’t like the cold and why require a furnace in a building in subequatorial Australia. What the hell was Prime Minister Whitlam thinking? The best hospital design in the Northern Territory of Australia is the Katherine Hospital. One level, multiple wings with open flow through ventilation and lots of courtyards for patients to gather in along with their intravenous infusion stand and drugs. In Darwin, as much as I love the RDH (not the building itself, I love the people, I love the community, I love the family that is a hospital), it is unseemly to have all the Indigenous Australian patients feel like they have to mill outside on hot concrete with their intravenous infusion stands all because of a mistake from the 1970s.

The walk back had a little detour to capture that image
My walk back http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/178532953

On the walk back I passed by an excellent venue for a steak

A pretty good steak can be enjoyed here

If you visit Canberra and want a nice bistro steak, the Hellenic Club is a good place for a meal.

This is the building I spend most of my week in

Scarborough House

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On Friday night I visited Bron’s place and we enjoyed another great meal and an episode of Game of Thrones.

#dinner Bron made a Wagyu steak and salad #yummy

Wagyu steak and salad

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#dessert lemon curd ice cream and white chocolate over fruit #yummy

Fruit covered in white chocolate served with lemon curd ice cream

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The 2002 Bali Bombings | My experience and my memories

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This post is not like my regular food posts. Today I’m recalling the memories and experiences from ten years ago. This post is by no means a complete recollection, I don’t want to bore you with minutiæ, it may not even be the highlights, it’s more likely the things that come to mind as I write. I’ve decided against including clinical images. I realise most readers of this blog prefer to see food rather than burnt and traumatised human flesh.

Saturday night 12 October 2002

I attended a dinner meeting of the then Australasian College of Health Service Executives (now the Australasian College of Health Service Management). It was a good night, I spent time with my friend and colleague, Dr Len Notaras plus many others. [That had been a good year. On 20 May, I accepted Len’s encouragement to act as the General Manager for the Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) while maintaining my role as Supervising Pathologist and Director of Pathology for the Northern Territory Government. ] That night in Kuta, Australians, other foreign nationals and the local people of Bali and Indonesia were enjoying a night out. Map http://goo.gl/maps/ZHdGP


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While we slept in Darwin bombs exploded in Kuta. In the end it’s thought 202 people died and another 209 people were significantly injured.

Sunday 13 October 2002

That morning the news services reported on the bombings. There was not a lot of information about the health needs for the people injured. A young man who was slightly injured managed to catch a flight from Bali to Darwin and he presented to the Emergency Department at RDH. He provided the first insight for us on what happened. Later in the morning I was receiving telephone calls that we needed to meet at the hospital because Darwin may be used as an entry point for the survivors who needed acute critical care.

Dr Len Notaras was meeting with Clare Martin, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory who was in communication with the then Prime Minister of Australia, Hon. John Howard. Len provided reassurance to the CM and the PM that patients could be brought to Darwin and we would look after them.

At Richmond, RAAF flight crew were departing in a C-130 to pick up some of our doctors and assess the situation in Bali. The initial thinking was there would be a scoop and run operation of walking wounded. The early information was vague and inaccurate. We had a general surgeon (Dr David Read) and an anæsthetist (Dr Sue Winter) take satellite telephones with them from the RDH. These two doctors were reservists and full time staff specialists at RDH. With our RDH telecommunications we were able to collect raw information from the field. Such information proved invaluable and much more accurate when compared to information from official sources.

In the early afternoon the hospital executive including senior clinical leaders met to discuss how we would manage patients being flown across. We didn’t know how many patients nor what condition they would be in. We called in a lot of staff, being careful not to call in the entire staff knowing this would be a multi-day campaign and we were conscious of fatigue. Many clinicians, pathology scientists, professional officers, administrative and general duties staff volunteered to help. I have memories of garden staff coming in to move equipment and patients as we decanted patients and equipment around the hospital, to the collocated Darwin Private Hospital and to home.

The RDH Boardroom which acted as our command and control centre. It’s not like the modern day room we have in DoHA.

We agreed to decant the two general surgical wards on the second floor, we got all the patients in the hospital in the know and many agreed to go home or somewhere else. We decanted the less sick patients who needed to stay to an old vacant cafeteria area. Some patients we had to force to stay, they wanted to leave to allow their place to be taken by a bombing victim. By the end we had discharged 100 patients to make room and to free up staff.

We moved high dependency patients to the co-located Darwin Private Hospital. We were lucky, we only had one patient in our Intensive Care Unit. We were lucky, Darwin was hosting a meeting of anæsthetists that weekend. We were lucky we had a reasonable amount of time to prepare.

Like any other hospital, despite making bed space available, we still had patients presenting to the ED to be seen. I recall one of my pathology staff fell from his bicycle and needed attention in the ED at the time. A young girl swallowed a fish that went down the wrong way and ended in her airway. She needed urgent attention while the ED went about quietly and calmly preparing.

By the evening we had the second floor clear, the medical wards had also reduced their patient numbers, the ICU had a single patient and we had kitchen and support staff in to keep the hospital going.

Throughout the night we received calls from Dr David Read and Dr Sue Winter who had flown to Bali with the RAAF. We were on the telephone with DFAT and other agencies. The then NT Minister for Health came through at 2100 ACST and she did a walk through with Len and me. We knew in the early morning the first flight would come in and then over about six hours we would receive all the patients. We knew some patients were also being flown to Perth. It was spooky walking through the empty surgical wards of a silent hospital.

During the evening a burns and critical care team from Adelaide arrived to assist. The team from the Royal Adelaide Hospital worked seamlessly with our staff. We had local General Practitioners volunteering to help.

It became known across Australia what we were preparing for and over the next thirty-six hours what we were doing. The news spread across the world. Within Australia, Australians were calling us and sending us food. One lady from Adelaide sent up a heap of pies by an overnight courier. Another lady rang a local Darwin pizza shop and sent pizzas.

In the weeks following I received letters from school kids from around the world. A bloke in Texas sent me hundreds of US dollars in notes and coins in an envelope.

Over the Monday morning and early afternoon, four flights of RAAF C-130 Hercules flew in and brought patients to us with burns, trauma and high speed shrapnel and blast injuries. I remember the smell of the patients, the burnt flesh. I remember how they looked, the most severely burnt patient had no ears, lips or nose. I thought one patient who was being wheeled in in front of me was dead. Then his arm moved and I knew he was alive. He did not survive. I was in the ICU before he died. His bed was gushing with fluid that was coming away from him. We later learnt he wasn’t Australian, he was Greek. Our ICU team were able to make contact with his family in Greece. They were told in his last hours a hospital chaplain held his hand, spoke, sang and prayed with him as he died.

If you’re medically or nursing qualified, the most fascinating and invigorating and spirit enhancing thing was watching specialist physicians, surgeons and their trainees along with other medical practitioners and registered nurses working together. I mean truly working together. The traditional medical referral system was halted for a day or so. Surgeons worked their science and art wherever they could. Debridement and fasciotomies were being performed in wards, corridors and operating theatres. Physicians were working as metabolic teams. They didn’t know their patients, there was no time and many of them were too sick for a relationship with their doctor. We enlisted medical students to ferry pathology results and assist in other very useful ways. The pathology and radiology areas were run ragged. I made time to visit Building 13, my building, the Pathology Department at RDH. My close colleagues in the laboratory, my friends were working frantically. Results were needed by physicians to stabilise and resuscitate patients. Over the days my speciality interest in Clinical Microbiology was needed. The hospital in Bali did a great job but they ran out of supplies and equipment early. To keep cool and to find relief, many patients before the burns took over were conscious enough to cool themselves with water from wherever they could find it. The water wasn’t always clean. Some patients were sitting in water. Bali is replete with multi-antimicrobial resistant bacteria. The patients’ burn wounds were being infected before they left Bali. We spread multi-drug resistant bacteria around Australia as we transferred patients around the country. We had introduced an infection control nightmare. I struggled to stay on top of that plus everything else. Fortunately Darwin has the highest concentration of infectious diseases experts in the universe.

After all the patients arrived, the job was to assess, resuscitate and for the burns patients transport to a burns unit in another state.

With colleagues in DoHA in Canberra and the connections we had with the ADF, senior clinicians from RDH arranged for a milk run around Australia to transport burns and some trauma patients around the country. We did our best to place patients in their home state or territory. That couldn’t always happen. Their clinical needs were paramount. Some patients managed to get direct flights into Brisbane and Adelaide via other aeromedical evacuation (AME) services. I recall with some happiness seeing the Brisbane team arrive and recognising a senior staff specialist from the Princess Alexandra Hospital come and retrieve a couple of patients.

I can remember so many inspiring stories from the days and weeks afterwards. We had visiting dignitaries from within and without Australia. We received updates from burns bosses in the other Australian centres about the patients we shared, those summaries were shared with staff so they knew the destiny and outcome of the patients they got to know briefly but intimately. The cooperation amongst the burns units around Australia was great. There was a lot of information sharing between everyone.

It was about that time I applied to become the permanent General Manager of the Royal Darwin Hospital. I remember the disappointment of being turned down. May to December of 2002 was the most meaningful period of my career. I’ve done lots of other things and done things I’m proud of. The proudest career moments though for me were sharing time with everyone from Royal Darwin Hospital. Working with the best hospital staff anywhere on earth. I’m conscious that most people think their workplace, especially if it’s a hospital thinks where they work or where they trained is the best. I just know what I know and I’m happy with that thought to last me forever.

Since then the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre has been established. I was there when it began and now I work in the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and part of my job is the administration of the funding agreement associated with the NCCTRC. I work with my friend and colleague Dr Len Notaras, AM just like I did when I was in Darwin. The icing on the cake has been the contract between the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane and the NCCTRC. I did the bulk of my medical and specialty training at PAH. It is fantastic to see them working together. RDH and PAH are my two favourite hospitals, the hospitals that built my career, the hospitals that made me the person I am, it is such a good feeling knowing they have a working relationship around trauma.

Last weekend from Thursday evening to Saturday evening I found myself in Darwin for the NCCTRC’s war and disaster conference. I had the best time. We had a dinner with Hon. John Howard, OM AC speaking about the Australian Government’s experience at the time of the first Bali bombings. The new Chief Minister Hon. Terry Mills spoke too. Kamahl was there too to entertain us. Len Notaras’s wife, Robyn Cahill also sang at the dinner. On the Friday we had a clinical symposium for the RDH and visiting PAH clinicians as well as some special guests like Dr Mark Little from Cairns Base Hospital. He spoke about the evacuation of the Cairns Base Hospital for Tropical Cyclone Yasi. On the Saturday we had a Clinical Conference which I spoke at. I also did some media. Here is a short clip of an interview. I’ve been told other aspects of what I said were reported elsewhere http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-04/bali-bombings-doctors-warn-on-disaster-response/4295686?section=nt

Back to ten years ago. Move the clock forward four weeks and we had a barbecue. There was some criticism given the nature of most of the wounds were burns. We thought about it and agreed that the best way to thank the entire hospital was to hold an event revolving around food and letting everyone have some down time. A barbecue was still the best option.  So in mid-November, Len and I and others from within the NT health bureaucracy arranged a huge staff barbecue. I cooked meat and happily fed the hungry. I remember Rodney, one of our groundsmen coming back four times. I remember that night arranging for platters to be delivered and for Len and I to walk through every ward and to speak with and share food with everyone on night duty.

The staff barbecue. I cooked lots of meat.

Move the clock forward a year and some of us were included in the special Bali bombing investiture. I thought long and hard about it. Was I worthy. I wasn’t sure. I decided to agree to accept membership of the Order of Australia. Afterwards there was criticism. How did people get chosen? Why only so few? I queried whether I should relinquish my membership. I spoke with people close to me and I was reminded by so many that I represented the hospital, the people of RDH. Whenever I look at the lapel pin in my jacket or sign my name with the post nomials, I think of the victims and I think of the people at RDH. I try not to always think of the same person but to think about everyone I can remember from that time.

Move the clock forward ten years and what have we done? We have the NCCTRC. We have the Office of Health Protection. We have the National Incident Room which I manage. We have national health emergency preparedness plans for mass trauma and other events. We have evolved. We have grown.

Inside the Aileen Plant National Incident Room.

Importantly the relationship between Australia and Indonesia has grown significantly. The relationship between Darwin and Bali has blossomed. The relationship between RDH/NCCTRC and Sanglah Hospital is fraternal and now involves regular staff exchanges. The relationship between the people of Bali and Australia has become intimate in so many ways. Whatever the motivation was for those responsible for the bombings on 12 October 2002, the result has been a development of preparedness and response from the health sector and a closer bond between the peoples of two countries and two cultures.

Gary

Some extra reading

War and Disaster

Bali Honours List Below the list of the individuals honoured by Australia for their contributions in the response to the October 12, 2002, tragedy in Kuta, Bali.

In Honour of Some Heroes of this War (please read to acknowledge them as many have not)

The Darwin Hospital miracle

Full list: Bali honours

Sanglah General Hospital http://sanglahhospitalbali.com/v1/index.php

Map http://goo.gl/maps/dLw9v


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A weekend in Darwin

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A weekend in Darwin

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.

The interview was aired on television and radio over the Thursday and Friday morning. I also did a live radio interview with Pete Davies from Darwin Mix 104.9 radio station.

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.

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The London Olympic Games 2012 opening ceremony, dinner with friends and pondering one’s mortality.

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Yesterday morning I woke and watched the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games (LOG2012) on television. Channel 9 in Australia has the broadcasting rights. In my personal opinion, Channel 9 doesn’t listen to viewer feedback. They won the rights to other programs like Top Gear from SBS and as a result that program has lost popularity and the sales of DVDs of the Top Gear series I imagine have gone up. Channel 9 was warned by loyal viewers and a strong fan base. Did they listen? No, they twitched too early when the ratings were not to their liking. Any fool could have told them it would not rate as well as they had hoped. It’s a program about cars hosted by three blokes who separately are not as funny as when they are together.

I thought the opening ceremony was fantastic and certainly better than anything we’ve seen in recent decades. As proud as I am to be Australian, the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games (SOG2000) was a forerunner for the movie Australia. A ghastly waste of Australian tax payers’ hard earned money. The volunteers were fantastic, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t think the person in charge had any idea.

The highlights for me were the tribute to the National Health Service, the anthem sung by a choir and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. There were many other fantastic elements, not least the segment of Rowan Atkinson playing the character Mr Bean and the orchestra playing Chariots of Fire. The clip below is not from the LOG2012. It looks like many youtube users are rightly concerned with copyright.

[Please note I do not endorse and detest absolutely cigarette smoking. ]

I think it’s a wonderful thing that the British are so proud of their health service that they would integrate it into their opening ceremony and to focus on the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for Children. Having a nation and their government dedicated to ensuring every citizen has a right to a high standard of health care is a wonderful thing. It made me think of fabulous hospitals in Australia like the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane (not the one in Victoria), the Princess Alexandra Hospital and the Royal Darwin Hospital.

I’ve ranted on social media plenty of times about the singing of national anthems. At important footy matches and other sporting events, all too often the organiser didn’t use his or her brain and selected a “talented” rising star or well known celebrity to mangle and screech or scream or simply add their stupid and ridiculous take on our anthem. In my opinion, the best way to respect with dignity the importance of our anthem and the anthem of other countries is to use a choir. At a footy match is could be a school choir from a local school, for something bigger it could be a professional children’s choir, and for the LOG2012 it was great to see and hear the voices of a group of singers. It was respectful. It was good.

There was a lot of speculation on who would light the Olympic cauldron. It was great seeing Sir Steve Redgrave take a prominent role towards the end, but what was better was seeing a group of young developing athletes each nominated by a former great of British sport light the thing. It was a nice touch seeing Muhammad Ali there given his role in 1980 in Atlanta. It made me think back to SOG2000. I thought it should have been Susie O’Neil but I’m in a minority there.

After a fairly quiet day Bron and I went to dinner with friends P and L. We’ve enjoyed many fine dinners with them before and their meals have featured in this blog.

Alaskan king crab with aioli

Last night we brought Alaskan King crab that we’d purchased from Costco and Bron made some aioli. For the main meal we had steamboat (hotpot) plus a tray of roasted pork belly. I was fortunate to have the tray of porcine heaven in front of me. There is little better than bite sized pieces of perfectly cooked belly pork along with an amazing dipping sauce.

The steamboat was really good. We had noodles, pork, chicken, beef, fish and prawns plus heaps of vegetables and mushrooms plus some great dipping sauces. L and I like a really hot chilli sauce while P is a big fan of plum sauce. There was also tofu. Bron and L tried to explain how good tofu is. How tofu absorbs flavours and can taste really great in a laksa. If I have a table of real meat and vegetables in front of me, I’m not deliberately going to choose tofu.

Mmm…roast pork belly. I love roasted pork belly.

The table laid out ready for dinner.

You can see in the net some lovely mushrooms.

Towards the end as all the meat and vegetables and yes tofu was coming to an end, we tipped everything into the now developing broth. P and L had laid the table with sipping cups like the ones we have hot chocolate in at Max Brenner. You know, the ones that look like toilet bowls. These are a fantastic idea for steamboat. At the end, when everything was cooked in the broth, we spooned out the final bits and pieces and from the sipping cup drank then best tasting oriental soup you’ll ever taste.

Doesn’t it look good.

This was amazing soup.

P has been continuing his exploration of the world of desserts. His journey is continuing (P understands why I wrote journey…private joke) and discovering new delights. Last night he made a baked cheesecake with coconut cream and topped with slices of pineapple. This was served with Zabaglione. This is the first time P has made it and the first time I’ve tried it. It was fantastic. P, L and Bron enjoyed it with a sticky dessert wine that had a 20 per cent alcohol content. Everyone was pretty happy when the coffee and walnut rocky road plus chocolate covered blueberries came out at the end.

Coconut cream cheesecake topped with pineapple and Zabaglione

Cheesecake and Zabaglione get in my belly now.

Bron also developed a canine crush on Bundy. Bundy belongs to P and L and is a pretty happy pooch.

Bron and Bundy on her lap.

Coffee and walnut rocky road and chocolate covered blueberries

I’m not sure if it was the amount of food and a late night or the week I’ve had at work, but I had some freaky dreams last night. There was lots of thinking about death and mortality. I watched someone die in my dreams and was asked to verify death. It made me think of late night ward call when I was a resident and being called to verify a patient’s death. I went for a walk with Bron this morning and started thinking again about how good it would be to plug my brain into a robot. I’m now at an age when I’m thinking about life and death more often. I’m witnessing my body go through the changes you hear about and learn about when you’re younger. Wouldn’t it be nice to simply plug your brain into a mechanical body and go and skip and jump and see things just like when you were a kid?

This afternoon instead of lunch we had an early afternoon tea and I had a lovely vanilla slice from Ricardo’s at Jamison.

Vanilla slice