Worcestershire sauce | Yummy Lummy

I’ve been at a low ebb this week for a wide range of reasons. After a week that ended in the wanton wonton weekend I had a lot of catching up to do at work as well as the extra work associated with a week of meetings. In addition I started using a CPAP machine at night. For my adult life and according to Mum my childhood too, I’ve been a loud snorer. Given I’m now getting older and getting to that age when I should start putting in place all those things I learnt in medical school, I’m taking my health more seriously. I now have a general practitioner (GP) and I now think more seriously about exercise. With a history of snoring, my GP referred me to a respiratory physician with an interest in sleep medicine. I spent a night in a sleep laboratory and came out discovering I do not have sleep apnœa (which is good), but that I have frequent hypopnœas. Roughly thirty or more times a night I stop breathing for up to 10 seconds.

On Tuesday I was fitted for a continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) machine and I’ve been using it each night since. The brochures and other literature I’ve read says it can take up to a month or more to get used to CPAP therapy. I hope it takes less than that because I’m finding I’m more tired and irritable than ever before. In many of the on-line forums it looks like some people need repeated fittings and flow titration. Every morning this week I’ve got up feeling worse than when I wasn’t using CPAP.

My bedside CPAP set up

It may be that I’d be better learning to play the didgeridoo which has been shown to assist patients with sleep apnœa.

I will persist because I want to learn to sleep better. I average about five hours a night which isn’t enough. I’m usually in bed early and I wake multiple times a night and then rise at about 0400 to go for a walk. I hope one day to sleep through the night each night and wake at 0600 and exercise then. That will mean a later start at work which has it’s own problems for me but I’ll deal with that soon.

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Last night I went out with friends to the Shogun Japanese Restaurant and had my first Teppanyaki experience. The restaurant itself felt a little old and dated. That said the wait staff were friendly and helpful. I had been told that many Japanese restaurants are not inexpensive especially if the quality of the food and experience is high. We chose from a set Teppanyaki menu for around $39 per person. There was a mixed reaction amongst my friends. For me the cost was reasonable for the quality of the beef, chicken and fish as well as the entertainment provided by the chef. The set menu consists of an entrée, soup, three meats and a dessert. I thought it was worthwhile and if the opportunity arose again I’d return.

Entrée

Raw fish and chicken

Cooked fish

Omelet being prepared for fried rice.

Beef and sprouts waiting to be cooked.

Beef and chicken cooking.

Flaming beef

Ice cream, cream and fruit for dessert.

The Teppanyaki chef wrote this in salt upside down and back to front.

Map for Shogun Japanese Restaurant in Canberra http://goo.gl/maps/FYrU0

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After Shogun we went to Koko Black which is an institution in Canberra. I had a hot chocolate affogato because it was a cool night last night.

Hot chocolate and vanilla bean ice cream

Hot chocolate affogato

Map for Koko Black in Canberra http://goo.gl/maps/dHDil

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During the week I came across a Jamie Oliver recipe which I stored in Evernote. I bought some beef mince and made burgers with some mustard and beer (XXXX Gold). I arranged the burger as an open sandwich on a slice of toasted multigrain Vienna loaf with some thickly sliced tomato and thinly sliced pickle. I used Jamie’s yoghurt and Worcestershire sauce idea as a sauce. In addition I made a slaw with cabbage, carrot and red onion.

On balance, I should have used a knife rather than a food processor for the slaw. The burger tasted okay but I think I should have purchased a coarser grade of beef mince. The yoghurt and Worcestershire sauce idea was pretty good on the burger. The seed mustard was a good addition. It’s a pity I can’t drink much alcohol otherwise the stubbie would have made a good accompaniment to the burger.

Yoghurt and Worcestershire sauce

Kensington Pride Mango

Addendum….the next night

Open burger sandwich

On Wednesday I spent the day in Sydney for a meeting. I flew back to Canberra on Virgin Australia. I was able to enjoy an afternoon snack of cheese and ice cream plus some quince paste.

A snack on a Virgin Australia flight. Cheese, quince paste and an ice cream sandwich.

On Thursday morning inspired by the Ranting Chef and a post on 09 August I made baked beans on toast. I added a little Holbrooks Worcestershire sauce and some chili flakes plus Tabasco sauce for spice. I would have added an egg but it was already going to be enough.

Baked beans on toast with coffee

On Thursday evening we went to celebrate the birthday of a friend. We went to Sanur’s Balinese Restaurant in Belconnen. We’ve been there a few times before and I’ve blogged about the experience. Bron and I shared an entrée (Sanur’s Deluxe Platter for Two $18.9 A platter of mixed spring roll, chicken or beef satay, sweet corn patties and battered prawns) and I asked for fried chicken (“Chicken” Char Grilled or Fried ½ Chicken $18.9 Sanur Style Chicken marinated in house special ingredients and served with sambal bajak). I was a little disappointed it was dry and not that flavoursome. Bron had the Crispy Ayam ($18.9 Battered marinated chicken thigh tossed with garlic and aromatic salt) which was delicious. The chicken was moist, tender and tasty. For dessert we both enjoyed the Coconut Delusion ($8.90 Coconut pancake filled with unti (shredded coconut) with pandan anglaise, ice cream & toasted almonds).

Entrée platter

Fried chicken

Bron’s chicken

Coconut dessert

The evening was punctuated with hilarious stories of menstrual period iPhone apps and videos of a bloke called Merv who is good at sucking. The flow of the conversation had periods of tension and hilarity. There was lots of talk about the ladies cycling together. I didn’t know they all had bicycles.

This is Merv

On Friday morning Bron and I enjoyed our regular Mavi Breakfast wrap.

Mavi breakfast wrap

For lunch on Friday I felt like some hot chips from Urban Bean in my work building. These chips are delicious. A small container costs $4 which sounds expensive (and it is) but the container is quite large. It also comes with some aioli.

Great hot chips

On Friday night Bron made a light dinner. We had a baked egg in a creamy Italian style risotto. It was delicious. This is a split photograph edited before and after the egg was cracked.

Baked egg and risotto

For breakfast on Saturday we had poached eggs and ham. I wanted a little cranberry sauce too.

Poached egg with ham and cranberry

After doing some washing and house work we went out to Ricardo’s café in Jamison for afternoon tea. Bron had a golden mousse and I ate a swan.

Golden mousse

Swan

For dinner on Saturday we celebrated another friend’s birthday and went to Chairman and Yip after drinks at Benchmark wine bar. I was a little disappointed by the Benchmark wine bar. The drinks were really expensive and I got the feeling they were trying to get us out yet the restaurant was only about a third full. There was a huge hens party going on and we had wait staff asking us if we wanted more drinks every five minutes. My greatest disappointment as someone who cannot drink alcohol though is the absence of pineapple juice. That’s what I wanted. In the end I settled for a lemon lime and bitters. To be fair it was our waiter’s first shift. A friend asked for a Chardonnay and he received Chandon sparkling wine. Our waiter was very apologetic and smiled a lot.

At Chairman and Yip it was very different. The wait staff were efficient yet unobtrusive and allowed us to enjoy our meal. This was one of the nicest meals I’ve eaten in Canberra. For en entrée I asked for duck pancakes and ended up sharing with Bron who had pan fried Kurobuta Rich River (Victoria) pork cake with red wine vinaigrette. Both entrées come for $16.50. Both were delicious although the pork cakes were more filling.

Duck pancakes

char-grilled fillet of beef with shallot and spring onion sauce

For a main course I asked for a char-grilled fillet of beef with shallot and spring onion sauce. Bron asked for beef and scallop ground pepper hot pot, M asked for chairman’s red curry chicken and L asked for pumpkin and cucumber with caramelised chili and kaffir lime.

pumpkin and cucumber with caramelised chili and kaffir lime

My first plate, in the end we shared everything amongst each other.

For dessert I asked for a panna cotta with a passionfruit sauce. Bron asked for Pyramid of chocolate mousse over white chocolate mousse that sounded like chocolate fellatio which created uproar at our table.

Panna cotta with passionfruit sauce

This morning we had breakfast at Ellacure in Bruce. We’ve been meaning to do this for a long time. It didn’t disappoint. I asked for poached eggs on toast with a side of hollandaise and avocado while Bron asked for Eggs Benedict with bacon (this is Bron’s instagram image). Breakfast at Ellacure is very worthwhile. The service is very good and the food is delicious. The service verged on trying to get us out, but really, it was 0900 in the morning and they would be very busy after 0930. They were very efficient. I would rank this a great place in Canberra for breakfast or brunch.

Look I got pineapple juice

The best thing was I got pineapple juice

Poached eggs, hollandaise and avocado. This is one of the best photographs I’ve taken.

Don’t forget coffee

Tonight I was inspired by another blogger I follow, viz., Live2EatEat2Live aka The Mouse. He recently posted a picture that I have fond memories of as a boy. This is my version.