It’s been a big day. My three daughters all had things on and I’m happy I could get them all there on time without any major problems. Okay, there are some Brisbane drivers who did not appreciate a couple of rapid lane changes when I couldn’t quite understand the new road system in Brisbane. I’ve now lived in Darwin and Canberra since the beginning of 1996 and have gone soft when it comes to driving. Brisbane has changed so much and the motorways and overpasses are something more like the roads I’ve seen in Los Angeles. I’m surprised I made it everywhere and back today. Because I only visit every couple of months, my ability to navigate traffic is a struggle. Ask anyone who knows me and I am very directionally challenged.
Today Miss18 was a volunteer at Paniyiri which is a Greek festival in Brisbane. Volunteering is part of her events management course. Miss12 had gymnastics training and Miss16 had the South East Queensland Regional Senior Women’s Artistic Gymnastics competition. I was able to watch the L9 (MIss16) and L8 competition this afternoon. Miss16 did okay. She came second on the uneven bars and third on the floor. I captured a nice video of her floor routine on my iPad but then accidentally deleted it. Fortunately I had already posted a low resolution version to YouTube. I wish I could recover the original video without resorting to paying for an app to recover the file. I know what you’re thinking, Gary was one of those dorks holding up an iPad while video recording an event. Yes I was! The camera is a good one and the quality is very satisfactory.
I tried to enhance the quality by using the YouTube enhancement tools but it’s pretty shaky and grainy.
The competition was held at Moreton Bay College
I needed lunch. A bacon, egg and hash brown burger. I hope I don’t get sick. I noticed the eggs and hash brown were pre cooked and then heated again on the hot plate. I nearly said something but figured, it’s a typical school sporting event and hopefully everything was cooked properly the first time through.
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Moreton Bay College is a pretty well endowed girls school.
I’ve never seen illuminated podia before.
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Tonight we went out to dinner to celebrate birthdays and Mother’s Day. My birthday was on 1 May, Miss16 and Miss18 had their birthday on 8 May and my Dad has his birthday on 23 May. Miss18 also got a part-time job to her her get through her events management course and business degree. We decided on Hog’s Breath Cafe because it’s family friendly and a decent meal for hungry mouths.
I had an avocado prime rib steak
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Miss12 and Miss18 asked for a crispy chicken burger each
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Miss16 asked for the TexMex chicken steak combination meal. It was huge.
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The meals took quite a while to get to us because the restaurant was so busy. They’ve opened up more recently and enhanced the parking area.
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I asked if anyone wanted dessert. Miss18 shook her head. Miss12 smiled and said yes and Miss16 said no and then Mum asked about banana bread and butterscotch sauce…Miss16 relented.
This shot doesn’t do the plate justice. It was an extra large plate almost covered in a deep layer of butterscotch sauce. Mum and Miss16 really enjoyed it.
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The plate is so long the ice cream is blurry. This is the Strawberry pavlova Miss12 and I wanted.
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It’s been a good day. Tomorrow Miss18 heads back to volunteer at Paniyiri and Miss12 has to help with a gymnastics competition for juniors. That means Miss16 and I get to enjoy Greek food at Paniyiri by ourselves.
For the last week I’ve been eating more meals as wraps. My week in Instagram shows it in graphic detail I’m not sure why I’ve turned to wraps this week. Instagram followers will be familiar with my love of the Mavi Breakfast Wrap over the last 18 months.
I decided on Friday I was so going to make a version of Hilah’s sausage wrap because my version from Thursday night was crap in comparison. I split my snag and added onion.
I did the onions in the afternoon. I needed three large brown onions, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of brown sugar and a two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. I spent about an hour softening the onions with the oil and a good pinch of salt. I then added the sugar and vinegar and stirred regularly for another hour. It turned into a lovely gooey mess of happiness. I also added a little curry powder and smoked paprika for flavour.
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On Monday evening Bron came over for dinner and inspired by Hilah I made a sausage and onion wrap.
Bron brought over some caramelised onion she bought at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. I cooked the sausages like Hilah did in her video and made the wrap. The bread I bought even came with little paper pocket bags.
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The best part of the evening though was that Bron brought over some of her home made macarons and non-churn ice cream. The flavours were orange and cardamon and lemon curd ice creams. The macarons where chocolate with chocolate popping candy ganache and lemon curd.
This dessert was amazingly good. Bron is a genius in the kitchen and a genius in general (yes her IQ is off the charts)
This has been a fantastic Easter weekend. For my non-Australian friends; in Australia we get the Good Friday and the following Monday as public holidays. It’s one of the best public holiday long weekends we have.
It all started on Thursday afternoon and coincided with my manifestation of #ManFlu I shared a classic YouTube video on #ManFlu in my Mamak in Haymarket post from a few days ago. Every time I get a head cold I end up with rigors and sinusitis and I feel like death warmed up.
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On Thursday evening Bron cooked dinner.
Bron’s stir fry
This was delicious
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Bron cooked hot cross buns on Thursday evening
Hot cross buns
I so wanted one that I pestered Bron to break one off and share one on Thursday evening
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On Friday morning we had hot cross buns
Hot cross buns
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On the drive to Sydney for the weekend we stopped at Goulburn for a toilet stop and a break
MaltEaster
These won’t roll down the aisle of a picture theatre lol
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On arriving in Sydney we had to work out how to find and park near our hotel. We chose to stay at the Oaks Goldsbrough Apartments (on 243 Pyrmont Street Darling Harbour NSW 2009). Originally built in 1883, The Oaks Goldsbrough was Sydney’s original Goldsbrough-Mort Wool store. Maintaining many historical features, such as the ironbark columns and tallow-wood flooring, The Oaks Goldsbrough Apartment Hotel combines the facilities and service of a modern hotel with the privacy and spaciousness of a fully self-contained apartment. At first I thought it was an old gaol but then tweeps were telling me about the building’s history.
Oaks Goldsbrough Apartments
I really enjoyed my stay here. It was a relatively quiet well appointed apartment. The kitchen is spacious and well equipped except there was no oven. The microwave oven was a little dated and old. The bathroom/laundry was pretty good too. A little more storage and bench space would have been handy. The lounge area was fine with a big screen television, cable television connection and a DVD player that also accepted USB drives. The bedroom was fine except there wasn’t a set of drawers just very tall wardrobes.
On Saturday morning we enjoyed the last of the hot cross buns
Hot cross buns
Bron’s butter with some bun
Bron claims this is a misrepresentation lol
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The plan for the day was to go shopping in Rhodes and visit Ikea.
Morning iced coffee
I was feeling pretty poorly and thought a hot coffee would make me nauseated. The iced coffee alternative was not too bad.
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I went in wanting to buy a cabinet for my kitchen equipment
Ikea purchases
I bought a heap of other things too
I also brought back a catalogue for a work mate
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Of course no visit to Ikea is complete without a meal of Swedish meatballs, Lingonberries, mashed potato and gravy.
Lunch
I chose a medium plate. Quite a number of tweeps and Facebook friends asked questions about horse meat. Ikea in Australia has declared their meat balls to be horse meat free.
I tried some Swedish festive drink. My #ManFlu was so bad I couldn’t tell it was sweet.
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Enjoying a meat ball
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In the evening as my #ManFlu was peaking at its worst we went to dinner at Rockpool on George. I blogged about this a couple of nights ago. It was an amazing dinner. It was so good. Rather than repeat the food images I’d encourage you to read the post. I’ll simply insert here an image of the afternoon.
Sydney Opera House
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On Sunday morning I woke up feeling pretty ordinary. We had planned to attend the Sydney Royal Easter Show 2013. The tickets also included public transport. We got off to an okay start and caught a train from Town Hall station and alighted at Homebush. We should have alighted at Olympic Park. This created a slight delay and a delay in accessing caffeine which was our most pressing need. We eventually got to the show grounds and found coffee and food.
Bacon and egg roll with a coffee
As far as shows are concerned and for my USA friends these are like County fairs I imagine, my all time favourite is The Ekka http://www.ekka.com.au/ in Brisbane every August. The next best is the Royal Darwin Show. http://www.darwinshow.com.au/ The Sydney one is also pretty good and given its proximity to Camberra (3 hours drive) it’s a good option for me at the moment.
Wood chopping as a sport started in Australia. My favourite events are the underhand, tree felling and the relay. What we noticed on Sunday was the unusual number of competitors who failed to finish. We hope there wasn’t something wrong with them. Given Australian axe men are also known for the drinking, I just hope they were hung over rather than ill or not up to the competition.
At any show I love looking at animals, produce and cake decorating. Rather than spend the day capturing images we simply enjoyed walking around looking at things. Some things though did need to be captured.
This year’s biggest pumpkin (618 kilograms)
This years smallest pumpkin
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Dog showing
Is that the best suit you’ve ever seen or what?
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For lunch we had chair sui bao
Barbecue pork buns
We ate these while in the main arena watching moto-X
We started feeling weary after the Flyball and decided to leave. The train journey into the city was uneventful.
For dinner we decided to walk around Darling Harbour and look for a place to eat. I had a hankering for some meat. We came across Braza Churrascaria and walked in. We were seated at a table and the protocol explained. This is not the sort of place that you can photograph everything. The wait staff walk around with trays of meat and serve it onto your plate. It’s basically all the meat you can eat.
Later in the evening was went to the IMAX theatre and watched Top Gun in 3D. A great movie in terms of scenes of fighter jets and an aircraft carrier. The Darling Harbour LG IMAX theatre bills itself as the biggest and the best in the world. I have no idea if this is true.
After the last blog post last weekend I finished with an image of chicken schnitzel. Here it is cooked with some fried eggs. Yum comfort food.
Chicken high schnitzel with fried eggs
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On Sunday morning I had breakfast with Bron and we went to Black Pepper for Eggs Benedict.
I always ask for more Hollandaise sauce
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I went to work on Sunday to catch up on some work. Fortunately I had a snack there.
An extreme chocolate whoopie
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From my garden
I do nothing to the garden bed in my apartment. I do not even add water and look at what grows.
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Sunday night dinner of salmon salad
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Monday was a public holiday. I visited Bron and we had her homemade hot cross buns
These were really good. I had two and lots of butter.
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After another day at work on a public holiday I made chicken salad
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Tuesday night I felt a little blergh and just made chicken and potato gems (tater tots)
I felt better after eating this.
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Bron has been busy making macarons. Look at these babies. Salted caramel, rose water and vanilla.
A salted caramel maracon.
This is the best salted caramel macaron I’ve ever tasted. These were so good. I love the way the flavours change as I bit into them and then as my tongue made contact.
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My personal passport expires in about eight months. It is easier to renew it before it expires. I pick up my new one in a couple of weeks.
Most of the travel I do is for work and for that I use an official passport. My current personal passport expires in January 2014. Given a passport cannot be used for the last six months of its ‘life’ and because renewing a current passport is many orders of magnitude easier than renewing an expired passport, I thought it was time.
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Nothing beats a sausage roll for a quick lunch
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It was nice having a WIZZ FIZZ lollipop
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Thursday morning treat from Bron
Now this is the morning after the meal at Morks so I wasn’t that hungry but who can resist macarons.
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It was Jacqui’s birthday at work. We didn’t our usual Pay day Pie day, instead we had a burger. You may recall Jacqui from last week’s post.
This is an Urban Cheese. It is a cheeseburger from Urban Bean Espresso Bar. It has an Angus beef pattie, tasty cheese, bacon, fried egg and beetroot. The chips came with homemade mayonnaise.
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I just had a salad for dinner
Followed with macarons
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Mmm…Friday morning rituals. Mavi Breakfast wrap. This one was amazingly good.
The owner made this one and we reckon he put in more bacon and mushrooms.
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Hot chip Friday lunch of course
You’d think I would have had enough of these but no.
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Saturday morning breakfast
This was a mistake. We had breakfast at Gourmet Deli in Belconnen Westfield shopping centre. This place has great coffee and is a fantastic delicatessen. This breakfast was a little too ‘greasy’.
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For dinner on Saturday night I was at Bron’s place. Bron has been thinking of making Jamie Oliver’s Yorkshire puddings again. She’d made them a little over a year ago and we blogged about it.
Here are some very short video sequences of the puddings being poured and rising in the oven. I have uploaded them on Vine but don’t know how to embed Vine into this blog so I’ve embedded YouTube uploads.
It’s very hard to describe just how nice it is to have the tangy trout and horseradish along with the crisp fresh fluffy pudding
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Dinner is served
It looks great doesn’t it?
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Bite sized morsels of happiness
This is perfection between my fingers
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Oh yeah there was a pear and walnut salad
This added a lovely touch
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Dessert was Bron’s amazing sticky date pudding with butterscotch and custard
This is I think Bron’s signature dessert. No one makes it better. The butterscotch sauce is to die for. The custard is perfect. The ice cream was Madagascan Vanilla Bean.
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Sunday breakfast was simple and in two stages
Poached eggs are so yummy
Check it out. Hot homemade hot cross bun.
I hope you agree this looked so good. It tasted better.
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After a walk today I needed a snack.
Australian Havarti cheese on toast
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For dinner tonight I made some honey soy salmon and a salad.
I like the sweetness of mixing honey with soy on the hot fry pan and reducing it.
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For dessert Bron gave me some of her sticky date pudding.
It was a nice big piece with extra butterscotch sauce and custard. This was just so good.
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So ends this post.Thank you for reading this and going through my instagram experience. I’d also invite you to view my Facebook page and if you like it please click the LIKE button. Thanks.
I hope everyone has a great week at work. I know I’ve been finding my new role a challenge and it seems there is a lot of fatigue around not just in my workplace but from what I hear and read around the place. I hope everyone finds balance in their life. Take care. Live long and prosper.
On a good note, the Brisbane Broncos defeated the St George Illawarra Dragons this week and the Gold Coast Titans defeated the Canberra Raiders. It was unfortunate that the Melbourne Storm defeated the North Queensland Cowboys. I don’t feel that bad though because Melbourne are my number four team. For those who don’t know me well my top four teams in the National Rugby League are 1. Brisbane Broncos, 2. North Queensland Cowboys, 3. Gold Coast Titans, and 4. The Melbourne Storm. For Soccer it’s the Brisbane Roar. For the Australian Football League it’s the Brisbane Lions and the Gold Coast Suns. For cricket it’s the Queensland Bulls. For Rugby it’s the Queensland Reds. For State of Origin it is the Queensland XXXX Maroons. One day I’ll reveal the teams I detest.
Yesterday was Australia Day. It’s a day that most Australians celebrate to remember the landing of the first fleet in what would become Sydney in 1788. When I say most Australians there are many Indigenous Australians who refer to 26 January as Invasion Day. Australia Day is a national day and a public holiday is always gazetted. Given this year 26 January falls on a Saturday all the celebrations occurred yesterday yet we get Monday as a public holiday. I love Australia. We get so many public holidays and everyone receives four weeks of recreation leave a year as a basic employment entitlement. That said, statistics show that Australians work longer hours per week than most member countries of the OECD so while we get plenty of holidays, we also know how to work hard.
English: Dick Smith (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On Australia Day, I always think about how fortunate I am to have been born in Australia and to be Australian. For many Australians the celebration revolves around food and alcohol. As a non-drinker (which is pretty uncommon in Australia), I focus on food. In recent years the lamb industry has invested significantly in advertising that real Australians eat lamb on Australia Day. While I don’t believe it’s unpatriotic not to eat lamb on Australia Day, I do like lamb so that’s what I had.
There was also a very cheeky YouTube and television video played this Australia Day by Dick Smith who is an entrepreneur, business man and advocate for buying Australian made.
Tuesday was a long day at work. On entering my apartment car park I noticed water on the concrete and water pouring from the ceiling onto cars below. The area roughly coincided with where my apartment is above. I immediately had very dark thoughts. Did I leave a tap running, was the toilet leaking, was the washing machine leaking… I parked my car and raced up the stairs, at least I tried to but the carpet covering the stairs was soaked and there was water flowing. I opened my apartment door and was confronted with water across the floor and over the tiles in the kitchen area. I quickly took my shoes and socks off to look in the laundry and bathroom. Everything was fine. I walked out my door and noticed a fire hydrant in the services well was on and flowing. I turned it off and noticed the outer door was open; on walking outside there was a man in a high visibility fluorescent shirt. He was a plumber. I asked him if he knew what was going on. He said someone on the second floor had turned on the fire hose and when they tried to turn it off the faucet broke and the flow could not be stopped. I asked why the hydrant was open on my floor and he explained it needed to be open to prevent back flow to the upper floors. The plumber was waiting out the front for a delivery of spare parts because local hardware stores didn’t have the right parts to fix the hydrant. He had been waiting for an emergency store to be opened. I expect he couldn’t turn the water off to the entire complex so let the water run. The down side was that water flowed through my apartment.
I went back to my apartment to try to clean up and prevent any further spread and water damage. I quickly moved as much stuff as possible from the floor. Fortunately most of my personal possessions were stored off the carpet. I’m a renter so I quickly called the real estate agent so she could inform the owner. She also gave me the name of a carpet cleaner who could come out and try to prevent any further damage.
My kitchen floor covered in water.
The carpet in my doorway.
A floor fan that has been blowing since Tuesday evening.
I didn’t get much sleep because of the fan. I needed lots of this black coffee.
This is the noise…
I worked from home today and was able to make my lunch. Sardines with red onion, ground pepper and chilli flakes along with avocado. This was inspired by a twitter friend @SunburyFi who posted last week a picture of a sardine sandwich.
The carpet care company my real estate agent suggested was Steamatic. As soon as I called they said they could come out that night and start the process. It turns out my neighbour is also with the same agent and his apartment was worse off so I waited until his place had been attended to before mine got started. The process begins with lifting the carpet and removing the soaked underlay. A floor fan is then started and this will now blow for about four days, especially because I’m living on a concrete slab as it takes longer to dry. It was a rough sleep last night and will continue to be for the next few nights. I don’t expect the carpet to be relaid any time soon. This is such an inconvenience. I still don’t know why the dwellers above turned on the fire hose. I’d like an explanation, all I know is I’m assuming the owner has insurance and the insurance company will be paying for all the repairs. I guess though I won’t be compensated for my inconvenience.
I’m very grateful to friends on twitter, facebook and instagram who commented after I posted comments and images on what was happening. This is what I love about social media. I really appreciate everyone’s concern as well as the helpful suggestions on things to do. I’m especially grateful for the funny responses which did lighten my mood
Dinner tonight was good but noisy
Yummy salmon, avocado, grated fresh beetroot, celery, chilli, cucumber, Gorgonzola, ground pepper, lemon juice, lettuce, Maggie Beer quince paste, spring onion, Tabasco sauce and tomato.
Since my last post I had a relaxed Sunday and a busy first day back to work.
It’s silly I think that as soon as Christmas is over supermarkets are selling hot cross buns. I mean the buns are yummy especially when warmed in the oven and slathered with real butter. But Easter is months away.
In an attempt to avoid another broken tooth I chose a softer white bread and didn’t toast it. If you click on the image you’ll see a comment from Trish (@eatshootblog) about multigrain bread being “Dentists’ Delight”. It’s a pity because I love multigrain bread. The Maggie Beer pâté and quince paste was still good along with the Gorgonzola.
Sunday night dinner was Chicken Maryland with lettuce, Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated fresh raw beetroot, spring onion, avocado, tomato, lemon juice and herb bread served with pineapple and mint crushed ice drink.
Back to work Monday I didn’t make my own lunch. I bought a really nice brie and onion quiche from the Urban Bean Espresso Bar.
We also had a small afternoon tea for Ursula who is the branch’s executive assistant. It was Ursula’s birthday last week. The brownies in the foreground were very very nice.
Dinner was simple, some Salmon, Chinese sausage, lettuce, celery, cucumber, tomato, lemon juice and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese with fresh grated beetroot.
This week the weather predictions for Australia are extreme and next week it gets worse. The Bureau of Meteorology has altered it’s temperature modelling charts because the old scale had a maximum of 50 °C, now it is 54 °C. Monday evening was warm and when I went for a walk at around 0500 AEDT it was what I would regard as pleasant but what everyone else in Canberra felt was too hot. Tuesday was a pretty bad day across the southern parts of Australia with temperatures averaging the mid to high 40s in some areas. There were numerous spot fires and large grass fires that burnt extensive areas of land destroying homes and livestock.
Friday of my holiday started slowly. Mum and Dad slept in and I watched a couple of episodes of The walking Dead series 3 on my iPad. We went grocery shopping for dinner and other things. The girls would be arriving that afternoon and I was cooking dinner. It’s been such a long time since I’ve cooked them dinner. They each love salmon so that was a natural choice. Bro41 was coming over with his three kids too so I had ten to feed.
At lunch time Mum and Dad introduced me to one of their staples, Knackwurst on toast. Given recent snag stand adventures, a snag on a Friday seemed to make sense.
Knackwurst with barbecue sauce on toast.
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Friday afternoon grew dark with rain clouds.
Dark rain clouds.
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It didn’t take long for it to rain.
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Between Mum and me, we made coleslaw, a simple lettuce and tomato salad, sausages, salmon, eggs and prawns. The sausages were mainly for my nephew and nieces who can be a little particular.
My plate. The girls loved dinner and having Dad cook for them. They loved the salmon.
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There is not much better than an old fashioned bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocmint ice cream magic and a chocolate wafer.
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Saturday morning arrived and we made ready for a day at Dreamworld in Coomera in the Gold Coast.
We had a left over baguette from Friday night and I made the girls vegemite bites.
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We got to Dreamworld and the first ride we wanted to ride was the Buzz saw.
The tigers at Dreamworld are a great attraction. Here is a short clip of two of them having a little fun with each other.
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The gates closed at Dreamworld at 1700 AEST. We went and had another go of the Tower of Terror II.
After Dreamworld we checked into the Mantra Broadbeach on the Park. We reserved a two bedroom apartment. It is a well set out apartment and we’re very comfortable.
It’s coming close to the end of 2012. It’s been an interesting and tumultuous year in some respects. I’m still not sure if this will be my last post of the year. Somehow I think I have more to give especially if I continue to eat like I am while in Brisbane.
Christmas day was a very different one for me. This is the first time I’ve spent Christmas day with Mum and Dad and no one else. I’ll get to see my daughters on Friday. My brothers were doing things with their own immediate families and there were no visitors and no visits to aunts, uncles and cousins places. We’ve all grown up and this year I spent the day with Mum and Dad.
The Christmas day post outlined the majority of the food images from breakfast and lunch.
In the afternoon we went for a short stroll. Dad now walks with a stick so we’re limited to pavement and roads.
The afternoon was glorious. It was warm and it was humid enough to not be uncomfortably dry.
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We ventured around the retirement village and aged care facility on site. It’s ominous when an ambulance arrives with sirens and leaves slowly in silence.
The village has its own swimming pool and lawn bowls area.
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Dinner was a simple affair. Mum decided we didn’t need pudding or cake or anything too sickly sweet after a big lunch. I agreed on a spread of cheese and fruit.
This was a delicious way to end the day. We had fresh mangoes, cherries, seedless water melon and cheeses.
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Boxing Day morning I woke up feeling good in my skin. It was warm and it was raining. I had a bead of sweat on my forehead and my skin didn’t feel dry and cracked.
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Boxing Day in Australia (like many countries) means that large department stores and malls have significant sales on. Department stores like David Jones and Myer do a brisk trade as do most other stores. In Sydney the David Jones stores open at 0500 AEDT. In Melbourne it’s 0600 AEDT. Brisbane is more civilised and the stores tend to open at 0900 AEST. I’d bought the girls their present in Canberra and brought it up with me. I also intended to buy them some things that were going to be on sale. With steely determination I ventured to Westfield Chermside. I arrived at 0845 AEST and car park was full.
This sort of parking is what elicits car park rage. I witnessed another person write something rude on a piece of paper and attach it to the driver’s side window.
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Rather than wake up Mum and Dad I elected to have breakfast at the mall.
The eggs were pretty good. The Hollandaise wasn’t that good. There was hardly enough to pour on both eggs. I had breakfast at Cafe Siena in Westfield Chermside. I wrote a Google+ review.
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I ended up getting my girls some extra stuff for their new Wii U plus some games and external hard drives for their photographs and other data.
On getting back to Mum and Dad’s I noticed the flowers I got for Mum’s birthday which was last week. These are Australian natives. They’ll last for weeks if not months.
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One of the nice things about an abundance of Christmas food is left overs.
Today’s lunch was fresh white bread filled with chicken, duck, mayonnaise and lettuce.
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Another feature of Boxing Day in Australia is a cricket test match played in Melbourne. When I was a boy I happily spent hours watching cricket relieved during breaks when we’d go outside and play cricket in the back yard. Today was the first time I’ve sat and watched cricket with Dad for decades. In the late afternoon though I discovered (to some horror) that Mum and Dad enjoy the television soap opera, viz., The Bold and the Beautiful. I elected to go for a walk rather than endure that.
I walked past a Jenny Craig franchise and thought after all I’ve eaten I may need to visit.
That said there is a legal history between Jenny Craig and my father so I never will.
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This is where I bought my first Ford Falcon. Not a V8, they were to come later when I lived in Darwin when I owned three V8 Falcons and Fairmonts.
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This is a place we used to frequent in the 1980s and get takeaway Chinese food from. As an IG friend quipped, not exactly new anymore.
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Boxing day dinner was a simple affair of left over chicken and duck plus some potato bake and a salad. It was delicious with lots of avocado.
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This morning I woke to the tragic news that Gerry Anderson had died after a battle with dementia. Gerry was the creator of SUPERMARIONATION and the developer and producer of television programs like Thunderbirds are GO, Fireball XL5 and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. As a kid and even now I love the Thunderbirds. The whole concept of International Rescue and the story behind Jeff Tracy and his sons each named after a Mercury astronaut was so compelling. Now that I work in emergency management there are days I wish we had The Thunderbirds on-call. Virgil was my favourite character. Virgil piloted TB2. I was also very fond of Gordon who piloted TB4.
Breakfast was sombre and simple. Vegemite and jam on toast with a strong coffee.
The day itself looked good.
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Today Mum and Dad asked me to take them on a long drive. They don’t get out much from the retirement village except in bus trips with other residents. So we spent the day driving with no plan.
This is the car I hired. It’s a Toyota Camry. It is quite good. The remote key entry and ignition is cool. I like how it connects easily with my iPhone through Bluetooth.
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I suggested Caloundra and Mum said why not Noosa, in the end I decided not to turn off and we ended up in Gympie in time for morning tea. Gympie has a long history in Queensland, some of it not so positive. I think you have to be a local to share those tales so I won’t go on. I had many friends from Gympie in my university and early years as a medical practitioner. I remember one gorgeous nurse from my intern year…
Morning tea was at the Little Brown Jug cafe in Gympie. I had a pot of tea and a vanilla slice. Regular readers know my fondness for vanilla slice and my dream of one day doing a vanilla slice crawl around Australia. Vanilla slice search of Yummy Lummy.
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After Gympie we hit the road and headed to Noosa. In the 1970s and 1980s we would spend Easter holidays at Noosa and occasionally some Summer holidays too. As we got older, we ended buying a place at Caloundra and I remember weekends and holidays in my later years of high school on the beach every chance I could get.
In Noosa we used to stay at a place called Paramount Towers on Hastings Street. Mum said it was reasonable in the day at $50 a night. I can’t imagine how much it would cost now that Noosa is one of the most expensive tourist places in South East Queensland.
It’s now called the Settler’s Cove.
This is the famous Noosa beach. I used to love this beach. So many good boyhood memories. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the beach was crowded with locals and tourists. It was kind of exotic and there would be lots of foreign tourists. For a young fella, what I remember most was that most young women on the beach had no desire to wear much and many would lay in the sun and enter the water topless. There was a clothes-free beach a short walk away but no one seemed to care. Anyway, enough of those thoughts…naughty Gaz.
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Rather than eat lunch at an over priced place in Noosa, Mum suggested Buderim. Buderim is a sleepy town in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. It has a significant number of senior Australians (aka self funded retirees) and is a favourite place of art and craft lovers. Dad was feeling a little tired so rather than look too far we stopped at a cafe and enjoyed a toasted sandwich.
I had a chicken, mayonnaise and avocado toasted sandwich.
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For dinner tonight we enjoyed a crumbed steak and salad.
I will confess I ended up eating two large pieces of scotch rib fillet steak that was covered in fresh bread crumbs. They are irresistible.
I’m quite enjoying featuring my Instagram images in my blog. It’s such a versatile way of sharing images. If you have an iPhone or Android device I highly recommend it. Coupled with the Evernote Food it’s a great way of keeping track of my food likes and dislikes.
Before we get to the food images I just wanted to write about Schoolies week. Schoolies began when I was at high school. I attended Brisbane Grammar School between 1978 and 1982. I remember as a junior, the senior boys in fifth and sixth form talking about spending a week down the Gold Coast (Wikipedia article) for a long “never ending” drinking and sex session. I remember when it first started it was basically for the GPS group of schools, i.e., the Great Public Schools in Brisbane. It also included the corresponding girls schools like Brisbane Girls Grammar School.
So yes I was one of “those” private school boys. That said, I wasn’t a drinker and didn’t really mix with others except for sport. I represented the school in swimming and still water life saving. Academically I won the Biology prize in fifth and sixth form. Hence my desire that if I couldn’t study medicine I would have studied zöology (although I knew I’d never be any good because I couldn’t grow a bushy beard. You see at the time all the famous zöologists were bearded men of great stature.) Somehow I managed to be popular enough amongst my peers and teachers to be elected a school prefect. Okay enough showing off. When I was in sixth form my friends were all talking about going to schoolies week, getting drunk, having lots of sex and just carousing. I had other plans. I finished school on the Friday, attended the valedictory dinner and then the following Monday started work at Queensland Medical Laboratory as a technical aid. I cleaned benches, faeces sieves and kept stocks of stuff up for the technicians and scientists. I also worked in the media kitchen making media for bacteriology. I heard about the “good time” my mates were having but I was having a better time making money and learning the skills needed to become a pathologist.
I’ve been conscious of not being an annoying father, so I waited until Tuesday morning to send my first text message just to see that Miss17 was okay. After that we had a short Kik chat each morning. It’s certainly reassured me to maintain just some contact without imposing myself on Miss17.
Some friends have asked why I would be supportive of my daughter attending schoolies. I know Miss17. She’s a mature young woman. I know she’ll look after herself and she’ll look after her friends. I have faith in Miss17′s ability to do the best thing in any situation. Schoolies has now become a huge event as a rite of passage with school leavers spending a week in major tourist spots like the Gold Coast, Bali, Byron Bay and Airlie Beach. It’s also created a by-product, viz., toolies. Toolies are older men who prey on vulnerable girls for sex.
As for Miss11 and Miss15 they’ve been in Geelong this week for the National Club Championships. Their team, Delta Brisbane was again named best club and Miss11′s WAGL5 came first while Miss15′s WAGL10 came second. Miss15 didn’t compete with the team because of an ankle injury so she competed as an individual on the uneven bars and beam. She seems pretty happy. She’ll be back to school on Monday and completing examinations.
Before we get to the food images, I wanted to share a YouTube clip that has taken off here in Australia as a safety message. Dumb ways to die
To see the images more clearly and to read the comments from Instagram users please click on the image.
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On Monday I had a nice quiche from the Urban Bean Espresso Bar. This is a Camembert, onion and sun dried tomato quiche. I had it with a mug of Earl Grey tea.
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That evening I roasted a chicken thigh on top of a piece of Multigrain Vienna loaf and served it on top of some freshly made coleslaw. I also added a dollop of Buderim ginger lemon and lime marmalade.
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For breakfasts I’ve gone back to a smoothie for ease, convenience and as an attempt to control my weight.
Iced coffee banana smoothie with an egg white.
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That piece of public art near my office that I wrote about last week is taking shape.
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On Tuesday one of our work mates had her last day before her wedding this weekend. The relevant section put on a curry lunch. Here are the slow cookers doing their thing.
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The curry was really good. On my plate are three types, lamb, beef and chicken. There is also some yoghurt, bread and rice.
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That evening I only needed a small dinner. I “poached” some salmon by placing it skin side down in a hot fry pan and adding a lid. I turned the heat down and then waited five minutes to turn the heat off. In the pan I also had a piece of sourdough bread that had some blue cheese on it. I grew a little addicted to the cheese and bread this week. I need to stop this now.
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The piece of public art had more work done on it Wednesday morning.
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When I got to the post office there was a parcel waiting for me.
It’s nice they had Christmas wrapping on the parcel.
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After last week’s Friday Fries (that actually sounds better than Friday Chips) with the Cascade Lime Quench, I wanted another Lime Quench. This time with a house made sausage roll from the Urban Bean Espresso Bar.
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When I got home I unpacked my parcel. It is a Magic Bullet®. I had one of these when I lived in Darwin. I’ve been feeling a little down lately so I thought I’d buy a kitchen appliance to make me feel happier, especially with Summer coming. The Magic Bullet® is great for crushed ice drinks and for smoothies. While I’ve been making by breakfast banana smoothies with my trusty Bamix® wand and a jug, the Magic Bullet® is quicker and easier. It is also fantastic for making small quantities of things like whipped cream.
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Dinner Wednesday night. Roast chicken thighs on sourdough with blue cheese served with asparagus and broccolini.
This tasted really good. I roasted at a low heat for an hour. The bread became really crispy and cheesy. It was delicious with the chicken skin and the tender moist thigh meat. I prepared the chicken with salt, pepper, chilli flakes and Tabasco sauce.
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On Thursday morning I pulled all the bits and pieces out of the dishwater and tried my new Magic Bullet®. Breakfast caramel coffee banana smoothie made with my new Magic Bullet®
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When I got to work and went to get my mail, I saw men on the piece of public art. I still don’t know what it is. There’s lots of speculation in the office.
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This is what I tweeted through Instagram for lunch. “Cheesy bacon pie. For store bought this was a really good pie. Chunky tender beef and visible bacon. #winner”
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Extreme naughtiness. Chicken thighs roasted on blue cheesy sourdough with potato gems and washed down with Agrum and minted ice #MagicBullet
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On Friday morning I tweeted No work on new #publicart today. #igerscanberra
I did see men the afternoon before pouring a lot of concrete into the tubing.
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You may be aware the Tasmanian devil is currently endangered because of the Devil facial tumour disease. This is a pretty sad image of a poor little devil who is suffering from the disease
Anyway, the connection with me is my love of Ginger beer, especially Bundaberg Ginger beer.
For lunch, the Urban Bean Espresso Bar does not stock Bundaberg brewed drinks but it does stock Cascade beverages.
So I had a Cascade Ginger beer and a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich.
These were pretty good and it really helped the briefing.
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Last night I cooked a pork cutlet. I put a piece of sourdough in a square pyrex container and soaked it in XXXX Gold beer. I laid the cutlet over the top and cooked in a slow oven for an hour. I served it with potato gems. The pork was surprisingly tender and not dry.
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So today I had my plans disrupted because of the loss of my landline on Thursday. I’ve blogged about that here. The technician (Grant Munro) was very helpful and found a loose wire at the exchange. Once fixed I was back on-line but it was still too late to do the things I wanted to do this morning.
This afternoon I went to a wedding of a work mate. She’s the one who we had lunch for on Tuesday. She looked great and it was a beautiful ceremony at Lanyon Homestead. I got lost because that’s how I roll. I am really very poor with directions and I should have spent much more time looking at a map. What I didn’t realise was that Tharwa Drive forks and remains Tharwa Drive. Friends at work joke that the North side is Mordor yet all I could mumble as I was driving lost was “this must be Mordor”. When I arrived my friends laughed.
I know I could have captured images of the bride and the wedding party but my friend Nat was there with her camera and I figured I could get a nice photograph from her later. Nat is also a photographer. Check out her site at http://www.kecozaphotography.com.au/
I was more interested in the car Nat and Ursula arrived in. It’s a Corvette which Ursula’s husband recently imported from the US.
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When I got home this afternoon I had to complete a Twitter challenge from Thursday. In March this year I posted an image to satisfy the same challenge from TheBernieBrand and PeskyPippi
Tonight I had a pork cutlet. I served it with coleslaw that I made this afternoon. It tasted pretty good.
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So that’s it for another week. A long post I know. I could have split it up and next week I might do that.
Mentioned places and products
Bundaberg is where my mother and her parents spent many years owning and working on sugar cane farms. There’s even a street named after them, viz., Que Hee Street. Google map http://goo.gl/maps/32wOb
XXXX Gold is the beer my grand parents drank and it’s the only beer I’ve ever tried. It is also a sponsor of the greatest rugby league (representative) team in the universe. http://www.xxxx.com.au/
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia but I did learn how to carve a turkey from a Thanksgiving site.
5 Turkey Carving Tips – From Armand, The Butcher
I’ve been tweeting the hash tags #WAGNatClubChampionships and #DeltaBrisbane I am pretty confident every entry will belong to me
Two of my daughters are avid gymnasts. They previously trained at AIS and now are with Delta Gymnastics in Brisbane. Both have won performance (academic and sport) scholarships to a GPS school in Brisbane. They have talent. More importantly they love gymnastics. They love life.
Miss10 could not come to Canberra as part of the WAGL5 team. She has an elbow injury. She should be in the team and I know she’ll be disappointed. I would have loved for her to be here, she is such a delightful child. She is always smiling and encouraging others.
Miss14 is here as part of the Delta Brisbane WAGL8 team. She’s carried a number of injuries over a long period of time, she’s broken an elbow (avulsed medial epicondyle), she has bad knees and ankles and a strained back. Prior to this competition she strained her back again. Her mental toughness and determination is remarkable. I know she is in pain, yet during her routines she continues to smile and encourage others. After she’s finished an apparatus she reaches for her back and then lays down with a tennis ball under the sore area to massage it. I’ve seen her coach and the resident competition physiotherapist treat her after each apparatus to help her get to the next routine. As a parent, I sit in the stands and think about what she’s going through. I wonder if I should wander down and try to do something. I realise then that is more about me and my feelings rather than what is good for Miss14. She loves gymnastics. She has scars, they are her badges of honour. She is so strong. I love and worry about her mental toughness and determination. My mother says she reminds her of me as a kid. She says this in a positive way so I take it that way and hope Miss14 can apply the same level of determination to everything she does. Academically she’s bright, she excels at other sports, she knows what she wants. I only hope for her happiness. She tells me she wants to study physiotherapy and university. Miss10 on the other hand wants to be a surgeon.
In the end Miss14′s team came third overall. In previous years in previous teams they have come first. I ask if she’s happy. She beams and says yes. She knows her sore back has limited her. She understands, a place is a very good result. I am proud of her. I am proud of all three daughters.
Miss10′s team won all their events and won gold overall. They were a dominant force in that level. A Delta Force ha ha… I am sad that Miss10 could not be part of it. I wish she was here.
Delta Brisbane won Champion Club. This is well deserved. They are a fantastic club. Head coach and director, John Mitchell has a great philosophy to coaching.
I tend not to publish images of my daughters. I’m cautious about doing that. I will post some partial images and a couple of videos of the team cheering on their mates.
I’ve posted the videos to YouTube. I like the entrances when the gymnasts march on. They always looks so smart. If you look at the video on the entrance for the final presentation you’ll get a sense of the number of gymnasts who entered. Many of them had already left for their homes because it’s still school time. These are the top four or five gymnasts in each level from many of the clubs in Australia able to afford to send a team.
If you live in Brisbane and if your kids want to do gymnastics I highly recommend Delta Gymnastics. The coaches are wonderful. They have a fabulous outlook on life. They treat their charges well. They understand balance.
If you live in Darwin I recommend Gymnastics Metropolis. This is where Miss10 and Miss14 got their start.
I’m not sure why I’ve turned to wraps this week. 
