Yum Cha

A weekend in Brisbane

Hello Reader,

I hope you are well. If you live in eastern Australia, I expect you’ve been experiencing a wet weekend. The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts this weekend in Southeast Queensland to be the wettest this year. I love La Niña, although I don’t love the destruction and mayhem caused by the floods. The last time it rained like this was about seven years ago. I was there for a special event, and it got washed out.

Smoked salmon on a poppyseed bagel. The final meal before leaving Canberra.

The last time I was in Brisbane was Christmas 2021, which is more than 12 months since the time before that in December 2020.

In 2019, I visited my parents and daughters six times. COVID-19 has made a significant difference. I telephone my parents every few days and Group FaceTime my daughters weekly to compensate.

I love living in the 21st century—better communications tools 😊 not to mention flushing toilets and heating.

When I landed in Brisbane, I went to the car rental place to pick up a car. I had asked for a small compact car and discovered a large Mazda BT-50 4✖️4 in the bay. I was taken with the luxury of wireless Apple CarPlay plus many other features.

Mazda BT-50 4X4. I’ve never driven one of these before.

When I got to my parent’s place on Friday night, I was in time to watch the footy with Dad. It was joyful to watch Brisbane defeat Manly convincingly. I also ate about ten of Mum’s jam drop biscuits.1

Travel Moka pot. ABC of travel. Always. Bring. Coffee.

Saturday breakfast

Café 63 at Westfield Chermside

Rather than buy some spinach leaves to cook a steamed egg and wilted spinach leaves2, I went out by myself and enjoyed breakfast at a local café near my parent’s place.

I had intended to eat some muesli and fruit. I saw liver and bacon and went with a plate of potato rösti, liver, bacon, onion rings, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, and barbecue sauce.

It was pretty filling. The liver would be gout inducing if I went overboard and ate a lot.

Saturday lunch

Aspley Oriental yum cha

We had planned to go to Sandgate for fish and chips. The driving rain, the need to bring Dad’s walking frame, and the general frailty of my parents meant it was easier to drive to the Aspley hypermarket. I could stop the car, engage the hazard lights, help my parents alight from the BT-50 with Dad’s walking frame and then find a car park.

It also meant Mum could indulge her passion for bargain shopping at Aldi. Mum rarely gets to an Aldi, and she prefers the cleaning products from there.

The lunch was okay. As far as yum cha goes, it has almost everything I would need. It had the waitstaff who seemed most interested in getting us in and out quickly, the deep-fried foods, the usual dumplings, and the egg tarts. What we didn’t get were my favourites, i.e., a turnip cake3 and rice flour noodles.

The shopping more than made up for the yum cha disappointment. Mum and Dad are hilarious. Dad goes off with his walking frame, confident he won’t fall. Mum likes to look around. Dad will be off in the distance, and Mum is looking at shoes she will never wear. We get into Aldi, and it’s on for young and old. Mum is piling the shopping trolley with cleaning products like no tomorrow. Then she changes her mind and puts things back after having misgivings. It made me laugh out loud.

Saturday dinner

Kinn and Derm, Takeaway dinner

Mum thought I might want to cook. I didn’t. After an afternoon of eating jam drop biscuits and drinking coffee and chatting, I didn’t want to cook. I wanted takeaway Thai food.

One of my daughters and a brother came along, and we all enjoyed chilli jam soft-shelled crab, red duck curry, crispy pork belly, chilli jam crispy pork, and crab fried rice. Mum cooked some noodles, and we were content.

After dinner, Mum surprised us with ice cream and jelly. The jelly had been “leftover” from when Mum had her last colonoscopy. She bought red instead of yellow and couldn’t use it, so we enjoyed it Saturday night.

The food from Kinn+Derm is always delicious, albeit expensive. It was worth seeing happy faces as we cleaned up our plates with yummy food.

Sunday breakfast

My Mistress café, Clayfield

I caught up with my eldest daughter and partner, plus my youngest daughter.

I am no longer an Açaí bowl virgin, although I’m sure I’ll become an Açaí bowl convert. I’m susceptible to “brain pain” with cold foods. The taste was okay. I’m grateful for the granola I also asked for with the Açaí bowl. The granola added a delightful crunch to the dish.

My Mistress Café Açai bowl with granola

Thoughts

It’s been a wonderful whirlwind weekend with my parents and two of my daughters. It was good to celebrate, to some extent, Mother’s Day and Dad’s birthday.

The weather was soaking wet, which meant warm and moist conditions and anyone who knows me knows how much I love everything warm and moist.

How was your weekend? Tell me what you did.

Footnotes

  1. Not Mum’s recipe.
  2. My usual breakfast.
  3. Usually not made with turnip. My maternal grandmother made the best turnip cake.

51 today | My birthday 2016

I’m 51 today.  It’s been a pretty good day. I woke up at 4.30 with rain falling. 

I started the day with my favourite drink. Coffee made with condensed milk.


Happy birthday to me

Breakfast

My birthday breakfast was a simple omelet

Birthday Cheese omelet
Birthday Cheese omelet

Lunch

I had a Yum Cha lunch with Bron at the Dumpling Inn. Sorry, no photographs.

Birthday viewing

The best view today was a FaceTime session with my daughters.

I also watched a couple of my favourite movies, viz., Crimson Tide and The Hunt for Red October. I like submarine movies especially two movies with Star Trek connections. Can you guess what they are?

Birthday exercise

I went for a walk around Lake Ginninderra. It rained three times, only lightly mind you. It was nice getting wet 51 today.



How is 51 different to 50?

Last year I celebrated my 50th birthday in Brisbane. The highlights of turning 50 in Australia include a faecal occult blood test and for some a colonoscopy

I’ve recently been enjoying some workplace training which has included sessions on persuasion and self awareness. The self awareness session reminded me of the importance of reflection. Birthdays are good for reflection. I spent a good portion of today reflecting on the last year.

Birthday disappointment

My footy team the Brisbane Broncos was defeated by the Cronulla Sharks.

Birthday dinner

I was thinking of making baked salmon but after a huge Yum Cha lunch I settled for a cake. I got the Big Boy from Ricardo’s Cafe and Patisserie

Big Boy from Ricardo's Cafe and PatisserieBig Boy from Ricardo's Cafe and Patisserie split open to show the mousse centre

Other birthday highlights

One of the great things about social media is the messages from friends and contacts. 

I really enjoyed the messages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

 

Final birthday thoughts

How do you feel about birthdays? Do you celebrate? Do you look forward to them anymore?


Oriental Yum Cha

A family photograph at Oriental Yum Cha as we finish lunch!

Gary Lum My Mum, Dad and daughters
My Mum, Dad and daughters

My youngest daughter turned fifteen last week and I have spent this weekend in Brisbane celebrating with her.


First things first breakfast. Getting close and personal with a Queensland nut (Macadamia) tart served with too much cream from a can. The base was a little too thick and dry making the eating experience difficult.

Queensland nut tart
Queensland nut tart

I spent the morning with Ms20 shopping for birthday invitation stationery for her 21st birthday party.

Around lunch time I fought the Westfield Chermside traffic to pick up Ms18 and Miss15 from Gymnastics training while Ms20 drove my parents into Fortitude Valley so we could meet at Oriental Yum Cha.

When we arrived we were taken to a large table up the back. Mum was worried it may be too far out of the main area for trolleys to visit. At first things were a little slow but it picked up and we really didn’t have to worry.

It would have been nice to be on the upper deck but that was pretty empty.

Gary Lum Oriental Yum Cha
Inside the restaurant on the empty upper floor


So on weekdays you get the all you can eat option. We visited on a Saturday so we paid standard rates. We also took heed and did not waste food.

Don't waste food
Don’t waste food

Turnip cakes and stuff
Turnip cakes and stuff

Duck, pork and calamari
Duck, pork and calamari

Roast duck
Roast duck

Fried wonton
Fried wonton

Calamari
Calamari

Calamari
Calamari

Barbecue pork
Barbecue pork

Oriental Yum Cha lunch
Oriental Yum Cha lunch

Spare ribs
Spare ribs

Oriental Yum Cha

Prawns
Prawns

Oriental Yum Cha

Custard tarts
Custard tarts

Mango omelet
Mango omelet

Coconut jelly
Coconut jelly

Mango omelet
Mango omelet

In fifty years of eating this was the first mango and cream omelet I’ve eaten. I need to go back for more them. Truly delicious. A must have and equal to custard tarts IMHO.

So what did I think about Oriental Yum Cha? It was my first time but my daughters and parents had been there a few times before. They reckon it is consistently good. Not the best they’ve ever eaten but always good. I’d agree it was good. The food appeared and tasted fresh. The flavours were good. The service was friendly, helpful and easy going. We were able to get some things cut with scissors and if something was in short supply we could ask for more to come out. The meal was also reasonable in terms of price. It didn’t break the bank and my wallet didn’t suffer a knock out punch. I’d be happy returning and eating more Oriental Yum Cha 


We spent the afternoon recovering and trying not to move too much. I was charged with cooking dinner so I went simple and baked some salmon with some kale coleslaw and avocado. Mum made a hazelnut chocolate cheesecake which she served with salted caramel ice cream.

Baked salmon with kale and avocado coleslaw
Baked salmon with kale and avocado coleslaw

Nicola's birthday hazelnut chocolate cheesecake

Nicola and her birthday cheesecake
birthday cheesecake

Hazelnut chocolate cheesecake and salted caramel ice cream
Hazelnut chocolate cheesecake and salted caramel ice cream

Have you been to Oriental Yum Cha? What did you think?

Our last and best meal in Hong Kong and the flight home

It’s Monday morning and we fly back to Brisbane later in the evening. Today we had our last and best meal in Hong Kong before the flight home.

No it wasn’t breakfast. This is the last breakfast I had at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. It was certainly not our best meal in Hong Kong.

A photograph of Scrambled eggs with condensed milk and jam on toast with dim sum
Scrambled eggs with condensed milk and jam on toast with dim sum

After breakfast we set about packing our bags. Our check out time was 12 noon and Miss14 and Ms18 had done most of their packing the night before. As for Ms20 and me, we needed to sort out our suitcases and things. We’d agreed that we would try to check out at about 11.30 so we could have one final meal somewhere close.

I was very impressed with my daughters. They had planned for a long time for this holiday. They came with plenty of room in their suitcases and they bought enough to fill the gaps without any extra bags necessary. Ms18 in particular had packing down to a tee. She was like a travelling expert. Her suitcase was immaculate in the way everything went together. She is so neat.

Me on the other hand, I travel a lot but for this trip I just threw everything into my bag. My focus for this holiday had been keeping my daughters happy and shooting some photographs for Yummy Lummy. I brought along a bag for my camera body, lenses and power supplies.

We were ready by 11.30 and set off for Times Square. My plan was to get a table at Lei Garden which I had heard was a very fine Chinese restaurant. When we arrived we secured a table on the understanding we would be finished by 1.30 pm. That wouldn’t be a problem.

The yum cha menu looked pretty good and we set about discussing and agreeing on what we’d like to eat.

You can see what we asked for in this photograph of our request sheet.

A photograph of our request sheet yum cha menu at Lei Garden
The yum cha menu at Lei Garden

The steamed dim sum came out first and occupied most of the table.

Steamed dim sum at Lei Garden
Steamed dim sum at Lei Garden

Everything was delicious.

The deep fried dim sum came out next.

A photograph of Deep fried dim sum at Lei Garden
Deep fried dim sum at Lei Garden

I love turnip cake. My grandmother used to make it for me. I could eat it all day.

Then things got a little out of order. We were served egg custard tarts but there was one more fried dish to come.

A photograph of Egg custard tarts
Egg custard tarts

A photograph of Deep fried dumplings with sticky rice and pork
Deep fried dumplings with sticky rice and pork

This was simply the best meal in Hong Kong of our holiday. That’s not to say we didn’t also enjoy the hospitality and ambience of cheap and cheerful local establishments like Toby Inn and Eat Together.

After lunch Miss14 was determined to spend her last Hong Kong dollars on her Octopus card so we explored some little shops.

As we walked back to the hotel to wait for our bus to the airport we stopped at McDonald’s for a soft drink.

I'm Swarm Mayor of McDonald's

The bus ride to the airport was uneventful. I wrote a couple of quick TripAdvisor reviews for the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Buffalo Tours.

When we got to the airport we were allowed into a lounge and had an afternoon snack.Meatballs and potato Wonton

Of course the girls wanted to do more last minute shopping. They found another Victoria’s Secret shop!

Victoria's Secrrets

We boarded QF98 HKG to BNE without delay or problem and were on our way back to Brisbane after a fantastic holiday.

On QF98

Yes, we shared an overnight flight with two babies!

On board QF98 with two babies

The food on the flight home was pretty good.

I had a nice duck salad and caramel mousse for dinner and eggs for breakfast.

Duck salad Caramel mousse Eggs with sausage and potato

When I got to my parent’s place I said goodbye for my daughters. It had been such a great holiday and their absence left a hole in my heart. It had been my best ever holiday. We made the most of everyday and every waking hour. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

To satisfy my craving for Atlantic salmon I had salmon for lunch and tea in Brisbane.Salmon sandwich Salmon and coleslaw

The following day I flew back to Canberra. I managed to get an upgrade seat (thank you Qantas) and enjoyed a toasted sandwich for breakfast.Toasted sandwich

So this isn’t the last post for this Hong Kong holiday. I’ll post a summary with tips on travelling soon.

If you’ve been to Hong Kong what was your best meal in Hong Kong?

 

 

How to celebrate a 50th birthday

Who would have thought I’d make my 50th birthday the way I eat! This year on Friday 1 May I was able to celebrate 50 years ex utero. Few people know that in the eight or so months of my gestation I travelled around the world in utero. You see I was conceived on the Indian Ocean on a merchant ship with my Dad as the ship’s doctor. He and Mum were travelling to England so Dad could sit examinations. On the way to England I visited Cairo and while Mum saw the pyramids I was busy with organogenesis. On learning she was pregnant Mum wanted to return to Australia to confine. If I’d been born in England I’d be a citizen of Britain and Fiji. Dad was born in Fiji and was yet to become an Australian citizen. Mum wanted me to be Australian. So Dad’s youngest brother, then an engineer for Qantas, flew over to England and picked Mum (and me) up and took her (us) to Brisbane via Boston, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Nadi. 

I had arranged with work to take my birthday as a formal leave day. Normally on Fridays I’m working at The Canberra Hospital in ACT Pathology as an Hon. VMO. I cleared it with both workplaces first. I wouldn’t normally take a day off work just to celebrate a birthday but I’ve noticed it’s a growing trend and I really wanted to share my 50th birthday with blood, kin, family. 

My iPhone. It's 1 May!
My iPhone. It’s 1 May!

I had booked a flight and arranged with Qantas for an upgrade in my seat to Business Class as a present to myself. 

Breakfast was a salmon and boiled eggs plate which was served with some bread and a small bowl of yoghurt. It was quite delicious.

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Prior to boarding I’d been called by my daughters and they had mentioned South East Queensland was about to be hit with a deluge of rain because of the formation of a significant tropical low pressure depression off the coast. My eldest also told me that my birthday present was a ticket to the Rugby League test match between Australia and New Zealand that night at Lang Park (very close to where I spent the first few years of my ex utero existence). I was so excited. Miss19’s voice quavered a little though because she was concerned about the weather. The other bonus was that she had arranged tickets for Dad and wheelchair access because he’s now quite frail. Dad’s birthday is later in the month. 

As QF950 began its descent into Brisbane the turbulence become noticeable and as we flew lower the bumps were increasing in amplitude and frequency. I tightened my seat belt a little more. Out of the window it was grey. Just grey. 

The pilot of QF950 on Friday 1 May did a splendid job, despite the bumps the landing was smooth. I was in Brisbane. It was noticeably warmer than Canberra so I removed my coat and let my skin drink in the moisture in the air. 

The colours reminded me of the NT
The colours reminded me of the NT

Sitting in a Hertz rental (a Ford Mondeo…my first Mondeo) I quickly learnt where all the windscreen wiping actuators were and quickly put them into use. The rain was quite heavy but nothing out of the ordinary.

On reaching my parents’ retirement complex we arranged lunch. We would be joined by Miss17 and Miss19. Next Friday they will become Miss18 and Miss20. Mum had booked the Aspley Oriental Chinese Restaurant for yum cha. We’d been to this place before. It was local, convenient and the maître d’ was well known for his brusque mannerisms and behaviour. He didn’t disappoint! I wouldn’t say that the Aspley Oriental Chinese Restaurant has the best yum cha in Brisbane. Not even close but for Mum and Dad convenience is key.

 

 

We enjoyed some steamed and deep fried dumplings, some Chinese tea and finished our meal with some custard tarts. 

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After lunch we visited Coles and Aldi and then headed back to home base. 

This is when the fun began. I had to pick up Miss14 from school and drop Miss17 at gymnastics training (she’s competing for Queensland in a fortnight in Melbourne at the national championships in WAG Level 10). The rain was now very heavy but nothing I’m not used to. The radio was calling it a super storm. 

Miss17 in her Queensland hoodie
Miss17 in her Queensland team hoodie

For what should be a 15 minute drive took 35 minutes to pick up Miss14 and then drop off Miss17. Sandgate Road was moving at a slow pace. It took about 45 minutes to get to Gympie Road in Lutwyche and then I spent three hours on Gympie Road trying to get to Chermside.

If you go to the @igersbrisbane account you’ll see one of my photographs used from my iPhone.

By this stage the rain was sort of reminding me of a decent shower in Darwin. I love this sort of whether and don’t mind driving in heavy rain. 

2015-05-01_16.37.31_001_GARY_LUM_FB

I had the radio on the whole time and listening to 4BC for updates. I like 4BC because they carry most of the good rugby league news and much better than the ABC. I was even sending them road updates via twitter

 

 

Up until about the last 100 metres of our journey the footy match was still on. I’d been calling Mum and Dad and Miss19 throughout the traffic hold up as well as Mr43 (youngest brother) to discuss the logistics of the evening and how to get to Lang Park. After many iterations of how we were going to do this, we ended up with catching a bus from Chermside. Then on the radio the message was read that the NRL in conjunction with the television broadcaster had agreed to reschedule the game to Sunday 2015-05-03 1600 AEST. Poor Miss19 was so upset. She and her sisters had been planning this as a big surprise for me and my Dad. The weather got the better of the situation. I’m not sure as you read this if you’re aware that as of Saturday 2015-05-02 1400 AEST five people have been confirmed dead as a result of the water. I’m guessing they were in motor vehicles trying to cross flooded roads and were swept away. The Queensland emergency services and state emergency service undertook a large number of swift water rescues. We saw some quite extraordinary scenes. Water covering the entire northbound lanes of Gympie Road in two sections in Chermside. Later in the evening we saw cars floating on Shaw Road. 

Once we got to home base Mum had burgers ready for us to eat. The original intention was a quick and light meal to get Dad and me to the footy but in the end it was my birthday dinner 

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The next bit to this story was the trip to pick up Miss17 from training. The rain was still pretty heavy and we knew there were numerous road closures. The added importance of this trip is that Miss17 had made me a birthday ice cream cake at Cold Rock (she has a part time job at a local Cold Rock Ice Creamery). We set out and immediately got stuck in some traffic. We eventually got to Miss17 who told us she’d seen that her Cold Rock had suffered a power outage that evening because of the bad weather and she didn’t know if the freezers were affected or not. By the time we crawled past the lights were out and no one was there. Who knows if my birthday cake still exists or if it’s a milky creamy mess on the floor seeping out of  a freezer. Determined to celebrate my 50th birthday with cake after an hour being in traffic we got to a Coles and bought a cake (only a few were left). 

We got home and Mum added candles. There was singing cutting and then eating. Mum thought it would be funny to get a 40 candle and surround it with 10 candles to signify 50. This would also make it easier for me to blow out the candles. 

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All in all it was a memorable 50th birthday. I was with my parents and daughters. I spent about 5 hours in a Ford Mondeo in traffic. I enjoyed some nice tropical rain. I ate well and I laughed a lot. I smiled the entire day. Check out the next post to see if the ice cream cake survived.