What I think, watch, listen to, and eat each week
The thoughts and words that I want to share
I’m typing this week’s diary post from Brisbane. I’m here spending some time with my parents.
While I’m here to help them out it’s also a good way of thawing out from the cold of Canberra. On the Friday before I left, it was a –5.2 °C/22.6 °F morning. I felt validated for making plans for a Winter getaway from Canberra, albeit it’s only for a few days.
This week my friend Mabel wrote a piece on racism and the discrimination that Asian Australians put up with.
A rat you ask. How could a rat make my day? Especially, a rat I had never met.
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Normally, I’m not a fan of rats, especially the common Canberra water rat which can be found in Canberra’s artificial lakes.
I need to back up a bit and I’ll get to the rat soon.
Nothing has really stood out this week. There’s not really much to write about. Each morning I got out of bed, I weighed myself, I measured my blood pressure, I prepared for the day and I drove to work.
Each evening, I drove back to the flat, I prepared dinner and then I went to bed.
I’ve got this whole being an adult thing down pat. It’s easy.
That said, this was a short week because of the Canberra Day long weekend.
Short weeks are always good weeks. With Easter coming up soon, we have two short weeks soon too.
The whole week, I had been looking forward to the weekend because I was flying to Brisbane to see my daughters and my parents.
My daughters are now all adults and they are living their lives, so time with them together is getting more difficult to arrange. That said, I’m proud that they are living, working, and playing their lives the way they want to.
On Friday night when I arrived, I was chatting with my youngest daughter, Ms17, and she was sharing with me her news about biology class from this week. Her class had a dissection practical and she got to dissect a rat. You know the type? The traditional white laboratory rat. This one was female and Ms17 explained how she enjoyed making the opening incision and after getting into the main body cavities, removing each major organ for further study. To her joy, she discovered the rat has been pregnant and within its uterus lay ten beautifully formed fetal rats. Judging by the way she described them, it sounded like the rat was about ready to confine. I wonder if you use the word confinement for rats the same way we use the word confinement for humans. I should ask a veterinarian.
This whole story made my day; it made my week! The joy on Ms17’s face was delightful as she described how she dissected the rat and learned about the internal anatomy and how she enjoyed doing it in front of others. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. It was a proud Dad moment.
I shared with her how I had set up a laboratory at home so I could dissect dead animals when I was in high school and how before a zoölogy examination in medical school I stored a frozen rat in my mother’s freezer only to have her discover it before I got a chance to do my practice dissection.
Over the weekend we spoke about botany too and the fun we can have with cutting sections of leaves and some fruits, staining them and examining the sections microscopically.
I really miss being a biology student.
As you’d expect a weekend in Brisbane was spent enjoying the warm Autumn weather and the relative humidity of Brisbane compared with Canberra. Each day, the maximum temperature got to about 33 °C and the southerly breeze was delightful.
Food, and sharing time with family go hand in hand, so Saturday really had a nice food focus. On Sunday, it was good because I had all three daughters in one place.
I started Saturday after a really crappy sleep by having breakfast with Ms17 at Hermosa at Chermside. We decided to go meat-free. I had poached eggs, a slice of avocado crusted in dukkah and sesame seeds, with mushrooms and feta cheese. It was a delicious filling breakfast.
For lunch, I drove my parents along with Ms20 and Ms17 to Sandgate and we enjoyed some crumbed cod, chips, potato scallops, crumbed calamari and prawn cutlets at the Sandgate Fishmonger. The shaded outdoor setting with a lovely sea breeze was perfect. We all commented on just what a wonderful environment it was for a relaxing and delicious lunch. It certainly didn’t do anything for my weight loss plans but it certainly helped my mental health. I felt so good being with family on a warm day with some humidity in the air and eating really delicious seafood. I felt peaceful and at one with the world.
In the afternoon, Ms17 had a practice gymnastics competition (My Routine Rules) at Delta Gymnastics which is now based in Kedron.
I enjoyed a few hours watching young level 9 and 10 gymnastics practice their new routines for the competition season.
Delta Gymnastics in Brisbane is celebrating as much as possible because one of its gymnasts made the Australian Team for this year’s Commonwealth Games being held ‘at home’ on the Gold Coast. It’s pretty exciting for young gymnasts having an Australian team member in their midst.
After the gymnastics session, Ms20 went to work and I took Ms17 to Motto Motto at Westfield Chermside for some dinner. Ms17 had a delicious looking chicken karaage roll and I had two ‘sides’ of soft-shelled crab and chicken karaage. We both shared some edamame. This was about the right amount of food given how much we’d already eaten for breakfast and lunch.
Motto Motto has quick service so we didn’t have to spend too long waiting for our meals. As always, the food was delicious and Ms17’s company was delightful.
For dessert, we decided to go for a drive to Wilston to get some ice cream from the Cold Rock ice creamery there. I enjoyed a condensed milk ice cream with freckles and a Caramello Koala. I had wanted half a chocolate Easter egg filled with ice cream but they had already sold out.
I posted this on Facebook and an American friend asked about freckles and the Caramello Koala. I explained that freckles are disks of milk chocolate covered in 100s and 1000s are and in Australian slang, a freckle is another word for anus. You can check out the comments here by clicking on the embedded photograph.
After a really crapulent sleep on Friday night, I had a much better sleep on Saturday evening. I managed six hours which is remarkable for me.
On Sunday morning, Ms22 joined us and we went to Ivy and Lark in Westfield Chermside for what turned out to be a really substantial breakfast. I had poached eggs covered in turmeric Hollandaise sauce, wilted spinach and lashings of bacon on a piece of sourdough bread. The amount of bacon was a little overwhelming but have no fear I got through it. I managed to also eat ‘spare’ bacon from others too 😃😋🤤
I wonder why the Hollandaise sauce needed the turmeric. I’m guessing it’s a gimmick to attract the people who are getting sucked into the TV advertisements going on and on about the potential benefits of supplementing what we eat with turmeric. Adding a little turmeric to a sauce is really only going to change the colour. I couldn’t taste much difference between this turmeric coloured Hollandaise sauce and any other Hollandaise sauce I’ve eaten.
While some supplements have proven population health benefits like adding thiamine to bread and iodine to table salt, the vast majority of supplements only benefit the pharmaceutical companies which sell them. I’d prefer to spend my money on good quality meat and produce.
I would like to mention a really great blog post I read this week from my friend Mabel Kwong who lives in Melbourne. Mabel writes about many things, and her enduring perspective is writing as an Asian woman living in Australia after growing up in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. As a young adult, she shares her analysis of life having experienced living in different cultures and being part of the societal change in contemporary Australia.
This week, Mabel wrote about gender discrimination in Asian cultures and her experience as a woman in such cultures. It is well worth reading. Please check it out and subscribe.
Another favourite blog is My Favourite Pastime by Liz. This is a food blog and Liz does a lot of great cooking and recipe sharing. Lately, though, Liz has been sharing food facts which have been really interesting. Please check it out and subscribe.
I dropped a random yummy this week after cooking sous vide four days straight. You can find the show notes at http://YummyLummy.com/RY0004.
After four days of sous vide on the long weekend, my eating was mundane by comparison. The highlight though was buying some roast duck from 2 YUMMY on Thursday night and pairing it with some roasted crunchy creamy cheesy vegetables.
Have you dissected a rat? Did you enjoy it? What is your favourite animal (including humans) to dissect?
I’ve dissected many rats and I love it. I dissected the left side of the head of the cadaver I shared in medical school. I remember spending days removing facial fat from the cheeks to expose various nerves and muscles. I really enjoyed doing that. These days, I like dissecting out the bones from the raw leg of lamb to butterfly it, but the most satisfying thing is slowly roasting a shoulder of lamb and then easily removing the scapular as the muscle bundles fall away.
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I hope you have a wonderful week. I’ll catch you next weekend. Bye 😃
So dear readers the last week was a short one. Friday, 26 January 2018, was Australia Day and as a public holiday, it meant a short work week and a long weekend! 😃👍
Sorry, if I start to ramble in this post. I’ll probably meander here and there. Stay with me though, it was a good weekend.
Last week was pretty uneventful. Monday night though (for the time being, Monday nights are my favourite nights) saw an amazing episode of Star Trek Discovery (#DISCO) which took Trekkers into unchartered territory. I’ve not been as excited about Star Trek since the last live action series, viz., Enterprise (#ENT) was on free-to-air TV. Certainly, the Jar Jar Abrams movies were a let down. That said, DISCO has taken some of the Jar Jar cinematography like the heavy use of lens flare. I know a lot of fans were disappointed in ENT, but I know I’m in the minority who loved it. I even love its opening theme. I will happily rewatch it over and over again. I love each character. Unlike most of the other series in the franchise, there’s not a character who I do not like in ENT.
As far as DISCO is concerned, I’m loving Captain Lorca and Commander Saru. Lieutenant Stamets is growing on me but Dr Culber is plain annoying. He doesn’t fill me with awe like Phlox or Bones or Crusher or the EMH.
The recent two episodes which have brought us into the mirror universe have been fantastic and it’s got me so excited for more. I’ve been pondering the best way to eat Kelpien. I’m thinking, I’d like the threat ganglia raw, avulsed just prior to consumption and served with fresh gagh. Ideally, I’d be fed from the chopsticks of the Emperor herself in her personal stateroom.
The highlight was obviously travelling to Brisbane on Thursday night and spending three nights with my parents and children.
I’ve recently shared how a close relative has experienced a diagnosis and treatment of bowel carcinoma and the ensuing post-operative complications including an admission to anthe intensive care unit. The good news is, the said close relative is well on the road to recovery.
I left work a little early on Thursday evening to board QF1550 CBR to BNE. I enjoyed a nice sweet potato salad for dinner on the flight. On arriving in Brisbane, my vulgar ichthyoid skin began drinking in the sweet nectar that is the sultry humidity of balmy Brisbane. My skin felt immediately better. It’s nice to exist without physical discomfort.
People often talk of the humidity of the Top End, but I reckon if you can live January and February in Brisbane, you can do any type of humidity.
It was good to see my parents and children when I got to my parent’s place.
Australia Day has become very controversial and I’m keeping my opinions to myself. Suffice to say, I’d like to see respect for all views being observed by everyone, everywhere.
We didn’t have much of a plan for the day apart from eating Breakfast, Lunch and Tea.
After a breakfast of scrambled eggs, I took Mum grocery shopping and I bought some stuff for dinner which I was going to cook.
Lunch turned out to be a lot of fun. One of my cousins and her partner were visiting Brisvegas from Sin City so we enjoyed a meal at a local Thai restaurant.
For dinner, I cooked a slight Australiana theme with baked salmon that looked like a Lamington.
You can read a better account of my Australia Day food over at Yummy Lummy.
I spent part of Friday afternoon shopping with my youngest daughter. She was keen on a dress. I take my hat off to her. She’s been looking at this dress, she knew it would go on sale and then she also had a voucher, so, for a $100 dress marked down to $50, she used a $44 voucher and handed over $6. I’m not naïve enough to think the dress is worth $100, but it does me proud to know my children think about how to exploit money as much as possible for the best gain.
We all slept well after a good day of eating.
The plan for Saturday was for an early start. One of my daughters had to finish some work, so I got up at 5 am and made her scrambled eggs on toast. I think she liked it. I’m quite proud of the way my scrambled eggs taste. I only use butter and eggs. I don’t use any milk or cream.
We hit the road for Caloundra a little after 9 am and arrived a little after 10 am. The traffic was reasonably moderate the entire drive. During the 100 kph spots, I’d say we averaged about 95 kph and using the 110 kph spots we travelled a little over 105 kph most of the way.
On the drive, I started listening to my favourite podcast, “No Such Thing as a Fish”. I had forgotten that JJJ* had its “Hottest 100” on that day. That’s what we listened to on the return journey.
Finding a spot to park the car near the beach was like finding a needle in a haystack. We drove up and down the main drag for about 15 minutes before we spied someone about to pull out. In the end, we got an ideal spot, near the beach and near where we had booked for lunch.
After a liberal application of sunscreen, we sat on the fine sand and enjoyed the sunshine and sea air. After letting the sunscreen absorb into our skin, we ran into the water and it was perfect. Cool but not cold and oh so refreshing. I love the feeling of swimming in seawater. It feels good. It smells good. It is good.
I’ve been suffering for many years from two frozen shoulders. I have attended many physiotherapy sessions and over the last year or so after daily exercises, I feel like I have near my normal range of movement, albeit, I don’t have the strength I used to. It was nice to crawl and breaststroke against the current. I doubt I’ll butterfly again, but it was nice to have that movement in my shoulders.
After about an hour in the water, we walked up the beach towards our towels and dried off in the sun. It felt so good having sand between my toes, sun on my skin, and being buoyed by seawater.
Regular readers will know my NRL team is the Brisbane Broncos and in State of Origin, I’m a Queensland Maroon supporter first and foremost. Alfie Langer played halfback for the Broncos, for Queensland and for Australia. He was the greatest halfback ever. He’s certainly better than the likes of Andrew Johns from Newcastle, NSW.
Alfie owns Alfie’s Mooo Char & Bar at Caloundra. I’ve not been there before but my parents and brothers have been and they have raved about how good it is.
I plan to write a review over that Yummy Lummy, suffice to say, I went with the Hot and Cold Platter for two people. I shared it with one of my daughters. It was filling and it was really very nice. The platter is presented in two tiers and consists of a spanner crab, Moreton Bay bug, cooked prawns, deep fried battered prawns, crumbed fish, oysters natural, oysters Kilpatrick, crumbed calamari, hot chips and a nice Queensland nut and toasted coconut salad.
Even though we had a huge lunch, I took Mum and Dad out to dinner at Motto Motto. They really like it there.
Rather than a full main course dish, I just ate a side dish of soft shelled crab along with some Teriyaki chicken wings. We also had wagyu beef and green salad, pork belly ramen noodles and a chicken karaage roll
I had a bit of a slow start on Sunday morning. One daughter had a party to attend on Saturday night and I happily took her there and agreed to pick her up. I didn’t realise how late the party would go for. I received a text message at 1.21 am and after a round trip into Fortitude Valley, got to bed at 2 am. I woke at 7 am and felt a little groggy.
I took Mum and my daughters to Hermosa in Chermside. We’ve been there before and enjoyed breakfast so I thought we’d have another go.
I like that on the menu there is an option to build your breakfast. The base is eggs anyway you like them plus some sourdough toast. You can then add sides. I went with some chorizo sausage, avocado, and sautéed mushrooms. It was pretty nice. Mum and my daughters also enjoyed their meals too.
Like all good things, I had to end a great long weekend in Brisbane by leaving for Canberra. I managed to have a light lunch at the airport. It was some tuna and coleslaw.
On arriving in Canberra, I went to Coles and bought some groceries and meat for dinner.
My last meal for the weekend was roast chicken thigh and vegetables.
It was a great weekend. I ate a lot of food. I enjoyed my time with my family. I loved feeling happier and healthier in the balmy Brisbane humidity.
The week to come will be busy. Catch you next weekend.
A few weeks ago, at the beginning of December, I wasn’t expecting to spend the end of 2017 in Brisbane. In my mind, I was attending a WHO meeting in Lyon, returning to work for fours days, and then spending a week in Canberra between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day enjoying some warmth and a little humidity.
That was until a close relative needed to have a colonoscopy which revealed a significant malignant tumour requiring immediate surgery. Then there were complications of the surgery which meant a long spell in intensive care which will need to be followed by time in rehabilitation.
I’m now in Brisbane helping to care for relatives.
As is my want, I will try to spend part of my conscious living focussing on the positive aspects of this situation. I will be spending time with family. I will an opportunity to spend some time with my daughters. I will be in my hometown (Brisbane). It will be warm and not hot like Canberra. It will be humid and not dry like Canberra.
I think I’ve written this before and my closest friends know this too, I love warm weather, I don’t like hot weather. Anywhere between 28 and 32 °C is fine by me. In Summer, up to 34 °C is tolerable. Anything >34 °C is not what I regard as pleasant. Certainly, Tuesday’s 39 °C in Canberra would have been horrible.
In addition, through social media and messaging apps, I can continue to stay in contact with IRL and online friends who I rely on to keep me in good spirits. You know who you are JM, FC, SGM, BCM… 😃👍😁
One of the nice things about modern work as a public servant is the capability to work remotely. So long as I have a 4G connection, I can check e-mail and if I go to a shopping mall, I can use the free Wi-Fi to get deeper into the work IT system so I can access files and other areas of the network.
Airport coffee, waiting for my flight to Brisbane
Would you believe my weight didn’t go up while I was away in Lyon? I ate croissants for breakfast, morning tea, afternoon tea and occasionally dinner. I also ate cream and custard-filled pastries. It must be something in the water because I saw less than a handful of overweight people in Lyon. Everyone looked lean and healthful (apart from those smoking cigarettes).
I won’t be able to measure my mass while I’m in Brisbane but I hope to return to a low carb life. I will have to prepare meals suitable for others including a diabetic and heart disease safe meals. In many ways, a low carb life works well for people with diabetes mellitus.
Please note, again I should point out a disclaimer, I do not provide medical advice in my blogs, I will never form a doctor-patient relationship with a reader.
Getting back to a low carb life and diabetes mellitus though; diabetes mellitus is a small constellation of diseases associated with poor control of glucose. The islet cells of the pancreas produce insulin which is a hormone which helps regulate blood sugar. An insufficient amount of insulin causes an increase in blood sugar. This can create manifold problems acutely as well as chronic problems associated with pathological changes to blood vessels and nerves (blindness, heart disease, impotence, lower limb infections, amputations, kidney disease, kidney failure to name but a few problems). Because of the lack of insulin, people with diabetes mellitus should eschew foods with a lot of simple carbs and especially sucrose (sugar). This means bread, pasta and rice. Sugar and sweeteners like honey or maple syrup, albeit ‘natural’ should not be added to food. A diet rich in non-starchy vegetables and some fruit is good. Meat in moderation is also good along with some cheese. Proteins in small amounts help to sate appetite and ensure that overall carb intake is minimised. Fibre is also important for bowel health. As a first degree relative of someone with a bowel malignancy, I’m now even more conscious of bowel health and maintaining a good fibre content and a reduced red meat intake. If you follow my food socials, you’ll see more salmon and chicken and probably duck.
A low carb life can assist with a more stable and better control of blood sugar. If you’re reading this and wondering about the potential benefits or threats to your health, please see your own general practitioner (or what some people call a family physician). Again, I stress, see a proper doctor, not someone into supplements complementary and alternative medicine (SCAM) services. This includes people who claim to be integrative practitioners who try to combine modern conventional evidence-based science-based medicine with practices not steeped in the scientific method. Always remember good + bad ≠ good. Your GP may not be a nutritionist but your GP is a specialist in your life and can work with you and other professionals to optimise your nutrition.
Black and white meeting rooms at the bank
What a tragedy. I paused as I read accounts on Facebook from friends in the USA. It made me think about the amazing train ride I had between Lyon and Paris last week. I finished that ride feeling very positive about very fast trains.
This coming Monday is Christmas Day. With Boxing Day a public holiday too, we have a four-day long weekend. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing. I’ll be spending some time at the hospital visiting and then I hope to cook a chook for lunch. Hopefully, I’ll also be able to buy some prawns too. It’s not going to be an elaborate Christmas this year.
I’ve been cooking for a family member and also taking some time out with other family members. When times are difficult, food is a good way to get some happiness.
Scrambled eggs made with eggs and butter
Herb and seed crusted salmon with stir-fried kale and cabbage with horseradish cream
Mangoes in Brisbane are cheaper than mangoes in Canberra
Crumbed fish from the hospital tuck shop
Chicken wings ready for the oven
is worth having in the cupboard. Iodine is critical to the development of the brains of unborn babies and infants.
The Wesley Hospital tuck shop chicken thighs and vegetables
Click on a photograph and scroll through the gallery. This was a Pork and Moreton Bay Bug (Thenus orientalis) spicy chilli kale and cabbage salad with horseradish cream. Here is the post on Yummy Lummy describing how to make it.
We went for dinner here on Friday night. Read my Google review. We enjoyed chicken Pad Thai, crispy skinned chicken, crunch pork belly, soft shelled crab and a spicy green paw paw salad. Click on a photo to see a larger version and scroll through the gallery.
For dessert, I had a salted Queensland nut gelato
Hello Friends,
I missed blogging last week because I went to Brisbane to visit my daughters and parents. I had a fantastic time. It rained heavily the entire weekend. I love heavy rain and I love driving in heavy rain. It reminded me of driving from Darwin to Katherine once with a colleague. It was February and the Monsoon was upon us. I could barely see what was in front of me and bear in mind this was the time of unrestricted driving, meaning, no speed limit. My colleague asked if I could see the road because he couldn’t. I replied, “No, but I can feel the road.” He elected not to join me for the return drive and decided to hire a car at his own expense for the return journey the next day.
I bet you’re wondering how I went with my weight loss dream while in Brisbane and visiting my family. Gee, I ate well. But I ate sensibly, well, in my opinion, I ate sensibly.
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I flew up on Friday evening and decided to only eat the chicken in the chicken curry that was served as a meal on my flight. I left the rice behind.
🐓 Sorry for the crappy photo
On Saturday morning, I took Ms22 and Ms20 to breakfast to Cafe 63 in Chermside and enjoyed a big hearty breakfast of pork sausages, BBQ pork belly, bacon, beef, hash brown (I ate one of two), scrambled eggs, and a grilled tomato. I left the toast behind.
At lunchtime on Saturday, Ms20, Miss16 and I went to the Sandgate Fishmonger and I had a piece of grilled cod along with one of two crumbed squid tentacles.
For dinner, I took my parents along with Ms22 and Ms20 to Motto Motto in Chermside. It’s an interesting Japanese restaurant. Sort of fast food, order at the counter, speedy food service, eat and leave. I had a bowl of seared salmon, avocado, green salad leaves and Teriyaki sauce. I also had a side of two soft shelled crabs. I also managed to snag a piece of karaage chicken, a Teriyaki chicken wing and a pork gyoza dumpling.
After dinner, Dad treated us all to a gelato. This is the first gelato or ice cream I’ve had in months. Gee, it tasted good. I licked that vanilla creaminess like to was the most important thing in my life.
On Sunday, I was able to enjoy breakfast with Ms22, Ms20, and Miss16. We went to Hermosa in Chermside. I constructed my breakfast by asking for bacon, poached eggs, wilted spinach and avocado. The avocado was coated with seeds and crushed nuts and was really very nice.
All in all, I ate well on the weekend. When I weighed in on Monday morning I wasn’t shattered with the result.
See for yourself in the chart below.
Canberra is continuing to crush salmonella but not in a good way
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On Tuesday night I attended a monthly meeting of medical officers who work in the Australian Government Department of Health. Our guest speaker was Prof. Creswell Eastman, AM. Prof. Eastman is a legend. He is best known for a lifetime of work on iodine deficiency and the role iodine plays in a person’s intellectual development. He’s shown time and again the problems of iodine deficiency not only in Australia but also in China including Tibet.
Listening to the amazing Cres Eastman talking about iodine deficiency and the effects on children.
— Gary Lum (@DrGaryLum) November 21, 2017
Click on the tweet and you should be able to follow the lecture from my Tweets.
I learned that in China, Prof. Eastman assisted the people by igniting the government into making a humungous change and iodise the salt which rapidly raised the intelligence quotient of millions of Chinese people living in remote and rural settings. Reducing iodine deficiency is the key.
I also learnt that at the time, Tibet became an unintended control group. There were villages in Tibet where the majority of people had goitres, cretinism still occurred and in addition to intellectual retardation, growth retardation also occurred. Prof. Eastman went in and assisted the locals by introducing iodised oil. The effect was dramatic by reducing iodine deficiency.
What Prof. Eastman also revealed was the population problems in terms of poor intellectual development in Australia. His collaborators used the much-maligned NAPLAN process to compare intellectual development in Australian children. His group discovered that some time ago the Australian dairy industry made a decision to change milk vat disinfection from iodophors to chlorine without telling anyone. This had the effect of reducing the available iodine in dairy products. Iodine is inimical to bacterial growth so it was a fabulous disinfectant.
In addition, there has been a general move to reduce salt intake and to not add salt to food. While there is nothing wrong with that, instead of buying and using good old-fashioned iodised cooking salt people started following cooking fads and started to buy sea salt and rock salt and sadly Himalayan rock salt. I say sadly because that Himalayan salt, according to Prof. Eastman is murky and dirty looking because of the presence of noxious trace metals that don’t do anything positive for our health. The bottom line was that the little added salt people did use was not iodised and possibly had harmful effects.
Iodised salt is used in bread but with so many people eschewing bread because they believe they have a gluten intolerance (rather than having fair dinkum cœliac disease, this had led to a further reduction in iodine in our diets.
Prof. Eastman’s advice is that pregnant women in Australia should supplement their diets as soon after conception as possible with iodine. The risk of not doing this is having a child who may be a slow learner and all the consequences of that.
If you want a salty recipe you can use iodised salt for, check out this great looking pork crackling on Yummy Lummy.
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Should Australia celebrate Thanksgiving?
When you look up Wikipedia and search for Thanksgiving it’s a revelation to see just how widespread thanksgiving celebration is.
While I know a lot of Australians resent following Americana on everything I wonder if we should spread the message that Thanksgiving could also be an Australian holiday but for different reasons when compared with our American friends. If we did it correctly we could do something to ameliorate the angst associated with Australia Day and the concerns expressed by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who consider 26 January to be what they regard as “invasion day”, that is the day the British arrived and began colonising Australia. I think we should still mark Australia Day (26 January) as an important day but we wouldn’t need a public holiday. We could transfer the public holiday to Thanksgiving which could be celebrated on another day. Thanksgiving could be a day to celebrate reconciliation.
Here is where I reckon we should look at the American tradition and use a specific day of the week, e.g, the third Friday of January every year. This way the public holiday isn’t ‘wasted’ on a Saturday or Sunday and we get a long weekend. Another possible day would be the second Tuesday of November so while the Victorians are having fun getting pissed at a horse race, the rest of Australia could enjoy some nice seafood and a mixed grill on the barbie followed by a pavlova. Morning tea could be filled with vanilla slices (bloody Victorians call them snot blocks) and lamingtons. After lunch, people would have time without affecting the national productivity to watch the horserace and waste the arvo drinking grog so by dinner time they can sober up and get ready for work the next day.
When Australia becomes a republic I want to run for President on a platform a long weekend every month.
I did not know that Thanksgiving is celebrated on Norfolk Island.
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So if you’re on Facebook and/or Instagram you’ll have probably seen if not participated in the black and white challenge. It’s been fun shooting a photograph every day editing it to black and white and then posting it to Instagram and then out to Facebook and Twitter.
I wouldn’t say these photographs are any good but it was fun. The idea is not to include people you know and you don’t provide any explanation as to why you shot the photograph.
This is a gallery. Click on one photograph and then scroll through each image.
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This week I talk about scabies. The show will drop on Monday night at 7 pm Canberra time. I’m trying something different. Rather than a ‘fake video’ I’ve produced an Apple Keynote slideshow with a voiceover. This will be available on YouTube (also on Monday night at 7 pm Canberra time).
Over the weekend, Ms22, Ms20, and I went to The Ekka 2017. Unfortunately, Miss16 could not join us. She had a sudden onset of fever with muscle and joint aches and pain. With the spike in influenza virus infections around the country, it’s likely she has influenza. I’m glad I just feel blergh and don’t have influenza.
Going to The Ekka has become an annual ‘thing’ for us. The Ekka or Royal Queensland Show or Show or Exhibition is like most other shows or what American friends may know as fairs (is that the correct spelling?). Only, The Ekka is better (IMHO). Far better than anything Sydney does at Easter and I have to ask, does Melbourne even have a show? Come on Melbourne lovers tell me about your show. I think Canberra has a show but I’ve never been or if I have, it wasn’t memorable. The Royal Easter Show in Sydney is okay and I enjoyed being there the twice I’ve been. When we lived in Darwin, there was the Darwin Show. I remember volunteering for the Territory Health Services booth and I gave out condoms and answered questions. My daughters entered their cooking creations into the cooking competitions. We’d see the animals and enjoy the sights and sounds of the show. Being a small show, it was something you could arrive in the morning, see everything and be home in time for a nap before dinner. The Ekka though is much bigger. It goes for 10 days and is jam packed with all sorts of events.
Now for people who don’t know me very well, the previous paragraph was deliberately provocative because I’m from Queensland and in my opinion everything from Queensland and the Northern Territory of Australia is better than anything else in Australia, if not the universe. Unfortunately, html has not progressed enough to demonstrate my facetiousness and sarcasm, hence this explanatory text as a block quote!
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I flew from Canberra to Brisbane on a later than normal flight. The cost of flights in and out of Canberra is very expensive so I went with the cheapest fare which was a late flight. At the airport I had a plate of Massaman beef and rice with some polenta slaw.
I got into Brisbane and got an update on Miss16. She was obviously viræmic with fever, diaphoresis, cough, myalgia and headache. She would stay at her place and Ms22 would care for her overnight. This was a good decision. My parents don’t need exposure to an acutely unwell and infectious teenager.
Because I got in late, I had enough time to have a short catch up with Ms20, Mum and Dad and then a sleepless night coughing and worrying about Miss16.
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I called Ms22 and Miss16 had a quiet night sleeping. Apparently Miss16 was feeling slightly better with a mild reduction in her headache and she was less febrile.
Ms20 and I decided to proceed to go out for breakfast and discuss the day’s plan. We walked over to Westfield Chermside and ventured through the new food pavilion. We spotted a Cafe 63 and agreed to have breakfast there. The menu has dishes with names. We thought it would be funny to have three Garys at the table. So we ordered a Gary each plus a Bircher Muesli to share. The Gary is basically a poached egg with Hollandaise sauce, smoked salmon, and (s)mashed avocado on toast. I’m glad we agreed to eat this before the muesli because the Bircher muesli was quite sweet and was like having a breakfast dessert. I’d happily recommend these dishes at any Cafe 63.
After breakfast I went to top up my Go Card for the bus ride and then we went to visit Miss16 on her sick bed.
In years gone by we would drive to Alderley Train Station, park and ride a train to The Ekka. Ms22 explained that there were road works near the train station and we’d be better off catching the Chermside 333 bus from the Chermside Bus Interchange to The Ekka.
The bus trip is pretty good with a service leaving every 15 minutes while The Ekka is on. We get off at Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital in Herston and walked to the Royal National Association showgrounds which hosts The Ekka.
The showgrounds are close to the Queensland Museum which is a fantastic place to visit. One of these days when I come to Brisbane to visit, I should take my daughters to the Queensland Museum.
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After getting through the entry gate we headed straight to the Woolworths food pavillion and line up for a tasting plate of free snacks.
The snacks are nice but hardly filling. So we look around the Pavillion for something to buy. In previous years we’ve had dumplings, satays, burgers and pizza. This year we went with Greek food and I had a souvlaki while Ms20 and Ms22 had halloumi chips.
After eating lunch, we searched out the photography competitions and cake decorating. Ms20 has a special interest in the cake decorating. If find the detail in the cake decorating amazing. The talent people have is awe inspiring. Ms20 has a strong cake decorating bent, I’ve often suggested she consider entering competitions.
After that, we wander and wander and wander around as many exhibits as we can. I really like visiting all the animal pavilions and seeing them. There’s just something special about seeing real animals, alive and up close and realise they live and die for us to be able to eat them and gain nourishment from them. I’m grateful for farmers who rear the beasts and then send them to abattoirs. At abattoirs, the animals are killed cleanly and efficiently and then butchered so we can have meat on our dinner tables every day. It’s circle of life stuff. It’s worth thinking about the life and death of an animal so we can appreciate it more.
Primary producers really should get more recognition for feeding us. I know we import a lot of food from Asia and we export a lot of our high quality produce to Asia. The buy cheap sell high approach helps our economy to grow. While I do bemoan the cost of produce compared with other economies, at least we have access to food in plentiful supply and in Australia, especially with our government managed welfare systems, the vast majority of people don’t experience famine. While we do have homelessness and poverty, our governments past and present have all maintained and sustained welfare systems which will provide assistance to everyone who needs it.
Amongst the animal pavillions, a dog collar is purchased and we enjoy a cow milking exhibition with milk, butter, cream, butter milk, curds, whey and cheese all being made in front of us.
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Once we had our fill of seeing various animals we went in search of a strawberry sundae. These ice cream cones are the stuff of legend. These ice creams are an iconic part of The Ekka. In fact, in my mind, nothing says The Ekka as well as the Strawberry Sundae. The ice cream creations are put together by volunteers and all the profits are donated to The Prince Charles Hospital in Chermside on the North Side of Brisbane. Formerly known as the Chermside Chest Hospital, it’s now a place of amazing medical endeavour with an emphasis on cardiopulmonary health.
Not much to say other than I bought a Bertie Beetle showbag and we said goodbye to Ms22 who was going to a party that night.
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After sideshow alley we went to find a seat in the main arena so we could enjoy EkkaNites which is the main entertainment show for the evening with two sets of fire works, a woodchop relay event, precision driving (V8 Holden utes), freestyle moto-X, monster trucks, some form of artistic entertainment and some sort of comedy routine. It’s always good fun and it’s a good way to spend an evening.
While I kept an eye on our seats and things, Ms20 went off looking for dinner. In the 30 minutes she was away, the Machinery Hill stand filled to capacity and I had to keep people from taking her place on the bare concrete “step“.
Ms20 did well and bought burgers. I had one with bacon, cheese, pineapple and beetroot. It was pretty good. I was happy with it.
Here is the list of the EkkaNites entertainment:
It had been a full day and at about 9 pm we had one last Strawberry Sundae in Sideshow Alley and then took the Chermside 333 back to the Chermside Interchange.
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After another night of coughing, I awoke and called Miss16 to see how she felt. She was feeling significantly better but very congested with some back pain. She was well enough though to come out for breakfast.
We ended up at Cafe Cherry Beans in Chermside. Ms22 brought her BF along and so seven of us enjoyed a nice breakfast. I ended up having a very nice bacon and fried eggs roll with BBQ sauce. We all enjoyed our meals although we all wish the knives were serrated steak knives because the toast was difficult to cut with the standard dinner knives.
I flew back to Canberra with a group of school students.
I had a great weekend with my family. Brisbane was lovely and warm. Did I mention that on Saturday the maximum temperature got to 29 °C? It was perfect for an August day in Brisbane (this is the sort of Winter I like). There were none of those dreaded westerly winds which evaporates all the moisture in the air. The air was still and in the crowd, the air was moist with humidity.
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I love The Ekka. I could go by myself, but The Ekka is for family and even though we missed the company of Miss16, it was still a good time. Hopefully, in 2018, we’ll have Miss17 (as she will be then) with us.
Spending time with my daughters and parents is the most precious time I have. It was good to be able to help Dad buy a new telephone handset, help Mum fix a few things on her iPad and just be with my daughters.
As I finish writing this, it’s Sunday evening. I’m back in cold dry Canberra and thinking about the week ahead but also planning my next time with my family.
So after a big day of food on Saturday (go back to lunch and dinner), Mum and Dad cooked a huge breakfast for me and the girls.
Mum and Dad both love cooking and they love sharing how much they love their kids and grandkids by cooking large quantities of food 😃
Their small apartment quickly filled with the aromas of bacon, lamb, and scones.
This is my first breakfast plate. In all I ended up with four lamb chops, I estimate about four eggs worth of omelet and a couple more scones 🤣😂😋
My youngest daughter will soon turn 16. We went out for dinner, celebrated over steaks and then had some cake.
We went to Hog’s Breath Cafe in Aspley because it’s close and Mum’s food allergies aren’t affected by slowly cooked steak.
I asked for the combination pork ribs and prime rib steak along with double mashed potato with pepper sauce. I did ask for some salad, but the server must have thought I said double mashed potato. I didn’t complain, I like mashed potato, especially with barbecue sauce from the pork and the added pepper sauce I asked for the steak. Often I’ll have the steak with some prawns for a surf and turn but I’d already eaten fish and calamari earlier in the day.
Mum had made a coconut ice coconut cake as a birthday cake. It was really nice. It was moist and full of great coconut flavour.
Today I took Miss 15 and Ms 19 out to Sandgate for lunch. We haven’t been back since November 2016. We went to the Sandgate Fishmonger and bought three pieces of battered cod, four potato scallops (not cakes), a serving or crumbed calamari and a large serving of really nice chips.
We also had the company of quite a few seagulls.
