The thoughts and words that I want to share
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.
The Canberra Hospital staff tuck shop was offering this today for lunch. Normally I go for the seafood plate which is a piece of battered fish, a few crumbed prawns, a seafood stick and some other things that I’ve never really worked out but it’s all deep-fried and it tastes good.
For something different, I asked what was in the main tray and I couldn’t really understand what the server was saying. It was very noisy and my deafness doesn’t help.
It has asparagus, mushroom, rice, cheese and I think it was bound with eggs. It was stiff and kept its shape. It tasted okay. I don’t know what to call it, though.
Do you know what to call it?
It’s pay day, which is always a good day.
It’s an especially good day when there are no bills in the post office box 😃
For lunch, I had the SHISH special from Urban Bean Espresso Bar. The lamb was delicious.
I was meant to be in a few places at once today but I had a priority to attend to, unfortunately. It’s a good thing I love my job.
By the time I left work all I could think about eating was half a tin of hot and spicy spam on a bed of ramen noodles covered in Coon cheese and dressed with vegetables.
I hope you had a good day.
Last night I posted a photograph of my maternal grandfather, William Que Hee, on Instagram. I posted it after I’d written and dropped a podcast about the dream I had of Goong goong while eating on a cruise ship of all things.
You can get this podcast in iTunes too at https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/my-thoughts-and-stuff/id1207747458
My friend and fellow blogger Daniel saw the photograph and asked if I knew much about my family history. I replied that I knew enough to satisfy my curiosity.
On my mother’s side, I’m fifth generation Australian and except for an Irish great grandmother everyone else is Chinese. On my father’s side, they’re all Chinese. My father was born and grew up in Fiji. His parents sailed there from China to set up a general store. Both sides of the family originally came from the same village somewhere in the southeast of China.
Back to Mum’s side. Her people came out for gold and settled in parts of Queensland. They were wise people. My maternal grandmother was born in Charters Towers. She was sent back to China when she was two to be educated. She returned to Australia aged twelve fully educated. She was a smart no nonsense woman.
My parent’s generation were the first to go through tertiary education. Mum did teacher’s training college and became a domestic science teacher. Her younger brother went on to be a very successful urologist. My Dad graduated in medicine in New Zealand and had a very successful general practice in Brisbane for more than thirty years. Some of his brothers were engineers, both civil and aeronautical. Others were in business and administration.
This podcast is about a dream I had of my maternal grandfather. You can find the blog post at garydlum.com
You can now listen to “My thoughts and stuff” on iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/my-thoughts-and-stuff/id1207747458
Do you remember your dreams? I love dreaming. Dreaming is so enjoyable, mostly. Occasionally I have nightmares, but mostly I have pleasant dreams. I usually don’t remember what I’ve dreamt about unless it’s something really special.
Last night I dreamt I was on a cruise ship of all things and of course I was trying all the buffets. One buffet was Chinese food and had a bowl of clear marrow broth with pork bones. As I was going back for more the cook brought out a big plate of cooked pork ribs with meat on them. They looked delicious. I grabbed some on a plate and went back to a table. Sitting opposite me was my maternal grandfather. Goong goong. That’s what we (his grandchildren) called him. His name was William Que Hee. He was a cane farmer and a cook, a husband and grandfather and all round good bloke.
He died in 1974. He, along with my maternal grandmother effectively raised me as a small boy. I have many fond memories of Goong goong. He was a kind and gentle man. He turned our backyard into a vegetable garden full of Chinese vegetables. He cooked, he cleaned and he kept me safe. I still miss him though he’s been dead for so many years. In the photographs below he’s holding me.
Do you remember dreams? Do you write them down? Do think there’s any value in keeping a dream diary?
Do you remember your dreams? I love dreaming. Dreaming is so enjoyable, mostly. Occasionally I have nightmares, but mostly I have pleasant dreams. I usually don’t remember what I’ve dreamt about unless it’s something really special.
Last night I dreamt I was on a cruise ship of all things and of course I was trying all the buffets. One buffet was Chinese food and had a bowl of clear marrow broth with pork bones. As I was going back for more the cook brought out a big plate of cooked pork ribs with meat on them. They looked delicious. I grabbed some on a plate and went back to a table. Sitting opposite me was my maternal grandfather. Goong goong. That’s what we (his grandchildren) called him. His name was William Que Hee. He was a cane farmer and a cook, a husband and grandfather and all round good bloke.
He died in 1974. He, along with my maternal grandmother effectively raised me as a small boy. I have many fond memories of Goong goong. He was a kind and gentle man. He turned our backyard into a vegetable garden full of Chinese vegetables. He cooked, he cleaned and he kept me safe. I still miss him though he’s been dead for so many years. In the photographs below he’s holding me.
Do you remember dreams? Do you write them down? Do think there’s any value in keeping a dream diary?
It’s Monday night so that means salmon. I’ve been mixing it up lately. For a long time, I’ve been baking my salmon in my bench top oven. It’s simple and only takes 12 minutes with minimal mess.
However, I do enjoy crispy skin pan-fried salmon though and now that I have a portable induction hob, getting a really hot pan is simple. I also coat the salmon in flour and this minimises oil splatter because it dries the surface of the salmon.
I didn’t eat dessert last night because I was feeling full after my leftover pork and beef meatloaf with extra bacon. Even my dessert stomach (also known as the œsophagus) didn’t feel like it could cope.
It’s Monday night so that means salmon. I’ve been mixing it up lately. For a long time, I’ve been baking my salmon in my bench top oven. It’s simple and only takes 12 minutes with minimal mess.
However, I do enjoy crispy skin pan-fried salmon though and now that I have a portable induction hob, getting a really hot pan is simple. I also coat the salmon in flour and this minimises oil splatter because it dries the surface of the salmon.
I didn’t eat dessert last night because I was feeling full after my leftover pork and beef meatloaf with extra bacon. Even my dessert stomach (also known as the œsophagus) didn’t feel like it could cope.
