Friday Five…Canberra

So anyways, Mr T has been at home the last couple of weeks on leave. He’s been pottering around the house a bit, chauffeuring Miss T to and from school, preparing some yummy meals to come home to, and catching up on some zzzzz time in front of whatever football game is on telly.

He’s also been doing some long overdue deforestation work in the backyard. My bay trees had grown to about 3m tall, so they received a bit of a haircut during the week. I did, however, stop him when he offered to give the rosemary and lavender the same treatment. Pruning done boy style- ie with a hedge trimmer and wipper-snipper- isn’t great on herbs. Just saying.

Each day he was in the garden, this little fella came down to watch him- perching on the lawn mower, or the clothes-line or the back fence. I think he’s some sort of cuckoo. We had a similar one in the backyard some years ago. He flew into the glass sliding doors at the back of the house and stunned himself. When he was still staggering around the yard a few hours later, I bundled him into a shoebox and drove him down to the vets. They told me later that he was ok and had been released.

Obviously, this isn’t the same one, but he’s a friendly little tweeter. By the way, Mr T doesn’t know how to turn the date stamp off on the new point and shoot camera he bought for our ultimate road trip in November. This has since been fixed.

What else?

We did a flying visit to Canberra last weekend to visit Mr T’s mum. We did the hunter gathering thing at Belconnen Markets and, rather than taking her out for dinner, took her in the makings of a seafood platter. She has bad arthritis, so can’t do things like peel prawns any more. Mt T put it all together- filling platters and making everything look rather feast-like. It was a hit.

To the five…

Where we stayed

Hotel Hotel. Again.

I love the industrial chic of this place. I especially love the mad wooden entry, and the kooky little seats and cushions in the rooms. I love how nothing matches.

Mostly, though, I love the random nature of the art, the lighting, and the seating. It reminds me a little of the Museum Hotel in Wellington, except this lobby is far more vibrant and busy. Always busy.

It’s about the vibe.

Where we lunched

Silo Bakery in Kingston.

Canberra is a little truffle mad at this time of the year- most menus around town are offering things with truffles.

This pizza is one of them- potato, taleggio, truffle. Earthy, fragrant and totally yummy.

Hubby had the cullen skink- a Scottish chowder made with locally smoked trout, and Miss T had tomato and goats cheese pizza. She also indulged in a creme brûlée tart.

Where we snacked

A.Baker, across the road from Hotel Hotel, is great for breakfast, lunch and evening meals. It’s also great for glasses of wine and late afternoon plates of cold meats and bread. I’ve written about this place before.

We bought a dark ale rye to take in and have with our seafood…and went back for some spelt rye sourdough the following morning to bring home to Sydney. In my humble opinion, these guys do the best bread in Canberra.

Where we breakfasted

Hotel Hotel. Avo, dukkah, poached eggs and A.Baker sourdough. Perfect.

Where we pho’d

If you’ve been reading this blog for long enough, you’d know that I’m mad for pho- and more than a tad fussy. Bistro Nguyen’s in the Melbourne Building in Alinga St does a good one. Actually, they do more than one- they offer a number of varieties. I’m not a fan of some of the more “traditional” versions, so stuck with Pho Tai- rare beef.

The broth was wonderfully intense- although a little sweeter than some, and the beef is super-fine. The space is light, airy, and full on a Saturday lunchtime with lots of people slurping bowls of the stuff.

How was your week?