5 things…

Okay, I’m a tad late with this today, but here goes, the 5 things that made me smile this week.

The mornings

Even at 6am we’re now too late for the actual sunrise, but the mornings are still pretty special.

This really weird light

A really weird light on Saturday morning – a result of some bushfires and some dust blowing in from the west.

A new Fitbit weekly walk record

I managed over 102,000 steps for the week. That’s a new record for me on a non-travel week with my previous best being just over 90,000.

As for my overall record? The week I did Milford Sound I came in at 126,000 steps and there was one week in London where we walked nearly 128,000 steps in 7 days.

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Lunchtime walks

To get this many steps, because I have a sedentary job with zero incidental exercise, in addition to my hour walk each morning I’m taking el poocho for a half hour walk each lunchtime and going for another longer walk when I knock off.

I’m away this weekend and have a trip to Sydney for work coming up so am doing as much as I can before that happens.

That means more opportunities to enjoy my neighbourhood.

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The new boardwalk

The last stage of the Mooloolaba boardwalk upgrade was opened on Saturday morning and it’s well worth the wait.

Fit people

Mooloolaba was host to Ironman 70.3 over the weekend. Every time the beach hosts one of these events it’s a pain in the proverbial for locals – and this is one of the bigger ones with an international following and thousands of entrants. It’s also a massively serious race: 1.9km ocean swim, 90km cycle, 21km run.

Beach car parks are closed for 5 days and roads are closed on the day of the event. While the cafes and coffee shops do well, everyone says that it’s only tourists they do well from as the locals can’t get in or out.

We came down early on Saturday morning to do our usual walk and were elbowed out of the way by runners who seemed to think they owned the path; the roads around the beach were clogged with cyclists doing their warm-ups with little respect for motorists. (As an aside, there are always cyclists and runners out, but they’re the ones who understand that the paths are there to be shared with walkers and the roads with cars.)

This morning though the mood was different. Those who were still in town were doing their warm-downs and we overheard a few calls to people back home raving about Mooloolaba, the weather, the restaurants, the prawns.

And that, people, is why the council promotes these events despite the annoyance of locals. Because they go away and tell other people – and they come and they spend.

This meme

This headline…

On the front page of The Scottish Sun the other day. It’s a little naughty but I suspect the headline writer has been waiting her entire life to write this.

Actually, you know what? My parents read this so maybe I’d better not post it. Let’s just say it’s about Boris Johnson and the election…

This TED talk

Watch and giggle as you see what happens when you reply to spam emails… You’ll find it here.

This TV show…

Travels with my father

The latest series is on Netflix and it’s as hilarious as ever. This time around UK comedian Jack Whitehall and his Brexiteer father are in the U.S.

This podcast

Gary Mehigan’s A Plate To Call Home.

The new series has dropped and it’s good. Sure, it features foodies, but Mehigan is such a fantastic interviewer that the conversation is about much wider themes than that. Well worth a listen – especially if you’re into food

Saturday Kitchen

Spaghetti alla Gricia. 

We were supposed to be doing a Belgian theme this weekend but Voodoo Bacon at the Farmer’s Market had some guanciale that they’d cured and that was ready, so that meant spaghetti alla gricia.

I first had this at Grossi Cellar Bar one night in Melbourne and it was one of the best pastas I’d ever eaten, but you can only make it with guanciale – and that’s really hard to get.

The conversation on Saturday went as follows:

Sarah: What’s for dinner?

Me: Spaghetti alla Gricia

Sarah: What’s that made with?

Me: Guanciale

Sarah: No clearer. What’s that?

Me: Cured pork cheeks

Sarah: I don’t know how how I feel about that. Wait, is that the really yummy pasta we had at Grossi?

Me: Yep.

Sarah: Why couldn’t you have just said that?

I’ll blog the recipe next Saturday but essentially it’s a classic Roman sauce using just pasta, guanciale, pepper and pecorino. You can make it with pancetta or bacon, but the guanciale makes it really good.

This week’s blogs… in case you missed them…

My August round-up

My peanut butter chocolate crackle slice

Ok, that was my week…how was yours?