5 things…

Okay, 5 things that made me smile last week…

To be honest it was a tad difficult this week. I’ve been in Sydney since Wednesday (for the day job) and am not back home until Thursday this week. While there have been some smiles in the office, the day job is a no go zone for this blog so that’s a lot of hours that are excluded in terms of material for a Monday morning!.

Extra writing time

Three hours of it, in fact, when my flight from the Sunshine Coast to Sydney was delayed due to bad weather in Sydney. Sigh. On the upside, it was three hours that I got to work on the rewrite for Careful What You Wish For.

This veggie meme

I’m loving my veggie/ herby memes and this one is no different. Get it?

This word

Flaneur. It has a little upside down v thingie over the a and is a 19th century Flemish (I think) term for someone who strolls aimlessly for no reason other than the sheer pleasure of strolling aimlessly. I love it.

And this word

Wynd…which is an old English word for alley. It’s also the name of the new coffee shop that our fave baristas will be opening soon in Cottontree. Elliott will be roasting the beans and Dani will be doing the cakes.

We got chatting about single origin beans and terroir etc and how it changes the taste of the coffee. I’m a tea drinker but the idea that there is a growing concept of coffee sommeliers is something I find interesting. Coincidentally, it was also the subject of a Gary Mehigan podcast that I listened to the same day. I get the idea of terror influencing wine, but it seems it’s also about the bean.

Speaking of Cotton

Not that we were really, but if you were in Australia in the 80’s you couldn’t have escaped the Fine Cotton scandal – the one where a bunch of completely inept criminals attempted to “ring-in” a horse into a horse race. It was an absolute comedy of errors and beyond credulousness, but it was also the subject of a podcast I listened to the other day on Richard Fidler’s Conversations.

Dumplings

This trip I’ve been staying in Chatswood with more purveyors of quality dumplings per square foot than pretty much anywhere.

I made the mistake in the office the other day by asking for recommendations and prompted a very, shall we say spirited, debate.

These ones have so far been my fave – Xiao Long Bao at Lilong by Taste of Shanghai….closely followed by these wontons in chilli oil.

Teddy the Cavoodle

On Saturday morning I was lucky enough to meet Teddy the Cavoodle @teddyroothecavapoo. It was a bonus that it also meant I got to have a chat and a cuppa with his proud owner, my blogging buddy @theannoyedthyroid.

Crazy Rich Asians

I love love love the movie and finally got around to reading the book – which I loved too.

This mural

When they pulled down the building beside where I work in George Street as part of the light rail works, you can now see this – and I love it.

This mural

At General Chao in Chatswood.

Prawn Toast with XO Mayo

Again at General Chao. The bar snacks were next level but we kept it to just the one.

Family Get-togethers

One upside of being in town for work was that I got to attend the family party for my niece’s 21st and catch up with family. Check out this amazing gelato cake.

Recipe of the week

I’m staying in an apartment this trip with a kitchen so have managed a few home-cooked meals for one. This one doesn’t look much but it was yummy. I sauteed some mushrooms and a shallot, tossed in some spinach and then stirred through some (store-bought) pumpkin gnocchi with a handful of parmesan and a little of the gnocchi cooking water. Ten minutes and dinner done.

Okay, that was my week…how was yours?