factoids

Today was a public holiday in Brisbane, in celebration of the Royal Queensland Show, the annual agricultural show of Queensland, also known as EKKA.  It's pretty much a fair type thing, with rides, free petting zoos, overpriced food / drinks and heaps of kids, meh.  Not my cup of tea but it was nice to see all sorts of people going this morning while we were working on site.  It's nice that the seventh show day is a public holiday, no work for most people like Danny.   I love that there are 2 holidays I never thought I would be celebrating the first being the Queen's birthday and second one being the Royal Queensland Show.

here is a photo of my work at EKKA:

i and love and you

kinda love them... one more than the other

Melbourne

Melbourne was great. Our train was 40 minutes late so we took a taxi to the airport.  Of course during those times when you are in most need to rush, we get a taxi driver who was not a negligent speedster but rather one that followed the speed limit and the laws of the road. We made it just as the plane was boarding thanks to Australia's less strict airport security (no one had even checked my ID).

We finally arrived and the feeling of staying in a hostel was like a feeling of being home! ridiculous, yes but seriously... I love hostels. After a stomach wrenching all carb & simple sugar breakfast, we walked through the South Yarra neighbourhood where our hostel was located.  We walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens where we saw the governors' palace, the Anzac memorial, some cool trees and rainforest wildlife from Queensland! We hopped on a free city bus that takes a loop around the most popular spots in Melbourne:

National Victoria Gallery - had an exhibit about Napoleon but we decided against indoor activities since the weather was really nice.

Federation Square - amazing area bustling with people, checked out St. Paul's Cathedral, Flinder's Street Station, walked by / through some of the theatres and galleries surrounding the square. Then we saw the Joker painted on a side garage door in a tiny alley.  Naturally we headed that way to check it out and lo & behold our first street art encounter... the whole alley way just covered in street art.  After taking a gander we had tapas and cortado at Movida.

Queen Victoria Market - largest outdoor market... meh...it was cool until we saw vendors selling full body kangaroo skins.

South Bank - nice stroll by the river at South Bank... we took some photos of the city skyline, saw a weird large goose, crossed the bridge back to Flinder's street station were we caught the tram back to our hostel for a nap!

Lygon Street - considered the 'little Italy' of Melbourne.  We met up with Daniella & a few other friends for a lovely dinner. Chapel Street - this street is happening!  lots of bars, restaurants, cafes, people... it was busy even really late at night...A few other attractions we saw:
More street art on Little Bourke Street
Possums at the Royal Exhibition
State Library of Victoria
Parliament
Another Cathedral
Galletes on Brunswick Street
China Town
Collins Street

Possums and Opossums are different:  Australian Possums are cute whilst North American Possums are disgusting and creepy. 

After 2 days of checking out Melbourne, Danny and I ended our weekend trip with a delicious cafe cortado at the Young & Jackson's bar in the presence of the famous nude portrait painting of Chloe.

worlds apart

about one year ago Danny and I stumbled into an air conditioned cafe just a few blocks from the Blue Mosque to hide from the sweltering 40 degree heat of Istanbul.  We ended up hanging out in this cafe eating baklava, drinking Turkish coffee and watching some kind of male diving competition while waiting to beat the afternoon heat.

one year later (as I checked the date in my journal), Danny and I stumbled into a Turkish cafe just a few blocks from the Hi-Fi where we watched Say Anything in the suburb West End of Brisbane. We ended up hanging out in this cafe eating baklava, drinking Turkish coffee and listening to Balkan pop music while waiting for the show to start.

very similar events taking place in very different parts of the world, although the date was the same the seasons were different, never would have thought one year ago that I would be having the same exact meal a year later in a completely different part of the world.

(Istanbul)

(Brisbane)

...the baklava was heaps better in Istanbul but still.

for the love of coffeee

this week I fell more in love with coffee...

I took a Barista course with Katy & Dean and learned so much about the history of coffee, how they are roasted, the different types of beans, blends, origins etc.  It is believed that the coffee bean was first consumed in Ethiopia, not as a roasted bean but as a raw berry  used for tea.  Then someone thought lets roast it to make it less bitter... but then that actually made it more bitter, so they thought lets boil it! They drank the liquid it was boiled in and voila! Coffee as we know it today was born somewhere around the Arabian Peninsula.  Coffee was prepared and consumed the way modern day Greeks & Turks drink coffee prior to the Italian invention of the espresso machine.  The espresso machine forces nearly boiling water (92-96 degrees) under pressure through finely ground coffee beans resulting in a higher concentration, thicker consistency and stronger flavours, a good rule of thumb for a good espresso ensuring all other constants are fixed, is to extract 30 ml of coffee in 30 seconds.  During the class we did just that; practised extracting delicious espresso, learning the techniques of frothy and textured milk and tricks of the trade to ensure that we always have the best possible tasting coffee.  

Result: 

I LOVE coffee even more!!! I want to buy an espresso machine just so I can make delicious coffee every day.  It makes me appreciate the good baristas who have served me delicious coffee because it is not an easy trade... there is so much art to it.  (I swear it is not the extra large cappuccino I just drank talking).  For instance this latte art is awesome and I want to make cool things like this one day. 

Image taken from: http://x-weird.blogspot.com.au/2009/11/beautiful-cafe-latte-art-designs.html

p.s. filter coffee sucks 

  

in the news today

Top Stories:


Donors pledge 16 Billion in Afghan aid
Putin orders flood deaths inquiry
US heatwave leaves dozens dead
Mexicans protest over poll winners
Ole: Tapas-ok,  cafe cortado-perfection
Girl clears five levels of DDR at Cineplex
A Jackson beats another 7 to 3 at air hockey
Ted well received by viewers: "funny" "LOL" "cute"


Opinion, Editorial, Commentaries:  

Theatre owners should encourage movie hopping for Snow White & the Huntsman

Weather Forecast: 

Sunny and warm for mid winter: perfect weather for afternoon naps

Advice Column:

Should we have a Batman marathon leading up to the midnight showing of the Dark Knight Rises?

a list of bad ass stuff

working in VW van turned coffee bar ... bad ass
hanging out on south bank for work ... bad ass

Dominos pizzas in Australia ... bad ass
view of the Brisbane City skyline while at work ... bad ass

Tall Short Espresso... bad ass
having an 'accent' in a land with Australian accents ... bad ass
TimTams... bad ass
Taco Bell ... bad ass
real pho ... bad ass
Bouncing Souls...bad ass