All your spice do belong to us

We went out to a Portuguese / Goan restaurant in Wooloongabba last night and one of the dishes was advertised as 'including 18 spices'. The food turned out to be ok but as is often the case when we go out I thought that we could cook better. It got me thinking about the range of spices we have sitting next to our stove

 All in all we have around 30 spices, some pre-powdered or in leaf or bark form

and some needing a touch of grinding

I fried up a sliced onion and a few cloves of garlic for a few minutes, added the spices, a few large diced tomatoes and some stock and let it boil down to a gravy

After letting it simmer for 30 minutes or so I added diced chicken thigh and some cannellini beans - I had to use the can that I'd dented the day before by slamming it onto my finger. That may sound daft but it was in the context of explaing how to snort vodka, so it made sense at the time.

 Let it simmer for another 30 minutes or so and just before serving add diced coriander

Serve over rice, and it was lovely

What's in your kitchen? 

Dedicated to Rex

An classic oldie this week...anyone spot the connection?

 

The pitter-patter of tiny....pincers

We have a new kitchen friend who'd like to say hello

Meet Rex, our new crayfish and quite possibly Brisbane's cheapest pet (at the princely fee of $1). He's a rescue cray, taken from the feeder tank for a new, longer and hopefully less stressful life than what was intended.

If you want to see frustration, put a crayfish in a small clear bag into a large tank

 Once he was out he lost no time in exploring his new tank

 

He is crayfish resplendent!

 

All your bass belongs to us

It's been a busy week, with the promise of a few more to come. I'm pretty bad at leaving work at work and regularly snap awake at night worrying about things that might go wrong and how to fix them if they do. It seems that if I advise against initially committing the company to a choice of action that will have a significant cost but only marginal benefit, then I'm considered negative and counter-productive. If a salesman ignores me, promises the impossible and I work my arse off and make it happen anyway then he gets the plaudits for his far-sighted vision, but if I can't make it happen then I get the brickbats for my lack of commitment.  Sadly I seem to have become a corporate whore and worse still someone else is pimping me out at a discounted rate. I know it's very much a first-world problem and I try to not let it get to me but I think I'm some kind of professional masochist, constantly trying to find ways to prove myself but always knowing that the harder I work the more crap I inherit. If anyone has any possible solutions let me know!

Anyway, that kind of dribbled out when I wasn't looking. Sometimes it's good to relax to some mellow peaceful tunes to help sooth the troubled mind. Sometimes it's easier to turn it up and blot everything else out.

Gorillas in the bush

New tracks have been seen alongside the tyre trails in Daisy Hill tonight

as I'd finally plucked up the courage to do a trail run in my Five Fingers

It was great to be back out in the bush at dusk again. I only covered around 2 1/2 km in 20 minutes or so (with some breaks for photos) but when I got back I felt that I could have run for longer - always a good sign. My average speed was the same as for my old trail runs, although obviously the distance was a lot less so you can't compare directly.

I was expecting all manner of knee, shin and achilles pain as I'd also done a 2km barefoot run around Southbank two days ago but I feel remarkably good - I may rewrite this tomorrow though. The Five Fingers worked well as the 2mm Vibram sole protected me from the worst of the pointiness but still let me feel the texture of the ground, and at times harshly reminded me that I need to bend my knees more when jumping on to or stepping off of logs and rocks. I did go for a small walk barefoot once I'd got back to the car as my feet were feeling a little hemmed in, but I think I'll not be running barefoot out there. For a while at least :)

Kurilpa Derby

On Sunday the local suburb of West End held its annual Kurilpa Derby. This started off as a 'take back the streets for the comunity' style march focusing partly on wheelchair access but over the last five years has expanded out to be a street festival celebrating all things wheeled.

Initially there's a parade featuring a variety of wheeled transports - we want to see wings Gordy!

 accompanied by local bands

 and the occasional beer

 Just don't overdo it - yellow furry droop can be an embaressing condition

 After the parade finishes the kids get to race along the closed roads as the crowds alongside cheer

whilst we retreated to a chinese restaurant for yum-cha, beer and a ringside seat for the action

My partner, beer, bikes, yum-cha - how could life get better? Oh yes - dancing girls from the local Latin dance studio!

Further down the road was a roller derby bout and a bike polo arena

Bike polo is becoming a fairly big thing in the hipster cycling world at the minute but to be honest it's never appealed to me. I'm not a fan of ball sports and anyway I'm way too old, too unstylish and my tattoos are all hidden. Still, the bike skills on show were impressive and I'm a touch envious - just don't tell anyone.

The final event of the day was the squid relay - relay teams of two had to carry a raw squid in their teeth and transfer it without using their hands. It looked like fun - if you like raw squid that is

It's easy to be dismissive of West End as a well-off suburb that is fighting hard to keep it's exclusive status whilst pretending to be a Bohemian hang out. But it felt like there was a genuine sense of community there on Sunday - I think that every suburb should have a day where they open the roads up to the kids and just let people play. After all a community should above all else be a collection of people, not just a postal district or the location for an aspirational purchase.

  

Ingredients for the perfect Cx race

Well, you need cowbells

Beer

Tasty Pasties

Mates sheltering in dappled sunshine

Children lurking in trees

 And of course people riding their guts out

 with the occasional leap

 and a wheelie or two to satisfy the baying crowds

Naturally there are are other Cx traditions that need to be upheld