Barefoot Bowls

Took the boys to barefoot bowls today. It was fun, and actually harder than it looks. I didn't realise they weren't perfectly round, and they need to be thrown on a certain angle to go straight. So subsequently the majority of my balls ended up in the gutter.

This is the closest I got

I bought the passes on one of those group deal sites. It came with 2 hours of bowls and a food platter. It was really just loads of deep fried stuff, but I kinda liked it. The boys certainly liked it.

Believe it or not, this was actually on my bucket list. Another tick. And...I think I found my birthday venue for next year :-)

Valley Fiesta!

After our regular Friday night dinner at Kuan Yin, we went for a walk through the Valley and happen to walk straight through the opening night of Valley Fiesta - the Valley's annual music festival.

How cool!

I call it an "accidental festival ticket". The atmosphere was awesome. They had a live band playing from the balcony of one of the buildings and all down Ann Street, they had performers in the shop windows.

These guys were my favourite. I think they were some sort of Marie Antoinette Zombies. There were loads of other great performers too.

This guy was dancing to the robot flower on the floor

These guys were giving piano lessons

Clowns in the Ultra Suite window

Our Regular

Some people have a regular bar, or a regular cafe, our regular is Kuan Yin Teahouse, a slightly divey, vegetarian cafe run by Buddhists in Fortitude Valley.

We eat there probably every second Friday night, early, given they have very odd opening hours. We love their "fake meat" dishes like Thai Spicy Chicken and Fish and Vegetables - looks like meat, tastes like meat, but it usually made from vegetable protein or mushrooms.

We popped in on Friday night and the place was packed! Fuller than we'd ever seen it in the years it's been our regular.

This pleases me.

This place is as cheap as chips, I guess cause they're not in it to  make loads of money, so I love to see them do well.  The most expensive dish is this "Delicate Combo" a vegetable pancake with miso soup served on an individual gas cooker. At $14.95 it's pretty filling and basically an entree and main in one.

Don't expect anything fancy - the crockery and cutlery don't match, the decor is questionable and translation in the menu is amusing, but that's actually what I love about the place. The service is always friendly and did I mention the cheap dishes? All vegetarian with vegan options so it's ethical as well. 

Did I mention the cheap dishes?

Just Because

Sometimes people do nice things. Really nice things. 

About 18 months ago I caught up with an old friend I used to work with. He said he and his wife had an idea for a special event and were we interested in helping out with the planning.

Turns out that special event was to take a bunch of their family and friends on an island holiday for 4 days of fun activities, fabulous food, entertainment and relaxing indulgence. And when I say a bunch of people, I mean about 50.

Why? Well, just because. Just because life's too short to need a reason to catch up with your loved ones. Just because they could, and why not. 

So of course we would love to help out. It's once in a lifetime that someone would ask that. They decided on the luxurious 5 star Hayman Island in the Whitsundays for the location. It was picture perfect, with its inky blue waters and sandy white beaches. 

We called the event "Just Because", because it really did capture the essence of it all.

It took 18 months to plan and we had a few hiccups along the way, mainly the damage caused by Cyclone Yasi cancelled our original date and it had to be put back another 6 months, but in the end we got there.

We did the organising and branding (more on that later), but their aim was just for everyone to have a good time and enjoy being together. And they did...a bunch of people who were genuinely grateful and happy to be there.

Maggie Beer Ice Cream

Maggie Beer. Australian culinary icon. Awesome ice cream maker.

Happy 40th Birthday!

We went to an awesome 40th birthday party on the weekend. It was in an old church hall that's also been used as a local theatre since the early 80s. It was simple and fun and reminded me of when I was a kid doing dancing lessons in the old church hall. Times were so simple back then.

The theatre part was so very authentic. The lights were rigged up to old wooden beams and there were photos of all the previous shows performed there since 1980. 

They had old fashioned spit roast catering, served up in the old hall kitchen. There was loads of food that I remember from childhood Christmas parties - roast potatoes, roast chicken, lamb on a spit, potato salad...and cake served up on individual plastic plates. How very authentic!

And...love this GIANT cookie birthday cake.  Happy 40th birthday Malcolm!