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I think this is the first time I've been on video and not hated myself, although I have a bad case of HRT and look constipated - blaming lack of sleep. for your entertainment:
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but I feel there is something profound there. this is a link to a list of misspelling made by people searching for britney spears on google hmmmmm |
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I'm lucky enough to live within stumbling distance of the excellent Grand Central Hotel, which I fondly regard as my local. The public bar is passable for a cheap feed, a pint, a punt and a chance to rub shoulders with the old guard of Queensland's public servants. Located directly below Queensland Rail HQ and Brisbane's Central Station, opposite the Anzac Square Shrine of Rememberance, the site has an interesting history. In the golden age of railway, 'refreshment rooms' where built on the site, a place for passengers to quench the thirst of their long journey and by 1965 had morphed into Fihellys Arms Hotel, a pub serving cold beer in the great Australian tradition. Today's patrons are a slightly more complex lot, and the Drinx hotel group has responded to the influx of city residents and the tastes of corporate types by creating a small contemporary bar and dining area 'Platform', which cleverly wraps itself around Central Station's Ann Street facade, a pedestrian tunnel and railway platforms. Rather than feeling confined, Platform succeeds at being both inviting and intimate. For a few years now Platform has done great trade for corporate functions and the like but hasn't solidly packed them in the way you'd expect given its transport oriented location. Enter Matt Coorey, a man on a mission to bring craft beers to the increasingly discerning drinkers of Brisbane. Matt has cleverly transformed Platform from just another bar to the place to try something new whilst you drink away the stresses of the day and catch up with your mates. With over 50 craft beers on offer, each endorsed with the Rubber Stamp Hand Crafted Beer Excellence mark, you could spend many a merry session working your way through the list. A decent wine list and fully stocked bar are there if you ever get tired of the endless variety that is craft beer. Matt comes from a family of publicans with his family operating the much awarded Spotted Cow Hotel at Toowoomba, and has pulled a pint or two at a number of top pubs around the country. The staff at Platform share Matt's passion for all things hopped, malted and brewed with 'beer lists' proffered to drinkers, expert knowledge of their product and many beers served in suitably matched glassware. After a few rounds, you'll probably be in no hurry to leave. And with two menus are available at Platform and the adjoining Dining Car there's no reason not to hang around. A simple menu of bar food offers perfectly cooked chips, salt and pepper calamari, oysters, bollywood pizza and bruschetta and a more substantial menu offers honest dishes like lamb shanks, juicy steaks, fresh fish and salad and is available at lunch and dinner Monday to Saturday. The adjoining bottle-o offers many of the beers available at Platform, along with a selection of wines that encourages lengthy browsing. This unassuming hole-in-the-wall also stocks what must be Brisbane's widest range of whiskys and an extensive range of Barossa Valley wines and uncommon varietals. There's no doubt about it : Platform is the sort of local you dream about having. Platform bar at The Grand Central Hotel Drinx retail Hand Crafted Beers Planning a visit to Toowoomba? Check out The Spotted Cow |
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Cnr Felix & Mary Streets, Brisbane Mod Med fine dining www.barolo.com.au Mid wednesday afternoon in an otherwise ordinary week and a message pops up on my monitor 'find a restaurant for dinner tonight, its time we got out more'. So much travel during this year that the last few months we've been doing alot of eating in lately. Urbane was suggested as the venue of choice, but I'm 'saving it'. Urbane looks wonderful, I know one of the owners through a friend and degustation is something I want to look forward to for at least a week or two. I'd walked past Barolo a couple of times, and been curious about what chef/owner Russell Armstrong (previously of Seasalt @ Armstrongs (Inchcolm Hotel), Ciao Bella (Albion) and various others) had come up with on the former Felix on Felix site. Already tarted up from its original incarnation as Vroom, Felix on Felix was a restaurant with an identify problem. Not quite cafe, not quite fine dining, it provided serviceable food and service but never really fired. Barolo sees the busy corner location between Eagle Street Pier and the Belgian morph into a sophisicated and seductive fine diner, a fantastic addition to the inner city restaurant scene. It strikes an excellent balance between a place to pull out all the stops and spend up big whilst allowing the diner to be equally comfortable dropping in for a quick bite and a glass of wine. The menu offers Italian flavours with a modern twist, with a entrees, mains and an excellent selection of house made pastas. We were seated and served an excellent sourdough along with Joseph olive oil. Although I'd read the menu on line when I made the reservation, it didn't make it any easier to decide from the many delicious sounding options on the menu. After some deliberation, we started with half a dozen pacific oysters doused with salt water vinagrette, citrus and evo and an excellent risotto of sauteed chantrelles, shaved WA truffles and creme fraiche. The oysters were plump and smelt of the sea, the best I've tasted in a long time. The risotto was generously dressed with shaved truffles with a lovely balance of earthy flavours. We treated ourselves to glass each of the R' De Ruinart, a fitting accompaniment to the excellent entrees. Sitting on at a banquette table under the plush retro orchid wallpaper and mood lighting, we were suprised by the lone female diners to either side of us, one busily texting between mouthfuls of steak and the other ducking out between courses for a quick smoke. Barolo doesn't have the pretensions of some of its neighbours and seems equally welcoming to groups, couples or those just looking for some where reliable to eat when they're visiting on business. Pasta dishes are available as entrees and mains, and given that all pasta is freshly made on the premises each day I settled on the hand rolled ribbon pasta with chilli, garlic, lemon, crabmeat and Qld scallops. This dish did not disappoint and along with the roast rump of victorian lamp served with polenta, ratatouille and roast garlic jus further demonstrated the assured work of Armstrong and his team. Given the restaurants name, we thought it would be remiss not to try the nebbiolo blends on offer. With 6 to choose from this is possibly the largest selection of Nebbiolo on any wine list in Brisbane. We settled on the 03 Elio Altare Barolo la Marra from Piedmont , a glowing example of the style with cherry and cinnamon flavours and a finish as smooth as silk. Service at Barolo is earnest but not quite as refined as you might expect given the otherwise high standard. Staff were friendly, but lacking confidence and a little awkward. Credit to the sommelier who seemed genuinely excited to have patrons who turned straight to the nebbiolo section of the wine list. Overall, the wine list shows a nice balance of Australian and European wines and mark ups are quite reasonable. Desserts definately merit a return visit, but on this occasion we rounded out the meal with ripe brie presented with slices of nashi pear, crackers and dried white figs. A wider selection of whisky would be nice to see but probably saved further damage to the nights bill. Barolo is a confident, calm and welcoming space serving beautiful food without fuss and we will definately be back. |
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At midnight last night the control order previously imposed on David Hicks by Australia authorities was lifted. After 6 years imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, further time spent at Yatala Jail on his return to Australia and then his release, only to have the restrictions of a control order, David Hicks is finally a free man. Or is he? Proceeds of crime laws will stop him profiting from his experiences and his name will forever be intertwined with doubts about his activities in the 'Stans. Statements made on his behalf by family members indicate that now he has 'freedom' he will be concentrating on psychological rehabilitation programs. Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith will continue to mentor David Hicks, having funded legal costs to the tune of over $50,000 and personally assisted David to find employment following his release from Yatala. Despite Dick Smith's reputation for being outspoken, this simple gesture lends a great deal of credibility to Hicks' cause and its refreshing to see someone who has achieved this measure of commercial success give back to the community and for an unpopular cause. Given the current governments insidious policy shifts towards community and media control, Hicks' case and what happens next has the potential to give poignant voice to the cause of freedom, justice and a fair go for all Australians. |
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we just got back from trying out the new Coles at the Barracks (Paddington). Really excellent development with cool shops and Palace Cinemas above. You can walk there from Roma Street Parklands. The design is a bit different for Brisbane too and the overall quality of the development is exceptionally high (unlike the Coles development at the Gabba). The Coles itself is really good, quite a large store, good range and heaps of awesome bargains too (sirloin steak for $8 a kilo!, loads of two for ones, etc). However Lachlan got quite over excited buying things from the deli and then wanted some flat bread to go with it. We try and buy wholegrain or coarse milled flour and bread as much as possible as our combined Irish/Scottish heritage means we don't tolerate refined wheat that well. He picked up some suitably wholemeal looking stuff but when we got it home we noticed its actually Organic wholemeal gluten free, yeast free, lactose free, wheat free bread. And it taste like arse. Its bearable smothered in hummus and washed down with olives and stuffed peppadews though. |
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And very funny. Rich Hall's 'How The West Was Lost'. Examines Dubya's approach to presiding over the US as it compares to the ideals of westerns. Essential viewing! |
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the injudicious use of Facebook Status updates intrigues me.... Scroll down and read from the bottom up. From: Kyle Doyle
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http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.p http://mirror.bom.gov.au/products/IDR663.l Storms are not really as good when you are cossetted away in a highly insulated aparment. And they always happen when I have sudden motivation to go to the gym :-( I'm hoping to one day have a nice place on a ridge where you can see big storms coming up the valley. I watched the new Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall show last night and it stirred up this recurring want I have for chooks and saddleback pigs and vege gardens. Pass on faggots made with pigs hearts and caul though. |
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http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/b Yet another good reason to stick with PCs! Plus having a PC in your business is good for the environment, not just productivity and profitability. Why? Because it can be supported remotely with secure tools, almost impossible to do with a Mac, which saves techs driving around polluting the environment (and often your workplace too with plumbers cracks, BO and general unattractive nerdiness). |
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I like to think I'm a better than average cook, although i seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut. |
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Spotted in the Anzac Square / Central Station passenger tunnel: A young and enthusiastic busker playing SOAD covers on a cheap untuned acoustic guitar with headbanging support from a more mature guy. SOAD unplugged : there's a reason they never tried in on MTV. |
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but this is happening because your city sucks. Hard. Its karma http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/wor |
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Its the LOLCat Bible Translation Project! http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?tit |
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I woke up this morning to Triple J playing 'Singlette' by Custard......good memories! They back announced it like it was still on high rotation and as though Custard were still together, which was odd, but what the hey, I got a kick out of hearing it. Had a look to see if I could find it on on Songza (easier than finding the CD) and stumbled across Custard doing a cover of Leonard Cohen's Halleluah, its nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Quite passable.
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I am now working from home on a permanent basis and we have a cleaner, Joss, who comes every Wednesday arvo. He's fantastic, very cool guy, is actually an actor and acting teacher but like cleaning......I'm not arguing, he's very good at it. Anyway, I know he normally sings while he works but I've only ever hear snatches. But we are 2 hours into his 3 hour visit and he's been signing the whole time. Not just bits and pieces, entire songs, dylan, john mellencamp, Tom Waits etc and right now he's just finished Common People by Pulp, right the way through. Amazing! |
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http://www.wowwicked.com.au/ I really love the way there is a separate illustration of their mascot for every single store in the store finder. |
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thirsty
refreshed