Bánh mì – or Saigon roll – with pork

Bahn mi from Florey shops – Canberra

On my first visit to Vietnam I did what comes naturally to me – I bought the Lonely Planet guide and researched food like there was no tomorrow. And as soon as I saw the picture of the Saigon roll in my Lonely Planet guide, I knew I had to find one. A couple of issues there, starting with the folly of trying to locate food places in a very ‘dynamic’ country using a print version of a book that was four years out of date. Unfazed, I researched the best place in Ho Chi Minh to find the best Saigon roll and it happened to be a little stand located on a little street, which in spite of my best pre-breakfast efforts (and the herculean stamina and patience of my travelling companion) I could not locate. I needn’t have worried as pretty much every Saigon roll in Vietnam is wonderful (and I had a few!). 

Two Before Ten, anyone? Aranda shops – sneak peak

The Juggernaut van – complete with cute wooden spoons

Who would’ve thought… it figures

That immortal line by Alanis Morisette says it all for me. I have been a regular drive-past at the Aranda shops for near on ten years now, as both my kids have gone through primary school there. Forlorn, abandoned, crappy. Overrun by the activity at the nearby Jamison shops, which was nearly overrun by Belconnen Westfield and has only recently risen from the ashes. Almost everyday for ten years now I wished they would just do something with those shops, anything, but leave that hideous eyesore with broken windows and boarded-up doors. But what would you know, the irony of it, in September last year, just as I was about to farewell my youngest in year 6 to the big world of high school, a wee little pop up of a cafe opens at the Aranda shops. Not just The Juggernaut – for that’s what it’s called – but the super duper promise of so much more…. 

Catching a rainbow before the rain

While out on a ride this morning, I caught this rainbow from the Australian-American memorial looking over Parliament House….

…just before the sky turned dark and I was caught in the rain!

I was at the Australian-American memorial at Defence. We (very affectionately) call this imposing landmark ‘the chicken on a stick’.

Image courtesy of: http://on-walkabout.com/2007/09/06/on-walkabout-at-the-australian-american-memorial/

Canberra misty morning and gratuitous flowers

Summers in Canberra can be unbearably hot. This week, we are about to get a taste of things to come with a predicted top temperature of 36 degrees C on Friday. Though I shouldn’t whinge, as the poor souls in Adelaide are getting it worse! One of the nice things about Canberra summers is that the mornings can be so cool and sweet.

Here’s a morning shot of the mist and sun from my morning run in north Canberra. See the teeny tiny Telstra tower?

Here’s also some gratuitous shots of flowers. Lovely stamen!

Bring on summer!

 

Malted banana split – Ricardo’s

The latest from the wonderful world of Ricardo’s – malted milk mousse – banana marshmallow centre – malted peanuts – injected with a chocolate syringe

There’s one word for this: genius

Ricardo’s – malted banana mousse with chocolate injector!

Chocolate lava flow – post injection

A light malted banana mousse encapsulating a fluffy marshmallow centre on a light chocolate sponge

Spring

Spring is here, though it doesn’t quite feel like it yet. The days are getting milder, I can face getting out of bed early to exercise and there is more light in the mornings.

It means blossom everywhere.

It means some wonderful sunrises.

Summer is coming!

 

 

Perfect day – for a walk and churros

School starts again tomorrow (boo) and to see off the last day of holidays, with the sun shining, we couldn’t resist taking off for a walk around the central basin of Lake Burley Griffin. The air was so clear and the water so still. OK, it was hardly 10°C, but it felt pretty nice outside.

 

Afterwards, we felt we deserved a nice treat, so we went to San Churro Chocolateria the shrine to Spanish chocolate.

It was pretty busy, but the service was nice and friendly. No surprise we ordered the specialty of the house – churros.

 

Lovely deep fried Spanish doughnuts dusted in icing sugar and cinnamon. We had ours served with white chocolate and dulce de leche.

As my son said: This place would be in heaven. I tend to agree!

Pan-fried Truffled Brie

I love this time of year in Canberra. Clear days and high clouds with cool (but not icy) winds. I won’t say it’s my favourite weather, as it’s not always comfortable, but so long as it’s not wet and overcast, I love it.

Everyone agrees that weather effects emotions and at its most fundamental, warm weather and absence of rain is universally comforting. Winds hit my emotional triggers. Hot summer winds make me edgy, icy winds are just plain icy and no one likes that, but a cool winter wind transports me back to my childhood – hopscotch in the playground, throwing sticks into the creek and running through the back paddocks in gum boots to watch the lambs.

We don’t have lambs in Canberra in late June, but we do start the truffle season. Can I just stop here and say how spoilt we are in Canberra with an abundance of fantastic restaurants, edgy evolving food, excellent local wineries, fresh produce and truffles! I have been hanging out for the start of the Canberra truffle season; it started last weekend and is now all go.  For me it started this weekend with a visit to the EPIC markets to get my hands on some locally grown black truffle.

Ever since I saw the episode of ‘My France with Manu (Feildel)’ earlier this year where he sandwiched freshly dug truffle between the halves of a wheel of brie and pan-fried it, I have been dying to make it. There’s no way I can go a whole wheel of brie (or afford that much truffle), so I made this with a modest wedge and about 4 g of black truffle. It doesn’t sound like much, but black truffle is quite strong and 4 g goes a long way. I served this with fresh salad, grapes and some toasted sour dough. I have heard that you can make the truffled brie sandwich ahead and store it in the fridge for several hours to allows the truffle to infuse in the brie.

excess

Excess

Scrivener Dam – Lake Burley Griffin

Lorikeet sunrise

It is a bit of a cheat tagging this post with #Canberra, as half the images were taken at the South Coast, near Milton, over Easter. But the sunrise from Gungahlin in the north this morning was so lovely, it made me think of the beautiful lorikeets and flowers we saw while on our Easter break.

 

These cheeky birds were daily visitors and we tried to feed them sunflower seeds – ooops, seems they prefer the banksia I have back in my garden in Canberra!

One of may favourite things is riding my bike in new suburbs – there are wonderful roads with clean, smooth surfaces and very little traffic. Gungahlin used to be like that, but now can be pretty busy early in the morning, particularly since the Gungahlin Drive Extension was finished. Still, it’s a good road surface. I took my photos this morning around Gungahlin and I just love this little piece of ‘public art’ on Gungahlin Drive. I’m not sure if it was done by locals or a council worker having a good day, but these really do look like Mario’s drain pipes. 1 up all!

Have a great weekend!