Give Thanks for Danielle

I made Stephanie Alexander's old fashioned pumpkin pie - lots of lemon juice, brown sugar and currants and spice. We celebrated Thanksgiving so Danielle didn't miss out.

We roasted a turkey breast and had some vegies. We made turkey place cards. They were cute!

Hong Kong Tales

Dalene Wray is from Obe beef. They are importing organic grass fed beef into Hong Kong grown in the Channel Country in Queensland.

David learned to make seafood dumplings that look like penguins at Superstar seafood restaurant in Hong Kong. They have a centre made from chopped shrimp and abalone; the white chest is rice flour and water; the outer coat is coloured with squid ink. David is very pleased with his penguin on the right.

Here's David at his lesson with Jackie Lau learning to roll and shape the penguin dumplings.

treattracker David is about to tuck into a goose foot in Hong Kong. He's just back from a week up there for work. Nice looking foot!

Mavas

Ikea call this style of shelf Mavas, so now it's Ria's new friend Mavas. We're about to take it into her new space and I can't wait to see it dressed up with all her goodies on it.

Here's Ria and Mavas in her new space. It looks nice! We do not need to mention any tiny imperfections that only we can notice.

Rue de Paris

Rue de Paris Cafe in Park Rd Milton has a beautiful breakfast. Hillary had an avocado, egg, spinach, and hollandaise combination - healthy and yummy!

Steve and David both ordered the omelette which was choc-a-block with bacon, tomato, mushroom and lots of pepper. It looked so good!

Here we are with our old friends Hillary and Steve Connolly from over in the western suburbs. We met at Park Rd Milton for brekky at Rue de Paris. They're off to New York, London, and Hong Kong for Christmas. We love catching up with all the news of our work, travel, kids,etc. It was so fun!

Antique Antics

What a nice time I had at Woolloongabba Antique Centre helping Ria put together her new Ikea stand. It is a nice plain white to emphasize the beautiful colours in her jewellery and antiques.

Let's hope we get it finished in time for opening time tomorrow morning. Here's Ria doing some banging. We love the Allan key.

Our lovely old cutting board made it into the Courier Mail this week for a photo. I think we got it years ago when we used to visit the North Pine Markets. Here it is with some Alba Mozzarella David bought at Feast on Fruit at Morningside and some of the fabulous garlic grown by Patrice Newell who has a farm at Gundy near Scone in NSW. Here's a link to the latest Fossicking columnhttp://www.news.com.au/couriermail/index/0,23806,5013516,00.html

Black Pearl Trivia

We just visited Brother Espresso on Riding Rd, Bulimba again and had breakfast with the gang. We all like the coffee and Elizabeth and Danielle loved the breakfast sandwiches. Here's Amy and Mark having a good time on a beautiful morning.

We came third in the Black Pearl food trivia night. Here's two of our team members - Mel and Helen. We had a nice time and Babak's lovely supper was delicious.

Cottage Garden

treattracker David found some Vietnamese mint at Cottage Garden Nursery at East Brisbane to plant in his herb garden.












We had breakfast at Cottage Garden Nursery. The cafe is run by the lovely Chris Einem who makes amazing jams and relishes and he preserves beautiful fruit which he is able to get from friends and relatives with orchards on the Granite Belt. David loved his omelette with pumpkin, feta, and pastrami and my fruit and nut toast was nice too.

Good Food and Wine Show

Another great find at the Convention Centre Good Food and Wine Show was Huon Valley smoked trout. You can find them at mmceneany@huonaqua.com.au treattracker David liked the look of this amazing green tea made by Aya Green Tea. It is so good for you! Find Aya at http://www.ayagreentea.com/ She's a Japanese tea instructor.

treattracker David - also Fossicker from the Courier Mail - loves his friend Margi Kirkby who produces olive oil at Gwydir Grove near Moree. He found them at the Good Food and Wine Show at the Convention Centre today. Margi is promoting her new Balsamic Vinegar, Australian Fusions Spicy Chilli and Fresh Lime Olive Oil, and Australian Fusions Native Mint and Garlic Olive Oil. Can't wait to try these in our next salad. Wow! Find Margi at http://www.gydirolives.com.au/

Time Flies

treattrackers had our lovely friends Michael and Josiane Lynch over for David's special hare krishna vego lasagne on Sunday night. We also had roast lamb for the non-vegos. What a nice dinner! Wow, I started teaching with Michael nearly 30 years ago and now we all find ourselves with five (altogether) grown-up daughters. How time flies!

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Vine Morning

Elizabeth and Danielle like Abbott St New Farm with its beautiful shady camphor laurel trees.

We went to Vine for breakfast. It's in Merthyr Rd New Farm. The girls loved their asparagus with hollandaise sauce and eggs and David liked his vego breakfast which featured some beautiful fried haloumi. My fruit toast with ricotta and berry compote was delish too.

Tropicana Cafe on Lytton Road, Colmslie, is my favourite coffee place on my way from the gym in the morning. It caters for office workers, truckies, and all sorts of delivery guys. These blokes were looking at pamphlets and discussing the latest types of trucks. The coffee's great and they do a roaring trade.