treattrackers

Deck Treat

2011-03-05T00:07:00.001-08:00

We're home from a lovely treat of lunch on the back deck of John and Pip's.

They gave us the most beautiful selection of cheeses for starters and then a perfect Asian noodle salad that contained the nicest, freshest ingredients. The chat was so interesting and the wine chilled to perfection for a Brissy afternoon.

Eggs in the Morning

2011-02-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

Oops, look like a startled rabbit. Anyway this was the five-star omelette at Egg Bistro, East Brisbane . It is a brand new eatery run by Granite Belt lad Chris Einem - we first caught up with him when he ran the cafe at the Cottage Garden Nursery a few doors down. The omelette was filled with provencal vegies and provolone cheese. Nice. Cath had granola with some of the preserved apricots that Chris makes on the premises. He learnt the art of preserving from his grandmother on the farm at Liston. The window shutters at rear are from the antique ship next door. Egg Bistro is in a lovely old building and the fit-out is quite special. Check it out. It is opposite the Lord Stanley Hotel at 989 Stanley St

treattrackers our haus brekky!

2011-01-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

our haus is a nice coffee shop just around the corner in Riding Rd, Hawthorne. They have excellent service and nice food. We're back to our Saturday morning routine after the holidays.

Liz and Danielle share the pepper. Danielle liked her baked beans and eggs.

Sweet potato cake with smoked tomato compote, bacon, poached eggs and spinach.

Amy's very healthy after the fresh fruit salad.

Victorian Adventures

2011-01-18T23:21:00.000-08:00

treattrackes went to Rye Pier, Vic. What did fisherpeople do in the old days? Now they all text each other to say what's biting.

Picknics (they put the 'k' in says the teacher in me) is a lovely coffee cafe at Rye. We went there nearly every morning.

Oh dear, what did you do if you had typhoid, leprosy, or Spanish flu? You were put off your boat at Port Nepean and sent through these shower blocks and your luggage was sanitised in huge steam vats. Then they assigned you a dormitory to sleep in. I felt a few rather unhappy vibes here.

- Gun emplacements(picture below) at Point Nepean in Vic. There are tunnels and still a few faded WW2 signs. These guys kept Melbourne from being invaded by those revolutionary Americans, Russians, Japanese, and Germans. So interesting!

David's dinner of John Dory fillets with lemon cream sauce at The Capel restaurant at Rosebud West on the Mornington Peninsula. I had flathead. It was a nicely run establishment!

Our lovely winery guide for the day was Maria. Her parents came here from Germany to help build the Snowy River Scheme. They had a big family and Maria is the baby. She's originally from Albury.

We were so interested in seeing Cheviot Beach where Harold Holt disappeared. I remember seeing the unfolding events on tv. Silly man was mad to go in here for a swim. We thought it looked pretty wild.

David remembers being at a Liberal Party barbecue in Brisbane as a kid when the news broke. His parents' friend was a minister in the qld government, John Herbert. John got the phone call and the story goes he came down the steps into the back yard 'ashen-faced'.

Melbourne Zoo is on a beautiful tram trip through parks and gardens. We loved it! I'm so privileged to have seen Dewi the much publicised baby orangutan. Mum was very protective but I caught a 3 second glimpse.

What a coincidence! Peter and his lovely family in Victoria at the same time as us. We met for lunch and Pete and David had a black beer at Little Creatures at Fitzroy to toast in the new year!

Sunny Ridge strawberry farm at Red Hill in Vic. For $8 you pick a large box of strawberries and honestly we did NOT imagine that they taste amazing straight out of the sunshine!

Christmas Lunch

2010-12-25T18:39:00.000-08:00

Here's Lindsay and Simon having a laugh while Miriam looks on.

Liz and Jess have a quiet sip of beer!

Laur and Claire wondering if they'll have a second helping!

Christmas Snaps!

2010-12-25T18:10:00.000-08:00

Here's all the Bunowang gang! Thanks Simon for taking the picture! Cathy and Geoff who hasn't long gotten off the plane from Barcelona!

Look how Miriam is so interested in Danielle's information!

Elizabeth and Danielle. Matching hats!

Elizabeth and Miriam enjoy a Chrissy moment!

Here's Aunty Margaret and David and Geoff.

Marky and Miriam.

Miriam likes her new camera. Can't wait to see the pics she took.

Cucina

2010-12-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

Here we are at a nice new place at Coorparoo - Ave Cucina for brekky. I had a wrap of bacon, egg, and mushroom. It was so yummy!

Our herbs are doing well. We pick a big bunch of fresh ones and chop them with some sauteed garlic and tomato and toss with spaghetti. Here's a bit of sage.

Goldband snapper with orange sauce

2010-11-13T14:53:00.000-08:00

Just love goldband snapper. So sweet and tender. Goes well with orange butter sauce.

This is super easy sauce. Squeeze two valencia oranges - these are more tart than navels - then add white wine, white wine vinegar and a sprig of thyme. Simmer in saucepan until there is just a little left and whisk in 50g of unsalted butter. We get our snapper from Fish Factory at Colmslie. It is best grilled. Brush the top with a little butter and sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. For the veg, we had snow peas from garden, desiree spuds and carrot. Pretty damn good and not expensive.

Fig Tree Fun

2010-10-16T01:33:00.001-07:00

treattrackers' shopping from Fig Tree Deli at Camp Hill - a beautiful little box of Gingerbread Babies from Perrymans of South Australia and som Mamma Marilena Nut Bread. Can't wait to try these after they have been photographed for Go Fossicking.

Our Saturday morning breakfast at Fig Tree Deli at Camp Hill was nice. Liz had the BLAT - bacon, letttuce, avocado and tomato and Danielle liked her chorizo sausage and eggs in a tasty tomato sauce. She also couldn't resist the tiny chocolate cupcake which was delicious.

Mark loved the eggs benedict and Amy had beautiful avocado on toast. The deli has a nice homely atmosphere and a great range on the shelves.

Michelton Magic

2010-10-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

treattrackers have two nice new friends, Sarah and Julia. They're fellow food bloggers and there's is called iatebrisbane. Sarah served us the most beautiful simple lunch when we visited - freshly baked no knead rye bread with home-grown tomatoes, dukkah, and balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It was delicious.

We went to see Sarah and Darren's suburban backyard at Michelton. They grow most of their own vegies and have their own chooks. It is amazing to see how much one family can do in a normal backyard.

David's doing an article on eating throughout the four seasons in Brisbane, and Sarah's garden is perfect because she's also a fabulous cook. They have everything here, and hubby Darren likes the idea of random planting. It confuses the pests. They use no chemicals and have 'sacrificial plants'. These they let the pests damage on purpose so that they leave other ones alone.

Everything in the garden looks so healthy and interesting. Sarah loves to potter around with her toddler in tow. It gets the young Mum out of the house and into the yard and they love adding their produce to their family meals.

Vinaigrette Versatility

2010-09-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

Black Pearl Epicure has some new products they're distributing. We visited them yesterday and our job is to try these beautiful looking vinaigrettes from Pendleton fine foods. Our salads should be fabulous until we run out of this great stuff!

2010-09-29T17:38:00.001-07:00

Meat Treat

2010-09-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

Here's two nice boys - a butcher and chef. They're from Super Butcher and they put on a great night for the food bloggers' dinner.

Super Butcher hosted an unusual dinner for food bloggers last night - dinner in the back of their huge shop at Eagle Farm. Decorating our dining area were some huge sides of aged beef and we were treated to a butchering demonstration by one of the company's young butchers. Here's Andrew the proprietor of the company. He's a great speaker and the beef we tried was very tasty.

More Holiday Treats

2010-09-24T20:01:00.001-07:00

Amy liked her present from Yamba - a bottle of tomato and red capsicum relish from Cunliffe Waters. We've tried lots of their products and what a coincidence - they were staying in the flat next to us at Seascape at Yamba. We had a few chats and they're lovely people.

We always stop at Macadamia Nut Castle to break up our long drive to Yamba. Here I am with a packet of hickory roasted and one of chocolate coated.

Another break in our trip to Yamba is at Utopia cafe at Bangalow. What a wonderful array of fresh and beautiful food. We had brunch - a roast beetroot salad and a serve of fishcakes.

Our view of Convent Beach from our balcony at Seascape Apartments at Yamba. David went swimming morning and evening but it was a bit cool for me. I liked the long walks!

Yamba Treats

2010-09-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

treattrrackers have just had another lovely week's holiday in Yamba. We liked the new Italian restaurant. They have a wonderful wood-fired pizza oven and the pizzas taste great as does everything else we tried.

Our favourite breakfast and lunch cafe in Yamba is Beachwood. Here's the beautiful Sevtap. She cooks an amazing menu in her little kitchen and she just loves her work!
One morning David had the baked tomatoes.

We also made some of our own lunches at our flat. Here's a nice avocado on toast topped with some prawns. Yum!

Every morning at Beachwood, I would have the beautiful bircher muesli topped with nicely presented fresh fruit. Then I'd try some of David's scrambled eggs with feta and bacon. We'd swap so as he could have a healthy hit too.

Here's our view for a week - Convent Beach at Yamba. We saw dolphins and whales and so many birds.

Saturday Kick-Start

2010-09-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

We had a cheery breakfast again at brother espresso on Riding Road.
Our favourite toast topper is the marinated vegetables and feta.

treattrackers latest recruit is Aaron. He likes to kick-start his Saturday with a straight black espresso and he loves the sonoma muesli with Greek yoghurt.

David likes another one of his fathers' day presents - his 'Ministry of Silly Walks' t-shirt.

Sunday Events

2010-09-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

The gang came over for fathers' day dinner. David was very pleased with his pasta machine and egg records voucher. Yet to try out the machine, but we'll let you know how it goes!

We tried a friendly new place around the corner in Riding Road called 'our haus'. It is nicely set up and the coffee is great!

Pearl Saturday.

2010-09-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

Amy and I liked the homemade baked beans with a beautiful cheesy toast with herbs. (Uh oh, the red-eye edit still looks a bit weird!)

Back at our old favourite cafe Pearl at Woolloongabba. Elizabeth had the apple muffin and Danielle loved the caramel cheesecake (for breakfast)! It was so crowded this morning with everyone out for the warmer weather.

Mark loved the french toast and strawberries and marscapone. Doesn't that look beautiful!

David had a poached duck egg with some gourmet sausage. Said it was lovely!

School Garden

2010-05-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

Our Year 2 class is aiming for a pasta sauce garden at school. Here's our tomato plants growing on the beautiful north facing balcony outside our classroom. We've planted parsley, basil, spring oinions, zucchinis and lots of other goodies in our garden bed, we're measuring growth in centimetres, and keeping a diary. Hopefully, we will have a pasta sauce at some stage!

Noosa Weekend

2010-05-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

Noosa Food and Wine Festival was so much fun. What a beautiful spot for the launch of the new Masterchef magazine at Berardos Restaurant on the beach. I had to get a snap with Matt Moran.

Here's I am with Matt Preston who won the chefs' challenge at the festival helped by our lovely friend, Wendy. Matt was so nice and friendly.

We met Mary Mooney from Yarra Valley Dairy at Yering in Victoria. Here she is with Babak the lovely proprietor of Black Pearl Epicure and David on the right. Mary's new marinated feta is so yummy!

More Treats

2010-04-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

We've been meeting some nice new people with David sometimes writing an instalment of Home Cook in the Courier Mail. Here's John Beasley from Beenleigh with some beautiful smoked chorizo sausages. Check out his smoker in the background - an old washing machine with a big pipe delivering the smoke from his smoking woodchips below. It works beautifully and we loved the salmon too! Here's another great story from David about finger limes http://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/food-wine/ian-douglas-has-his-fingers-on-the-pulse-of-the-latest-native-food-fad/story-e6frer4x-1225850226015

My Year Two's love our new science topic - Schoolyard Safari. We snapped this plover checking out some new spots for her next nest. We were amazed at the number of live creatures we found in our beautiful playground.
I was lucky on my last trip to Tasmania to find Margaret Fulton's Cookbook at the Penguin markets. Here's my first dessert - Tarte au Pommes. Very grand name for apple tart! It's a nice recipe.

We love bush orchids that flower every April in our backyard. We tied them to our palm trees 12 years ago and they multiply every year.

Here's the Cottage Garden Nursery cafe at East Brisbane. I had an amazing mushroom ragout there last Sunday morning for breakfast. Chris Einem, the lovely proprietor of the cafe is planning to move to a nice premises next door to start up his new cafe Egg Bistro. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Sundaze

2010-04-10T17:34:00.000-07:00

A visit to our favourite neighbourhood cafe Thynne Rd Deli and David had the omelette of baby spinach and mozzarella. Yum!

Another harvest of salad greens for tonight's salad.

Cake Treats

2010-04-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

treattrackers teachers on holidays go to Eurovida Cafe at Paddington for cake and coffee. Here we are with two servings of flourless orange cake and one of apple strudel. We love to catch up and had so much fun!

Bean There

2010-04-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

We bought our pasta from Feast on Fruit at Morningside. It's organic spelt spaghetti and tastes great. The flour is not so refined and it must be low G.I. so that's good.

treattracker's pasta sauce was inspired by Jacqui Guglielmino who writes the blog everydaycook http://www.everydaycook.com.au/

She makes pasta with beans and lentils for her husband whose family is originally from Sicily. We tried ours with a little bit of shredded beef and topped with grated pecorino cheese and basil. Yum!

Salad Greens

2010-04-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

treattrackers love their very own mix of salad greens every night with dinner. There's the rocket and baby spinach...

...and here's our new seedlings of cos and mignonet lettuce and and healthy basil plant. We love the bright yellow of the flowers on the tarragon too.

A Night on the Town

2010-02-07T00:31:00.000-08:00

Amy is taking Anne, our Danish friend, to a club in the city to see her friend's band play. Have a good time!

Danish Treat

2010-02-05T23:17:00.000-08:00

Here's our lovely Anne Cathrine from Denmark. Anne was our exchange student five years ago and now she's all grown up and nearly 21. She's back visiting all of her Rotary friends in Brisbane then she's going back to Copenhagen to start her studies to become a doctor!

Holidays Over!

2010-01-31T00:12:00.001-08:00

Back to school! Here's what was waiting for me in my new classroom - all my packing from my old room at the end of last year. Miraculously, my room looks lovely now after several days of slaving before the children arrived back.

Oh dear! Here's Liz and Danielle after their trip to Melbourne for a friend's wedding. Danielle bought a Richmond supporter's t-shirt.

I like this photo of Danielle in her new Richmond t-shirt. We met for brekky at Brother on Saturday.

Tassie Tales

2010-01-21T00:57:00.000-08:00

Our speed boat cruise right down to the southernmost point on Bruny Is off Tasmania was amazing. Here's the wonderful seal colony where all the bull seals and the adolescent males sit around and swim and fish all day. The boat went right up close to them!

Here's two guys having a swim and a splash. Look at the kelp seaweed.

The breathing rock sucks the air in with every wave and blows it out in a huge big splash.

What astounding cliffs! These are 276m high off Bruny Is.

Our guide told us to take a photo here. There's nowhere to stop between here in the Southern Ocean to Antarctica.

So many amazing sights. Here's one of the caves in the cliffs carved out by the ocean. The boat is so manouverable it can go right up close and almost inside.

Geeveston in Tasmania is a beautiful old town founded on timber. Around all the streets are old townspeople carved out of timber and polished up beautifully. David loved the village smithy because his great-grandfather on the McPherson side was a blacksmith in Nundah.

The landlady of our cottage in Castle Forbes Bay is an amazing quilter. She helped with this community quilt displayed at Tahune Airwalk. Our cottage had beautiful hand sewn quilts on the beds.

Our walk around the Tahune Forest track crossed the Picton River and the Huon River on these scary swinging bridges.

Here's Cameron, our guide on the Tahune Airwalk, a stunning steel walkway through the treetops of the temperate rainforest.

Here's a treat. We met the former mayor of Toowoomba, Di Thorley. She's lovely and she has bought the Lady Franklin pub at Franklin in Tasmania. Her son is doing it up and they have put on a beautiful deck overlooking the Huon River. Di is working as the cook in the kitchen and our dinner was fantastic. I had grilled John Dory fish and salad and David had crispy skin salmon. It was cooked to perfection. We had a lovely chat to Di about her origins in Stanthorpe and memories of her German grandmother cooking for the whole family.

Birch's Bay in Tasmania had treat after treat. Here's David about to tuck into his bush tucker ice-cream - pepperberry - at Fleurty's Cafe near the pepperberry plantation.

We both had the haloumi salad at Fleurty's. The dressing on the salad was pomegranate and cumquat and was beautiful. They had huge picture windows overlooking the bay. Our lunch was delicious.

This mother-daughter team from Tasmania is quickly becoming very famous. They raise and milk Friesland sheep and then make the most amazing sheep cheese at Grandvewe at Birch's Bay. Nicole looks after every aspect of the welfare and milking of the sheep and Mum, Dianne, makes the cheese. Today, they were up at 4.30 with a vet and other staff (including a real human nurse) doing embryo transfers from the Mum sheep to improve the breed. They're exhausted!

Our tour through Hastings caves in Tasmania was wonderful. These dolomite caves have the most amazing stalictites and stalimites. Here's David waiting for the tour to begin. There's a constant 9degrees inside, so us Queenslanders were a little underdressed.

Our walk around the tracks of Mt Wellington overlooking Hobart was so enjoyable.

We caught up with old friends who used to live in Brisbane but went home to Tassie. Here's an old journo and a not so old journo, Stuart Gillies, catching up on the News Ltd gossip at Maldino's restaurant in lovely Salamanca Place in Hobart.

Stuart and Fiona's girls have grown so much. Here's very pretty Louise and Georgia at the restaurant.

Our cottage landlords at Castle Forbes Bay in Tasmania, Liz and Geoff Francis, keep a few Suffolk sheep to keep the grass down in their paddock.

Here's another photo of me at Geeveston in Tasmania with Jessica Hanbury, one of the old townspeople whose likeness has been carved out of timber and polished up and put on the street. Jessica was a do-gooder who helped out in so many areas. There's a plaque about each person as you walk around the streets.

We visited Bill Dowling at Longford in Tasmania. Bill makes the most delicious chutneys made out of capsicums and beetroots. Here's Bill showing us his automatic beetroot peeler. The beetroots are then shredded and made into the most amazing marmalade to serve with meats and salads.

Here's the lovely Pauline, a helper at Tasmanian Gourmet Kitchen, run by Bill Dowling. Pauline chatted to us while Bill was off tracking down his family's escaped labrador puppy. Pauline is roasting yellow capsicums and putting them in huge pots to steam so the skins come off easily. Then the peppers are slowly cooked with apricots, onions, and secret spices to make a yellow pepper and apricot chutney.

We found out about Republica ground coffee from our friends in Penguin, Tasmania. It is organically and free trade grown in East Timor. It tastes great, and you can get it at Woolies.

Here's our friend and keen gardener, Mary Ann, in Penguin, setting up her new worm farm. Their new house overlooks the town of Penguin and Bass Strait. They took us to see the fairy penguins one night and we were amazed. The Mum and Dad fairy penguins go out swimming and fishing all day and then come home to their chicks hidden in the dunes on the beach. The chicks then make a lot of noise and peck at Mum and Dad's mouth and throat to make them regurgitate the fish from their stomachs.

Here's me on the steps of our pioneer cottage at Castle Forbes Bay called Camellia Cottage. The landlords have built their own residence close by and they have done a fabulous job of renovating the cottage and running it for visitors. We stayed a week and had the best time. The gardens around Camellia Cottage are amazing thanks to Liz and Geoff-and they brought us a loaf of freshly baked bread every day. What a dream holiday!

What a coincidence! My lovely friend Ria was holidaying in Tasmania at the same time as us with her two sisters, Donella and Kerrie. We caught up with them at Richmond and saw their lovely cottage, Geraldine Cottage.

The weather was perfect. We had a nice visit to Richmond and went out to tea with Ria and her two sisters.

Here's all the Queensland girls in Tasmania. We had so many stories to tell over dinner about our adventures! The Culloty family are never lost for words and neither are we!

Cricket at Bellerive

2010-01-16T18:34:00.000-08:00

treattrackers' old friends John and Mary Ann came to a day at the cricket with us in Hobart to see Australia play Pakistan. It was a treat to see Ricky Ponting make 209 runs and Michael Clarke 166.
We love the Penguin Markets. Mary Ann is thrilled with her art nouveau lamp.

Another favourite place in Penguin is the Groovy Penguin cafe. John had the apple and cinnamon muffin and Mary Ann had the ham and sweet chilli muffin. The coffee was great.

The proprietors of the cafe have made a lovely mosaic sign to advertise themselves. Nice friendly place!

Penguin Post

2010-01-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

Here we are in Penguin, a beautiful little town on the north coast of Tasmania. Last night, we saw the fairy penguins coming up the beach to feed their chicks. It was amazing!

Happy Cattle

2010-01-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

treattracker David made it into the business section of the Courier Mail with his story about Obe Beef which he researched while he was in Hong Kong recently. Here's a link http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,26536193-3122,00.html

Very happy, organically raised cattle from western Queensland - picture from their website.

Thane Tale

2010-01-02T22:54:00.000-08:00

treattrackers had a stopover in Ipswich on our way back from Warwick. We love Fed Up deli and here's our shopping: some Kohnioor Indian sauces that are highly recommended by Jane (one of the lovely proprietors of Fed Up); a fabulous new Jalepeno Jelly from Gourmet Africa; a very attractive looking box of dried pasta from le Francescane; and a little block of Wensleydale Cheddar to try with our new chilli jam. Yum! And...$1 each for these beautiful old hand crocheted doilies from Aratula Collectables.

treattrackers had a nice trip to the country to take Belle for a holiday while we go down south for our holiday. Here's our lovely sister-in-law Kim making a beautiful chocolate and raspberry gateau that we had for dessert.

Kim uses Sarah Lee frozen raspberries in her cake and they really hold their shape and flavour. Here's a handy pack of exactly one cup of raspberries.

One of our handsome nephews, Alastair, shows us their new sheep dog puppy. We are amazed by their colouring and they have their suspicions that Chipper, their pet Jack Russell, may be responsible for the litter. Who would have thought?! This one is showing signs of being very smart and hard-working already.

Costello Christmas

2009-12-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely evening Christmas dinner under our back pergola. Mark had to have a Milo to finish off. We had so many treats. We ordered our ham from Teys' meat van at the West End Market. It was beautiful! Our lovely large and moist turkey breasts (that David hot smoked) were so good. They were from David's favourite butcher - Major Cuts at Morningside Central. Our table did look good at the beginning - believe me!

L'Arte

2009-12-23T14:15:00.000-08:00

Vivo coffee was my treat this morning. I had a latte at L'arte - a beautiful new coffee shop just around the corner on Riding Rd. Kylie is the lovely proprietor and I had fun browsing around her shop looking at beautiful artworks, jewellery and gifts. Byron Bay Cookies sticky date and ginger cookie was also a yummy treat with my coffee.

Fab Time in Toowoomba

2009-12-19T21:49:00.000-08:00

Another lovely family Christmas photo from the Toowoomba get-together. Terri is the spectacular hostess in the middle. We all bring food and drink but they go to a lot of trouble to bring it all together. What a nice do!

Neighbour Christmas

2009-12-19T21:27:00.000-08:00

It's our Christmas street get-together today - this year at Caroline and Roger's house. Here's my sliced turkey breast (smoked by David) garlanded with orange slices and mint and a nice dollop of Hank's cranberry and citrus jam in the middle.

Here's some nice Santa Pudding from Charlesworth Nuts in Adelaide decorated with some sliced nectarines. How ironic that Christmas celebrates the preserved summer fruits but we have them all in abundance here in topsy-turvy land at Christmas time.

And some nice potato salad with truffle mayonnaise from Doodles Creek decorated with chopped red onion and fresh herbs and lots of mint from the back garden. Can't wait to get to the neighbours' place to tuck into what everyone else has brought!

Toowoomba Christmas

2009-12-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

Here's all the young ones at Michael and Terri's family Christmas gathering in Toowoomba. They had their own special table - just like when they were little.

Here's Cathy with her four brothers. We're all looking a little middle-aged.

Danielle made some beautifully decorated Christmas cookies. Here's Lindsay and Patrick with the treats that went well with the beer.

All the cousins together with only one missing - our lovely Gracie who is busy picking watermelons at Chinchilla. We missed her so much. What a treat it is to still have little Jack believing in Santa and maybe Thomas too.

Christmas Cake Success

2009-12-18T16:19:00.000-08:00

Grandma Charlesworth's Christmas Cake is a success. Charlesworth's Nuts from Adelaide send us all the fruit and nuts measured and weighed and we beat up our butter and sugar, eggs, flour, spice and add the fruit (chopped and soaked overnight in brandy). It's so easy and no waste.

Christmas Dekkies

2009-12-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

Here's the gang admiring our tree. I like getting out all the Danish decorations Amy collected when she was over there. The Danes think they invented Christmas almost as much as the Swedes do.

Liz and Danielle like the Santa hats.

I like my gum leaf wreath made from leaves I found in the park. It may need a freshen up before next week.

Brother Espresso have great toast toppers. Marinated vegetables with feta is our favourite.

Christmas Treats

2009-12-16T13:16:00.000-08:00

Charlesworth Nuts from Adelaide have a mail order system and they send you all the fruit and nuts measured out and ready to chop. We bought two Christmas puddings and a Christmas cake. People in SA have known about them for years and we found them at the markets on one of our treattracking expeditions to Adelaide. I steamed my puddings for four hours each in pyrex casserole dishes. They'll heat up very easily in the microwave on Christmas day.

Pearl Day

2009-12-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

Hooray! Pearl Cafe, Woolloongabba, is open for business again after their unfortunate fire. They have done a lot of fixing up over the last few weeks and everything is back to normal, thank goodness.

We're so glad to be back to admiring their homemade cakes and goodies. Everything looks just the same and we had our usual beautiful breakfast there.

Give Thanks for Danielle

2009-11-27T14:55:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-21T16:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-07T15:58:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-06T20:21:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-06T15:28:00.001-08:00

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!

(Find 'treattrackers' on twitter now).

Vine Morning

2009-11-06T15:06:00.000-08:00

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.

Halloween Horrors

2009-10-31T15:54:00.000-07:00

treattrackers had another trip to Brother Espresso which, luckily for us, is just around the corner on Riding Rd, Bulimba. They have the best coffee and are quickly gathering a very loyal following. Fossicker from the Courier Mail, David, ran into Toby, an old acquaintance whom he knows from Fino Foods. Here's a link http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/index/0,23806,5013516,00.html
treattrackers had a great Halloween this year. Danielle, who hails from Maine, carved a beautiful Jack o' Lantern for us and we bought a mountain of lollies. Our neighbours are originally from North America too and their two little girls have a BIG party.

Here's Danielle and Lili with our Jack o' Lantern and our lolly mountain.

It looked so impressive when it got dark.

Sunday Post

2009-10-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a special salt David's friend Natalie Poyhonen brought back from France. It's called Fleur de Sel de Guerande and it's organic flower sea salt hand-harvested in Guerande. It tasted good on our steamed broad beans.

Spunky Spuds at the West End Markets were selling fresh broad beans yesterday. We steamed ours and added butter and salt and pepper. Not just ordinary salt, but French hand harvested sea salt which David's friend Natalie Poyhonen brought back from France for him.

Here's the latest bustling addition to our neighbourhood - Brother cafe at Bulimba. We went there for a quiet coffee on a Sunday morning and it was packed. I had a nice banana patty cake, made by the Mum of the brothers, with my coffee and David had a breakfast sandwich packed with avocado, prosciutto, and a fried egg.

Penny Flies In

2009-10-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

We met Penny, Mark's lovely sister who's in town from Townsville. They're off to the races today and Marky's putting some bets on for us in the Cox Plate. I went for Gai's horse Manhattan Rain and David likes Bart's horse So You Think. Both these lovely young things looked gorgeous for their day out.

We like the new statues at Gunshop Cafe at West End. We had an amazing breakfast there this morning - David had smoked haddock which he said was beautiful and I had strawberry brioche with ricotta and raspberry coulis. It was yum!

Hiroshi Farewell

2009-10-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

We've just had a fab trip to Melbourne to farewell Hiroshi Oseda, the News Limited correspondent in Tokyo. He's a great guy who's taken us out in Tokyo and enterained our student daughter, Elizabeth, who lived and worked in Tokes for two years. The guys from 'News' treated him to a holiday in Oz and we all went out for a nice dinner to Sartie, a beautiful Italian restaurant in Melbourne.

Cafe Segovia is our favourite breakfast place in Melbourne. Here's David after we just landed. We headed straight to the Block Arcade. I managed to get one of their hyperactive 'touters' in the background of this photo. They say hello to people in the narrow arcade and politely persuade them to eat at their establishment.

The Jersey Boys musical was fabulous for a matinee at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon. At intermission we went out to get some fresh air on the footpath and watch this beautiful wedding party pull up at the steps of Parliament to have their photos taken. The Jersey Boys tells the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons who had their ups and downs. The music and direction was great.

The Grocery Bar cafe was our Sunday morning brekky. It is nice and handy to our the apartment where we stay in East Melbourne and we always enjoy a hot coffee on a cold Melbourne morning.

Daylesford was our destination on Sunday. We hired a car and drove to the town known for its spring baths. We had a swim in a heated bathhouse to work up an appetite and then headed to the Lake House restaurant for lunch. This beautiful starter was a garlicky white bean puree with olives. We polished this off with fresh bread rolls and butter. They are very proud of their artworks and even the dinner plates have artistic prints on them.

I had a beautiful lunch of pan-seared snapper near the huge windows over looking the lake at Daylesford.

David had roasted spring lamb which was delicious and we admired the artworks on the wall. The service was so good. David writes Fossicking in the Courier Mail every Tuesday. Here's some of his latest treats

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/index/0,23806,5013516,00.html

Our walk around the lake at Daylesford after lunch was just what we needed before the drive back to the airport. There were lots of lucky locals who walk their dogs around here on a regular basis by the look of them.

David liked the little wooden jetty on the lake walk.

We recently had a nice night out at St Paul's Tavern to see my friend from work, Jef Caruss, perform as a stand-up comedian. He was so funny and he sounds just like our home grown Jerry Sienfeld. Great work! Jef was so nervous beforehand but he enjoyed the rest of the night when his act was over.

Our lovely friend Robyn is back from both her trips to Japan and New Zealand. We went to breakfast at Sympatico at Paddington and caught up with all her news. She has some great travel stories.

Tracking

2009-10-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

Wear a Prayer jewellery is really taking off. Ria made these for me from her very own childhood rosary beads. I'm wearing 20 Hail Marys and 2 Glory Be's. They are beautiful coloured beads which have slight changes in colour when they catch the light. Don't forget to visit Woolloongabba Antiques Centre and ask to see Ria's cupboard.

Pearl Cafe at Woolloongabba have the most amazing pastry chef on staff. She makes treats fresh daily and we sometimes have one for breakfast instead of something 'healthy'! Look at these chocolate tarts.

Lemon Meringue Tarts for one person with your coffee - homemade on the premises at Pearl Cafe. Their pastry chef also makes big cakes for you to have a slice. This morning's display was fabulous.

treatracker Lili makes a great barbie chef after we watched 'Storm' win the grand final. Uncle Laurie supervises. I think we were going for the Eels but it was a good game. As he matures, does he look more like our lovely departed Dad in this photo or not?

treattracker Danielle prepares the salads in the kitchen. She has so many new skills from her wonderful experience at Schlix - where they serve gelato and lunch salads as well.

Deli Visit

2009-10-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

Richard Gruber, the proprietor of Thynne Rd Deli at Morningside always has his shelves jammed packed with the latest treats. I love the look of this Saeco coffee machine which takes the little ground Lavazza coffee packs. However, I like going out for coffee so I don't want a machine at home. It would be detrimental to my social life.

treattrackers love visiting Thynne Rd Deli at Morningside especially on a Sunday morning for coffee and breakfast. The diligent teacher in the corner is doing some marking before the start of term tomorrow. We teachers seem to frequent this favourite coffee place and always have a 'hi!' for each other.

Always a great cup of coffee at Thynne Rd Deli.

David gets his newspaper reading done getting ready for one of his rare Sunday shifts at work.

Salt and Pepper

2009-10-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

Another visit to Woolloongabba Antiques Centre this time with my friend Maree. Maree bought some beautiful coloured glass and I got some salt and pepper shakers. We had a lovely browse through the centre.

Silverbeet Triangles

2009-10-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

What a way to enjoy home grown silverbeet - in spinach triangles made by the home gardener, David Costello (also known as the Fossicker from the Courier Mail in Brisbane)! They were yum served with home grown salad greens and cherry tomatoes. Try this link to read some of his column in the newspaper. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/index/0,23806,5013516,00.html

Mango

2009-10-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

Our first mango of the season bought from Feast on Fruit. Can't wait to tuck into it.

Jacaranda

2009-10-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

Jacarandas are flowering all over town - have you noticed? Here's our two treattrackers Amy and Mark, having a cuddle in the park at Norman Park where Amy used to play when she was little.

Silver Day

2009-10-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

Gravy boat must have! What a lovely browse around Ulmarra (which used to be a steamship stopover) on one of our holiday afternoons. The little town is known for its second hand shops and this cost $25. We had a beautiful seafood lunch in the old pub near the river. You can imagine how busy it must have been in the days of the paddle steamers.

New Frock

2009-10-01T22:28:00.000-07:00

Amy has a lovely 'new' dress from the op shop at Cleveland which cost her $10. Although she has beautiful blue eyes, I have not removed the red eye from my flash. Otherwise, she looks fantastic!

Yoghurt Balls

2009-09-24T16:33:00.001-07:00

Eleni Foods yoghurt balls are nice and spicy. Here's a link to David's column in the Courier Mail newspaper. We had a photo shoot in our kitchen and my photo that I took with my mobile phone is almost as good as the ones taken by Mark with his amazing professional gear.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26104026-5013516,00.html

Swimming Kangaroo

2009-09-24T00:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a zoom in of my swimming kangaroo photo.

Yamba Days

2009-09-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

I'm enjoying using my new heavy duty enameled metal citrus juicer. I bought it at Home of the Heart at Bangalow. This morning I had orange, lemon, and mandarin juice in our beach unit at Yamba. Yum

This is the front of our old fifties unit block in Ocean St. We love our little studio apartment. It's called 'Seascape'. We worry that it's not long for this world with all the development we see.

What a great way to spend one of our days on holidays in Yamba - a kayaking trip with Bob. Today he took us around some beautiful parts of the Esk River near Iluka. The day was beautiful after a few days of bad weather. Bob's website is http://www.yambakayak.com.au/

Bob packed the best picnic lunch for hungry kayakers. A very classy salad roll with the nicest smoked trout, Bob's home grown rocket leaves, his wife's beautiful semi-dried tomatoes, and nice ham.

Bob and David enjoy a chat over lunch. Bob packs all the comforts and we had a nice break.

Homemade currant cake courtesy of Bob's wife. We even had a nice cup of tea and coffee to go with it.

There is a giant grey kangaroo that has jumped into the water with a huge splash to swim over to greener grass on one of the other islands in the Esk River near Iluka. He's right in the middle of the photo, I think. I'll try to zoom in later.

Here he is after his swim. We couldn't believe how big he was, but Bob our kayak guide around the river tells us it is quite common to see them swimming in the rivers and he has seen them in the surf as well. This guy was a great swimmer! We think he may have been two metres tall and could weigh 130 kilos. Bob tells us that one nearly jumped on top of his kayak one day.

This is lovely Ros from Yamba Wellbeing Centre who gave me an amazing massage yesterday. This was supposed to be my treat after a day's kayaking, but we had to pospone our trip because of terrible windy weather. The massage ended up being a prior to kayaking treat! Website: http://www.yambawellbeingcentre.com.au/

We met Bronwyn Mark from Pot Belly Pies in Yamba yesterday. It was getting near lunchtime and we could smell delicious aromas coming from her shop. I had a shepherd's pie and David had a Balmoral Beef which contained scotch whisky and cream. They were yum!

You can't go past Bronwyn's shop. I'm trying to put a link in this post. Hope it works.

http://potbellypiesyamba.blogspot.com/

Look at the colourful packed shelves in Causley Fresh Deli in Yamba St. This placed has all the best goodies from Black Pearl Epicure and Fino Foods in Brisbane. Our friend, Michael Dalton, of Fino Foods recommends this shop to anyone who might be visiting Yamba.

Next door to Seascape you can see the renovation of On the Rocks in progress. We used to stay here when it was divided into units, but the local gossip is that a Sydney millionaire bought it for 7 million and is doing it up as one whole private residence. The decks have been extended and the workmen sure have a nice view to admire while they work.

We found this beautiful jam at the Friendly Grocer in Yamba St. It is made by P. Le Couteur at Gulmarrad which is on the way to Brooms Head. Phone 02 6645 1766.

Here's Gordon Merchant's mansion at Angourie. It's nice to see it finished. Gordon is the head of the Billabong company.

This is Mike from Causley Fresh Deli in Yamba. He's from Switzerlandbut he loves living in Yamba.

The highlight of our day so far was seeing lovely Fiona from my work in Brisbane. She teaches Year 4 next to me at school and she's back in Yamba visiting her family. Fiona grew up here and loves to come back to the beach. We went to Caper Berry.

David had a great afternoon yesterday when he went to the Rugby League grand final in McLean. The Lower Clarence Magpies beat Northern United from Lismore by one point so it was a nail biting finish. He met this guy John Mathieson who has made a tree change to McLean from Melbourne. He helps people who are putting on a play.

Beachwood Cafe at Yamba is our favourite coffee and breakfast place. We've had excellent lunches there too. Carlos knows all the locals and most of the regular visitors too. It's a treat to listen to his friendly chats to everyone who comes by.

Beachwood Cafe at Yamba is known far and wide for Sevtap's amazing cooking. She has Turkish and Dutch connections and her flavours are wonderful. We've read write-ups in the Sydney papers about their amazing cafe.

For breakfast, David had the Turkish eggs which are served with a beautiful tomato sauce.

Here's David outside Beachwood Cafe in Yamba admiring their veggie and herb garden. This is the healthiest looking cherry tomato plant.

Here's a morning photo of Convent Beach looking towards Angourie taken from our front deck.

On the drive to Yamba, we always stop at Bangalow. Their main street has such a great country town feel to it although now it's packed with tourists because it's the start of the school holidays.

Utopia Cafe at Bangalow is our favourite stopover on the drive to Yamba. I had the pumpkin scone for morning tea. It was served with really nice jam and whipped cream. The coffee is always great.

I love the huge windows looking out onto the big Moreton Bay Fig trees at the back of the property. We also saw so many beautiful bauhinias flowering around Bangalow. They're a couple of weeks later down here than they are at home in Brisbane.

Banana Cake

2009-09-16T02:32:00.000-07:00

Emmaline's Country Kitchen: treattrackers had a lovely Fossicking afternoon with Mark a photographer from the Courier Mail. Here's a beautiful Banana Passionfruit Cake from the Adelaide Hills - sales@mhagencies.com.au was so yummy and I got out my best cups!

Pastry Pantry

2009-09-15T20:19:00.000-07:00

Treattrackers are trying some new gluten free frozen pastry sheets. They're nice ones made with the flour from lentils, rice and amaranth(don't know what that is). The blurb on the box tells us that Rick Grant is a Gluten Free pioneer because many years ago his wife became intolerant to wheat and gluten. Not only that, he's a master pastry chef. His company's called The Pastry Pantry.

The Courier Mail is sending over a photographer this afternoon to shoot some Fossicking photos but I had to take a photo of my beautiful quiche when it came out of the oven and was still puffed up. The gluten free pastry worked really well for this treat.

http://www.thepastrypantry.com/

Lamb Dinner

2009-09-13T02:35:00.000-07:00

We had the lamb racks from Farmer Dave's that we bought yesterday morning at West End markets. The treattracking team enjoyed them. Treattracker Amy is getting tired of having her photo taken for just about everything but I say it makes the blog more interesting.

Happy Father

2009-09-13T01:40:00.000-07:00

David is very proud of two of his Fathers' Day presents - Danielle gave him a frozen pizza base that she gets from her local baker and Amy bought an amazing knife and board from King of Knives. website

http://www.treattrackers.com/

Garden and Tempo

2009-09-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

Treattrackers met a lovely waitress at Tempo cafe at West End. Her name's Meg and she is so chirpy and friendly. Meg has a delightful Cockney accent. Of course, Mum had to ask her where she was from.

We liked our Tempo breakfast.

The treattracker team has another treat at Tempo cafe at West End. Breakfast with the girls. Mum treattracker liked her corn and zucchini fritters. Nice coffee too.

We visited our favourite plant seller, Alan Spears, at the Manly markets for a Sunday morning treat. Alan gives advice and doesn't charge for it.

David's happy with his purchases and I wanted the lavender to put near my clothes line out the back.

Here's a picture of how our herbs have done. This is the sage, coriander, and chives.

This is the rocket and the dill. We've had so many salads made with the rocket.

Some of the veggies are growing in containers on top of our hopelessly clay soil on top of our rocky hill. Two of them are earth boxes all the way from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Just as good are the styrofoam fruit boxes from our fruiterer. Look at the cherry tomatoes at the back and the silverbeet exploding. Our treat tonight is 'spinach' triangles made with the silverbeet.

David's having a go in the improved soil in this bed with these peas. May have some sheep manure from under his brother Andrew's shearing shed at Thane, near Warwick. We recently brought back a boot full wrapped in garbage bags. There's nothing like sheep poo!

Twestival

2009-09-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

Treattrackers' lovely daughter Amy (with the lace skirt) and her music group The Gentlemen are on the Twestival website. Here's a link

http://brisbane.twestival.com/page/2/

West End Markets

2009-09-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

West End markets has Leavain sourdough bread and we always get a few loaves.

West End Markets and we visited Farmer Dave's Meat stall. We liked his assistant's hat and her enthusiasm for his great lamb racks. They're from Dauper sheep bred at Goodiwindi specially for their meat and not their wool. We do ours in our hot smoker but they're also beautiful roasted in the oven.

Next stop at the West End Markets is the strawberry lady. We always eat our way through two of her really large punnets.

Here's the happy potato man. You would not think there were so many varieties of potatoes. His stall is so popular and the giant cloves of garlic are sure worth what we pay for them.

We love these Royal Blue potatoes (but really they're purple). They are so good done any way, but are especially good roasted.

Here are the chook people. You can't miss their hats and Mr Chook's clever spruiking about his eggs. They're wonderful free range organic eggs that taste delicious done any way you like.

Murwillimbah bananas are also a must buy.

He's a happy salesman. The lady finger bananas are a treat.

West End Markets even has buskers. Here's a Country and Western singer who has his own material. He sounds good.

Why not try some of these big mandarins. I like the name and the taste and the price.

At West End Markets we saw a healthy Dad buying fruit and veggies for his family.

Pear at Pearl

2009-09-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

The new menu at Pearl Cafe sounds lovely. David had the poached pear with ricotta and honey on fruit toast. Yum!

Cirque Send-Off

2009-09-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

What a treat it is to drive down beautiful little Geelong St at East Brisbane. The bauhinias are flowering and they line both sides of the street. In one place, branches on opposite footpaths touch each other! It's beautiful!

Robyn's off to Japan on Tuesday for a holiday so we went for a send-off breakfast to Cirque. Our friend Ria has been busy making more beautiful jewellery and Rob is modelling a nice pair of earrings made from two lovely old buttons.

Ria's off to stock her cupboard at the Wooloongabba antique centre. This is a gorgeous pendant made from a polished and glazed piece of recycled china.

If you accidentally break one of your old granny's beautiful plates, Ria can make a beautiful memento for you to wear as earrings.

Ria loves her new idea for jewellery - beautiful pieces of old china polished and glazed and made into jewellery. What a way to have a useful thing to wear if you have bits and pieces stuck in a cupboard gathering dust! These earrings are lovely and are embellished with a silver finishing touch.

Singing Group

2009-09-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Here's an article about Amy's group in Time Off.

The Gentlemen

TRAGICALLY IRONIC FEM POP GROUP THE GENTELEMEN RECENTLY CAUGHT UP WITH LUKE HUDSON TO DISCUSS RECORDING THEIR LATEST OEUVRE TO DATE.“It has felt as though we've been in hiding for the past eight weeks as some kind of fugitives,” singer Amy Costello explains. “We’ve been writing and playing a lot, making friends with industry people we don't particularly like, and taking recreational drugs and things of that stereotypical calibre. It’s hard though because we are recording on an old cassette player from the 70s. The sound is extremely dodgy – you can hear my mum screaming obscenities and athletes on the television in the background. We were recording at the Gold Coast conservatorium with its million dollar studios but basic is better and I think people appreciate that except for radio stations, venues, producers and fans.”The band’s sound, sensationally and creatively illustrated by Costello, is a sensation she describes as ‘having the end of a cotton tip lodged in your inner ear.’ “Other well-known acts from whom we derive inspiration have also used the cotton tip metaphor – Elliott Smith, Big Star, The Shins, Bright Eyes. Enough name-dropping, but really, the music we like is what brought us all together in the first place and you can most certainly hear its influence in the music we play. As far as songwriting goes, Sammy is currently the sole songwriter but we have recently embarked on a more communal method. Sammy is the kind of girl you would look at and assume she keeps old chicken under her bed. She tends to be weird with her songwriting – her songs that sound happy are actually her most depressing. She has a way of describing society from a completely withdrawn perspective.”Who: The GentlemenWhere & When: Hi-Fi Bar Friday Sep 4, Café Checocho Friday Sep 18, Ric’s Bar Saturday Sep 26, The Zoo Saturday Oct 10

Pet Post

2009-09-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

I'm so clean and shiny.

Now it's time for the other leg.

This is a very thorough bath.

Charlie has decided to have a bath. Not much else to do on a rainy Saturday morning. One clean foot.

Think I'll just go and have a little lie down.

Having a little sniff in the pantry to see if there's anything worth eating. Potatoes, flour, pepper - not much.

Belle's helping in the kitchen again. She's going to unstack the dishwasher.

Avocade Friend

2009-09-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

My lovely work friend Astrid has been telling us about the amazing avocadoes she buys at Garden City - at the fruit and veggie shop across from Woolies in the mall. Anyhow, she brought one in for me today. What a lovely surprise. It's a giant and went into my salsa to go with my curry for dinner.

RSPCA bacon from Goondiwindi is a good product and the pigs were raised humanely and hopefully slaughtered humanely (if there is such a thing). Anyway here's David cooking some at home to take into work for the photoshoot for his column, Fossicking in the Courier Mail on a Tuesday. Gooralie Free Range Pork it's called. Here's a link to David's column. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26038984-5013516,00.html

Adavera

2009-08-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

Treattrackers found Adavera this morning over at Paddington. It's a shoeshop and the proprietor is a relative of mine, Kristen. She's named it after her two grandmas and Ada was my lovely Auntie Ada. There's pictures of the two grandmas on the wall. We could also see some nice shoes so I'm off to visit the shop at a time when it's open - not a Sunday morning.

Gourmet Providores is next door to Adavera at Paddington. We had some great finds in there - Red Kellys Lemon Myrtle Dressing from Tasmania, a new bottle of olives from Bunnyconellen called Dorsetshire Table olives, some beautiful Quick's cheddar from England, and the most amazing butter from France called Isigny Ste Mere. Steve the owner is nice and we saw all our favourite stuff in there.

We're having our 29th wedding anniversary today so we went off to Sympatico over at Paddington. I had corncakes with bacon - yum! David had Turkish eggs. What a nice, young friendly staff and very helpful. They smiled a lot and they seemed to be having fun together. It was nice.

treattracker Mark's Mum Kerry made him a lovely rug to keep him warm for the winter.

Here he is sharing his warmth with the girls - Amy, Elizabeth, and Danielle watching the last Lions game for the season. Hooray, we had a win over Sydney.

The Gentlemen

2009-08-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

The singing goup has a new name - it's now The Gentlemen. They're doing well. Here's Adriana, Sammi and our Amy with one of their new professional portraits.

Plate Up

2009-08-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

David has just been to the shop Taste - For the Love of Cooking to buy some plates. We're making some cassoulet tonight - that's French soup. We might use our new plates!

Pearl Friends

2009-08-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here's our lovely friend Daniel - proprietor of Pearl Cafe - our hero! Daniel has just come back from a tour of Europe to study what they do over there in the food scene. Daniel says they stayed in and cooked most of the time because he couldn't get over the amazing produce in the markets. Had a great time but it's nice to see him back.

Here's our two friends Midnight and Smokey the antique cats.

We found the girls at Woolloongabba admiring the antique cats again. They have named them Midnight and Smokey. Someone had already scrunched up a pamphlet and been playing with them under the door earlier this morning.

Pennisi Treats

2009-08-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

And the cheese 'fridge! Every cheese in the world I would say.

Here's Pennisi Cuisine's deli sausages and smallgoods 'fridge.
treattrackers went to Pennisi Cuisine today. What a great shop! You can get sachets of European hot chocolate for $1.50 and you should see the range of flavours.

Here's the Courier Mail's Fossicking columnist David Costello outside Pennisi Cuisine, in Balaclava Street. We had a nice visit to them this morning.
Here's a link to his latest column.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25973151-5013516,00.html

Here's David with the lovely Kata Pennisi of Pennisi Cuisine. Kata is very proud of her daughter who has found a nice fiance in Sydney. He's one of the Rodriguez Bros who supply Kata with the most amazing sausages.

Veggie View

2009-08-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

I've just unloaded my Veggie Man's box of goodies and look Amy has bought a beautiful bunch of Geraldton wax for my grandmother's jug. Phone Danielle on 0418112106 or Chris on 0422407111 for veggies delivered to your home.

Health Food around the Corner

2009-08-18T00:44:00.000-07:00

treattrackers are lucky to live in the same neighbourhood as the nice organic health food shop, Vive. Here's David Costello with two of his favourite purchases - Meredith Farm sheep milk yoghurt and cocoa muesli made by Therapeutic Gormet called Wake Me up before you Cocoa. Here's a link to the Courier Mail for you.http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25909886-5013516,00.html

We've just come home from a trip to Shlix gelato in the valley. I had the wild cherry - it was so wild! Shlix is so trendy and yummy. The gelato is made from low fat milk so that's a bonus and they have no additives.

Here's two of the owners. They are nice guys from Israel and have opened their little friendly ice-cream and salad shop in Brunswick St. Our lovely Danielle really likes working there.

Wow! Here's a picture of their gelato cabinet. So many choices.

Danielle's new workplace. I like the trendy printing on their signs.

Busy Brunswick St on a Tuesday afternoon. Shlix - a cherry ice-cream pick-me-up for a tired Year 4 teacher.

Belle meets Selby. The children from across the road brought over their new King Charles spaniel puppy, Selby. Old Belle couldn't give two hoots. In fact she asked to be put out the back saying 'I'm not puttin' up with this!'

Choko Heaven

2009-08-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

Here's another old photo of the vine. Dad would harvest the chokoes in summer and we would eat them for months and give them away to all the neighbours. The best way to eat them was with the Sunday roast of mutton, lamb, or beef. After we got home from Mass, the vegies would go on. In those days the chokoes tasted great probably Mum was roasting them in lard!

I saw chokoes on the tv the other day with a cook from Louisiana on Martha Stewart making a choko salad - but I can't remember what he called the chokoes. Here are young Roser cousins Elizabeth, Amy, Emily, and Grace visiting Nanna and Pa's in Warwick(where we all grew up - they lived there for 45 years!) The choko vine grew over the chook pen in the summer to keep the chooks cool and then it died back in winter. Dad would cut it back hard and then it would come back as lush and shady as ever in the next summer.

Relations Visit

2009-08-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

Michael Roser works for the Toowoomba Chronicle and Terri Roser is a Dental Therapist. They love Toowoomba because it's Terri's home town. Her parents Bill and Marge Coleman still live up there. Michael and Terri have just come back from a tour around Europe where they visited their older daughter Emily(my lovely niece) who lives and works in Paris. They found some relatives in Ireland too.
treattracker Mum has just had a lovely visit from her Toowoomba relations Michael Roser, Terri Roser, Grace Roser and lovely Lily. Grace and Lily have just moved to the big smoke to a flat in Auchenflower. Mum and Dad brought down belongings and money to help them get set up. What a nice cuppa we had. The girls are beautiful! Good luck to them.

Thynne Rd Treats

2009-08-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

We loved the Granite Honey Richard! David has been buying really expensive honey to ward off sore throats and coughs and your's is really nice and cheap! Shelley really recommended this special honey and it's great!

Richard Gruber of Thynne Rd Deli always has his shelves stocked with the latest ranges of foodie treats!

Our home away from home! We thilnk these old guys belong to a singing group. They looked so cool!

Antique Fun

2009-08-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

I have just had the nicest outing with my girlfriends Robyn and Ria! We can remedy all of the problems with the education system over coffee! These girls are such good teachers-just the sort you would want for your own child.

We went to the antiques centre for a browse around and a chat and a

coffee.
Here I am with entrepreneur Ria who has a space at the centre. Her stuff is doing really well I'm glad to report. Don't you just love the 60's cup and salt and pepper in the coffee shop?

Deli Dreams

2009-08-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

My azalea is flowering! It thrives on neglect. I like my mutant pink flowers on a white flowering bush.

David's backyard veggies.

Richard's amazing shelves at Thynne Rd Deli.

Such a welcoming atmosphere at our favourite deli.

Gentlemen Pics

2009-08-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

Amy Costello, one of our beautiful daughters had some professional shots taken for her singing group Sammi Griffen and the others. Here's Adriana, Sammi, and Amy in one of the shots.

Coeliac Treat

2009-08-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

One of our very first contacts for the Fossicking column in the Courier Mail when David Costello first took over from the retired Gail Boyd was the lovely Melinda Trembath. Because she had coeliac's disease she created a beautiful range of gluten free goodies - brownies, cakes, slices for the cafe trade. Since then Mel has gone from strength to strength and her latest is a range of gluten free crackers. Yes, now all of you coeliacs can have crackers and treats. This is a picture of the natural ones and we also tried the poppy seed ones. Didn't get 'high' unfortunately!

Feast on Fruit

2009-08-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Another one of our Saturday morning rituals - a trip to Feast on Fruit at Morningside next to the big Woolies. We buy cat and dog food and toilet paper at Woolies and the rest we spend at Feast on Fruit. It has a great deli at the back so we get great ham, olives, cheese from there. David Costello, who writes the Fossicking column in the Courier Mail every Tuesday loves this shop. He's been working so hard lately - not only as the foreign news editor but on the articles he writes for love as well. Here's links to two of the latest. One on tai chi which he has loved practising for years and one on the jus makers at Burleigh. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25871552-5003426,00.html

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25876358-5013511,00.html

A Pearl to Start Weekend

2009-08-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

Here we are outside Pearl Cafe for our Saturday morning breakfast. We had a crowd this morning with all the gang including Nicole Kidman lookalike Julie Anderson. She's gorgeous!(as are we all!)

Here's the gang again! Elizabeth liked the look of the healthy looking hanging plants under the awning!

David, who's foreign editor at the Courier Mail, likes to get his newspaper reading started for the weekend. The weekend pack of papers is the size of a small forest of trees but there's nothing like being informed.

What a beautiful cool August morning. The wind has changed to a winter westerly but we still can't miss our outing to Pearl. The council has done up the very beginning of Logan Road to perfection (after a long-drawn out process). Don't you just love the street light shade? They are so pretty and modern-all different shapes and colours. I love them.

Corny Pic

2009-08-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here we are at Sonoma cafe at Sandgate. David had the Lamb's Fry.

Here's our nice friend Pam who liked the eggs bendict. That dressing sure looks nice.

Amy tries the barbecued prawns for Saturday lunch at home.

Mark and Amy share a cob of barbecued corn.

Here's David getting the barbecue cooked for lunch. He got the corn idea from abc radio. Unwrap the corn, take out the hairy bits and then wrap it up again in the green outside skins after coating with a lot of herbed butter. Wrap in alfoil and barbecue. Yum!

I Love Saturdays

2009-07-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

treattrackers are very proud of their lovely friend Ria who has started her own business selling jewellery and antiques. Here's my first purchase - a beautiful pair of earrings to wear at Christmas time and an even more beautiful garnet necklace. I kept the docket as a souvenir!

Here's a picture of the Wooloongabba Antiques Centre, Wellington Road East Brisbane where you can find Ria's space inside.

I took an educated guess that this was Ria's space. It had a nice old pair of luminous rosary beads (remember those - used to be a must have!) and lots of garnets. I loved the toothpick holder. I hope I'm right about the cupboard, Ria.

treattrackers Danielle, Elizabeth, and Julie loved the old Chevrolet after they had had a lovely time sticking their hand under the doors of the antiques shop to pat the cute antique cats inside!

treattrackers Jule and David at Pearl cafe for brekky.

Surely you must be sisters! Wouldn't that be a nice thing for someone to say.

Danielle and Julie love the brekky at Pearl yet again for our start to the weekend.

Carpark Veggies

2009-07-31T01:14:00.000-07:00

Wow! This is my latest purchase from the Veggie Man who delivers to our staff car park. We are 30 or more tired teachers and teacher aides on a Friday afternoon who certainly do not want to go shopping. I paid $35 for this lot! He also home delivers. Phone Danielle on 0418112106 or Chris on 0422407111.

Snails for Neighbours

2009-07-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Queensland now has a commercial snail producer. Cliff Wilson and Mary Wilson of Glass House Gourmet Snails raise these little beauties at Glasshouse Mountains. We cooked them up with garlic butter and tested them on neighbours Matt and Sonia Trau. The verdict was a big thumbs up!

Here's our neighbour Matt having a try of the snails! He liked them!

This is the lovely Sonia! She was so much braver than Cathy who did not want to try!

Fossisking columnist David Costello who writes for the Courier Mail has a try of the snails. The garlic and butter sure made them taste great!

Burleigh

2009-07-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

Fosssicking columnist David Costello (my dear hubby) has gone down to the Gold Coast to visit a bone roaster who makes his own jus for meat sauces. Should be interesting! Here's a link to David's latest column in the Courier Mail. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25842085-5013516,00.html

What a beautiful day for a beautiful drive!