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The Greek Festival – Paniyiri 2013

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… If you are single, you can come pick up a guy or a girl – you don’t even need an excuse to get close and have physical contact. Just join the Zorba circle, a little Yassou! and a couple of Opa’s and Nicolopoulos is your uncle! (with a little stretch of the imagination of course)…

Once again, I found myself at West End’s Musgrave Park for the Panyiri 2013. I have religiously been going to this event for as far as I can remember.

I love coming for the food, music, dancing, the rides, the drinks, the friendly conversations, and most important of all – the honey puffs. I must admit I am addicted to them…

The usual suspects could be found this year, Nerissa the Peloponnesian Princess, the hosts (that guy from the Coffee Club and the other funny guy), Hercules and Xena, the Greek dancers (those guys and gals are just amazingly co-ordinated, flexible and fun), the buckets and buckets of marinated octopus, calamari, dolmades, haloumi, souvla etc…etc… the list goes on and on. And also the copious amounts of Mythos, Ouzo and Greek wines.

What more could you want? It’s a great day out. If you are single, you can come pick up a guy or a girl – you don’t even need an excuse to get close and have physical contact. Just join the Zorba circle a little Yassou! and a couple of Opa’s and Nicolopoulos is your uncle! (with a little stretch of the imagination).

I am sure to come to many more Panyiri’s. Thanks to all the people involved in making this event a reality – and thanks to all of the chef’s and cook’s who dedicate their entire Saturday and Sunday to feeding us hungry people.

Yassou!

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Shitty Neighbours Pt.2 – The Donkeys are at it again.

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“…The fire fighters told me they received a phone call from my neighbours who said there was a fire at my home… the funny thing is they immediately asked me when would the pizzas be ready and if they could come over for dinner. They even asked, how I built the oven, what type of bricks I used, and where they could buy some!…”

Since I received a large number of requests for updates, I have been compelled to write a follow up post to my shitty neighbours post part 1…

You may recall I’ve had numerous ongoing issues with intolerant neighbours, who continuously and incessantly go out of their way to be obnoxious pests, hurling verbal abuse and threats over the fence, taking photographs, poisoning my bamboo and breaking culms. They scream out to each other from the granny flat to the front house and whinge, complain and carry on at just about everything. They have nothing better to do with their time.

About three years ago I made a fire in a 44 gallon drum and my lovely neighbours called the fire brigade. In my opinion it was a waste of tax payer’s money and government resources. Wouldn’t common sense prevail? Wouldn’t the neighbourly thing to do is talk to your neighbour? Oh I forgot, hill billy’s lack that personal skill. When I went to speak to them and apologise for the smoke, the mum screamed “<Marge Simpson>There’s a total fire ban in all of Queensland! The fire brigade is on its way…</Marge Simpson>”. When the fire fighters arrived, they told me if I had a grill and sausages over the drum I would have been “sweet”.

This Monday, I fired up the wood fired pizza oven and the fire brigade arrived 15 minutes after I started the fire. The fire fighters told me they received a phone call from my neighbours who said there was a fire at my home… the funny thing is they immediately asked me when would the pizzas be ready and if they could come over for dinner. They even asked, how I built the oven, what type of bricks I used, and where they could buy some!

As a solution to this unneighbourly dilemma, I initially put up a 2.2 metre fence (with council approval) but it did not help deter this behaviour. I built a raised garden bed and planted two bambusa textilis gracilis along the boundary line. One plant was poisoned and the other was hacked (see below) – courtesy of my sweet shit-for-brains neighbour (I dearly call him Shrek because he looks like Shrek, minus the green skin and trumpet ears).

Poisoned Bambusa Textilis Gracilis

Poisoned Bambusa Textilis Gracilis – 11 days after poisoning.

Poisoned Bambusa Textilis Gracilis - Poisoned bamboo

Poisoned Bambusa Textilis Gracilis – 19 days after poisoning

Other Gracilis before hacking

Other Gracilis before hacking

Hacked Bambusa Textilis Gracilis

Hacked Bambusa Textilis Gracilis

I proceeded to try to propagate my own bamboo with little success. Yes, I know, the first post was very effective, but unfortunately Gracilis is extremely difficult to propagate from a cutting. I talked with a Bamboo expert who said they had a 40% rate of success – and it takes a long time to grow roots. So I eventually bought another 15 plants at $60 a pop. Now comes the fun part – I knew Shrek would do more damage to my plants… and I bought some cheap video surveillance cameras off ebay to protect my investment.

The day came when my bamboo was hacked yet again (this is the third time) and yes, I do have video footage of the hacking… but I am going to play it cool. I am not going to divulge my plan just yet as things are still unravelling, but it is pure genius – AND most important of all absolutely legal! (I confirmed with the Brisbane City Council and my building certifier).

Bambusa hacked by neighbour again

Bambusa hacked by neighbour again

Closer view of my hacked Bambusa Textilis Gracilis

Closer view of my hacked Bambusa Textilis Gracilis

Close up of broken Gracilis culm

Close up of broken Gracilis culm

Bambusa growing nicely - note 1 plant hacked.

Bambusa growing nicely – note 1 plant hacked.

Gracilis slowly growing...

Gracilis slowly growing…

I have had a number of friends tell me I should poison his plants and break branches off his shrubs and trees, but the thing is, I refuse to stoop to this level. This poisoning and hacking a neighbour’s plants is a cowardly act. Only a gutless and pathetic donkey would do such a thing. Any decent or civilized person would at least attempt to communicate in a friendly, open and tolerant manner with his neighbour – not hide and carry out stealth missions in the cover of darkness or while we’re away from home. The last time we talked, he told me I “had a screw loose” and “wasn’t the full quid” – so apparently I am the one with the mental issues as I try to protect my plants from him reaching over the fence and breaking the culms. That makes a lot of sense and it proves my point.

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So we had our first pizza day...

The woodfired pizza oven – by Papa Gomez

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“…None of this thick carboard style, sausage and cheese crust filled, tasteless Frisbees they sell in franchise owned restaurants…”

So , you love pizzas, eh?

Well, what do you know?? So do I!!! As a matter of fact, pizzas are my favourite food group in the whole wide world… Not that I eat pizzas every day (I would if I wasn’t so conscious of my waistline), but I do have an enormous appreciation for a great rustic Italian pizza.

Roll the clock back to circa 1982, when my parents took me to a restaurant called “La Siesta” in Geneva. I had the Quattro Stagioni and automatically fell in love with the flavours and smell of pizzas, and more importantly those covered with anchovies and capers. I would probably get crucified in Australia for saying this (and I do apologise to my friends in advance) - I don’t believe in pizza toppings such as pineapple, sour cream, potatoes, minced meat and chicken. When it comes to pizzas, I personally believe in tradition and only vouch on Italian classics – including Margarita, Capricciosa, Napoletana, Marinara, Il Diavolo, Quattro Formaggi and of course my favourite. Thin crust with few, fresh toppings. None of this thick carboard style, sausage and cheese crust filled, tasteless Frisbees they sell in franchise owned restaurants.

Many, many years ago, I had this a idea of building my own woodfired pizza oven. I would use my hooded gas BBQ to cook pizzas (which worked much better than an electrical oven as it gave the dough a better flavour). I even bought a slab of granite and had it cut to size and polished so it would fit inside my BBQ – the granite started to show cracks after a few firings and didn’t work as well as I would have hoped. I also bought a few pizza stones. They were excellent as the porous surface absorbed the moisture from the dough and made the base crunchy. But ultimately, I knew that no other cooking implement would beat that of a traditional wood fired oven…

It was really worth all the effort building the oven!!

It was really worth all the effort building the oven!!

And that is how my mission began… (I will be adding more photos to this gallery over time as I continue and complete this project.) I should also show my gratitude and thank fornobravo.com for their oven plans and extremely helpful instructions.

Oh and I almost forgot – I could not have done this without the physical help of Fred, Vitaly, Koray and the Russians, and the motivational support of my beautiful wife Letty. Thank you so much guys!!

3 votes, 5.00 avg. rating (99% score)
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Rocklea Reds

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In Brisbane, there are two types of flowering trees that stand out from the rest – they are Poinciana‘s and Jacaranda‘s. During my time as a student at UQ (Saint Lucia campus) and a footballer at New Farm Park, I used to have a great appreciation for Jacaranda trees. I loved the subtle and relaxed feeling of the purple flowers – they give you a sense of zen.

Then I moved to the suburb of Rocklea.

Flamboyant poinciana

The firey red – sign of passion.

Flamboyant Poiciana bokeh - pardon the pun

Shot on Canon FL 55mm f/1.2 lens

There is a tree down the street where I live that was flowering late last year. Since I got myself a new (old) Canon FL 55mm f/1.2 lens, I just had to go down and take some photos. That tree, in its flamboyant greatness, screams fire and passion. I took one of the pods I found on the ground and planted 3 seeds, all of which have since sprouted and are now growing. I will be planting one in my front yard to carry on the legend of the Rocklea Reds.

As a side note and worth mentioning here, the exhaust towers for the Clem 7 tunnel were covered in colours representing Jacaranda’s and Poinciana. The tower at The Gabba is covered in purple panels, and the one at Bowen Hills, is covered in red panels. In this article, local residents of the Gabba complained about the “monstrosity” that had been built there. I personally could not have thought of a better way to cover a tunnel exhaust and the idea of the Jacaranda and Poinciana colours is quite cool – IMHO.

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Poinciana boken.


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Machu Picchu

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…I found myself staring at one of the most beautiful man made things ever built. A tribute to mankind… a human masterpiece. A melange of nature and natural structures altered and assembled by Inca’s…

I was most definitely shocked and in awe, goose bumped and gob smacked when  the sun’s gentle yet persuading rays kindly ushered away the thick and extremely stubborn fog that had taken a strong stranglehold over the Inca Temple of Machu Picchu. Tears of joy slowly streamed down my cheeks. I found myself staring at one of the most beautiful man made monuments. A tribute to mankind… a human masterpiece. A melange of nature and natural materials altered and assembled by Inca’s into timeless structures.

Letty and I had an early start that day. W woke up at 4:00am to get our passes and catch the bus ups to the mountain top.

I must admit that leading up to this grandiose event, an overwhelming sense of bitter disappointment had come over me. We had travelled over 15,000 klms to see this timeless monument, and at 6:00am we could barely see past the tips of my shoes.

When the clouds dissipated into thin air at 8:30am and what lay beyond became visible, I asked myself – what were they thinking? What could possibly drive this far advanced Civil Engineering civilization to such extreme? I take my hat of to you, O Incas! Words can not describe how I felt that day, and I still feel the same now.

These few photos do not depict Machu Picchu in all its grandiosity. But will hopefully motivate you to make your way to Cuzco, and up the mountain side to Ollantaytambo, Aguas Calientes and Machu/Huayna Picchu.

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Arroz con camarones

Aventura culinaria gastronomica – Peruvian Food

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“…For all of you Peruvian food buffs out there, you’ll probably think I am crazy if I tell you my favourite dish was Salsa Criolla…”

I love food. Yes I do. I love food that punches me in the face and screams “FLAVOUR!!!!!!!” So when my wife and I travelled throughout the coast of Peru, we went hunting for the most renowned and popular restaurants in the country.

For all of you Peruvian food buffs out there, you’ll probably think I am crazy if I tell you my favourite dish was “Salsa Criolla“. I ate it on its own, with fish, rice, pasta, potatoes, camote, cuy, tacu tacu – well, I did say everything!

The following restaurants are just some that were highly recommended to me. They are very popular and renowned for their signature dishes throughout Peru.

  • El Refugio de Mamaine: Location El Carmen, Chincha (150klms south of Lima) – For the best Afro-Peruvian in all of Peru. Mamaine currently holds the Guinness record for the largest Carapulcra ever made.
  • Restaurante Don Tato: Location Barranca, 300klms north of Lima) – For the best Tacu Tacu in all of Peru. Don Tato was proclaimed as the best Tacu Tacu chef in all of Peru by world renowned Peruvian gastronomic legend Gaston Acurio.
  • El Rincon del Pato: Location Lambayeque (300klms north of Trujillo) – Duck is their signature dish, their flagship space saucer. Definitely worth a try… just fingerlickin’ good. And, the attention to service was second to none. Our waitress was delightfuly friendly. I have never received such service anywhere else in the world.
  • El Restaurante de Cesar: Location Tortugas: (320klms north of Lima) – Well, Don Cesar is friends with Mamaine and Tato, and has been cooking for over 30 years. It says a lot about his calibre as a Peruvian chef. His fish is fresh and purchased every morning from local fishermen. The high season in Tortugas is between late November through to February. I personally felt that an early October visit was splendid as we had the entire beach and Tortugas to ourselves! I have to say it was the best Ceviche and fried salt water fish I ate in Peru.
  • El restaurante El Horno: Location Chivay (220 klms north west of Arequipa) – El Horno is mention worthy for its entertainment and warm homely feeling. We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and the smell of woodfired pizza in the middle of nowhere is quite homely and reassuring. The Wititi Warriors also played music and their dancers put on a spectacular show. One of the tourist ladies got her ass spanked, twice (and she told the dancer off, who didn’t seem to care the least) – it was quite a memorable night!
  • Panchita: Location Lima – Of all of the flagship restaurants in Peru, one would expect a Gaston Acurio bannered restaurant to be of the utmost prestigious standard in presentation, taste and standard, and I was not disappointed. The attention to service was fantastic, the waiters were present and very helpful. I really tried, honestly, but I could not finish my delicious 350 gram grilled beef steak, while Letty polished those mean anticuchos… They gave me a take home doggy bag that was reminiscent of a Tiffany’s jewellery hand bag. Impressed!
  • The last place that deserves a standing ovation (and it was my personal favourite by a long mile) was the chicken “a la brasa” at Don Tito’s restaurant in Lima. Scrumpdidleycious chicken – charcoal roasted Peruvian style, juicy, crispy and heavenly golden coloured… If you love KFC then you will fall in a deeply euphoric and mesmerising food coma when you try Don Tito’s chicken. Don Tito – the real finger lickin’ gooden chicken.

Finally, there was one last restaurant I really wanted to visit but never managed to get there. It is called “El Rancho de Robertin” in Huaral, and Robertin’s speciality is roast pork – apparently, when the pork is cooked, the chef takes the meat off the bone with a plate (not a knife) – he just runs the plate along the pork and it is so soft and tender that it falls off into another plate… Yuuuuummmmmooooo!!!

If you can guess or know what each dish is, I would gladly update this post to include your knowledge… obviously the easy dishes are Ceviche and Tacu Tacu… what are the others??

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Concordia - Yum!!

Postcard from Peru – Part 2

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“… If you wish to drive through Peru, you have to be very courageous. Actually, you must be extremely courageous and have a death wish. You must also have great big balls of steel, especially if you’re in a sedan, always give right of way to larger vehicles – this includes buses, trucks, mini-vans, mini-buses and donkey pulled chariots…”

So the second leg of the trip saw us drive in a northerly direction through the following towns:

  • Lima -> Barranca -> Trujillo -> Huanchaco -> Chan Chan -> Chiclayo -> Lambayeque ->  Trujillo -> Otuzco -> Trujillo –> Tortugas -> Lima.
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Drive to Otuzco from Trujillo

The photos might look appealing, but I must put a strong “health and safety” warning out there. If you wish to drive through Peru, you have to be very courageous. Actually, you must be extremely courageous and have a death wish. You must also have great big balls of steel, especially if you’re in a sedan, always give right of way to larger vehicles – this includes buses, trucks, mini-vans, mini-buses and donkey pulled chariots. Most drivers have a lack of respect for the little people. Do not drive at night, and if you must, drive at 60 kph at most. We saw a black car with its headlights turned off overtaking a double decker bus. I tried to honk, flash my lights, do the finger, yell abuse from my car window and I was still forced onto the emergency shoulder “lane”.

Aside from those mishaps and unfortunate holiday adrenalin rushes, the overall experience was quite awesome (if you made it out alive). People were friendly and helpful, and they loved to stop for a chat.

On another note, I found the “Museo del Señor de Sipan” in Lambayeque to be absolutely spectacular. The old ruins of Chan Chan were something from another planet – reminiscent of the sandmen from Star Wars… and Otuzco with its religious tradition – devoted followers of the Virgin “de la puerta” (of the door/gate) who crawl 70 kilometres on their knees from Trujillo to Otuzco…

.. and here are the photos that you’ve all been waiting for:

 

 

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Postcard from Peru – Part 1

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My beautiful wife and I travelled to Peru and we visited many places, saw many things and ate countless Peruvian dishes… The photos from the trip will be posted in two parts as there are way too many photos to post in a single blog entry.

The first leg of the trip took us on this wonderful journey:

  • Lima -> San Vincente de Cañete -> Lunahuaná -> Chincha -> El Carmen -> Ica -> Arequipa -> El Cañon del Colca -> Chivay -> Arequipa -> Puno -> Lake Titicaca (Los Uros, Amantani, Taquile) -> Puno -> Cusco -> Ollantaytambo -> Aguas Calientes -> Machu Picchu -> Cusco – > Lima.


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The photos below show the above trip in chronological order.

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It’s a dog’s life

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…”I don’t think its name was meant to be used with a condescending connotation, but rather an endearing undertone – probably for the fact that it is hairless (or has very little hair) just like a China man. “

So while I was taking photos for the “Many Faces of Peru” blogpost, a friend said to me: “Hey Henry, we had the exact same idea but we were going to take photos of all the dogs we saw in Peru…”

I thought that was a great idea, so I started taking photos of dogs. Unfortunately, I didn’t start early enough so there were plenty of missed opportunities. The great thing about photographing these lone, nomadic, street vagabonds, is that they are happy to pose for free. Well, I am not sure if an angry growl and the showing of teeth can be labelled as free, but nonetheless, I was over the moon taking these photos.

I have to say that the dog that really grabbed my attention by a long mile was the Peruvian “Perro Chino” (Chinese Dog). I don’t think its name was meant to be used with a condescending connotation, but rather an endearing undertone – probably for the fact that it is hairless (or has very little hair) just like a China man. In English, it is politically correct to call this canine the Peruvian Hairless Dog.

 

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El Convento De Santa Catalina

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“Silent women? Go figure!”

If you enjoy peace and quiet, then you’ve probably not come to the right place. Going back hundreds of years ago, it may have been one of the most peaceful places on the planet as it was full of nuns who had vowed silence. Silent women? Go figure! These days, the Santa Catalina Monastery is full of annoying and loud tourists that get in your way when you try to take photos.

Apart from the above, I love old style Spanish architecture and gardenscape design concepts. I had a blast taking photos of pots, walls and doors. Yes, believe it. I also gawked in dumbfoundedness at the way they (not sure if it was the nuns or modern day gardeners) used lantana plants to decorate some walls (as climbing vines) as they are considered a weed and pest in Australia and most gardeners can’t cut these down fast enough.

4 votes, 5.00 avg. rating (99% score)