The Local Taphouse

Had a superb evening yesterday at the Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst.

The festival of Hamm’s birthday/farewell continued with the Guthries, the Tooses (NC), Ian, Turns, Calum, Nathan, Trevena and Hamm.

I had 6 sensational beers (don’t look at me like that! 5 of them were only samples – only about 2.5 standard drinks in total – I love a paddle):

• Feral Brewing White,
• Feral Brewing Hop Hog IPA,
• Feral Brewing Boris Russian Imperial Stout,
  
• Two Brothers ‘Growler’ US Brown Ale
• Rocks Brewing Co ‘Byrne’s’ Red Ale,
  
• Little Creatures ‘Stimulus’ IPA,
  
• and I even tried a little of Adri’s Matilda Bay ‘Barking Flamingo’Framboise

It was a delightful evening of good friends, yummy food and delightful beers.

Check it out if you haven’t been there.

Fun times at the BBC (belgian beer cafe)

Sunday Roast – hangin with the Turners and the Lovells

Had a lovely afternoon with Matt and Thea and Jaime and Anu today. Straight from church to the Woolwich pier hotel for beers and late lunch.

Then back to our place for 6 x vanilla choc chip affogato with threebeans Ethiopian Harar. Delightful!

Adri and I are now settling in for the night with a delayed earth hour. We missed it last night so it is dinner and reading by candlelight tonight.

Lamb with Hamm

Adri and I had Hamm over for dinner tonight for some roast lamb with garlic and oregano, roast potatoes with rosemary and lemon and peas and carrots topped with bacon. Yum.
It’s always nice to hang out with a trendy young Christian man so I can feel like I’m still in touch with my youth…
Hamm even helped us out with some exercise tips. The dream is to get super fit. Won’t last long, but it’s good to aim high!
Finished it off with a vanilla choc chip affogato 🙂
Thanks for coming Hamm!

Sunday Roast – Aerobie

Last night, we had Matt and Thea over for some Thai takeaway and a catch up. Good times.

Matt also brought over his new toy – an Aerobie  Aeropress.

Has anyone tried one of these before? Interesting concept. The air pressure from the rubber sealed plunger is supposed to push the water through the coffee evenly and at a consistent pressure. It uses filter paper, so you can grind the beans espresso-fine. It gives a more intense flavour than a plunger coffee, probably because of the pressured “extraction” but not as intense as an espresso. Although on our last double shot we managed to get a bubbly sort of crema on top.

Had it with some steamed milk in a latte – also not bad. But thats where you can really tell that it lacks the punch of an espresso.

I reckon it would be ideal long black for some types of bean. Easy to use, easy to clean and a bit of good fun.

Thanks for a lovely evening Turners!

Brisbane – debrief

I can’t sleep so I thought I would take the opportunity to catch up on some long overdue posting…

We had a FABULOUS time in Brisbane the weekend before last. It was a pleasure to catch up with the Lovells and get a peek at their new lives in a new town. It was also a pleasure to give Isaac plenty of cuddles!

We also got to check out some of the sights of Brissy and surrounds.

• Saturday we headed up to Nooosa to hit the beach (a bit too chilly to swim).
• Sunday we joined the Lovells at Creek Rd Presbyterian Church which was great. We then hit up Wet’n’Wild Water park which was embarassingly sensational! The highlight was definitely the “Tornado”!
• Monday we stayed in Brisbane and wandered around Southbank and Fortitude Valley. We also managed to make it to the two cafes I had my eye on.

Enjoy photo-love below. (NB – My great birthday present with a photo of me on the front! Also, how sweet are our parenting skills? I was the pram-master by Monday)

More photos on fb.

Thanks for a Lovelly weekend guys!

Brisbane

Adri and I are off to Brisbane this weekend to enjoy a brief holiday visiting the Lovells.

The plan is to:

• Go to their new church with them on Sunday morning
• Give Isaac lots of cuddles
• Drive up to Noosa for a day
• Go to Wet’n’Wild!

We will be coming home on Monday night.

I always like to check out the coffee scene when I visit a city. I know of here and here. Any other recommendations?

We have a fairly tight schedule, but is there anything we absolutely must do whilst in Brisbane? Pubs, restaurants, shops, etc?

How about things we should avoid at all costs?

I’m super-excited!