Unceasing Rain and a Daily Commitment

With the recent deluge of sky juice and presence of puddles, my mind began to wander inwards as I became less inclined to go out and I sank into a comfort zone of settling into watching moisture on leaves and water dribbling away on bricks, grass and tar.  I began to be more open to previously unexplored ideas or things that I did not have an opportunity to even come across when apparently trapped in the demeanour and routine of daily musts, wants and space. Why have certain and specific parts of my house hardly changed, the items not even looked into - and in my previous contentment I reckoned that I must have been too busy to even go there.  Then I faced the inevitable question of myself being too busy with what?  The significant question then moved into the space of my inner self, of why I have not even given a hearing to certain parts of my heart and soul?

There are the constant things in life to attend to - the leaves blocking up on the roof gutter, the sky light getting dirty as a logical course, the cook top needing a sprightly new life and the proverbial post box requiring a clear off.   Bulbs blow on the brake lights, interest accumulates on loans and inflation eats into our savings.  They can quickly fill up the pace and tone of a typical day.  They do put a structured order into things that can mean much as well. Underlying all this busy-ness, the calendar drives each of us at another level  - birthdays, due dates, renewals, etc to help us celebrate and appreciate the march of time. Commerce diverts us with new products and services, boredom makes us thrive in trying to fulfil ideas, aspirations and experiences.  All's good, all's well and soon it is Christmas or Lunar New Year again.  But are each of us realising and achieving the truly important things?

There are critical matters that cannot be reversed - speech, how you treat others, how others treat you, decisions made, family and time.  Time increasingly shows the spectre of opportunity cost as it is progressively consumed.  Related to this is a recognition of timeliness. Some things have just to be done and well set by a required time. The child expecting bonding time cannot have it delayed till the sheep come home. A well placed phone call or appearance can make the difference between a memorable time and a bad one. As they say, when the fruit is ripe, you have to pluck it - or else watch the fruit drop, gravy train go by or miss the bus!   A fluid factor in contrast is our personal expectations, and these can help us adapt, change or manage scenarios, issues and problems when we change our own expectations - or how we respond or react to them.

In a contemporary comfortable society that can afford, travel is an option that increasingly many individuals take upon as soon as they can.  Why does travel to new lands and experiences captivate so many? Is it just to have a change?  The reward of travel embeds in the inner soul and does not need souvenirs to show its deep satisfaction.  The mind recalls, the heart gladdens. There is an open book about venturing to different parts of the globe and meeting up with various people - excitement, expectations, learning, letting go and reaffirming.  Whilst a constant regime of daily life can be reassuring, travel feeds the soul in other ways. Travel primarily liberates us in allowing us to better let go. The nature of travel is such that we do not cling to physical things or even a passing hello, because we realistically know we want to go on.  So Gen Y expresses this by not having an owner occupied mortgage, to say the least.  Baby boomers are spending more of their savings now on travel than ever vefore.

So the sheer experience of travel emphasises an illustration of something that cannot be reversed.  Most likely a tourist is unlikely to drop by that village again. One thus does not waste time then when one is actually visiting this particular village.  If this village is personified by what I refer to as my very special and unique life, would I suddenly have a renewed urgency and energy to do the really important things?  So when we wake up each new day, and if we understand that this day is irreversible,  we no longer would waste the time provided in trivial and less important matters.  Would we utilise this precious available gem in doing things we do not or no longer believe in?  Would we become more aware and conscious of limited resources, limited capability and limited availability?  Will it then change our perspectives in value, perspective and rationality?  Would the most important matters to you become a definite daily commitment, instead of worrying about the commuting, past chances, people who were never going to treat you well, or you using your time to help achieve somebody else's dreams?

The unceasing rains come and go, the flooding water subsides.  The plants take a drenching but they liven up more, especially in the post rain sunshine.  Once the clutter in our mindset and outlook gets washed away, we suddenly find more room in ourselves for the clarity in our own possibilities, potential and opportunities.

Sunshine Coast Queensland - Gastronomy

Corn fritter stack, with waffles, poached egg and bacon - Lot 104, Mooloolaba Beach.

Scampi with spaghetti - Belle Venezia, Mooloolaba Beach.

Scrambled egg with chorizo - Augello's, Mooloolaba Beach.

A snack idea - poached egg with fresh avocado slices on toast, Cafe Venice - Maroochydore.

Creamy seafood red curry - Som Tam Thai, Maroochydore

Grilled snapper with kumara chips, dip, cherry tomato and veg - Drift Bar, Caloundra Beach.

Bella Roma cocktail - Belle Venezia, Mooloolaba Beach.

Duck confit garnished with walnuts, orange slices and fresh greens - Italian style.

Angus beef burger and chips - the Aussie works.

Auckland Moments, 2014

Electric board in Auckland

Yummy Burmese curry

Straits Chinese snack - but made with pumpkin puree top

Simba on a winter's afternoon - Milton

A tree grows in Mount Eden

Sweet and sour snapper ala Cantonese

Teed Road Larder off Broadway in Newmarket

Reunion

Training School

Condiments to wrap the Beijing duck - Love a Duck, Dominion Road

Red Tortoise, Red Eggs - Kayley's First Month

The Spread in Mid Winter, Mount Eden

A Touch of Indian, with Tumeric Flavoured Glutinous Rice

Baby baby

Photo credit - Shaun Tan

The Ang Koo, steamed on banana leaf cuts and gluten free. A Straits Chinese must!

Pastry puffs, a touch of Kiwi

A touch of Aussie - savoury scones

Hard boiled eggs with dyed red shells

Teed Street Larder - Newmarket, Auckland

With a relaxed feel, the Larder at Teed Street in Newmarket has high ceilings and is not too difficult to find off a side street from the main thoroughfare.  I had initial expectations that this may look like a joint in Surry Hills, Bondi or Manly - and I was not too far off the mark. The menu has a modern fusion and new age over lay and under thought.  Guest tables are nicely placed away from each other with generous space, unlike in most of the inner city restaurants and cafes in inner Sydney, across the Tasman.  There is a long and wide counter, behind which is a wall with an amazing maze and honeycomb of rectangular or square shaped shelving.  Cooked food still comes out through a traditional window from a closed off kitchen space, different from the see through design of several places in Melbourne and Sydney.

There is a young and energetic staff greeting guests as quick as they can and settling them in. The crowd I had on a weekday arvo comprised of a mixture of students, school holiday families, twenty something friends and people who have been shopping. I was impressed with my wait staff who suggested an early order for coffee in view of the many customers that day.  The barista was head shaven and only focused on getting the cuppas out and ready to be served.  It was a sunny aspect outside but there were not table settings there, possibly a practical idea in the middle of the Auckland winter.  The Larder is sited away from the more concentrated foodie hub of Nuffield Street, which is nearer the Newmarket Westfield.  I do find the retail outlets at Teed Street more interesting than those along Nuffield but maybe this is a just a personal preference.  The nearby shops of Wallace Cotton and Edit also caught my attention, having been there before lunchtime.









Being in New Zealand, I had to choose something with lamb - and instead of the chunky and meaty servings of traditional Kiwi dishes, I opted for a new world dish of thin cuts of roasted lamb belly, mixed with harissa, asparagus, dukkuh, coriander yogurt and wild rice.  There are sandwiches and pies on offer as well, including one with rabbit, leek, thyme and white wine fillings for the latter.   Seafood was also on the menu on the day visited, with crispy skin snapper, salmon rillettes and grilled squid to warm the palate.   What jumps out of choices here is the pig cheek and eggs, served on a sourdough with pumpkin puree and heirloom tomato.   I truly loved my smoothie of spirulina, feijoa fruit and apple.


As with Flanagan's Dining Room in Thirroul north of Wollongong CBD, black puddings also emphasised here.   Local sourced produce is best reflected in the Waikanae crab omelette, accompanied by an Asian mix of sambal, sweet soy and green onions for measure.  Oh yes, the Larder has its own style of Eggs Benedict for breakfast or brunch, but with a choice of the popular smoked salmon or black pudding slices.  I could not help notice an order of the brioche eggy bread at a nearby table, wonderfully a twist on the French toast and imaginatively provided with peanut, popcorn and salted caramel - maybe one for the kids?   The granola is composed with pumpkin seed, yogurt, freeze dried fruit and cashew.  If you are having a quick snack, do consider the slow roasted pig cheek, or the Larder version of a warm chicken salad, garnished with pine nuts, beetroot, cous cous and sheep feta.   By now I got the idea - carefully chosen ingredients are selected from around the world, but mainly from the South Pacific, the ethnic migrant demographics of  a new Auckland and the best of what the Land of the Long White Cloud can offer.