It’s All About the Food and Blogger Questions

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.com

A dear friend who is watching her weight, for health reasons, pointed out that all our social activities are centred around eating food or enjoying drinks. Which makes it harder for her to lose weight, given she enjoys socializing with friends.

I realized that it’s true. Social activities are always accompanied by food or drink.

Pairing Social Activities with Food and Drink

Social invites take the form of:

Would you like a cuppa?

Will we see you at Drinks on Friday?

Let’s discuss it over morning tea,

or even,

Why don’t you come for dinner next Tuesday?

We meet up with friends to chat and spend time with them, to be in the moment with them, to swap stories or new information about their lives.

Why have we fallen into a trap of pairing our social world and discussions with food or drink?

Public Events with Food and Drink

I attended a library event this morning – a conversation styled interview with an author. There on a table to the side were a range of sandwiches, gourmet treats, fruit, tea, coffee, cordial and juice. A three-course meal for some.

In a library!

I remember school libraries as places where food was banned. Woe betide any student that smeared the pages of a book, with peanut butter sandwich residue! Students at my school sat on the floor outside the library building finishing their lunch before entering the sacred hallows where books were lovingly stored.

Don’t get me wrong. I applaud that libraries are re-inventing themselves and attracting a wider audience by hosting regular events.

But, is it an impossible stretch to ask the public to sit and listen to an engaging speaker at a library for an hour, without refreshments? Even when the event is timed between mealtimes?

Business Meeting and Nibbles

It seems business meetings too have gotton on board the food train with the compulsory additions of muffins and barista-styled coffees.

With obesity a burgeoning issue in my country, is the implicit message that we’d be social pariahs if we failed to include the presence of food and drink when chatting with friends or business partners!

The Social Habit of Eating and Drinking Together

I am not innocent.

I have fallen into the habit of structuring social activities around food or drink. My walking group meetings culminate with coffee and, for some, a snack too.

When visitors/guests arrive at my door, it feels customary and polite to offer them something hot or cold to drink?

Why does society feel a compulsory inclination to eat or drink when we talk with others?

Is it some kind of discomfort with our hands remaining empty or idle?

Because it is definitely not about calorie deficits or remaining hydrated in the testy weather of the tropics. This occurs happens all year round and regardless of the time of day.

Early morning events – paired with coffee and or breakfast

Mid morning get togethers – coffee or tea and often a sweet treat

Lunchtime meetings – a meal/sandwich

Afternoon catch-ups – Alcoholic drinks or tea

Dinnertime events- a meal and possibly a dessert

Evening get-togethers – Drinks or warming cup of tea or cocoa

It is lovely, but now feels terribly indulgent.

My Social Challenge

My challenge in the ongoing fight against diminishing metabolic rates and an increasing waistline in my retirement years, is to socialize more without the accompaniment of food or drink – at least some of the time.

I could sit at the beach with a friend and discuss books.

I could walk the bike paths along the beach and NOT have anything more than a sip of my water bottle.

I could visit a friend and maybe decline a cuppa? ( I am unsure about this).

Bloggers Questions:

Blogger brains Trust I ask you:-

Do you think excluding food from social activities will work?

Scenario: You are visiting a friend’s home for an hour or so, or you meet a friend out in the community to chat and no food or drink was offered/ included, would you:

(a) feel comfortable?

(b) consider the friend socially ignorant and avoid future events with said friend as they’ve become a social pariah?

(c) consider that your friend a failure at entertaining guests?

(d) that your friend has suddenly become rude, selfish, anally retentive or even anorexic?

(e) other……

I would love to hear what option seems realistic.

When Google Gets it Wrong

Technology is becoming marvellously intuitive. After booking a holiday with friends, we were surprised to discover Google had already added the dates and location to our Gmail calenders, in the blink of our eye once we confirmed the booking.

Convenient – if a little scary.

But smart technology can and does often make mistakes. We all know how digital images and news can be ‘enhanced,’ for nefarious activities.

Google Maps Fail

Years ago, when GPS navigation was in its infancy, Google Maps directed me to drive off the edge of a steep cliff, insisting that a road existed, only it didn’t. Naturally, I continued on the ‘real’ road, forcing the app to “recalculate [the] route.”

When the car repeated its deranged vocal message insisting I drive off the edge of the cliff, I stopped the car and asked a local resident tending her garden for directions. This was a much safer option!

Google Lens

Google Lens has also had difficulty identifying certain native Australian plants. Understandably, their unique weird shapes and forms confuse the megalithic search engine. This is called Banksia Giant Candles and once flourished in my garden.

However, I was quite surprised at Google, while looking at the following photo from yesterday.

It was taken at one of Australia’s biggest traditions, the soldier memorial ceremonies on April 25th, otherwise known as Anzac Day.

You see, each year, I write a post about Anzac Day and talk about the history, significance, various local ceremonies or Anzac Day Cookie recipes. This year, I didn’t want to repeat the same information over again and wasn’t even going to write at all, but then, well, Google did have to go loco on me.

And I had to say something!

As I glanced at the following photograph, my finger accidentally grazed/hovered close enough to ‘Google Lens,’ for a search listing to engage.

Up popped results of the photograph’s location, suggesting it was Cascais beach, Portugal, The Channel Islands or La Greve du Portieux, which I suspected was in France. Further investigation revealed that La Greve du Portieux was a bed of breakfast on the Eastern coast of France.

Seriously?

I admit, there is a association between Anzacs soldier in WWI and France, but given that location was enabled on the photograph, it was easy to detect to all and sundry that the photo referred to Redcliffe, a beach in Australia!

But it was nice to know that if I closed my eyes to the architecture, I could be on a French beach, or a  bed and breakfast on the coast of France!

This begs the question:

Have you ever felt discombobulated with a Google Search or Google Lens result?

Has Google ever led you astray?

Does my photograph remind you of France or just any old beach at sunrise?

‘He Could have Died’ – Dangerous Gardening in Australia

Earlier this year, on Australia Day, I wrote about how ‘dangerous,’ life can be in Australia. By employing a little common sense means nothing dreadful will happen, if you do visit our sun-drenched shores. Almost without exception, Australians live our entire lives without contact with a deadly snake, a Funnel-web Spider or a Death Adder.

So it came as a shock to find that …

Pottering in my garden might have inflicted serious injury or death.

[NB. this tale does not involve use of a power hedge trimmer, or chain saw].

Enter Australia’s Stinging Nettle Tree, or Gympie-Gympie.

Called the Gympie-Gympie, by the Gubbi Gubbi First Nation People, it is also known as the Suicide plant. For good reason –

Two species of the Australian Stinging trees– the Gympie-Gympie (Dendrocnide moroides) and the Giant Stinging Tree (Dendrocnide excelsa) are considered the most venomous plants in the world.

Unlike its European or North American Nettle counterparts, the Australian species are ‘particularly notorious for producing an excruciatingly painful sting.’ Covered in fine hairs like hypodermic needles, Dendrocnide species inject their toxins into skin, at the slightest touch or by brushing up against the leaves.

“Severe cases can lead to shock, and even death.

Horses have been known to die within hours of contact with this plant and one man was purported to have shot himself to end the excruciating pain. He’d inadvertently used the Gympie-Gympie leaf as toilet paper when camping in the forest.

Even inhaling the hairs of a dead 100 year old herbarium specimen caused sneezing, rashes, and nosebleeds and pain! This plant really is dangerous!

Entomologist and ecologist Marina Hurley who has been stung herself, likens the Gympie-gympie’s sting to “being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time.” What’s more, the pain can last TWO YEARS!

And…..

Yesterday I discovered one growing in my Garden!

GASP!

Nature’s instrument of torture popped up along my garden fence, germinating shortly after Christmas, waiting to exact revenge on any life form that brushed passed!

That’s my dog’s furry ear is in the bottom right of the photo. How easy it would be to brush up against it while weeding! Being chemical stable, the toxins contained in the hairs are so minute, extracting them is difficult.

Needless to say, the M.o.t.h gowned and gloved up and disposed of the plant promptly. I am relieved the dreadful thing is bagged and safely disposed of.

Researchers are hoping to put this dangerous plant to beneficial use.

The poison in stinging trees was recently discovered to be a peptide, similar to some venomous spiders and cone snails, which also inflict terrible pain.

The poison works by binding to pain receptors in the nervous system, firing them up into a frenzy of activity. It’s hoped that working out how these proteins work may lead to the creation of new painkillers. [www.theguardian.com/e]

Australian Humour

Australians are renowned for a wry sense of humour. If there is something we do well down under, it is to poke fun at each other in a friendly ironic kind of way. This is not to offend, but merely to spread around a little joy and to lighten the mood. A laugh can be a wonderful health booster.

It’s been a tradition here at Something to Ponder About to publish a tongue-in-cheek Australiana post, in typical Australian fashion, in a nod to Australia Day, which is presently celebrated on January 26th, (the date of which becomes more and more controversial every year).

Then he asked, ‘So what is Australia like?’

Over the years, foreigners and overseas friends have referred to me as an “ARSE-TRAIL-LIAN.” Not because I have been rude or obnoxious, it is just their pronunciation or accent. Which is kind of funny in an ironic way – as we do live ‘down-under’ -the ‘arse’ end of the world!

Given that our homeland is affectionately called ‘Straya’ – we should perhaps be called ‘A-stray-ans’ more and ‘Arse-trailians’ less.

Who are Australians Anyway?

You don’t have to go back far to find Australians are immigrants. Even the indigenous people traveled here by sea or land bridges some 80,000 years ago.

Our nations embraces Indigenous, Asian, British, South African, Greek or Italian and many other heritages, besides that lot that jumped ship from across the ditch (aka New Zealand).

We do regard New Zealand as our sibling country. We poke reciprocal fun at Kiwis and they at us Aussies, most of all. We fight about which nation claims the Pavlovas, Lamingtons and Russell Crowe, as their own. Neither side takes offence. It is just that friendly banter style of communication we have with our closest neighbours across the ditch – in that ironic kind of way.

Goodness, even our constitution listed New Zealand as a ‘state of Australia’, but the Kiwis didn’t agree and opted out. Good on them, I say.

Questions and Answers for Those New to Australia

For those who don’t know us, here’s a Q & A to get you acquainted.

Q: What is Australia like?

A: A more or less egalitarian country fringed by spectacular beaches, with a whole lot of red desert in the middle.

Q. Is Australia a country, a continent, or an island?

A: It is all three.

Q: What is the weather like?

A: In most of the country, there are only two seasons – warm and too darn hot.

Q: How hot does it get?

A: Summer in Australia lasts for five months with temperatures reaching 38- 42 degrees celsius. Australians cool off at the beach in summer and get horribly sunburnt. Sunscreen is an absolute must and unless you are super-diligent about applying it, you will get sunburnt. Twenty years after a bad sunburn experience, we become wrinkle-ly and Doctors excise skin cancers from our nose and face. Shit happens.

Q: What is the most important thing to have with you, when visiting Australia?

A: Water. It is crucial. Drink at least 3 litres a day. Don’t leave home without it, or you could die – of heatstroke.

Q: What language do Australians speak?

A: We speak English and add lots of slang. We pronounce Melbourne as Mel-bin, Brisbane as Bris-bin, Sydney as Sydney and Australia as Oz. Most Aussies think we have the best country in the world, but that is debatable – but only by the other countries.

NB. Do not attempt to use Australian slang unless you have lived for several years. It won’t end well. Trust me on that. Read more on the Aussie Slanguage here.

Q: Are Australians good at swimming?

A: Yes, yes and yes. We need some way to escape the crocodiles! Every Australia learns to swim before they can crawl. Almost.

Q: Can Australia kill you?

A: Between spiders, killer sharks, deadly stingers, crocodiles in the fresh and the saltwater plus the most venomous snakes in the world, Australia can kill you. It just doesn’t happen all that often. 

Take cattle farmer Colin Deveraux’ – he even fended off an attack from a 3.2 metre crocodile by biting it back – on its eyelid! No longer Crocodile Dundee – it’s now Crocodile Deveraux!

Q: Are Australians friendly to foreigners?

A: Yes, Aussies are always willing to say g’day and help out a stranger in ‘strife,’ as long as you don’t tell them what to do. We have a bit of a ‘class’ chip on our shoulder, stemming from colonial days.

Q: Do Kangaroos hop down the middle of Australian streets?

A: Yes, sometimes. It depends on which street and the weather.

Q. Do Australian hamburgers contain beetroot?

A: Who eats a burger without beetroot? Come on! It’s essential – period.

Q: Are Australians weird?

A: We call a WeedWacker, a ‘Whipper-Snipper’, and a traffic cone is a Witch’s hat. Is that weird? It’s your call.

Oh, but what is weird is our love of constructing exaggerated sized and typically tacky tourist attractions. For reasons yet undetermined. Examples include- The Big Pineapple, The Big Banana and The Big Prawn – all iconic landmarks. [Nuff said.]

So on January 26, chuck a sanga on the barbie for Straya day, mate!

Happy January 26th, Australia.

Bestseller Book – Boy Swallows Universe

Photo Credit: M. MOSAYEBI on Pexels.com

Love conquers all, love is the thing that will get you through … You’re not allowed to let the hand you’ve been dealt be your excuse for being a knucklehead.

Trent Dalton, ‘Boy Swallows Universe’

Followers of my blog may find the book - an Aussie bestseller and the Netflix series due for release tomorrow worth viewing.

The book Boy Swallows Universe has won a host of awards and which was longlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award.

Highly relatable and engaging, the story is semi-autobiographical and written by Australian journalists, Trent Dalton, a staff writer for The Weekend Australian.

The book which has also been adapted for stage and screen is a coming of age story set in Brisbane and surrounds. Trent recounts many of the places and times that I knew myself growing up.

Take a look and let me know what you think?

How to Treat Customers at Wine Tastings

Earlier this year, I celebrated another year around the sun, by driving 1.5 hours to a Boutique Winery and Restaurant.

The setting: a rural sub-tropical farm complete with grapevines, dry grass and the odd cow. The country serenity was broken only by a half dozen bothersome blowflies (But hey, this is Australia!) and the delightful conversation of our lunch guests.

Visiting a boutique winery/vineyard was exciting. I was more than ready for a filling country-style lunch and accompanying wine tasting. And, having worked for a large Australian wine operative some years back, and attending wine tastings here and there, I do feel qualified to comment on this experience.

Really, I should have raised a red flag at the sight of the sad-looking vines that appeared to be merely for decoration. Not the dinky-di thing.

It wasn’t too long before we discovered the lunch menu was profoundly limited, more of a snack food menu. I liked the sound of a grazing platter but the Man of the House, who is a hot meal/red meat and mash kind of guy, would have preferred something more hefty than salad, cold meat and cheese. (none of which he eats cold). So he went a little hungry for his birthday meal, eating just a couple of slices of bread.

NB. (the restaurant had been alerted this was a birthday celebration).

Then there were problems with the wine-tasting experience, the main attraction of having lunch at this restaurant. But not all of our party were participating in the wine tastings.

To our surprise, the staff insisted that only the ‘paying’ wine-tasting participants could sit up at the bar, ie. next to their spouses while they tasted the wines.

Non-drinking spouses, (who were the beer and mixer drinkers) were banished to remain at the allocated dining table towards the rear of the dining hut during the entire wine-tasting experience, some distance away.

This felt uncomfortable and a tad separatist. We were ostracizing our spouses and friends. This detracted significantly from our overall birthday experience.

The Wine Tasting

The wine-tasting portions offered were barely adequate. A small mouthful is not really enough to detect the full aromas, scent and taste of the wine – paying for a small mouthful of six wines.

Please note, at many other wineries, tastings are free and fulsome. Two or even three mouthfuls at least and even then, they’re still free or, of nomimal cost.

No matter how persuasive my laconic, ‘ocker’ friend was, the bar attendant flatly refused to pour more than a mouthful of wine, in his tasting glass.

Her reasoning:

“I have to be responsible with alcohol. I cannot serve more than the equivalent of one alcoholic drink, in total, for the ‘tasting experience.’

You have to be able to drive home,” she added in her husky, forthright tone.

What if you were to have an accident?” she postulated.

Explaining that we had two non-drinking guests accompanying us who could, and would be driving home and reinforced there was no way we’d be taking the wheel. But the staff member, a German exchange student, reinforcing the stereotype, stoicly refused to yield to our pleas.

“We could not have you driving on the road if you had tasted more than just one glass full in total.” {This is not their responsibility once we leave the premises}.

So.. okay. We were getting nowhere with the German.

Ten minutes later, over our lunch grazing platter snacks, our waitress asks,

“Would you like any more drinks? “

“Another glass/bottle of wine perhaps?” (Which of course, would be added to the bill).

“Yes, I will have another Shiraz, please.”

“The Shiraz? Of course!”

Huh?

Yes, we had a lovely day, thanks to our kind friends.

Due to the drawbacks cited above, we won’t return.

What Could They Do Better?

• Offer a more consistent and considerate customer service
• Double the tasting serves
• Have friendlier staff willing to share the history and development of the winery or some interesting factoid of conversation
• An expanded menu with hot options for fussy Moths. (Men of the house)

On the plus side, one of their red wines was of a reasonable quality. My friend purchased two bottles to take home.  

FYI – Fascinating correspondence received when I sent in my feedback.

“Hi Amanda,

Many thanks for your email, and taking the time to give us your feedback. We do highly value and appreciate this. We are really pleased to hear you had a lovely day and enjoy the visit and wine overall.

We recognise, and agree our food menu and some resources are very limited being a small boutique cellar door. Unfortunately, we do not have a restaurant kitchen, and so we focus on food to complement the wine being grazing platters and salads.

Expansion, and a restaurant is something we are considering in the future, but presently we only promote and cater to what we can successfully deliver in our busiest times with the facilities we have.

It is disappointing to hear you didn’t feel the wine taste volumes were sufficient. Our standard practise is to pour 6 x 25 ml equating to 1 standard glass of wine to ensure customers can monitor their wine intake. We also have an obligation to ensure we are serving alcohol responsibly by law. Whilst we practise best practice to assist customers and remain compliant,  we would have be more than happy to offer another taste as it suited on request.

We sincerely apologise your partner was unable to come up to the tasting bar, it is not intended to be rude, but have just 10 places at the bar. We do get very busy and so unfortunately have to limit these places to the guests participating in the wine tasting.

We can only apologise we did not meet your expectations on this occasion within our current business modal, but hopefully we can in the future with an expanded operation.

If there if anything we can do on the short term Amanda, please don’t hesitate to ask. We do highly value repeat business.

Kindest regards,“

My response in return:

Hi ***

Thank you for your reply and explanations.

I understand the compliance with responsible service of alcohol but wish to point out that we did explain to the bar waitress on the day that we had a designated non-drinking driver and we were not driving that day. I also wish to point out that we ordered and paid for more drinks, which was no problem. This seems to be somewhat of a contradiction in your policy. I am all for safe driving and do not drink if I am driving but it does seem terribly unfair to lump all guests in the ‘driving’ basket!

Please note my friend did in fact request another/larger serving but was told it was not possible.

FYI – I attended two wineries in other locations, recently, which was far more generous in their portions. So this was the reason we both felt the portions offered were skimpy.

Having said all of that, I simply wanted to advise you of my feelings in response to your email. I appreciate your detailed response but do not agree with your rationale. I do hope that you are able to expand the food menu in the future and wish you well in your business endeavours.

Cheers,

Amanda”

No further response was received.

This company repeatedly sends promotional advertisements to a facebook group I administer. It’s a group that has an attractively large following and ads on the group are posted for free.

Since visiting this winery, I have so far denied their posts. I don’t want to promote a place I was dissatisfied with, myself.

My Questions:

• Should I allow this winery to post free ads in my book group?
• Were my expectations of the establishment too high?

• Do wineries charge for wine tastings in your area?
• Can a restaurant call itself a restaurant, without a restaurant kitchen?

• In your opinion, what could they have done better? (besides proof-reading)

Bloggers’ Brains Trust: I would love to hear your response in the comments.

Writing Prompt – Writing a Novel

Daily Prompt: What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail?

Yep. Writing a novel is something that I would attempt if I was guaranteed not to fail.

Navigating either the publishing moghuls, the process or the self-publishing quagmire is challenging. It is easy to procrastinate.

Writing a novel is a huge undertaking of time and energy and I have little experience in the area, other than my blog, essays and various published articles.

And yet, my ideas bucket overflows.

It just doesn’t ever convert into hard copy. Instead, the ideas remain consigned to the crepuscular ether of potential possibilities that never achieve fruition.

It is mildly frustrating. A ‘gonna’ job. I am gonna do this and then gonna do that. You get what I mean?

I have so many ideas for fiction and non-fiction books. Helpful bloggers like Yvette from Priorhouse blog, even sent me a handy template to follow, to get me started.

And I did try. I have a book half finished with another blogger from a decade ago, and loads of ideas that are just in their infancy, but entirely possible and plausible.

Do they ever move past that point?

No, they do not.

Failure before they have even begun!

But y’know, there is always tomorrow.

What about you? Have you written a book or novel?

How long did it take?

What motivations did you need to keep you on track?

A Whale of a Time

Known for its elaborate courtship songs and variety of sounds, a Humpback whale ranges from 12 to 16 metres (39 to 52 feet) in length and weigh approximately 36 metric tons (40 short [U.S.] tons).

That is a whole lot of whale.

And we get to see them play right here in our backyard – Moreton Bay.

Related to the Blue Whale, Humpbacks migrate from the Southern Ocean northward from June to November, spending time with their babies in the warm waters of Moreton Bay.

Nearly hunted to extinction, there were only 26 Humpback whales left when the whaling station on Tangalooma (Moreton Island) closed in 1962. Since the ban on hunting Humpbacks in the mid-1960s, numbers have increased to 25,000.

A conservation success story. Yay!

A montage from my recent whale-watching expedition. It was very exciting to see them up close. At one time we were surrounded by four different whale pods! Each pod consisted of a calf and cow (Whale Mum), and an Aunty, or second female. The bulls are nowhere to be seen! Seemingly just a sperm donor and no business in the Moreton Bay nursery.

The Humpbacks that visit this territory are so familiar with the Whale Watching boat Eye-Spy, having grown up with it, that Staff can identify the whales by the individual shape of their fins.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Forestwood Designs (@forestwood.designs)

Whales are more active when the water is a little choppy, as they have to be louder in their communication. As the wind was kicking up a swell, that meant a better display of tail slapping, especially from the calves, as you see in the video – I posted on instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Forestwood Designs (@forestwood.designs)

The humpback is also one of the most acrobatic cetaceans. It frequently breaches by leaping belly-up completely clear of the water, then arching backward and returning to the surface with a loud slapping sound. When beginning a deep dive, the animal hunches its back and rolls steeply forward, bringing its tail out of the water and perpendicular to the ocean surface.

http://www.britannica.com/animal/humpback-whale

By chance, as we were disembarking from the whale watching cruise, a lady exiting in front of us, mentioned she had been out whale-watching four times and hardly seen a whale. Today we saw around a dozen Humpbacks.

We were fortunate. Our luck held. Although this company offers 100% guarantee to see whales.

If you like seeing this majestic creatures, here is a video the ship’s Captain uploaded.

Information

Brisbane Whale Watching

The Whale Watching Vessel departs daily from Redcliffe Pier, 40 minutes from Brisbane City in Australia.

Sail on the Boat Eye-Spy for around 45 minutes to reach the Cape Moreton viewing area. Spend around 2 hours watching the whales frolick across different pods

Travel Sickness pills available for $1 on board

Morning tea and Lunch included in ticket price