Ride around the park and a lovely breakfast....

Last night I tried to reproduce some of the dishes I had learned to cook in Vietnam whilst on my 3 month volunteering stint.  The green mango salad was nice but the Lau needed a proper gas hotplate to really work.  Running back and forth to the stove just didn't cut it, no matter how funny it may have looked!  However it was a test and my guinea pig was my best mate Jo.  When I get it right I will post recipes and photos.  Jo is the quite the best dinner guest/guinea pig...she had elected to bring the beers and went out of her way to find  beer that would compliment the food.  She was advised to get Lucky Beer from China.  Sold in a bespoke bottle shaped - and I quote the box - '...like a seated laughing Buddha holding a large gold ingot above his head.   Many believe this figure of Buddha to be a symbol of wealth, happiness and life fulfilment.' 

Wow, who knew that beer could be such a spiritual thing!  I'd drunk this beer in Hanoi with members of the Koto staff.  Isn't the bottle great.  I'd actually felt a twinge of concern that it may be somehow blasphemous to be drinking beer out of a fascimile of a god but was put at my ease by my Vietnamese friends who maintained that Buddha wanted us to be happy!   In addition to promising (quoting again) 'luck, good fortune, longevity and happiness' it tastes pretty good too...and the bottles really are too nice to recycle...I'm thinking 6 of them - each with a different coloured Gerbera daisy lined up along a window to catch the sun in the deep emerald green glass......more junk to cart around!  When will I ever learn?

just rub his tummy for luck and you will channel his infectious good fortune...truly the package told me so....

After dinner we got to chatting about cycling - both here (which she does commuting to here job as a Cookery Tutor at UTS) and in Hanoi (which I did for the last 6 weeks of my stay).  Despite the random, seemingly chaotic traffic over there I felt safer on the Hanoi roads than I do here.  Jo suggested that we have a go riding round Centennial Park....what a good idea.  I sussed out hire costs and we met up the next morning to get rolling.
Thursday had dawned bright and sunny - but not too hot; the best kind of Sydney day.  I had only hired the bike for 1 hour so we timed our ride carefully.  Three times round the 4-5km park track saw me a bit puffed but feeling great and with 15 minutes to spare.  Jo headed off to work and I tootled home for a restorative shower and some late breakfast/early lunch.

There are many cafes in Paddington, some great, some not so great....most of them expensive.  Toni had suggested that I try a new one that has opened just on the corner of Queen Street and Oxford Street just near one of the entrances to Centennial Park. 

'Daisy and Poppy' is a tiny outdoor cafe sheltered by ancient trees and protected from the wind by it's position nestled beside an old redbrick wall. It's named after the two daughters of the friendly proprietor Josephine.  The menu of breakfast and lunch items is varied enough to be interesting and the huge mouthwatering muffins are home made - a major drawcard for me.  The drinks menu includes some interesting fruit frappes and smoothies too.   I placed my order and found a table in the shade dappled courtyard.

After my exercise I treated myself to scrambled eggs on turkish toast, a large skinny latte and a decadent mixed berry muffin...the total cost was $13.20 - a massive amount by Hanoi standards but very good value for Sydney.   I've always maintained that one of the hardest meals to cook properly is breakfast, there is a fine line between eggs that are sloppy or rock hard.  Likewise; if not stirred enough scrambled eggs become an omelette but over stir and they become powdery and unpleasant.  I'm happy to report that my eggs were creamy, perfectly baveuse and with just enough seasoning.  I'd already begun piling them onto the toast in preparation to chow down when I remembered that I had to take a photo...so appologies if it's not as nice looking as it was when they were first presented to me.

my eggs - cooked perfectly and just enough to satisfy...

My coffee was good too, I don't like scalding coffee and Jo had made it just the right temperature for me.  I'm afraid I didn't take a photo of my muffin - it just looked too decadent; split, toasted and with just enough butter to remind me that I'm trying to lose weight....there was a guilty pang - but man...was it good!  Laden with mixed berries the sweet dough encased the tart freshness of the softened fruit in just the right proportion.

there are sweet slices and pastries as well as the muffins...

A lot of new hospitality ventures close in the first year...here's hoping that 'Daisy and Poppy' is one of the survivors - it deserves to be.