Lock n' Load - West End

Went to the Girl Geek dinner last night, a group of awesome women who meet up to celebrate, network and encourage geekiness, as well as have some social time.  I'll blog more about that on Sleepydumpling's Big Adventure later.

The dinner was held at Lock n Load bistro at West End, right on Boundary Street.  Google Map here!

What a little gem of a bistro.  Tucked away amongst the shops (as most cafe's and bistros are in West End), Lock n Load has great food, friendly staff, well priced and is a fantastic venue.  They have the restaurant downstairs (which had a live jazz trio playing), a garden out the back and then a lovely room upstairs which seats about 30 people, and has a wide screen plasma on the wall perfect for talks and presentations.

The dinner last night had a set menu, with Turkish bread for starters for all, then several choices for mains, and also salad and shoestring fries served to the table for all.  I had crispy skinned barramundi with chorizo, potatoes and olives.  YUM-O.  The barra was beautifully fresh, cooked to perfection (the seasoning on that crispy skin was divine) and the olives and chorizos really offset the mild flavours of the fish and potato.

I really liked the feel of the place too.  Relaxed and friendly, and looks like it's been built into an old Queenslander house.  The staff were really helpful, the wine was good (and well priced) and the room upstairs a perfect venue for lots of discussion.

I'll certainly go back there.

Kung Hei Fat Choy

As well as being Australia Day tomorrow, it is also Chinese New Year.  And if you wish to celebrate the wonderful multi-cultural country we are, open to new experiences and celebrating diversity, perhaps instead of eating lamb (which I can't do anyway, I'm allergic) you could go for a Chinese meal somewhere.

On Friday night, I went with a group of fabulous friends to Ben's Chinese-Vietnamese Restaurant at Woolloongabba.  All this weekend they are having special celebrations for Chinese New Year, with a special banquet for $39.95, lion dancing, fire crackers and lucky door prizes, as well as their usual karaoke.  I normally hate karaoke, but I got a few laughs out of Friday night's efforts.

Ben's is a favourite restaurant of mine in Brisbane, the food is absolutely exquisite there.  Their salt and pepper squid is like no other - soft and tender, super fresh with a delicate seasoning that just compliments the squid perfectly.  They didn't have it on the banquet on Friday night, but they had salt and pepper quail instead, which was seasoned with almost the same thing.  Divine.

I have to say I've never had a bad meal there, and I've been there a lot.  The service is always prompt and friendly, the food as I mentioned, divine and the prices are reasonable.

One of the great things about Friday  night for us was that we won the lucky door prize at our table.  A $40 gift voucher for the restaurant and a bottle of champers.   What I really liked was the lovely presentation of the gift voucher, in this lucky envelope.

A Riot of Purple

As you may have guessed by the header of this blog, I absolutely love jacaranda season in Brisbane. Jacarandas just scream "home" to me, even though I believe they are native to South Africa.

I love that gorgeous purple colour, and how they leave a carpet of purple underneath them when they are in flower. Even though they shed blossoms everywhere, and then those said blossoms do rot all over the place, I think they're one of the most beautiful features of Brisbane.

On Saturday night just passed, it was my birthday. I went to Kapsali's restaurant at South Bank with a group of girlfriends (the Brissie Cysters). We were seated at a table outside, right under a jacaranda tree, shedding it's gorgeous blossoms all over the table, the chairs and of course us. Sure, there were a couple of flowers fished out of wine glasses and cleavage as the night passed on, but I didn't mind, they're so beautiful it's worth fishing them out of various places they land.

I've always said, when I get married, it will be under jacaranda trees in full bloom.

There's something special about this time of year, driving through Brisbane (or in my case, travelling on the bus) and seeing that riot of purple all over the landscape. It's stunning.

Incidentally, the photograph I have used for my header comes from Brisbane Images, a digital image collection through Brisbane City Council Library Service. If you go to their catalogue website eLibCat, you can click on the "Search Brisbane Images" button and then use the search engine to find pretty much anything Brisbane related right back to the mid-1800's.