Sunday Fete Fun

It's been a long time since I went to a school fete. But when my friend Paul told me that the school his boys attend, St Brendan's Catholic Primary School at Moorooka, would be having one this weekend, and that his Beatles tribute band would be playing there, I decided it was time to renew my acquaintance with a good school fete!

It started with a Trash n' Treasure sale in the courtyard of the school. Lots of books, games, clothes, and general bric-a-brac. I picked up these two cute glasses for about 50c.

Then out the back through a fabulous food court that was a true multi-cultural fare. From Sudanese afternoon tea, Vietnamese spring rolls, English strawberries and cream or Devonshire tea, a Tongan barbecue, Ethiopian coffee to a good old Aussie Lions club steak sandwich or sausage sizzle, there was something for everything. It was a fairly breezy day today and the scents being carried throughout the school grounds were absolutely heavenly.

Outside there were the traditional fete stalls. Sweets and cakes, plants, a silent auction, lucky dips and tomobola, face painting, raffles and lock and key games.

But one special new kind of fete stall that I am starting to see pop up at fetes and fairs these days, in our lovely multi-cultural city... a henna tattoo stall.

I've always wanted to have a henna tattoo done. Those of you who know me know that I love the permanent ink, I have three tattoos myself. And while henna tattoos are not permanent, they're a beautiful form of ink body adornment that I've always had a fondness for. So I decided to indulge and have my left hand hennaed.

Beautiful huh? It's even nicer now that it has dried and set.

Finally we settled in to enjoy Paul's band, ironically called "The Beetles". They did a fantastic and fun set of the early Beatles stuff before we had to scoot.

I enjoyed them and so did their audience, which were of all ages.

I really must make the effort to get to more fetes and fairs around this city, they're always such a lovely way to spend a weekend afternoon.

Broadening Social Horizons: BTUB and Greystone Bar

It's been a little while since I talked BrisVegas with y'all, hasn't it? I've actually been working on a few things, but none of them have been up to scratch, so I'll sit on them for a little longer until I'm ready to share it with you all.

Instead, tonight I'm going to talk to you about two things. The first being BTUB, the second being Greystone Bar at South Bank, both of which are now quite firmly linked together.

Image courtesy of Nicole Jensen

Let's start with BTUB. For those of you that don't know, BTUB is the Brisbane Twitter community. It stands for Brisbane Twitter Underground Brigade, though now that Twitter is hitting the mainstream, the U can be interchanged for "User". Either way, it's a collective group of Brisbane Twitter users (and any that are visiting to our fair town are welcome too) who use Twitter to meet socially as well as online.

My first involvement with BTUB was a breakfast at the Pancake Manor I went to one morning before work. A handful of people, all guys that particular day, met for breakfast and I tagged along. Everyone was very welcoming and friendly, and I enjoyed meeting new people and having a bit of socialising before work. Since then I've been to cupcakes in New Farm park, various coffees and breakfasts, high tea at the Stamford Plaza and have added the first Friday of the month get together to my regular social calendar.

I'm amazed at the whole BTUB thing. In the past few months I have met so many very cool people, from all kinds of walks of life, age groups, interests and careers. And one common thread I find through the majority of them are that they are lovely open-minded and open-hearted people who welcome anyone to the fold. Not only have I broadened my general social circle, and been able to be part of a bunch of new experiences, but I feel I've made some lovely new friends along the way.

If you're in Brisbane and are looking to expand your social circle, this is the way to do it. If you're not, check if there is a "TUB" for where you are.

Which brings me to Greystone Bar. For the past two months, the regular BTUB "First Friday of the month" social event has been held at Greystone Bar at South Bank. I only went to one at the previous venue, The Ship Inn, and while the space allocated was very good, with plenty of room and lots of seating, it didn't feel like they wanted the custom of this rather large group of paying customers. Which kind of boggles my brain, as it is a good sized group, guaranteed to be spending on both food and drinks, and is a mellow, happy group too. No fights, no bad behaviour, courteous and fun.

But anyway, their loss is our gain. The past two months as I mentioned, the venue has been Greystone Bar in Little Stanley Street, opposite the South Bank Cinemas. And I doubt they could be a more welcoming venue. They actively interact on Twitter with pretty much anyone in Brisbane (well, mostly the lovely Laura from Greystone Bar does all the tweeting!) in a personal, friendly, natural manner. They understand the Twitter community doesn't want to be sold to, and that it's not just about people broadcasting about what they had for breakfast. They welcome the BTUB folks, treat them like valued customers the whole night (not just when they first get them in the door) and welcome them back at any other time with just one friend or a group.

Greystone Bar are welcoming, have a great atmosphere, lots of gorgeous cocktails made with good quality ingredients (no cheap flavourings or mixes) for a reasonable price, as well as all the beer, wine and spirits you can think of, tasty finger foods and lots of comfy seating and heaters for the outdoor areas for those that suffer in what Brisbane calls winter! They also have a finger on the pulse for all of the events happening in and around South Bank. I can highly recommend them.

If you're on Twitter, here are the accounts to follow:

@BTUB

@greystonebar

@sleepydumpling (me!)

Greystone Bar are also on Facebook and are an active Facebook presence!

Brother Espresso

Found myself a nice new coffee spot this morning.  Well, not so much found but was introduced to.  Met with @lexiphanic, @leesargent and @mirandaforwood to discuss technology/social media in the public service, and this was our meeting place.  I believe they have more than one cafe, but we met at the one in Margaret Street in the CBD.

Service was a bit... aloof, but the fruit and pecan toast was delicious, the coffee good and the cafe decor and seating groovy but comfortable.  I liked the idea of instead of giving you an order number, you get a playing card (@lexiphanic got the joker).

If you're in the neighbourhood, check it out perhaps.  Brother Espresso

BrisVegas Challenge

As per my other blogs, Kath Times 23 and The Sleepydumpling's Big Adventure, I am opening up this blog to you, my readers to challenge me to blog about any subject!

However, as this blog is about Brisbane, I'd like to keep it somehow related to Brisbane, so please keep that in mind when issuing your challenges to me.

So, if you live in Brisbane, and want me to share/talk about something you love, raise an issue about Brisbane, or even talk about your event/business, issue me a challenge.

OR, if you live elsewhere and have questions about Brisbane, or would like to know more about anything in particular, again, issue me a challenge.

I am sure you can come up with something for me to get my teeth into.

My Home Town...

I came across this beautiful video entitled "Brisbane In May" a few days ago, and have been meaning to post it.

Brisbane In May from Rhys Day on Vimeo.

It captures my beautiful home town perfectly, and features some locations that just fill me with warmth for this gorgeous city.

Enjoy!

Hear the Mighty Lions Roar!

Went to an AWESOME game of football last night.  The Brisbane Lions played the Sydney Swans at the Gabba here in Brisbane, and thanks to a generous friend, I got to go along and see the game live.

We managed to get into the stadium before it started raining, but by the time we got seated it was absolutely bucketing down.  We were lucky and had seats up in the nosebleed section, which is all undercover.  But I have to say, I don't think there is actually a bad seat in the Gabba, everywhere gives a good clear view of the field.  It's only really the weather that makes some areas less desirable, and last night was one of those nights.

It was a ripper of a game too, with the Lions smashing the Swans for the first time in 5 years, 100 to 67.  The Lions played a brilliant game, despite the inclement weather, and I had a fantastic time.

One of the things I really like about Brisbane Lions games is the fact that they promote a family friendly atmosphere.  Even for the night games, they encourage people to bring their families, and that all ages are welcome to the games.  There are licensed areas for those who would like to drink alcohol, but there are also PLENTY of alcohol free areas too for those who don't wish to be around the booze.  Which really encourages it to be about more than a piss up over football.  I like that.

I can heartily recommend going to a game of Aussie Rules at the Gabba, even if you're not a big fan of football, because it is so much fun you will be a fan before long.

The Willow - Moorooka

Today I had planned to go to lunch at an Italian restaurant over at Tarragindi, but when we got their they had closed, so instead my friends suggested The Willow over at Moorooka.  It's the pub on Beaudesert Road, at the bottom end of the shops.

They have a lovely big "beergarden" area, not really a beergarden but an outdoor kind of deck that is a restaurant.  Huge, spacious and cool once all the doors and windows are open, it's a nice area to sit for a Sunday lunch.  I ordered the steak sandwich.  It was HUGE!  Good tender steak (and not a scrawny thin bit either), bacon, egg, cheese, beetroot, onions, tomato and lettuce, served with battered chips and a side salad.  The side salad was a tad bland but there was so much of the chips and steak sandwich I couldn't eat everything so I didn't bother about it.

After a couple of hours sitting and talking with friends we decided to have coffee and dessert, so I ordered one of their two dessert choices (they could use a couple more choices really), which was chocolate mud cake with berry coulis and ice cream.  Absolutely divine.  The mud cake wasn't too sickly but was still fudgy, it was good quality vanilla ice-cream, and the berry coulis was made with real berries.  Really scrumptious, and they do a fairly good coffee too.

All in all, a pretty good find in the suburbs.