I heard the news today…

Cartoon from Eureka Street

And this came to mind, but one hopes it really ain’t a match!

Persian Danny came from Isfahan…

My neighbour here in West Wollongong around 2012… Not a fan of the current Iran regime by any means, hence he (and his friends) preferred to be known as Persians. Danny had participated in student uprisings against the regime…

Learned a lot from Danny and his friends. See for example Reclaiming Australia Persian-style in Wollongong. He was at the time doing PhD research in the area of materials science and engineering.

“We were accompanied yesterday by a Korean colleague of Persian Danny, glimpsed here entering the restaurant:

“I had a beautiful lamb shank dish, buried under fragrant rice.

“We all had free soup, and two appetisers, one a spinach and yoghurt dip, the other an eggplant dip rather like baba ganoush  but with mint and topped with walnuts. That we were hardly in a hotbed of Islamist extremists appeared from the tea set, a bit like this one:

“That’s Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar.

…the third longest reigning monarch in Iranian history after Shapur II of the Sassanid dynasty and Tahmasp I of the Safavid Dynasty….

Naser al-Din was the first modern Persian monarch to visit Europe in 1873 and then again in 1878 (when he saw a Royal Navy Fleet Review), and finally in 1889 and was reportedly amazed with the technology he saw. During his visit to the United Kingdom in 1873, Naser al-Din Shah was appointed by Queen Victoria a Knight of the Order of the Garter, the highest English order of chivalry. He was the first Persian monarch to be so honoured. His travel diary of his 1873 trip has been published in several languages as Persian, German, French, and Dutch.

“And then there are the wall decorations, perhaps pointing to Alexander the Great:

“Excellent food, great company – and praise be for Australia in all its 21st century diversity. A pox on all those who wish to disrupt our harmony.” — July 2015

It is now the home of excellent gumbo! See Yesterday: books and gumbo in that order.

My Friday adventures — eating Korean-style at City Diggers

Yes, Methusaleh had another outing…

Given the Bunnies’ track record this season so far, black may be apt. So afterwards the young woman who served me at BWS said… Not those words exactly, but a similar sentiment. Said she was a ticket-holder to The Burrow — those in the know will know — but had not availed herself of this yet this year. Yes, even The Gong is awash with Bunnies supporters.

My BWS purchases

Back to lunch. There are some new items, Korean-style, on the menu, so I decided to sample one: Korean fried chicken pieces — the red stuff is Gochujang (Korean: 고추장; Korean pronunciation: [kotɕʰudʑɑŋ][a]) or red chili paste — a savory, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment popular in Korean cooking.

So filling are they that I asked for the doggy bag and had the rest last night with some added baby Roma tomatoes for moisture — microwaved in the container. Turned out well.

At home too I had chopsticks — those or fingers being the best approach.

That 65th Reunion

Also while at Diggers I had a great Facebook Messenger exchange with Richard Buckdale, a classmate from Sydney High’s Class of 1959. We grow old indeed…

Hi Neil, I went to the 65 year 1959 reunion at SBHS a few days ago. There were just 20 of us there altogether and none of them were on my list of blokes I wanted to see: Edward Oliver, Eric Sowey, Graham Delaney, Clive Kessler, Nicholas Laletin, David Capewell, Philip Selden, and Brian Hennell—I knew I couldn’t meet Alf van der Poorten as he died in 2010.

The headmaster gave a speech which I couldn’t understand a word of, as I had left my hearing aids behind. So, all in all, I felt somewhat sad….

We continued for best part of an hour….

Just an old bloke in The Gong

… my mild Thursday adventures in Wollongong the Brave

That old guy…

Coincidentally I also had an Olympus digital camera — no longer! The Gong as it was when I returned in 2010, and the Anthem from the 1970s when I was a younger me in The Gong….

A Thursday full of food, wine and bus travel

Mount Keira Road — waiting for the 10.20 39 bus — it came at 10.25

City Diggers was popular yesterday — and they have a new(ish) menu, including a couple of Korean items which I will try some other time. My mind was set of the barramundi as it is a little while since I had their signature dish! The new menu of course features it still and it is as good as ever, available either with chips and salad or mash and veg. The lovely Kim tells me that they now also do the Roast of the Day every day instead of on select days — the lamb is excellent — and a pie of the day every day. Yesterday it was lamb and rosemary. But I stuck with barra.

Oh yes, and books. The excellent John Banville one I had renewed, but on the way to lunch and City Diggers I had gone to the Library (and then the pharmacist to renew my statin meds) and collected these beauties, including one by my new Facebook friend Joyce Kornblatt.

They all look very promising! After lunch I called in to BWS, the Woolies-owned bottleshop chain, on Burelli Street and for $29 got this likely pair of reds to see me over the weekend and probably through Monday at least.

Of course mine is 2021…

My first taste gives it a big plus!

So here was this octogenarian heading for the bus stop with his walking stick, his backpack containing the faithful Junior HP which had been enjoying the free wifi at City Diggers, and a Woolies bag loaded with great books and great reds… Rather heavy actually. So not a fast-moving geezer…. And there was a bus arriving. The old geezer, based on experience, thinks it will take off again before he can reach it, but it stays and stays, and turns out to be a 39 bound for my stop in Mount Keira Road. Old geezer boards, thanks the driver profusely, swipes his Opal card and takes a seat near the front, whipping out his phone just as we pass Diggers on the way home….

Quite a good day, Thursday!

Time to lighten up — seriously and not so seriously

Let there be music, and food, and footy tipping!

We have been seeing the children suffer so much lately, in Gaza of course but not only there. Have you considered the Rohingya lately? Not to forget the children of Ukraine… And so much of this world where seeing the suffering over and over on social media in graphic detail comes with very real dangers to our mental health as individuals, to the health of our polity as social media take us to greater and greater polarisation…. This is not to ignore the darkness that is happening, nor to suggest we should not call it out. But we must also retain our personal balance.

I try to be scrupulous in anything I post, checking sources very carefully. But I also am very much aware that I am not God. I can be and have been wrong about many things — and so have we all! The viewpoint of others may indeed have considerable merit, even where one disagrees. Do not demonise others. Only connect…. Easier said than done, but I try…. My mantra taken from a famous Israeli poet heads my FB page, and I have loved this verse ever since first encountering it in 2005.

Philosophically I have leaned towards relativism and pluralism since around 1967 — one reason I have never been a Marxist and never can be. Guess I was a bit post-modern without knowing it — distrust grand narratives and sweeping explanations. Guess I am a bit of a Taoist. Found a great translation (or paraphrase) of the Tao Te Ching by Ron Hogan!

29

Want to take over the world?
Think again.
The world’s a holy place.
You can’t just fuck around with it.
Those who try to change it destroy it.
Those who try to possess it lose it.

With Tao, you push forward,
or maybe you stay behind.
Sometimes you push yourself,
other times you rest.
Sometimes you’re strong,
sometimes you’re weak.
Sometimes you’re up,
and sometimes you’re down.

A Master lives simply,
avoiding extravagance and excess.

Now let’s sing for the children of the world.

The therapy of footy tipping

I have done worse… Mind you, the Bunnies had a shocker!

Next round:

As usual I consulted the Kiwi Tipster (JDB Selects) after I completed my own. His tips are on the left. Mind you, he has been known to change his tips after first publication, so last week he ended up only two out.

Food glorious food!

Last Friday I was again at City Diggers and again had the barramundi. for the second time with chips and salad rather than the steamed veg I usually have. Was it any good? What do you think?

And I am still savouring the red wine I bought at BWS on the way home last Friday!

Pirramimma Stock’s Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 on the left.

Born under ‘the moon and the stars’ in 1892

In today’s climate of global corporate wine ownership and multi beverage models, Pirramimma has stood the test of time from 1892 to today.

Still family owned and run, and largely from the same property founded by AC Johnston over a century ago comprising over 100 hectares of prime McLaren Vale fruit, Pirramimma and the Johnston family are synonymous with McLaren Vale. Four generations of Johnston’s have called McLaren Vale home, making Pirramimma one of Australia’s oldest wineries to still be in family control.

Our soils, once worked to exhaustion under a traditional European philosophy of farming have been for decades nurtured slowly back to organic health. Our wines, respected and revered worldwide are the end product of knowing intimately the certain characteristics of our home vineyards.

Geoff Johnston, current custodian himself celebrated fifty vintages alone at Pirramimma, giving the wines the best possible chance of being picked and nurtured into some of Australia’s best wines. We have pioneered varieties suited to the region, such as Petit Verdot and Tannat, which with the climate changing around us are best suited to McLaren Vale and our taste profile. The acclaim speaks for itself, with Pirramimma being awarded in 2020 it’s fourth AWC Vienna Best Australian Producer title.

Vineyard website

Fear not — 65th Reunion Sydney Boys High Class of 1959 will return soon.