Brisbane, Brissy for short, continues to entertain us and make us feel quite at home. We are preparing for our next leg of the trip, Sydney, in just a few days. We have been organizing, packing, re-stocking supplies, putting the apartment back to the way we found it. We asked around and not much is open on Christmas day and I was reminded of my first trip to Queensland Australia 36 years ago. Here is a little memory from that time.... It was Christmas day and we were driving from Cairns to Townsville and nothing was open. We were starving and it was mid afternoon. We stopped in at a gas station. I bought a can of spaghetti, borrowed a can opener from the proprietor, and stepped outside to pour that spaghetti into my mouth. This was the time that the shopkeeper took a break and came outside with me to chat a bit. "How ya doin' Mate?", he said as I tried to get an errant spaghetti noodle back in my mouth. I swallowed and responded on how much we love Australia. He wanted to know about the states, where we were from, where was St Louis, what what the weather...I was still pouring the spaghetti into my gullet in between questions. It was not my proudest moment but I was hungry. It will be Christmas day tomorrow and we do not want a repeat performance. Leslie and I went to Nando's Chicken and bought two whole chickens for our Christmas picnic in the park. The trainee who took my order had difficulty with my ethnic name and she wrote Fatz instead of Fritz! After storing the chickens in the fridge we took our library books back and picked up some plants to gift to our neighbor and to the AirBnB host. An additional small bottle of Gin seemed like the logical thing to snatch up before everything closes down. We are now totally prepared for Christmas Day and it was time to clean up and dress up for dinner. We had reservations at Donna Chang's Restaurant and had been forewarned that the restaurant was named after a Seinfeld episode. In this episode a gal from Long Island's phone line got crossed with George's phone line. She always made sure to say her first and last last name and thereby she was mistaken for an Asian woman when she was not one. The owners of the restaurant thought this episode was apropos as they were opening a Chinese resturant without being Chinese. The food was fantastic! We tried three new gins and the ambiance was very cool. The first two gins were a Four Pillars Navy Strength and a 23rd St Signature gin. The bartender came to our table and told us that Navy Strength was a recruitment tool for the Navy and the limes and tonic were medicinal. The limes helped prevent scurvy and the quinine in the tonic helped with the malaria. As for the food we got the pickles, a shrimp and scallop wonton dish, crispy pork belly and a half duck...we have leftovers just in case we need them.
While getting prescription refills I glanced over at this Christmas display. That is the Brissy Chrissie spirit!
Fatz gets two whole chickens!
Chang, chang, chang, Donna Chang
Mixing up some tasty cocktails
My sweetie in the huge space of Donna Chang
We love our pickled veggies
A whiff of smoke got our attention and we looked over to see a smoky whiskey drink
Some spicy prawn and scallops wontons
Round two of drinks
A Peddlers plum gin and the Peddlers Gin that I had the other night at Death and Taxes
Cooked Morning Glories
Very crispy pork belly
The duck was half gone before I remembered to take a picture
A great location with very tall ceilings
A fine chandelier and a second story walkway
Duck duck duck...
Jacob our bartender, a great mixologist as well as a plethora of gin knowledge
Our second type of Peddlers Gin from China
The toilets are behind the vault doors
Ohhhh, a true Japanese toilet experience
We were happy to pay the Christmas Surcharge!
All the fortunes are Seinfeld quotes
