Things I'm Loving This Week

My funky new flower vase filled with pretty flowers.

Citizen Khan, which is currently showing on channel Seven/GWN7. I am loving this BBC comedy series, which follows the trials and tribulations of Mr Khan, self-appointed community leader, and his family. 

The series has been subject to criticism that it degrades Islam and contains unacceptable racial stereotyping. My opinion? Get over it! It's funny, and you have to be able to laugh at yourself. There are shows taking the mickey out of every religion or race. If anything, the series should be more offensive to "gingers" (redheads) than Muslims. Thankfully the ratings in the UK have been stellar for the first series, so a second series is in production.

A lowdown on the characters:

Mr Khan, self proclaimed community leader and Pakistani businessman. Terrible fashion sense, and a "tight-arse" who buys in bulk at Cash'n'Carry. Always trying to raise his profile in the community (through the Pakistani Business Association and Sparkhill Community Mosque) but causes havoc and embarrassment in the process. Stubborn and tries to talk his way out of every situation with ridiculous logic, until Mrs Khan steps in.

Mrs Khan, wife of Mr Khan (his "sweetie darling") and boss of the household (although Mr Khan would never admit it). She is competitive with the other women in the Muslim community, keeps a spotless house (which includes sponging the plastic cover on the sofa twice daily) and is terrified of anything that would bring shame on herself or her family. Very dramatic whenever anything goes wrong and always gets Mr Khan to do what she wants in the end.

Dave: a Muslim convert, and the "Mosque Manager" at the Sparkhill Community Mosque. Mr Khan refuses to acknowledge that Dave is Muslim, and refers to him as a "ginger" (referring to his red hair). Dave tries hard, but has difficulty standing up to Mr Khan and sometimes gets carried along with his unfortunate plans. He has a "certificate" in counseling and likes to get involved whenever there is the hint of a family disagreement.

Shazia Khan: the eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs Khan. Currently engaged and planning her wedding to Amjad Malik. A scruffy dresser, easily pleased, Mr Khan's least favourite daughter.

Alia Khan: the younger daughter of Mr and Mrs Khan. Always heavily made up and wearing super tight jeans and high heels, she quickly puts on a headscarf whenever her father is present. She pretends to be a devout Muslim, and has Mr Khan wrapped around her little finger. She is actually a party animal who loves clubbing, but Mr Khan would never believe it.

Amjad Malik: Shazia's husband to be. A very 'simple' boy who is easily led (and mislead by Mr Khan). He works at a phone shop (where he started out wearing a rubber mascot costume) and is deeply in love with Shazia. He comes from a wealthier family than the Khans, and his mother Mrs Malik makes this known at every opportunity.

Summer colour POP: flowers and artwork

Following on from this post, here are more lovely photos of flowers and gardens snapped at the Pialligo Plant Farm. I have thrown in some weird and wacky art pieces from the onsite gallery too, which might give a few laughs.

 I want these in my garden one day! Vintage furniture = art in my books!

 Check out the veins on this flower, and I love the water droplets too!

Art for sale - yes seriously! Any takers!?

These crazy pooches are way cooler - I'd buy one of these ;-) Does anyone know who the artist is? I didn't check and in hindsight, I'd love to find out more about the inspiration behind these.

Lunch review: Podfood, Pialligo Plant Farm

For my work Christmas lunch, we went to Podfood at Pialligo Plant Farm. This little cafe is situated on the same property as the Pialligo Plant Farm nursery. I love flowers so it was nice to be able to walk through the nursery after lunch. The cafe is in a super cute 1930s cottage, and has quite an innovative menu.

We decided to skip entrees and start with mains. I had the slow cooked lamb loin, spiced roasted aubergine puree, yoghurt and lemon balm dressing, capsicum and quinoa ($33):

The lamb was absolutely delicious, it melted in my mouth... and the flavours and texture of the accompaniments complimented it beautifully. According to an ex-chef who works in my Division, his lamb was slightly overcooked but overall he thought the meal was good. The ex-chef / foodie / expert picked the wine, which was the Collector Reserve Shiraz 2008. I don't think I have developed much of a palette for reds yet, and I usually don't enjoy a red drop very much, but this one was the smoothest shiraz I have ever tasted. It was beautiful - no wonder upon googling it swept up a whole lot of awards at the Sydney Show.

The good thing about these modern cafes with teeny servings is that there is always room for dessert. I had the salted caramel butter pastry tartlet with pistachio ice cream and cumin crumbs ($13):

The salted caramel went very well with the pistachio ice cream. It was a fantastic balance of flavours.

Here are the other desserts that were had by the group:

After lunch, we walked through the nursery and delighted in flowers. My favourite were the fuschias:

More flowers and photos from the Pialligo Plant Farm art gallery to come in another post :-)

Floriade Nightfest 2011

Last Saturday night I went with a group of friends to Nightfest- Floriade's ticketed nighttime event. If you want to know more about Floriade, or see my daytime photos, see this post.

We were so lucky with the weather - of the 5 nights that Nightfest was on, Saturday was the only night that it didn't rain! Very unfortunate for people who had bought tickets for another night, as it is mainly an outdoor event and I imagine the paths would get muddy in the rain, which would be unpleasant.

I had such a lovely night. We started off by going to the Garnier tent, which always has a long queue but is worth the wait because of their famous Floriade giftbags. They're free, and more than cover your entry fee! Mine contained:

That's right-  4 full sized products and a mini deodorant (+ some samples)!!!

We spent the night exploring the flowers and light shows. Some of my favourite photos follow.

The other highlight of the night was walking around and trying lots of delicious samples of various foods. As usual, I found something delicious to buy- this time some jams (by alpine berry farm):

And I really want one of these portable massage cushions now, although they are super expensive and there's no way I can justify paying near the rrp, which is $540:

Casada Maxiwell II

I have tried various massagers before I have never enjoyed them- vibrations annoy me and I don't find them particularly relaxing. This one doesn't have to vibrate, it has 4 balls in it which replicate a human massage... it actually hit my trigger points and loosened up my sore shoulders and upper back, which is amazing for a cushion. I will recommend this to my Dad though - he has chronic back pain, and that definitely justifies the cost. Oh and... I saw that in the US, in November 2010 this model was on sale for $159! It had already been superseded back then, while we're still on version II in Oz. Deary me.

Floriade Canberra 2011

Floriade is Canberra's premium tourist event - it's a spring carnival with lots of flowers (mainly tulips) planted in various patterns in Commonwealth Park. It is very pretty and a lovely celebration of spring, if the sun decides to come out.

The flowers are planted in patterns, in line with the annual theme. For 2011, the theme is Food. For example:

This is supposed to be a 'spice market'. No matter how hard I try, it just looks like a whole lot of beautiful, colourful tulips. I'm sure that you'd have a much better effect with a birds eye view, but there isn't any way to see the flowers from above.... to some extent, I think this defeats the purpose.... but it's still a nice idea.

As another example, this one is supposed to evoke a 'celebration cake':

But anyway, I really enjoyed my afternoon spent at Floriade. The highlights were:
(1) The gorgeous flowers
(2) Free food and drink samples in the marketplace, where vendors were giving free tastes of their wares
(3) Garnier world, where I got a free 5 minute neck and shoulder massage and a free sample bag, complete with 4 full sized products!

Some more photos of the event:

Also to come- my adventures at Floriade Nightfest 2011 - the ticketed night time event. You can't say I'm not making the most of Canberra :-)

Meet me in the Garden

It certainly feels like spring! And it will be officially, soon. Take it from me, it’s not a good idea to leave a packet of dates sitting on the windowsill in your kitchen. All through winter this worked fine, but come (almost) spring and hello ant infestation! There certainly seem to be more bugs around, which is the only drawback about spring.

Some lovely photos taken in our garden, which make me smile:

The first cherry blossom

Some other white flowers – anyone know what these are called?

Male Australian King Parrot

Female Australian King Parrot

Crimson rosella