21/07/2018
My 75th
My b*rthday was this month and I had four small celebrations of it. Last Sunday (18th), Joe and I went together to the Dutton Pk. fish shop and took our purchases back to eat on my verandah. Joe enjoyed a beefburger and I had some excellent Barramundi.
Joe had given me earlier that day a bottle of Laphroaig, a single malt from Islay. So after dinner we had a toast in that. I had mine with soda and Joe had it on the rocks. For once he did not have his spirits with Coke. He is a fan of Coke zero and drinks a lot of it.
I forget what we talked about but Mr Trump would have figured largely. Joe and I talk so often -- usually about politics -- that one occasion blurs into another.
Then on Monday, Jenny gave me one of her splendid dinners. It was an old favorite: Vietnamese lemon chicken, quite unlike Chinese lemon chicken. And as always Jenny provided various accompaniments to go with it, rice etc. And for desserts she brought out a big Pavlova, also a favourite of mine. I noticed that Nanna liked it too.
Kate took a lively part in the conversation, with queries of Joe and myself about various aspects of our very conservative thinking. Jenny was a bit scornful of Mr. Trump, which is easily understood, but I think she might not have taken full account of the fact that both her sons are very favourably disposed towards Mr Trump.
There were also quite a few reminiscences of old times, particularly of Joes's toddlerhood. "My beautiful train" got quite a mention.
Then on Tuesday morning the electrician came. It was not part of my birthday but it was nonetheless pleasing to get our dodgy power points and switches replaced. Joe took the morning off to be in on the electrical work so after the electrician had gone Joe and I went to the Phams and had bacon & egg brunches. And, as it happened, Irene was in for breakfast there too. So I introduced her to Joe.
Then on Wednesday, Kate made me a dinner on my verandah of Tacos with beef filling and a few other things. And afterward we had some pudding delivered to our door
This time we talked a lot about penology, with particular reference to domestic violence, Kate's interest. I said that you have to look at violence overall and that there is no other way to stop violence, domestic or otherwise, except keeping the bad guys locked up once you catch them. Kate actually agreed with that. I have written on that at some length recently
We then talked a bit about psychopathy. I mentioned that one of my papers on that topic had been well-received.
And I don't think we mentioned Mr Trump once. Joe and I had however reviewed the Trump/Putin summit that morning.
Anne has returned from one of her many trips to Europe only recently. She sometimes starts what she has to say at the moment with: "When I was in Budapest ..." So it was that we had a birthday dinner together on 21st.
She brought me a small chocolate cake from the famous Hotel Sacher in Vienna. An image of the box it came in above. The Sacher Torte is regarded by many as the pinnacle of chocolate cakes. Anne also brought me from her travels a one-litre bottle of Cointreau, which I quite like. I like all the orange-flavoured liquers, though I drink all liquers only rarely. My favourite is Van der Hum from South Africa but you can't get it in Brisbane.
I very much like meatloaf but you can't often buy it in the supermarkets so when I saw one for sale about six months ago I promptly bought it and put it away in my trusty freezer to come out for a birthday dinner. And today was the day I took it out. I was also going to help the celebration with my remaining bottle of Barossa Pearl but Anne had a cold so didn't feel like drinking. Anyway the meatloaf was as good as expected and Anne did some vegies to go with it which went well.
In lieu of wine, I had a small dram of Laphroiag with my dinner, which went surprisingly well with the meatloaf. I recommend it. I guess it's a bit shameful but I diluted my dram with some of my favourite bottled water. I mentioned to Anne that single malts generally have a peaty taste -- to which she replied rather sharply: "I don't know. I've never eaten peat". That gave me a laugh and I pointed out that it was the smell being referred to.
For desserts we had some good blueberries together with Street's Blue Ribbon, which went down very well indeed. It's up there with trifle and Pavlova now as a favourite dessert. Blueberries are another great North American contribution to our diet. They have been grown in Australia only recently.
And we ended with nips of Cointreau.
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