7-5, 6-4, 6-2 - Wimbledon

In a satifying 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 win over Karol Beck, Mark Philippoussis goes to the next round of Wimbledon on the first day of play.

Andrew, Lulu and I made our way in blistering 32 degree heat and humidity to Wimbledon to support the green and gold. We figured we should go at least once to Wimbledon to hear the crowds roar. The hiss of the ball as it speeds across court... And the agony of people in pain as they get whiplash from swinging their heads left to right to left at incredible speeds!

Wimbledon 2005 lawn/		Andrew and Lulu by the 2005 Wimbledon lawn.
Acting cool.. Acting swarve.		Mark Philippoussis about to serve another ace.

Bread making. You learn something new every day.

My dough... my dough.. my dough won't rise!

I followed the same steps as last time to make my pimpkin seed bread, but for some reason the dough refused to rise. Bummer! The used by on the yeast is fine. I used a little less butter this time, but that shouldn't stop the dough rising.

Google. Google is my friend. Google good.

Yeast is a living thing. A plant / fungus that eats gluten that comes in packets perfect for one loaf when mixed with warm water. Warm water it seems does not mean adding yeast to boiled water, and then adding cold water. The problem is that this kills the yeast culture.

Damn.

Wish I had known that before. The bread faq is now required reading it seems.

I'd wager the bread is going to come out heavy again because of the yeast. Note to self - yeast + sugar works... should give a softer loaf.

Oh.. and if you like sourdough then you might like to read the faqs available here.

It just doesn't pay...

It doesn't pay to work with fellow geeks especially when they blog too. Jonathan is more geek than the rest of the team put together but I probably wouldn't encourage him by saying that to his face (the fact that he reads my blog defeats that though!). Either way, Jon is a wonderful bloke, cheers to you mate!

Reading through more of Jon's blog, I seem to get mentioned every so often... the latest regarding twig tea!!

Here's the rest

A couple of posts ago I posted a Dilbert comic strip... here's a few more in the series:

We 'av bread G'ovna

Harrods isn't just a place of expensive merchandise. It is the reason for my latest inspiration for a bit of bread making (despite walking out with a loaf of pumpkin bread). This attempt sure beat the first time when I made Chinese Fighting Muffins, or bread that was just eatable.

This is the way we knead the bread, knead the bread, knead the bread...		Flour, yeast, heabs, butter, salt and bird seed = the basis of one nice bread loaf.
I actually used a pack of Omega Seed Mix that I got from a health food store in Bath, UK.		And there it is folks.
It turned out a bit heavy (could do with more rising) but quite tasty!! All in all I think I'm getting closer. Closer to the perfect loaf!

I never thought I'd hear ..

I dont believe it... Denzil just asked if I wanted to go shopping!?!!
I'd never thought I'd hear that from him! Now I just hope his shopping urge holds until we go to HongKong in 3 weeks!

The English Accent

When I come home to Australia, I hope I come back with an accent (and not sound like Kylie Minogue):

Vienna, Austria 28May-30May '05

Vienna-wow what a beautiful city to relax, explore and soak up the Austrian culture on a nice hot summers day. The weather was hot hot and hot! The average was 30degrees everyday but we weren't complaining considering we haven't had any decent weather in the UK.

Highlights of the trip:
Stephansdom (St Stephans Cathedral) - A huge tall dark sandstone cathedral dating back to the 12th century. You can still see original Romanesque designs but most of it has been transformed into a Gothic structure (during 12th-13th century). Although it has been badly damaged by bombing and fire in the past, the external looks amazingly beautiful and still dominates the town centre.

Schoenbrunn (The Royal Palace) - Only 15mins walk from our hotel, it is a park that houses the imperial palace, Baroque styled gardens, heritage buildings & statues and even a zoo. We toured the palace where we saw 40 rooms from Empress Maria Theresa's reign including portraits of her 16 children! One of the most impressive rooms was The Great Gallery (hint-click on the pic to see a larger shot) which used to hold grand balls and banquets.
Our tickets also included entry into the Privy Garden, the Maze & Labyrinth, the Gloriette Terrace and the Court Bakery (where they make traditional Apple strudel!).

Schoenbrunn Palace Concert (Mozart and Strauss) - After a nice swim (and cool down!) in the hotel pool, we headed back to the Palace for another culture fix. We went to see the Schoenbrunn Palace Orchestra perform classic tunes of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss. The concert was lovely with some opera singers and ballet dancers too which made the event a memorable aspect of our Viennese experience.

Cafe Hawleka - is one of Vienna's oldest local cafes. I'd read about this place so I was very pleased to actually find it! Apparently it was a place during the Cold War days where spys hung out.
The whole decor still dates back to the 1930s and even the atmosphere felt like we were living in the past with its dark wooden floorboards, brown walls covered with posters, mustard and red striped velvet booths and wooden antique chairs and tables.
Denzil had an iced coffee and I had a latte. I didn't think I would say this but this was the best coffee I've had so far in Europe. It was perfect-even beating Italy and France. It goes to show the reputation it has and why the locals recommend it.

Original Sacher Torte - Not far from Cafe Hawleka is the Hotel Sacher where we tried the world famous original Sacher Torte cake. This Viennese traditional cake is a cross between a chocoate and mud cake and is served with unsweetened cream. They're so popular that you can order online and have them delivered overseas in a personalised wooden box!

Overall we had a great long weekend and hopefully we'll get the chance to see more of Austria.