I possibly packed a little too light for a weekend away …
Three pairs of undies, two pairs of socks and a dress.
I was feeling very smug as I swanned into the Uber, but I was regretting my life choices by the time I got to the airport.
So I treated myself to a T-shirt from Witchery. Sorted.
I spent the weekend in Brissie, where I joined my sister for a very special lunch with our 88-year-old aunty.
I hadn’t seen Aunty Kay since I was a teenager. When my dad passed away she suggested we catch up and share happy memories.
We booked our flights and added a dinner with Ged, the son of my mum’s late best friend Barb. Plus it was an opportunity to catch up with my school friend Katherine, who moved to Brissie earlier this year. Triple treat!
And that’s just scratching the surface of what we crammed into less than 48 hours.
Let me start at the beginning …
My wonderful school friend Katherine collected me from the airport at 10am and took me on a tour of her new home and neighbourhood, plus the beautiful church where she is the beloved Reverend.
We had morning tea with her husband at Mount Coot-tha, while admiring the fabulous views of Brisbane.
Our lunch was an enormous grazing platter at Hundred Acre Bar in St Lucia, looking out over the golf course.
There was so much food we needed three plastic containers for the leftovers. My favourite morsel was the whipped ricotta with truffle-infused honey. Lip smacking!
Katherine dropped me at my hotel in Milton around 3pm, where I met up with my sister for a brief rest before we walked down to the train station and made our way to Fortitude Valley to meet up with Ged.
We were a little startled when we emerged from the station as the immediate area had a Kings Cross vibe, but as we walked through the streets the suburb morphed into an ultra cool neighbourhood filled with funky bars, restaurants and boutiques.
We were entranced by leafy James Street and settled into an outdoor table at a cocktail bar called At Sixes and Sevens for a glass of chardy while a DJ spun records on the verandah behind us.
Our destination for dinner was Mosconi, a hip Italian bistro with a quirky wine list including a Japanese white from Katsunuma Jyozo Winery. I didn’t even realise Japanese wineries existed!
Ged has worked in the wine industry for decades and assured us that it was a delicious drop – he was right!
I chose a fried zucchini flower stuffed with scallop risotto for my entree, followed by the daily special of linguine with crab and lemon pangrattato for my main.
Yuuuuum!
It was so much fun catching up with Ged. We reminisced about our parents and chatted about our current jobs, various relatives and mid-50s life. There was so much warmth and laughter around the table.
After giving Ged a goodnight hug, we decided to treat ourselves to an Uber back to our hotel rather than running the gauntlet of Fortitude Valley Station after dark.
Lack of daylight savings had us up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning and made our way to Milton’s most highly rated coffee shop – Bunker – for our caffeine hit. Not only was the coffee great but it was dog central and we made lots of furry friends, including a blue-eyed corgi and golden retriever called Ricky Ponting.
A block away was the must-visit Milton Market, crammed with fresh produce, food stalls, fashion and jewelry stands.
We chose a honey and goat’s cheese toastie and a South American arepa and settled onto stools to devour them as a live duo played music for the crowd.
I also bought myself a mango slushie with a tajin rim. Very Instaworthy!
We’d heard there was another market in the Botanic Gardens so we walked off our brekkie by wandering along the riverside path to the city.
After a twirl around the market we made our way to the city for a spot of shopping, then treated ourselves to another Uber back to the hotel to freshen up for lunch.
While we hadn’t seen our Aunty and our cousin Vicky for decades, the conversation flowed non stop for more than three hours.
Aunty Kay is a wonder and a marvel – she goes for a 45 minute walk every day and is sharp as a tack.
She showed us photos of our dad as a baby and in his cheeky early teens and told us stories of his childhood .
After waving them off we wandered to the impressive Regatta Hotel overlooking the river for a chardy while listening to a great duo singing covers of all our favourite songs.
We noticed there was a ferry stop across the road from the pub and decided it would be a fun way to get back to our hotel.
It was gorgeous on the river, but we’d accidentally boarded an express ferry that zoomed straight past the Milton wharf and into the city.
Oooops. Add another Uber ride to our expenses …
We rounded out our happy day with a mini banquet for two at one of the city’s most famous Chinese restaurants, China Sea, on the ground floor of our hotel.
Previously located in the city, it’s where the iconic “Succulent Chinese meal” incident took place in 1991.
The video of the incident shows a bloke called Jack Karlson being arrested by Queensland Police outside the restaurant .
As the police forcibly detained him, he famously said: “Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest! What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?”
Earlier this year the video was selected for preservation by the Australian National Film and Sound Archive, in part because the original clip has amassed more than 15 million views.
The food at China Sea was soooooo good. Definitely succulent. We had giant lettuce cups filled with duck sang choi bau, chicken with cashews, crispy roast pork, steamed fish with ginger and shallots and special fried rice.
Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom …
And then we caught the lift upstairs and crashed in our beds, where I slept fitfully, worried about my alarm not going off and missing my 7.45am flight home.
But I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare and flew back to Sydney, then wearily caught the train to work ahead of another busy week.
In fact, I’m so destroyed I may take the unprecedented step of not going to a fancy pink sparkling wine event I was invited to attend tonight.
No song of the day, I am sharing a succulent video in case you haven’t seen it …
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