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Overly loud people annoy me to tears.

The sorts of people who during quiet parts of a movie speak to another next to them only to be heard by the entire cinema audience. Overly loud people that spoil plots and/or do running commentaries are the worst kind and should be shot (or have other suitably bad things happen to them)

Or what about the holler of a person who’s laugh is so loud as to be heard throughout the entire dining area of a restaurant only to garner awkward stares by all other patrons? In such cases I cannot help but be reminded of the uncontrolled laughter of a chimpanzee.

I hope I never become an overly loud person. I still haven’t figured out 100% what causes a person to become overly loud. These questions need to be answered:

• Is it a deliberate attempt at attention-seeking or to irritate others?
• Do they even realise how loud they are?
• Is their hearing damaged to the point that they can’t even hear themselves speak?

If one of the latter 2, then I will be investing in another pair or two of Etymotic ER-20 audio attenuators to protect my hearing. Currently I keep a pair in my car in the event that I find myself in overly loud situations and also use it when I mow the lawn. They help a lot.

Hearing loss is not something to be sneezed at so I also recently bought an SPL (sound pressure level) metre and  measured the levels of my sound system. At typical volumes thankfully I listen in the safe vicinity of 65-75 dB(A).

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La Tratt
14 Anzac Parade
Fairfield NSW 2165
(02) 9727 5000

I recently dined here, and will give it a high recommendation!

Located inside Fairfield RSL of all places I was taken aback by the restaurant’s design as well as the wine list. Oh, and did I mention the food was fantastic? Service was very good overall too.

Sorry but no photos from me this time. Satisfied enough however to make a much needed update to this here front page. I must go back to try some more of the menu though, it looks amazing on paper, not to mention the palate :p

In the mean time, check out La Tratt’s menu and wine list.

Fairfield RSL also happen to have their own youtube channel. The Sydney Weekender review is a bag of laughs thanks to the over-the-top reviewer. La Tratt starts @ 2:08 in the HD showcase video but I actually think the whole thing is a worthwhile watch.

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Thanks to a tip off from loyal reader Erwin, I managed to track down some ginger beer that is a little different.

I can’t verify whether the claims of its recipe being the same as those award winning ones dating back to the 1870s – since I wasn’t alive then – but I can verify that it isn’t quite the same as the current crop of ginger beers that I’ve been sampling.

Unlike the Nippy’s that I love because the flavour builds up to a spicy, gingery kick Bickford’s rendition rounds off to an almost flavourless mineral-watery taste. This is not to say it is completely devoid of flavour, as it starts off mildly and follows through while it swishes on the palate and fades away on the way down.

There’s a bit of sediment visible at the bottom, which usually isn’t a bad thing when it comes to ginger beer. It’s also one of the least sweet ones I’ve tried thus far – a welcome change. On-going enjoyment is hampered though by the relatively small 275mL bottle which is a whole 100 short of the rest of the field.

Bickford’s ginger beer is one for drinking on the verandah of a mild spring morning. Reigning champion Nippy’s is more suited to quenching a hard earned thirst after slogging it out in the hot Australian summer sun. If that even makes any sense at all.

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I haven’t written a full restaurant review in a very long time and I’m not expecting to do so any time soon either. I’ve also been very slack taking photos as my galleries will attest. Eating out though continues at full steam ahead, if not more than it’s ever been.

Occasionally though I will eat somewhere that for some reason or other moves me to share my experience by writing a post on this pathetic excuse for a blog that I’ve managed to keep online all these years.

Ani Restaurant tucked away at 86 Blaxland Rd, Ryde NSW 2112 is one such place. I haven’t had so much good food and yet spent so little in a very long time. Really!

This will be more of a visual tour than a review. Here goes…

For starters we had 3 dips with flat bread (very similar to and probably was Lebanese bread):

Homous – crushed chick peas ground with olive oil and seasoned with tahini. Served room temperature.

Can’t remember the name, but it was BBQed eggplant, onion and other stuff – capsicum maybe? Served cool.

Again, forgot the name – roasted eggplant, saffron, yoghurt and chick peas and probably more but I don’t remember. This was very fragrant from the saffron. Reluctant at first due to it looking like exploded bird brains I thoroughly enjoyed it with the bread. Served warm.

These came out with a couple of side salads to keep things balanced:

Tabouli – chopped parsley, tomato and garlic dressed in lemon juice.

Don’t think this one had a name, just a cucumber, onion and tomato salad with dried herbs on top.

We then had vine leaves wrapped around rice. I’m still undecided about these:

Next came the char-grilled meats. We each had a plate of basmati rice to go with them. Oh happy days:

Kufta – lamb mince char grilled on flat skewers and seasoned with magic and love among other conventional ingredients.

Chicken and lamb shish kebabs – marinated chunks of meat char grilled over hot coals to perfection accompanied by tomatos that have enjoyed a similar fate.

By this stage everyone was struggling to continue eating. Many a belt were loosened and the momentum had well and truly come to a standing halt. However due to the sheer deliciousness we soldiered on until that last chunk of lamb was finished.

And then dessert came. How silly, we got so carried away with the mains we completely forgot. Oh well if they insist. Both – yes, that’s 2 – desserts came accompanied with fragrant, delicious cinnamon tea:

Baklava – a Turkish sweet composed of layers of sugar-glazed pastry lined with crushed almonds. Delicious.

This ice cream is a little different. We were told that it was Persian style ice-cream and is hand made by the chef at the restaurant. I think it has pieces of pistachio nut in it but the really interesting ingredients are the rose water and saffron flavouring! After coming this far I still hesitated but once I’d had some I couldn’t get enough. It was fantastic!

So there you have it, is that a review? I don’t know but I cannot shout enough praise for this place. I don’t even really know if this qualifies as traditional Armenian cuisine seeing as there were so many mixed influences, but the food was amazing – I’m not biased one bit.

Our 2 waitresses were attentive and very helpful to explain the foods and their ingredients. Service was excellent and casual enough and made for some lovely conversation with the wait staff who were more than happy to take the time to accommodate for this bunch of newbies.

The restaurant itself is cosy, and I couldn’t see it seating any more than 40 people but is overall clean and elegant with interesting artwork. The atmosphere is casual and easy going and very friendly but I wouldn’t hesitate having a more intimate dinner just for 2 either.

And the kicker? That banquet was only $30 per head. Considering the quality and quantity of the food this is an absolute steal. I almost felt bad that we got extra bread and dips and weren’t charged for them, not to mention the unlimited soft drinks. You do however need a group of 5 or more to qualify.

I don’t know how they do it for the price but they’ve been there for 6 years and seem quite good at what they do and I hope they’re happy to keep at it for many years to come. As we left I was informed that on Sundays they hold a buffet for $28 per person. From memory it consisted mostly of salad, bread and char grilled meats. I must go back.

The rest of the photos can be found in the gallery: Ani Restaurant.

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… a case of 24 in fact …

Could this mark the end of the ginger beer journey?

You see, Nippy’s is based in South Australia but when I emailed them asking where to buy their magic potion it was revealed they have a warehouse a stone’s throw from me. I promptly came around and collected my treasure chest.

First impressions are *amazing* and a back to back tasting with Bundaberg’s leaves me without a shadow of a doubt: Nippy’s ‘Traditional Style’ Ginger Beer makes Bundaberg taste like a soft drink. It really does.

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To the very bottom comment I reply with this:

That’s two in one night! But the Nippy’s Ginger Beer hasn’t been recovered. It just hit me now because it was a catchier name to remember.

Now to track down a local stockist…

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For this bygone comment, I have this to show:

More later.

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OK I know the weather here has been absurdly hot – Sydney touching 40°C and last week Adelaide and Melbourne had a heat wave hitting a sweltering 45+°C. No I haven’t run out of things to blog about and hence writing about the weather. I’ve noticed something peculiar the last two times I checked out of a Coles supermarket.

Most of the Woolworths that I shop at these days have the self serve checkout and since I only buy a handful of things this has proven to be my checkout method of choice. Coles however are lagging somewhat in this department. As such I have to contend with the occasional bout of small talk that the checkout chicks trigger.

Because I have so few groceries and the scanning is done with little fuss this often is the – thankfully short and sweet – dialogue (CC = checkout chick*, DC = me):

CC: Hello, how are you?

DC: Hi, good thanks.

CC: That comes to $x and x cents. Fly bys card?

DC: Ah… no, just credit.

CC: Swipe your card please (grabs a pen)

DC: (swipes card and silently enters pin negating the need for a signature)

CC: (puts away pen, tears receipt off the printer and hands it to DC)

DC: Thanks.

And this is where something out of the norm has happened the last two times. Just as I’m handed my receipt and am about to collect my groceries and walk off…

CC: *in a quieter, almost secretive tone as if so as not to be heard by supervisors or other shoppers* What’s the weather like outside?

DC: *taken by surprise* umm… (short pause) yeah it’s quite warm. A little cooler now though… (nods)

CC: OK (nods)

DC: (smiles and walks off)

I kid you not, this dialogue has happened twice now, though not verbatim but essentially the same at two different Coles supermarkets on two different occasions. Based on my credit card transactions they happened 2 weeks and 6 days apart.

What’s the deal? Is this the result of Coles’ customer service training department or something? There must be some sort of training programme happening to make the small talk more consistent, perhaps more predictable?

It is just so odd that that exact question would be posed the exact same way at the exact same part of the checkout process.

Am I going crazy? Or is something going on here… I need to find out.

*regarding the term Checkout Chick I know the politically correct crowd will prefer Checkout Person, and actually one of the times it was a male checkout person I believe Checkout Chick to be a more common adaptation of the term, albeit dated.

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As a follow up to my previous blog entry, I am checking in to say that I too am dead (ok maybe not literally, but nearly).

It must have been my brother’s recent visit to Australia. Or the weather. Or just plain coincidence, but I’d rather blame something/someone.

You know there’s something seriously wrong when all I feel like eating is rice with cracked, black pepper. Even my dad’s combination omelette couldn’t tempt me.

I mean I did the whole soup and toast thing for brunch, but for dinner all I could stomach was rice and cracked, black pepper. Oh, and some tofu.

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It seems the festive season – probably combined with the humid heat as well as wear and tear due to age – has taken its toll on my trusty desktop computer. After much toiling it has come down to either the CPU or the mainboard. The latter being the most likely culprit.

What this means is all my data along with programmes and the such have been trapped on my computer’s hard disks. Thankfully all protected by RAID 1 mirroring. Just one less thing to worry about, for now.

So while I wait for decent computer shops to re-open I will probably investigate some options regarding a new computer. Silent, reliable ones.

Blogging from the wireless freedom of my laptop, I am wishing right now that I had access to all my music. I have however learnt from this to have my data separate from any one computer. As such my new system will not only include a new computer but a new NAS (network attached storage) to house all my data.

Buying a computer isn’t as simple as I’d like, I mean the reason I held on to the now defunct system as long as I did is that it was so quiet. Newer systems seem to be a lot hotter and require fancier cooling than they did 4-5 years ago – yes it’s been that long! And having been out of the loop for the last year means I have much research and reading to catch up on regarding available technologies.

At the moment it’s looking like a well executed, sound deadened tower with large but slow fans and massive heatsinks for anything that gets hot. Dampening for anything resembling a hard drive, fan or power supply. Water cooling may have to be considered… *gasp*

Not being so dependant on a powerful computer for work means it is not so much a matter of urgency as it is a matter of me being bothered to get around to it. I expect to have it all finalised by the month’s end though. This laptop will have to do for now. You know, email and banking and such. Actually, that’s just about all I do on the computer these days.

Or maybe I’ll just get a Mac, wouldn’t that be something.

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