Been doing a night time install in the city the past two weeks. From 5 to midnight, although we have yet to work until midnight. Usually leave around 10. One of the good things is they provide dinner. rice paper wraps mostly, along with some type of sandwich. The rice paper rolls are very good. The sandwiches are hit and miss. First night was ham and cheese, wasn't bad. The next night was some kind of sandwich that had beetroot on it. I do not eat beetroot, so I missed out on those. I did take one home to Juanita. Should have taken more as there were several left. Then we had roast beef sandwiches with the rice paper rolls. They were very good. Last night, we had sushi. I do not like sushi and it would appear no one else did as there was lots left. I don't like it because I do not like the nori (seaweed, they can't fool me by changing the name). I like all the stuff in them but not the wrap itself. And I think they all taste like they have nori in them even if they do not. Not that it is too bad, I will eat it if I have to, but not my favourite.
Have to go back again tonight, after working here all day. Doing a new building where they have a lot of old equipment so I expect lots of problems over there. We have a list of allowed equipment to upgrade so any that do not meet the requirements will not be done. No one seems to have any idea how many of each so we will find out when we get there. The most we have done in a night is 40 but they think there are 100 at the new site. We were supposed to do them on the weekend but since we have gotten through them so fast, they cancelled the weekend work and will try to get them all done in one night. I worked all of last weekend, all day during the day, so I was glad to see them cancel it. I have made plans for the weekend so if they change their minds again, I am not sure what I will do.
By the way, last week was our anniversary. 21 years, I think. It is disputed as to when the wedding took place. My calendar has always said the 5th but Juanita insists it is the 7th. The wedding certificate says the 7th so we go with that but I am not that sure about it. I thought it took place two days after Anna's first birthday, which would make it the 5th. I guess it doesn't matter but I secretly am still holding out for the 5th.
We didn't do anything. I had to work that night and if I don't work, we don't eat, so I never turn down work. I have to reschedule several doctors appointments in the next two weeks and they were supposed to be heart scans so it is not good to cancel them. I have an appointment after the scans to see my new heart doctor but will probably have to change that one also.
I think I might have mentioned that I got us all Dreamworld tickets. Ostensibly, I had to make that our anniversary present as I spent all my extra money on it. I don't know if that was accepted as a present or not. Juanita got me a whole bunch of cooking things which I really like. Not sure how often I will use them but I have always wanted something like what she got. I needed a bigger pan to cook pancakes on and she got one that sits across two burners. It is big enough to cook three small or two large pancakes at once, so that is good. She also got me a new spatula for pancakes because she said I wanted one. I didn't but it is good to have. She got me a tortilla press which I had apparently said I wanted some time ago but I had changed my mind about that as how often will I make my own tortillas but she got it anyway. The best thing she got was my bacon smasher. It is one of those heave weights with a handle that you put on top of the bacon so it cooks evenly and with less shrinkage. Gamma used to have several of them and I told her I had always wanted one. She found them somewhere by mail order and got me one. It is nice. I can also use it for smash burgers, which I told her was another reason I wanted it. I have been using the bottom of a small pot to smash the burgers but now I can use this.
I have been making smash burgers lately. I always poopooed the idea but I tried it once and it does make a better burger. I have no idea why but they just seem to taste better when you do it that way. I think it might be just the toasted buns I make when I do this and any type of patty would do but now that I have the proper tool, it will be much easier, and since I have the new long pan, I can make them all at once and not have to make one or two at a time. You see, when you make smash burgers, it only works if you eat it immediately. You cannot make the patties and leave them on a plate while you make the others. You have to take them off and give them to someone to eat as soon as they are ready. So we do not all get to eat at the same time when I do this. I can make three at a time so it is not that bad but with the new pan, I can make five or six at a time and then most can eat while I make another batch for people to have seconds. And everyone wants two, some want three. I usually only have one, but I make it a double so I get a big burger out of it. Sometimes I have two but only one is a double.
I used to make extra balls of meat so I can easily make one for breakfast in the morning or for lunch the next day but since I only have a couple of extra, everyone wants one the next day so I would have to make a lot of extra for that to happen. So I miss out on the early morning burger. Since I do them inside, it creates a lot of smoke and smell so there is no sneaking one when I wake up. I still wake up several hours before anyone else so I have time to cook for myself in the mornings and not worry about what everyone else wants. Lately, I have been making migas, or what I call migas and yes, this is telling me I spelled that wrong but I don't know how to spell it or even if its the right word so I suppose it doesn't matter. Basically, it is just potatoes, eggs and whatever meat I put in, usually bacon. It also has pieces of tortillas in it which depending on when you put them in the pan, some are fried and some are just warmed. I then put whatever else I have on hand, cheese, hot sauce, onion or leftover vegetables. I like it but no one else does. They think the tortillas are weird. Since I get up early before they get up, I can make what I want.
A recall to the smash burgers, the secret is to not put anything in the meat before you cook it. No salt, no worsteshire sauce, no egg, nothing except meat. Once they start to cook, I put salt and pepper on them. You can then add anything else you want but only after they are half cooked and not before they are cooking. It makes them not fry correctly or something, I am not sure what. I normally put all my spices and stuff in the meat before I cook it. Like onions or garlic or whatever, but I have seen lots of people say that it is a mistake to do that and I have to agree. It just works out better if you do it while they are cooking. I have no idea why.
Now that I have gone on about food again, it is a food blog, I will get back to this weekend. We are planning on going to Dreamworld tomorrow. It is the annual street food festival. Actually, just a bunch of food carts they let in for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow, they are open late so it is the best day to go, I think. Might be that everyone else thinks the same thing and it will be very crowded but since we have season passes, we can just leave and come back another day if it gets too bad. Our tickets include Whitewater world and the sky tower on the gold coast so we can go there if we have to. Whitewater world is right next door and the sky tower is on the gold coast near the beach. Not a lot to do at the sky tower, it is just a observation deck but it is worth going at least once a year. Coffee shop at the top so you can have coffee and look out over the ocean. I don't go near the railing but I can sit in the middle and have a look.
We plan on being there all day, from 10 to 8 at night. Might not make it at 10 but we will probably stay until late. They normally close at 5 on other days but for this, they are open late. I did just read a review of the parks on the Gold Coast and they said Dreamworld was beginning to show its age. They did say that it is probably because of the Covid and no one is visiting any of the parks, but they said there are never any lines there and everything is old and dated. They did open a new roller coaster but since I don't fit on them, that is not an advantage. They took out the big red car ride, Wiggles. No one seems to know why. We used to ride that all the time but that was when we had Sydney and she enjoyed it a lot. We would still enjoy it but it might look strange for a group of grownups to be on the ride so maybe it is best they removed it.
Dreamworld has a built in animal park and the tiger show is always a highlight but from the review, they have let the back of the park where the animals are fall into dis-repair. The animals are still there but there are leaves and branches and other clutter everywhere and it is just not as nice as it used to be. We will still go back there but maybe it is not as good as it used to be.
Dreamworld took out all of their water rides back when they had the accident. There were only a couple, log ride and raft ride but when they had the accident a few years ago, they took them out and have not replaced them with anything, so it feels kind of lacking in the number of different things to do. When I looked the other day, the train was closed but I think it was just for maintenance. Not a real fun ride but it did take you around the park so it was worth riding a few times when you are there. They still have the old timey cars to drive but Maeghan said she thought they had closed it. When I looked, it was still open so that is something she can do. They took out one of the shows that used to show old cartoons and replaced it with another soaring type ride. It would have been nice if they had both but we will see what they have when we get there.
That is one of the complaints about the park is that they do not have any shows anymore. Just the Madagascar show which I am told does not run all the time. They said there were street performers and they were really good but nothing where you can go sit down and watch something. I think there used to be three or four shows to watch and rest at when you are there but they must have taken them all out or they do not have the performers after the covid stuff. I guess we will see when we get there.
I am thinking we will do what we used to do, which is go to Whitewater world in the morning and then go to Dreamworld in the afternoon. The problem with that is Whitewater world closes next week. Won't open again for six or seven months so that plan is not good for us. It works out well when the weather is really hot but we will have to wait to do that again.
We will probably only go a couple times during the winter, they have a couple of shows during that time. Winterfest and something else. Have to wait until it all opens up again to take advantage of what we like to do. One thing I have found is that we can get there by train. I took the train to that area the other day and found that there is a stop with a shopping mall that is about 5 minutes from the park. You take a train to the mall and then a bus to the park. You can see the park from the train station. You can't see the station or the mall from the road so we never knew it was there. The good thing about that is we can just take the train whenever we want and save a lot of money on petrol. It is less than $5 to take the train and it cost about $60 to drive the car. Since there are four of us, it only takes about $10 to get there. It is a long ride, about two hours, but the drive is an hour and a half so that's not too bad. We will definitely have to do that soon. Tomorrow, we are taking the car but that kind of savings is worth the extra time.
I have just scrolled back and noticed that I have typed a lot of stuff and not really said anything once again. It was fun though. Not funny, but fun. I think I will have to be going now. Have to do some work while I am here and before I leave for the other job. Since the kids are on vacation, I might have lots to report next time, but I wouldn't count on it. I will try to take more pictures as we have not taken any in a long time. Don't know why but we just don't take pictures anymore. But I am out of here for now.
Until next time,
Later
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