Brisbane, Day One

Lots and lots of food... 

Breakfast:

Apple chunks, banana slices, cashews, macadamias & a bit of cereal w/lacoste-free low-fat milk
(I started out healthy! Ran four miles, ate some fruit and nuts...)

Snack from Mövenpick Ice Cream, Brisbane, Australia:

Samples of panna cotta, black currant, pistachio (not pictured), Swiss chocolate (not pictured) ice creams
(But then it was such a warm and beautiful day that I could not not get ice cream. The girl was so nice! She literally tried to give me samples of every single flavour in this shop, but almost half of them had either hazelnut or coconut in them and I'm allergic to both. The panna cotta tasted like Greek yogurt and the black currant was too fake fruity sweet. The Swiss chocolate was intense, but I wasn't in the mood for chocolate ice cream and the pistachio was quite interesting. Apparently they use a different type of pistachio and style or something, because the girl told me that most people who love pistachio don't like their version. I love pistachio ice cream, but I wasn't a big fan of theirs. Tasted almost like an amaretto liqueur with some cherries. I don't know. A bit alcoholic and super creamy. Kind of acquired, but it didn't go well with my mood at the time.)

Macadamia nut ice cream, crème brûlée ice cream
(If I can't have one nut, I'll have another! Macadamia ice cream seems to big here, but I also love macadamia nuts so whatever. Smooth, rich and creamy... mmm. The two flavours went perfectly together and I absolutely loved eating this while walking along the river. Just made the experience so much nicer.)

Snack from Chopped at Post Office Square, Brisbane, Australia:

Acai bowl topped w/oatmeal & banana slices
(Who knew the acai trend caught on here? Not as great as the acai bowls in CA/NYC, but it'll do.)

Forkful of Trang's veggie lasagna
(I like my veggie lasagna better.)

Snack from Nitrogenie, Southbank, Brisbane, Australia:

Salted caramelly popcorn macaron ice cream sandwich (ate open-faced, +not pictured samples)
(Liquid nitrogen ice cream! The last time I had some was when Dean O'Hara came to Stearns, and I remember it not settling very well. The concept's still pretty cool though so I decided to get some. The girls here were also super nice and allowed me to sample almost all of their flavours. I ended up just getting the house favourite but the best part was the additional caramel kettle corn. Yum.)

Snack from Geláre, Southbank, Brisbane, Australia:

Vegan cappuccino ice cream (ate with the other macaron cookie)
(I like coconut, but I'm allergic. And I keep forgetting that vegan ice cream is sometimes made with coconut milk instead of almond or rice milk. This one was made out of coconut milk. I finished about half before calling it quits because my throat was feeling all sorts of weird. But I really liked the flavour and texture.)

Dinner at MADO, Southbank, Brisbane, Australia:

My plate setting (reversed the fork and knife).

The three dishes.

Mixed grill platter: lamb shish, kofte izgara (lamb patties), chicken shish w/rice, salad, mashed potato and sauces
(The lamb shish was good but the patty was a bit chewy. Chicken tasted like chicken. I generally prefer my meats grilled if I do eat them, but I don't really know if the meat was "good" or not because I don't eat meat often enough. Smokey and savoury.)

Iskender: lamb shish w/yogurt, bread & tomato sauce
(Pretty good! I liked the tomato sauce marination with the contrasting tangy yogurt sauce. The lamb was nice and tender.)

Anatolian chicken guvec: chicken pieces w/veggies & served w/rice, bread & salad
(I think this was also tomato based, but in soup form. A bit salty, but the salad, bread and rice balanced it out.)

 Late night snack at the Chocolate Pavillion, Southbank, Brisbane, Australia:

The three drinks.

Belgium hot dark chocolate
(Mmm hot dark chocolate. The chocolate level wasn't as intense as I thought it would be.)

Sip of Trang's hot dark truffle crème brûlée (hot chocolate topped w/chocolate disc)
(Quite sweet due to the chocolate disc and smaller amount of milk. But other than that, it tasted a bit like my drink.)