Quick lunch review
El Fresco cafe, Centre Road, Bentleigh.
Maybe the notice in the front window saying they need experienced staff should have been an omen.
Stools in the window to watch the passing parade — excellent. Smokers’ tables far enough away that smoke shouldn’t be a problem except during a strong southerly.
The drinks arrived quickly. Tasty, but small. $6 for a banana smoothie that size? Yikes.
The food took ages. Even after they said they’d check on its progress it seemed to take ages. How long can an omelette and pancakes take?
They did apologise when it eventually arrived, and my omelette was tasty — a tad more well done than I’d like, but no complaints (especially compared to my own disaster-area-like creations). M’s pancake okay, though suspected not real maple syrup.
I’ve been there before and it was okay without being remarkable, with the feeling that it was a tad overpriced for what it was, underscored today.
Not entirely sure it was open, but shoulda just walked down to the Spotted Dog.
Stealth advertising
Seen on Saturday: Don’t go to Dan Murphy’s for your booze — keep going and come to Winelovers Warehouse instead!
Technically they’re their truck is illegally parked, of course, hanging out of the parking space into No Standing territory. But I wonder how many people were suckered in?
Tags: advertising, alcohol
3 comments
Aldi product reviews
So, in my quest to become a cheapskate, I’ve tried a few Aldi products.
Having pretty-much restricted myself to Aldi products made in Australia (food miles, though it’s something of a generalisation), and ruled-out some categories I’ve been warned about (fresh fruit and veg, meat), here’s what I’ve found so far:
The Weetbix clone — I’m a Weetbix snob. I have in the past rejected Vita Brits for being un-Weetbix-like. The Aldi version is close, but… not the same, somehow. The consistency is different. I’ve gone back to buying real Weetbix, which when on-sale isn’t too much more expensive than the Aldi version.
Light milk — as I noted previously, the Aldi milk is a fair bit cheaper than other brands. I’m not that keen on 2 litre milk bottles; they’re especially awkward for pouring small amounts, unlike the 1 litre cartons. But in any case I’ve started buying the Safeway brand milk as it’s more convenient than trying to get to Aldi every week. (An article a couple of months ago noted that milk prices are slowly dropping.)
Yoghurt (plain) — there’s something not quite right about this. It seems too watery. Will go back to the Jalna etc. Not much price difference anyway.
Homestyle mixed grain bread — Great, close enough to Helga’s, though the first loaf I bought included about 4 slices that had a noticeable hole in them, and it’s worth hunting around in the rack to find one with the latest possible expiry date. Other than that no complaints. Slices are a good size for jaffles.
The Sultana Bran clone — the “bran” isn’t really bran, it’s small flakes of wheat. So probably not as healthy. This isn’t a staple in our house, so just buying the real stuff when it’s on sale (and the price isn’t much different) is probably sufficient.
Long life juice — seems about the same to me, though the flavours are limited.
Tomato paste — fine, does the job, and unlike the Leggos stuff, it’s in a clearly recyclable glass jar. Not available in reduced-salt though.
Passata — great.
Recycled toilet paper — seems a little thinner and slightly more ragged than the Safe brand, but works fine. The savings aren’t compelling on this one, mind you, at about 6 cents difference per roll.
Muesli — good. Tasty.
Diced peaches in juice — good, yummy.
Hillcrest nut (Muesli-ish) bars — not that brilliant, at least not compared to the Carmans or Be Natural (a Kelloggs brand) meusli bars. I’ll wait for those to be on sale.
Bramwells Honey — sameish as the name brands.
As for non-grocery items, some cool cheap stuff shows up from time to time. But I’m very wary of Aldi’s consumer electronics, which seem to have a very mixed track record. Fine, they’ll replace anything that breaks down, but I’d rather stick to name brands and avoid the hassle in the first place. (My Pioneer DV-344 DVD player is still going strong after six years, for instance.)
See also: More reviews and a whole web site dedicated to the topic
Related: Woolworths to revamp its house brands
Tags: Aldi, groceries, supermarkets, Woolworths
12 comments
No more boiled lamb’s brain for me
I recently had a bunch of blood tests done, a kind of overall health check thingy.
It was quite funny actually. M coincidentally went in as well for something, and while waiting in the Pathology place we observed what looked at first glance to be the most unhelpful receptionist ever known to mankind. A lady sitting in the chair, ignoring absolutely everybody, reading a magazine for the entire hour we were waiting.
It was towards the end of the wait that I twigged. She wasn’t a receptionist. She was another customer, having to wait a while between tests, and she had grabbed that chair because it was the only one left free at the time and/or she wanted the most comfortable chair due to being heavily pregnant.
Anyway, I got the results back. Everything checked out fine.
Except for cholesterol, which is at 5.9, certainly on the high side, though not high risk. (Over 6.2 is high risk. Under 5.0 is desirable level for men.)
The doctor asked if I eat a lot of cheese. What’s a lot? I’m not sure. I eat my share; I commonly put it on sandwiches and pasta.
Evidently other high cholesterol foods include eggs and butter. Switching from butter to some kind of canola oil spread might be the go there, if I can find something that tastes half-decent.
The top one on that chart, with 1900 milligrams of cholesterol per 100 grams, is boiled lamb’s brain. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble avoiding that.
What about foods that can lower cholesterol? This page lists some which I could get more of into my diet pretty easily: Oat bran/oatmeal (but not the instant kind), walnuts/almonds, fish with plenty of Omega-3 (baked or grilled), olive oil.
And of course exercise helps. I don’t do terribly or brilliantly at that, but the kids and I have started taking regular evening walks around the place, which will help.
Tags: cholesterol, food, Health
9 comments
Good news!
As the city develops, we’re in danger of losing landmarks which are no longer deemed valuable by those in power. Lonsdale House is a recent example, though it’s not gone yet.
This is Olympic Doughnuts, outside Footscray Station, pictured in 2007. Since then, most of the surrounding shops have been demolished as part of the redevelopment of the station and surrounds.
I’ve been wondering if it would survive. Perhaps in some kind of Shot Tower-like enclosure development around it?
The answer is yes, it will stay. Today’s Age:
The only really alarming thing about the $52 million redevelopment of the station area has been the imagined threat to the much-loved doughnut van, which has been there for 30 years. So the wise authorities have arranged things so that it will remain untouched and be able to contribute its fats, carbs and delicious hot jam aromas to eager passers-by during the works. A Department of Planning and Community Development spokesman says the van will stay within the station area.
Thank sweet goodness for that.
Pasta intruder
“My fellow Fusillians,
I believe we have an imposter in our midst. A spy from the Elbonian republic!”
Tags: pasta
7 comments
Old food
I’m amazed at the range of old things that I’d obviously bought, used a little of, then forgotten about, that I found in the back of the cupboard this morning while looking for sultanas.
- Croutons, Best Before Jan 2008
- Self-raising flour, BB Jul 2007 (there’s another newer one elsewhere)
- Vita Wheat Biscuits, BB Sep 2007, and another BB Mar 2008… strange, as I really like these, and do eat them
- Currants, BB Nov 2007
- Rissotto, BB May 2008 — obviously it’s been a while
- Cordial for the Slurpie-maker thingy, BB Dec 2007
- Peanut butter, BB 20/7/2009 — just gone, should be fine but nobody’s eating it
- Granulated nuts, Best before, BB 17/7/2009 — ditto
- Popping corn, BB Nov 2008
Given these are only Best Before (not “Use by”) dates, some of this stuff might well be okay, if not “best”. But some of it’ll be no good and will have to go out.
A bit of a waste. On the bright side it’s freed up a fair bit of space in the cupboard!
Tags: food, kitchen
9 comments
What’s that got to do with the price of milk?
As part of my conversion to a cheapskate, I was comparing low-fat milks. For a while I’d been buying Pura Light Start or Rev. The supermarket brands are a lot cheaper, and maybe my taste buds are AWOL, but I can’t really detect a huge difference in taste.
But how do they stackup on nutrition? Lacking anything better to do, I decided to compare.
| per 100ml | Pura Light Start | Rev | Safeway low fat | Coles lite |
| Energy kJ | 183 | 191 | 193 | 193 |
| Protein gms | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| Fat – Total gms | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Fat – Saturated gms | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Carbohydrate gms | 5.0 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Carbohydrate – sugars gms | 5.0 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Sodium mg | 45 | 58 | 43 | 43 |
| Calcium mg | 126 | 126 | 124 | 114 |
| Cost per 2 litre carton | $4.37 | $4.69 | $2.79 | $2.99 |
I’ve listed the Safeway online prices here, with the Coles online price for the Coles milk. I haven’t checked the Aldi nutritional information, but their Farmdale light milk is $2.57 for two litres.
Nutrition-wise it appears the Pura Light Start has a bit less fat, but other than that it’s much of a muchness.
I find it amazing that Rev is so similar to the Safeway or Coles Lite milks, but there’s such a huge price difference. I doubt I could pick it in a taste test.
At least it’s all simpler than back in the day when it was Rev for me, Skinny Milk for her, and full-cream for the young-uns.
What milk(s) do the rest of you buy?
Tags:
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