Duck

Today I went into the rain forest. It was hot and leafy and green and full of trinkety little shops that didn't interest me. I spent a few hours reading and writing though. I'm reinventing one of my works from a few years ago along with an idea that I've been sitting on for two or three years loosely based on Chuck Palahniuk's Nightmare Box. The first line is "The history books got it wrong." So I'm excited about that.

Did you know Cairns is the only place in the world with two world heritage sites? Great Barrier Reef and the rain forest? Ticking those off the list! Life experiences left and right.

A nice perk I experienced of traveling alone was that I was shedding today. By that, I mean that my super sunburned head was peeling in a major and majorly gross way. I'm glad no one I know how to share that with me.

I ate at a German place today that had Emu on the menu. I don't know why I didn't order it. I'm kicking myself for it now.

But the whole point of this post. Duck.

For dinner tonight, I went to a "lounge" which was a bottle shop/bar/restaurant/night club all in one. I read its menu in the paper before I went, otherwise I never would have gone. I ordered the duck and bacon burger (of course there was bacon) and asked for it medium rare. The guy looked at me like I was speaking a different language and said thought there was only one way to cook a burger but he'd tell the cook. Immediately I was skeptical and thought about just leaving (yes, I was going to be a HUGE food snob). But instead, I ordered a glass of Johnny Walker Green Label (a 15 year old scotch blend of all single malts. I've been itching to try it for a long time but didn't want to buy a whole bottle at $70.) and had a seat. The scotch was great, but the food was so much better. I can't even begin to describe to you how good this burger was. It was hands down the best burger I've ever had. I was mopping up the burger juices with my fries afterward. I was so blown away. Now, all I want to do is cook and play around with duck. Why didn't any of you tell me how good duck is?? Shame shame shame on you. I want to saute potatoes in duck fat. I want to baste steaks in butter, garlic, and duck fat. I want to fill my deep fryer with duck fat and deep fry chips. I want to make duck burgers. I want to make duck meat loaf!!!!! Oh, can you imagine if I got my hands on ground duck meat?

So here's the mission:  find me a source of duck fillets and ground duck in Springfield so I can go bananas when I come home. Christmas is coming early kids. It's coming in July.

Here's a few photos from today.
Oh yeah, I held a koala today

Breakfast. I love how four ingredients and a garnish can look and be this good. 

Respect for this cafe. 

 Rain forest anyone? 

 Did I mention I went up in a cable car? 

 Splish Splash 

 This guy was cool. I asked if I could take pictures of his hands. He said "Most people have the cliche of 'love' and 'hate' on their knuckles, but I don't hate. I just love-love." And that's the Ohm symbol on his hands if you didn't know. 

I'm jumping out of a plane in the morning.
XOXO
~Daniel