It was dark and cool at 5:25 am. A good camera could not have done justice to
the beautiful sunrise of our glorious Mother’s Day morning. It was just the two Mums today with a plan to meet
the rest of our brood at our café choice.
No matter how many times I cycle or run up Laura Street,
coming off Gloucester Street, the gradient never seems to lessen. Perhaps,
being at the start of the run the hill is too sudden a demand on oxygen and
energy? Our heart rates recovered on our
descent towards the river and we made our way over the Goodwill Bridge and
followed previous territory into the Botanic Gardens and towards the shadow of
the Story Bridge. By this point, I find myself
revelling in the benefits of getting out of the cocooned comfort of bed. It really is a special part of the day and
there are always a remarkable number of other people out who have obviously established
the same. In case you find yourselves
questioning the accuracy of the running app, the first little jutting line on
the map is where we made a comfort stop detour into the QUT grounds and back.
Both Bronwyn and I love the floating boardwalk stretching
out towards New Farm. Our enhanced split
time speed along this stretch was perhaps a result of our goodwill. We followed the river down towards the Merthyr
Bowls club then retraced on the leafy roads back towards the Story Bridge,
encountering a particularly cheerful group of ‘In training’ runners chorusing cheery good mornings
along the way. The Story Bridge is at
about the 10km mark of our run and we both discussed our growing delight in
actually not feeling like we any longer needed to reach for a nurofen at this distance.
We descended the stairs off the bridge
and powered along the river front beneath the Kangaroo Point Cliffs. We turned left at the steep Ellis Street to
make our way up onto River Terrace: it surpasses
the gradient and length of last week’s nemesis, Koboda Street. If one is looking for a challenging hill with a
false summit to train on, Ellis Street is the place for you. We then wove through a couple of back streets behind
the busy Stanley Street and crossed one of Woolloongabba’s busiest intersections
at Main Street. It was an easy pace towards the Pawpaw Café and, at Bronwyn’s suggestion;
we waved at our family and ran past, completing an additional circumnavigation of
the block so as to achieve 16km on the clock.
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| Hotcake |
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| French toast |
Pawpaw Café is a bit of a funky locale with beautiful all
female staff that leaves one wondering as to where the equally competent less
attractive people get work. The menu is
appealing and it caters for different dietary needs including both vegan and gluten
free. On a whole we all enjoyed the
meals we ordered but nothing really stood out to contest the meals from last
week at the Corner Store in Toowong or the dishes served up at the Pearl Café, Woolloongabba,
in week 10. Bronwyn had the Banoffee French
Toast: a tasty mix of banana, caramel, chocolate & cream served on French
toasted brioche. It looked delicious but didn’t tempt a swap from her 10 year
old who was a little disappointed with her version of pancakes which was topped
with the current trendy pomegranates embedded with coconut slivers, making for a
beautiful looking dish probably designed for more mature tastes. The more-than-10-years-old Bronwyn declared it
delicious. I tried the vegan burrito, a bland
mix of black beans, kale and topped with a very tasty but insufficient dollop
of tomato salsa. The optional addition
of
scrumptious falafel saved the dish but I did find myself having a little bit
of plate envy for the corn fritters or white chocolate hot cake. Caitlyn enjoyed her Californian Burrito: a toasted
tortilla filled with black beans, scrambled egg & Cheddar topped with
chipotle sour cream & tomato salsa (she had avocado on the side). The meals
are all around the $15, however, with ‘optional’ extras accompanying each dish
that are actually needed to complete the meal, the costs are generally rounded
up to about $20 a head.
Happy Mother’s Day Mum!
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| Vegan Burrito |
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| Corn Fitters |
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| Californian Burrito |
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