It's become clear to me that the Australian hospitality industry is woefully backward in two specific areas:

1. Free wifi
2. Pet friendliness

Regarding the former, in this age of cable-to-premises and unlimited downloads, it boggles my mind that crappy hotel chains want to charge $10 per 500mb, or offer 'free wifi' that is actually capped at 100mb or 30 minutes, whichever you hit first. If Emirates can sell you 1GB for one dollar, in the air, in an aeroplane, over the ocean, then how can our hotel industry possibly justify these charges? I just can't even.

Regarding the latter, I have only this to say: MORE PUPPEHS!!



Hotels in Europe may not have in-room fridges*, but they allow you to bring your dog! And pets are allowed on public transport, too. It's just so much more civilised.

*a serious drawback in Sweden, when you have obtained a number of bottles of delicious beer from Systemet, but find yourself unable to keep it cold. You have only two options: go to a pub and pay approximately 300 Australian dollars for a pint, or drink all the beer. What to do... what to do?

So, if you cannot bring your own best friend along for the holiday? Obviously you can bring your significant other, and although he may be furry, it's not going to fill the four-legged void. Your only option is to choose your accommodation based on its resident companion animals.





Sorry.... where was I...

Actually the point of this post was to talk about porridge, but I got a little side tracked. The reason I got side tracked is that I got to thinking about baked porridge because someone at work sent me a recipe, and then I was reminded of the wonderful B&B we stayed at in Swansea, TAS - Meredith Mews, and their amazing baked porridge. That in turn led me to dogs, because of the 2 very sweet west highland terriers that lived at the B&B, Dougal and Lulu.

Watching the kitchen, because it's where the bacon happens.

I've mentioned this porridge before, because it was really so delicious, but I never actually got around to making it. Partly because I am lazy, and partly because I was worried that whatever I did it just wouldn't be as good as I remembered.

So this weekend I had a crack at it.



I'll be honest: it was not as good as I remembered, but that was probably due to a shortage of milk, and also because the porridge at Swansea has a vast range of accoutrements to go with it.... apple sauce, raspberry compote. It was heaven. That's not to say that this morning's attempt was bad in any way, just that I think there are heights I'm yet to reach.

I used this recipe and accidentally left it in the oven for too long because I was watching episode 3 of War and Peace. The costumes are spectacular FYI (even if they're horribly inaccurate).

Still, if you've never eaten baked porridge, now is the time to start.


You've never tried the Swansea version anyway, so you won't know what you're missing.

❤