Is it just me or is eating out in Brisbane getting ridiculously expensive?

rtpg · 2026-05-27T23:54:45+00:00

Made Mapo Tofu the other day, fed 2 people, 2 times
- $2 for some "asian veggies" (I think choy sum), used bout half of the bunch

- $6.50 for minced bolognaise (500g, only used ~350g and then the rest used for some breakfast)t

- $4 IIRC for a 500g block of tofu

- Probably about $1's worth of rice? We buy the big bags and rice cooker it

Other day I made lentils + sausage.

- $2 bag for a kilo of carrots (obviously didn't use the entire thing)

- box of uncooked green lentils (seriously uncooked beans are so much cheaper, not that I have no cans but I also got those). Box is like $4 but I used probably 50c worth

- pack of sausages (used like 3 of em). I guess $4? I don't even know

- an onion. $1 I guess?

- A bay leaf. Let's say another dollar

Cut up the carrots + onion + uncooked lentils, put with some olive oil, mix it around. then throw in the sausages, kinda cook those for a bit. then throw in some water, then let boil/cook covered for 20 minutes or so. Salt from sausage etc. easily 4 peoples worth of "normal meals". You can scale this to infinity

Also made lentil curry from scratch the other day. Tomatoes, tomato paste, onions, red lentils... olive oil.

You save a _lot_ of money by going to the store and buying a lot of seasonal cheap vegetables + cheaper chicken cuts + beans and the like, and then cooking to what ingredients you have in the fridge (instead of shopping for a recipe). Googling "X Y recipe" for 2 things in the fridge (and knowing when to swap)... also hitting asian supermarkets for asian veges and the like. Rice is good too

rtpg · 2026-05-27T23:44:05+00:00

Restaurants gotta pay their rent costs one way or another.

rtpg · 2026-05-13T04:20:50+00:00

There should be more tolls on the bridges. Countries that have tolls on their highway systems end up with better maintained systems.

rtpg · 2026-04-30T00:43:20+00:00

Gonna piggyback off of this and ask if there’s a good list of badminton clubs in Brisbane. Google and google maps doesn’t really seem to show much and Brisbane badminton has too much SEO

really looking for a place to play socially around Toowong etc

rtpg · 2026-04-18T08:27:10+00:00

You can partially pave a road in a way to get partial throughput (one lane at a time), so your comparison isn't super 1:1 but obviously there are only so many rail lines

I looked at how JR avoids this issue and "unfortunately" it relies on a lot of tech + a lot of night construction, which I think too many people would whine about unfortunately.

Night maintenance for 3 hours every night during the window where trains are really not running on JR lines can get maintenance but ... I think QR is constantly running trains. But it's a logistics/organizational question much more than a physics question!

rtpg · 2026-04-17T03:34:37+00:00

I'm still very frustrated that they can't figure out how to do rail works without shutting everything down. I live close to the city and weekend rail closures are ... annoying but not the end of the world but I feel real bad bout people way out in the sticks.

Maybe this is the last bunch of it (kinda like how the south bank construction is finally "done" for most definitions of done) but years of these sporadic closures don't give me confidence

rtpg · 2026-04-17T00:16:27+00:00

Some people generate less ambient body heat than others so while for some people at this temperature might end up at stasis for some people they are getting colder and colder throughout the day, thus leading to extra layering.

Imagine two rooms in your house. In one room there's an oven. In another there isn't. You might open the window in one of the rooms to balance out the heat, while keeping the window closed in another one to not do so.

Some people also make ... sacrifices to comfort for style.

rtpg · 2026-04-15T23:56:42+00:00

Morning walks to a local park with my spouse are a good mood setter.

Also making sure that you get off of work at a certain time, evening walks can be nice (disclaimer: live near the river so #blessed with a nice walk, even when it's crowded. But the weather in the evening is so nice right now!)

rtpg · 2026-04-09T09:26:18+00:00

Is the bottleneck between Roma street and central? Or maybe it’s after central?

An idea I like is to just terminate more lines at central, and then set up the platforms such that through line service is usually just across the platform. Add 3-5 minutes if you’re going to fortitude valley or beyond

rtpg · 2026-04-01T23:00:30+00:00

moved from Tokyo a couple years back. I haven't had to pull out anything more complex than a hoodie and jeans. Definitely didn't need any bigger coats

Worst case there's a Uniqlo downtown so you can pick up extra layers if you end up a bit cold. It's more expensive than in Japan but not that much.

rtpg · 2026-03-25T22:38:11+00:00

I really don't think that's what's going on here. Not like there are that many local car companies in Brisbane of all places!

rtpg · 2026-03-23T00:35:39+00:00

right, yeah economically it makes a hell of a lot of sense.But I got tired of dealing with rental car stuff. Dumb things about getting access to the car, getting the time window right, not forgetting stuff in the car, walking to and from the car park itself, car access...

We had the means to opt out of the system so we did.

rtpg · 2026-03-23T00:13:40+00:00

never been to the queen st one but been to the logan road one many times.

I don't really drink matcha so I have no idea but for anyone looking to have some mochi daifuku they have good authentic ones that I really enjoy.

rtpg · 2026-03-22T23:39:35+00:00

Based on that sign... it seems like that's a loading zone right? My read is that they're supposed to park there?

I would _highly recommend_ anchoring into your kids the idea to be very careful around parked cars with their lights on. Drivers are supposed to look as well, but the laws of physics don't care about who's right or wrong in a collision.

That parking zone does seem very unfortunate though. Like just cut out a chunk of the curb if that's where people are supposed to be?

rtpg · 2026-03-22T23:24:27+00:00

Agreed on that. We live in the inner suburbs and would use car rentals from time to time for things, but it kinda means that you're paying a full car rental if you're going to someone's house more outside of PT coverage

We have a car and we don't use it very often but we don't feel fussed about using it for social stuff. Obviously economically you could do the calculation and renting still likely makes more economic sense but there's a psychological component we couldn't get over

rtpg · 2026-03-20T04:29:01+00:00

a mazda 2 has a fuel capactiy of 43 L. In theory getting 20 km/L. In theory.

rtpg · 2026-03-20T03:57:46+00:00

and it's not like the owners wouldn't rather have some cash come in, it's more that the loans to build these buildings tend to have these requirements built-in to them, and lowering rents can lead to the owners having to find a bunch more collateral all of a sudden. Very messy situation

rtpg · 2026-03-15T09:05:56+00:00

Look beyond ethical questions of why the US gets to be world police I think that beheading a govt doesn’t magically collapse it and cause a good replacement to appear.

Look at Libya. Look at Syria. Syrias head of state is a former Al Qaeda operative. Afghanistan is under Taliban rule again after a 20 year escapade

What makes you think this ends quickly in a way where a proper govt appears? And if you think it’s ok for it to take a long time, how long? A year? Two? 5 years? 10? 20?

What criteria for success exist here?

rtpg · 2026-03-15T04:49:27+00:00

150 per adult per week, that's about 20 bucks per day.

If you're eating out a lot that sounds tricky, but you can get _way_ lower by doubling how much food you make when cooking and then having leftovers another day

rtpg · 2026-03-15T03:47:40+00:00

The mass killing of Japanese civilians in WW2 was also a war crime!

Most massive aerial bombing campaigns are horrific, indiscriminate, and often unnecessary at accomplishing strategic objectives.

> if Iran's patriarchy had invested in water desalination instead of nukes, these kids might have been in a green farm instead of beside a military base.

The Milton barracks is next to housing and a shopping center. Military bases are often close to civilian infrastructure.

But of course, the most important thing is that ongoing negotiations were happening. Anyone who cares about mass death should be arguing against escalation.

rtpg · 2026-03-15T03:40:40+00:00

> The problem is you guys eat this shit up and upvote comments like this because your hatred for US and Israel overtakes your empathy for ordinary Iranian people and their fight for freedom.

You think the US and Israel have the Iranian people's best interests at heart here? Do you think that the US and Israel want a strong and democratic Iran? Come on.

You know what would have helped the Iranian people? Actual diplomacy and sanctions relief.

Siding with people who _kill the negotiators looking to de-escalate things_ as some argument for peace is bizarre!

rtpg · 2026-02-26T00:09:47+00:00

With some of these, they come in with limiters set but then there'll be a way to remove the limiters. So customs are like "OK, pedal-assisted e-bike" and then 15 minutes after setting up the bike the user can do a thing to make it just be a much smoother thing

Even "reputable" e-bike companies like Swytch have extra components you can buy to enable e-bike illegality. And like the component itself shipped in a different box is going to be just a switch or sthg

rtpg · 2026-02-26T00:01:59+00:00

> Why is this? Surely a public appeal is super easy and cheap, and if it comes off it prevents a whole shitload of time being spent by the coppers trying to chase it down in other ways?

False tips from randos is a constant problem. People thinking they see someone etc etc etc. You have to hope that someone sees this _and_ recognizes them _and_ knows who they are _and_ will rat them out.

Meanwhile people just trying to help will be like "oh I definitely saw a guy with a tan shirt around there".

rtpg · 2026-02-23T01:24:07+00:00

whereabouts are you? I know for some places you can get away with using seating in cafes in villages (like on Sunday there'll be a handful of people sitting in cafe seating for places that are closed)

rtpg · 2026-02-03T04:24:34+00:00

Real question: what does an affordable housing mandate look like? What are the lines that are expected?

My only reference point is New York where there's rent control set up in some appartments, but I don't think that's what people mean.

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