YouTube user JerryinBrisbane is putting up some videos about how to garden in the drought that Brisbane is going through. This is one of them - click here to see his other videos.

Here’s a quick sample of some of the food photos I took at Paniyiri last weekend. Click here to see all 20 photos at flickr - you can download them for your own use, see them in much larger sizes or watch the photos as a slideshow. 

The winner of the Honey Puff Eating competition.

Spanokopita and Calamari.

Ouzo balls.

If it doesn’t come with sludge, it’s not proper Greek coffee.

More Paniyiri 2007 photos are on the way - next time it will be people having fun.

The Greek community in Brisbane has been celebrating Paniyiri all week, and I’ve just made a video of tonight’s “Greek Dancing with the Stars”, hosted by Effie (Mary Coustas):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjbZCGuzxtU[/youtube]

There’s a fantastic belly dance starting about half way through, and you’ll also see Brisbanites Glenn Lazarus, Tracey Wickham, Loretta Ryan from Radio 4BH, and Massimo Murdocca from the Queensland Roar dance off for a glittering trophy. Sleek the Elite from Fat Pizza also dropped in.

Paniyiri continues Sunday May 20th 2007 at Musgrave Park, South Brisbane (Click here to see a Google Map of the exact location). Best way to get there is to catch a train to South Brisbane or Southbank/Vulture St stations or a shuttle bus from the city - click here for more info.

Sunday is the last day of Paniyiri - if you head down you can see the final of the Olive Eating contest, and also the Honey Puff eating. Narissa (the belly dancer from the video) will be dancing again, and there’ll be some grape stomping. I took some photos today which should be on the site soon, and there is also a ‘Ready Steady Cookoff’ at the Greek Club and public lectures on Greek and Greek-Australian culture and cooking demonstrations. And the official Paniyiri after party starts from 8 and goes on to…whenever, really.

Darren Rowse at Problogger has started a new ‘Group Writing’ contest - you have to write a new post about a ‘Top 5′. I found out about it on Tuesday night, and there are already hundreds of entries here and here. Have a browse - you’re bound to find something you like.

I thought I should get my camera out and think of 5 photos that really show you a Brisbane flavour, so here they are, all taken on Wednesday, May 9th (in my lunch hour, in fact).

This is one of the River Queen paddle steamers, seen from the big picture windows of the building I work in. The Brisbane River is a huge part of city life - you are either ‘Northside’ or ‘Southside’, and if a bridge over the river gets blocked or closed, it affects traffic all over the inner city.

This is the Milton Brewery, where the famous XXXX (Four-ex) beer is brewed. (Wikipedia) This photo is from the walkway connecting Milton train station to the Lang Park football stadium - which you’ll see in a just a second.

You can see Mr Fourex raising his glass to the people driving south along Milton Road.

Here you can see Christ Church, Milton, snuggled underneath the Lang Park football stadium. Lang Park is the home of 3 football teams - the Brisbane Broncos (rugby league), the Queensland Reds (rugby union) and the Queensland Roar (soccer).

Each year Lang Park hosts at least one of the State of Origin rugby league matches between Queensland and New South Wales - it’s a huge event here, and people get very depressed if Queensland loses. The first match this year is coming up on Wednesday, May 23rd.

This is one of Brisbane’s painted Traffic Signal Boxes, on the corner of Herschel St and North Quay in the city. You can find out about how you can paint a box here, and there is a group on flickr devoted to the TSBs - just click here to visit it.

And this is a photo from 75 metres high - the observation deck of the Brisbane City Hall clock tower. You can see the massive roadworks that are going on in the middle of the city - the Queen Street bus station is being linked to the Roma St train station by a tunnel. This will be a very important link in the public transport system, but you can see a bit about how much is being ripped up.

On the right hand side of the photo you can see the Albert St Uniting Church (previously a Methodist church before the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches of Australia united in 1977).

I hope you like my Top 5 photos. Don’t forget to have a look at all the other entries in the competition - there are hundreds of Top 5s to choose from.

Sukkafish P Jones gig starting soon@Rics

Originally uploaded by Brisbane Is Home.

I am at Rics bar in the Brunswick Street Mall in Fortitude Valley and as you can see, the show is being set up right now.

So what are you waiting for? Head on down to the valley for a night of strange electronic sounds…And check out the previous post for a link to the myspace page for a taste of what’s playing.