To the Beach!

[CantCookStillTry]

Lunch and Dinner Day Saturday 

 

The sun came out! So to celebrate we thought we would invite some friends who lived not too far away (In Australian distance) to come for a late lunch, enjoy the pool and make use of the BBQ at the rental. I'm not even a BBQ fanatic but I had serious envy with this one. I made a comment to my father once about how BBQ in Australia was much easier (I grew up with disposable charcoal BBQs in the UK) and he replied that he could probably do just as well if he had an outdoor gas oven - he has a point. 

Any way it was a simple deal, these posts certainly won't give you Gourmet but they might show you something different to what you get at home. Thats why I love Egullet, I love seeing what resources you all have and what you do with them. 

 

Loaded with one of each of the big three, lamb, beef and pork, our feathered friends gained a reprieve. 

 

 

 

I set the table and everything! Mainly because it was at rainforest humidity levels and sticky is not fun. Check the paper plates - I wasn't washing up. 

 

 

Some locally made condiments, we brought the 'Wooster' sauce with us, its starting to gain a bit of traction, a box sent on a truck heading for Cairns fairly regularly and I have seen it as far down as Brisbane. Its made in three different levels of 'heat/strength' as well. Should it be called Worcestershire Sauce? I'm not sure. Is there any Wooster sauce if its not Lea & Perrins? That's not my fight. Is it very very good? Yes. Should you just call it Wooster sauce instead of the county? Yup. 

 

 

A new relish to try for my Jalapeno mad husband. Tried growing them once, they were bright red and still smaller than my pinky finger. Failed.

 

 

I had decided I simply must cook something on the beautiful stove, although it wasn't going to be anything complicated. A big pan of onions, slowly caramelised in butter. Lets be honest, they cooked themselves. 

This is obviously a before photo, the after didn't happen unfortunately. They were good though. 

 

 

I found a few other things that made me chuckle when I was in the 'FoodWorks' procuring onion and side salads. 

 

 

 

I found the price of $17.99 a kilo for lamb breast a little surprising, even with the fillings. 

 

And after seeing the prices on these, I'm heading straight over to some of the fermenting and sauerkraut posts to get me the skills to set up a little business. I feel there is a tidy markup. 

 

And to finish, our four legged friends have not been forgotten. I know its dog food but... still. I don't even think its trying to be funny! 

 

After a big lunch, we farwelled our friends and grabbed pizza for tea. I was a little underwhelmed and almost forgot any photos, Pepperoni, Supreme and BBQ meatlovers. Thin crust (my favourite - unfortunately a tad soggy), sadly very very salty. Still filled a hole. 

 

 

 

What goes up must come down. 

 

 

Edit: To make sense of my 'downhill' comment - We actually had a reservation at a restaurant called 'Plantation' for Saturday night, its on a resort called lagoons,  and is the one of the most rated places in town - to be fair I would not have needed said reservation, the whole township was a ghost- umm - township, dosen't sound right but you know what I mean. However, my little boy got very very sunburnt in three hours outside (we are very sun safe etc - turns out the best rated sunscreen out there - that he was basted in - has some issues at the moment). I was too embarrassed to take him out, everyone judges the parents not the product, so the fancy place I hoped to show you guys got replaced with pizza - this was the first in a few failures of things I wanted to show you - more will be revealed later. 

Edited February 26, 2018 by CantCookStillTry
burn baby burn (log)

[Duvel]

21 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

And the big breakfast - wasn't so big when Captain low carb had to dispense of his bread and hash browns

Kudos to him if he keeps his LCD still up ... hope he's getting some results for leaving those lovely hash browns to the kids.

[CantCookStillTry]

Just now, Duvel said:

Kudos to him if he keeps his LCD still up ... hope he's getting some results for leaving those lovely hash browns to the kids.

He is doing really well the B***ard  16kg since January I believe. It's depressing to watch a man pick the toppings off a pizza base though. Usually I am a lot more supportive - however, I have a lot going on and I the kid and I wanted Pizza. Strange how the body adapts, Carbs actually make him quite unwell at the moment, his one cheat made him so miserably unwell he hasn't been tempted. I however, have the will power of - actually I do not believe anything has quite as little will power as me.

[Duvel]

16 minutes ago, CantCookStillTry said:

He is doing really well the B***ard  16kg since January I believe. It's depressing to watch a man pick the toppings off a pizza base though. Usually I am a lot more supportive - however, I have a lot going on and I the kid and I wanted Pizza. Strange how the body adapts, Carbs actually make him quite unwell at the moment, his one cheat made him so miserably unwell he hasn't been tempted. I however, have the will power of - actually I do not believe anything has quite as little will power as me.

That's great - good for him 

[Okanagancook]

7 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

 

The Papua New Guinea one? No they didn't reach us. I hope the people are ok, was very strong, it's about now I'll start monitoring the worlds volcanoes, those things really scare me! 

Yes the Papua New Guinea quake.  7.5 I think I read.  Glad everything is ok.  Last month the Alaska quake caused concern for our Canadian West Coast.

[CantCookStillTry]

Easy Like Sunday Morning 

So we hit the 1770 markets first up, they are held on the second and fourth Sunday of the month. To be honest, a little sparse this time, when we were there before, there were camel rides, you couldn't park your car anywhere near the site and were spoilt for choice with stalls. This time there were some second hand books, a few produce stalls, some honey stalls and coffee stand. Nothing I was that inspired to look like a crazy taking pictures of. 

I did pick up a bunch of Dragon Fruit (is there a collective term for a group of these? A bushel? A Bunch? A prickle?) They are pretty small and I have no idea what I am going to do with them, still, a beautiful fruit. 

 

Add in some more colour because a parental unit was feeling guilty about the sun burn. Its a pre breakfast dairy .. uh.. pro..biotic...? Do you believe me? 

 

For breakfast we went to a small cafe on the bay, beautiful view, interesting set up. First visit - all I will say is that in an area with no competition, we were the only people there at 930 on a Sunday - Perhaps everyone was at church. 

 

 

Same breakfast all around... ( I don't think they were at church ). 

 

The next place I wanted to take you was to the fish market. What I always loved about it was you could find something really fresh no mater what time of day. One of their functions was to sell on the plentiful fish hobby fisherman caught and didn't keep. So you could always get something different. Huge cool shed that specialised in cooking fresh prawns constantly for sandwiches and crabs. I always thought it was pretty busy. 

 

But perhaps not. I guess its downfall was that it was quite away out of town, away from the beach and you really had to be looking for those kind of things to find it. Not really a drop in discovery. 

 

So that was disappointing. This was all the fresh I could find to show you. Don't ask me what they are. Fishes? I would say whiting but I tend to call any fish I catch a Whiting or a Bream because thats all I know! Fun Test - is it Bream as in Dream or Bream as in Brim?

There is only one correct answer - and its the way I say it. Even though every Aussie around here does the opposite. 

 

 

 

I didn't bother with any fresh fish, I did pick up this from the freezer though. I felt I couldn't leave empty handed. 

 

 

As it was a closing down sale we were only charged $25.  

 

After that discouraging adventure it was time for some vitamin sea - for like 10 minutes because of the kid with no skin. 

 

Chinamans Beach. (For better and worse, Australia is not quite up with some of the worlds PC-ness, sometimes that makes me feel really refreshed in a world gone mad, other times, its the uncomfortable I can't believe its called that / you can sell those). Well worth a look if you get to come here, a lot quieter than main beach, a 'locals' beach rather than a tourist beach. I don't think the Backpackers have found it yet, but there are no lifeguards so - swimming is for the capable. 

Swimming is for the crazy in my opinion. The ocean petrifies me, but so does the sea, and rivers, creeks, and bodies of water that are not perfectly clear and not a swimming pool. 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2018 by CantCookStillTry (log)

[liuzhou]

A lair of dragon fruit, I think!

 

And bream rhymes with cream.

[kayb]

Unless you are in the U.S., where it is pronounced "brim." And is perfectly wonderful when panfried within two hours of being caught and cleaned.

 

[Kim Shook]

On 2/26/2018 at 3:59 AM, CantCookStillTry said:

Lunch and Dinner Day Saturday 

 

The sun came out! So to celebrate we thought we would invite some friends who lived not too far away (In Australian distance) to come for a late lunch, enjoy the pool and make use of the BBQ at the rental. I'm not even a BBQ fanatic but I had serious envy with this one. I made a comment to my father once about how BBQ in Australia was much easier (I grew up with disposable charcoal BBQs in the UK) and he replied that he could probably do just as well if he had an outdoor gas oven - he has a point. 

Any way it was a simple deal, these posts certainly won't give you Gourmet but they might show you something different to what you get at home. Thats why I love Egullet, I love seeing what resources you all have and what you do with them. 

 

Loaded with one of each of the big three, lamb, beef and pork, our feathered friends gained a reprieve. 

 

 

 

I set the table and everything! Mainly because it was at rainforest humidity levels and sticky is not fun. Check the paper plates - I wasn't washing up. 

 

 

Some locally made condiments, we brought the 'Wooster' sauce with us, its starting to gain a bit of traction, a box sent on a truck heading for Cairns fairly regularly and I have seen it as far down as Brisbane. Its made in three different levels of 'heat/strength' as well. Should it be called Worcestershire Sauce? I'm not sure. Is there any Wooster sauce if its not Lea & Perrins? That's not my fight. Is it very very good? Yes. Should you just call it Wooster sauce instead of the county? Yup. 

 

 

A new relish to try for my Jalapeno mad husband. Tried growing them once, they were bright red and still smaller than my pinky finger. Failed.

 

 

I had decided I simply must cook something on the beautiful stove, although it wasn't going to be anything complicated. A big pan of onions, slowly caramelised in butter. Lets be honest, they cooked themselves. 

This is obviously a before photo, the after didn't happen unfortunately. They were good though. 

 

 

I found a few other things that made me chuckle when I was in the 'FoodWorks' procuring onion and side salads. 

 

 

 

I found the price of $17.99 a kilo for lamb breast a little surprising, even with the fillings. 

 

And after seeing the prices on these, I'm heading straight over to some of the fermenting and sauerkraut posts to get me the skills to set up a little business. I feel there is a tidy markup. 

 

And to finish, our four legged friends have not been forgotten. I know its dog food but... still. I don't even think its trying to be funny! 

 

After a big lunch, we farwelled our friends and grabbed pizza for tea. I was a little underwhelmed and almost forgot any photos, Pepperoni, Supreme and BBQ meatlovers. Thin crust (my favourite - unfortunately a tad soggy), sadly very very salty. Still filled a hole. 

 

 

 

What goes up must come down. 

 

 

Edit: To make sense of my 'downhill' comment - We actually had a reservation at a restaurant called 'Plantation' for Saturday night, its on a resort called lagoons,  and is the one of the most rated places in town - to be fair I would not have needed said reservation, the whole township was a ghost- umm - township, dosen't sound right but you know what I mean. However, my little boy got very very sunburnt in three hours outside (we are very sun safe etc - turns out the best rated sunscreen out there - that he was basted in - has some issues at the moment). I was too embarrassed to take him out, everyone judges the parents not the product, so the fancy place I hoped to show you guys got replaced with pizza - this was the first in a few failures of things I wanted to show you - more will be revealed later. 

 

I didn't know whether to hit the "like" or "laugh" button after this!  As I've said before, I love your writing!

[CantCookStillTry]

19 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

I didn't know whether to hit the "like" or "laugh" button after this!  As I've said before, I love your writing!

Thank you so much, and please laugh! I don't have what it takes to be taken seriously . But I do like to giggle. 

[munchymom]

On 2/26/2018 at 3:59 AM, CantCookStillTry said:

Is there any Wooster sauce if its not Lea & Perrins? That's not my fight. Is it very very good? Yes. Should you just call it Wooster sauce instead of the county? Yup. 

 

What's funny about this is that behind the "Wooster" sauce I think I see a bottle of what I've often heard called "Rooster" sauce - Sriracha (one brand has a picture of a rooster on the label.)

[heidih]

The now almost iconic sriracha by Huy Fong is made here in the greater Los Angeles area. They also do a chili garlic sauce and a sambal olek that are quite good.     https://www.huyfong.com/toursnow/

[kayb]

You will be happy to know (or actually, it may not make a doggoned bit of difference to you, but it makes ME happy) that I today booked a week at the beach on the Redneck Riviera, aka the Alabama Gulf Coast, for myself, my three daughters, their husbands, and three grandchildren, in July, so I will be off to the beach myownself. I hereby commit to blogging the culinary escapades and endeavors.

 

There will be shrimps. Lots and lots and lots of shrimps.

 

[Smokeydoke]

That's great @kayb I can't wait to read about it.

[kayb]

I cannot wait. I am anxious to see if the grouper topped with crawfish etouffee at the Shrimp Basket is as good as I remember it being.

 

Typically, by about night four, the kids are saying, "Are we having shrimp AGAIN?" and I'm saying, "There's the keys. Go to Burger King if you want to."

[CantCookStillTry]

8 hours ago, kayb said:

You will be happy to know (or actually, it may not make a doggoned bit of difference ..)

 

It makes me very happy! I have one more post to add here but it's all about the distillery... I am waiting until its not a school night, then I can do a proper taste test and inform you all of the results. I'm nice like that. 

 

** Apologies in advance for slurred typos and inappropriate attempts at humour. See you Friday night  **

[CantCookStillTry]

10 hours ago, munchymom said:

 "Rooster" sauce - Sriracha (one brand has a picture of a rooster on the label.)

Rooster Sauce? I love it! Thats going to be so much easier to use than Sriracha. Which I find impossible to remember the way to spell. Heck I doubt I even pronounce it right. So many unexpected R's, and yes my husband never leaves home without it - mainly because he left it in the work fridge once when he went off shift and came back to find it gone  - Don't even get me started on the Missing Mulberry Jam debacle of '16. 

[Porthos]

Sriracha is made about 5 miles from where I grew up. There was quite a governrmental brew-ha 5 years ago, which was followed by egullet members here. The end result of this happening is that Sriracha sauce gained in popularity among people who hadn't paid attention to it beforehand. The best example of that is that a California burger chain that brought out a Sriracha burger (still on the menu).

[liuzhou]

17 hours ago, Porthos said:

Sriracha is made about 5 miles from where I grew up.

 

You grew up in Thailand? Via Vietnam?

[Porthos]

Okay, you've caught me.  I never have grown up. But back when the Irwindale debacle was going on I drove by the factory just to see exactly where is located.