Workout then Eat

Friday
The retirement home here is doing well
Big day today Sheer luxury.

Off to the gym at 8.30 workout lovely long showers at the spa. Home for breakfast a little washing sitting time in the sun with your best book.

A little computer time and making plans for a Japanese lunch in Noosa.
Small drama Dale has lost his man purse.
The apartment is not large but we all hunted to no avail.
Oh God left it on the bus! We shall have to ring the credit card companies

He was positive it was here in fact he thought he had put it in a secret place
So secret in fact that we couldn’t find it.
Finally Eureka the light came on
There it was under the bed So Burglars take note.

If at first you can’t find any goodies…try under the bed.

We went out to play the pokies at the Coolum Surf Club
They have a good little restaurant with an interesting menu. I had Rump Steak “Mingnon”
(yes really)with butter prawns and baby potatoes

Loved the prawns, the steak was to my liking and tasty the potatoes were tasteless and could have done with a little bit more cooking but I did clean the plate so it can’t have been that bad.
JT had Caesar Salad

John Harrisa Chicken with Polenta

And Dale had Fish and Chips
A little white wine to wash it down.
You had to order at the counter

No worries said the pretty little girl behind the desk I ordered for Dale and I
No worries
John ordered
No worries JT’s order
No worries
She checked back our orders
No worries

It was a No worries dinner.

Next onto the Pokies I am a bit of novice and it took me about 5 minutes to catch on but I soon got into the swing of it.

I cashed in $20 and came home with 14 $1 dollar coins.
Only $6 for an hours play.
Might have to have a return visit to use up the coins can’t take them back to NZ.
Home to gelato and Sport on TV.
No Idol tonight. Have to wait until Sunday.

Saturday
Back to Noosa but first drop off John and JT at golf

It was shopping time. I was really keen to get back to the Seafood Market in Noosa Junction. Cnr Cooyar Street & Lanyana Way

A must do visit... Lovely looking fish
I mean look at our lunch
Australian Prawns and Wasabi mayonnaise with Avocado and some Ciabatta Bread
A fresh local pineapple sliced and garnished with honey macadamias chopped up with fresh mint and squeeze of lime juice and an Aussie Rose.

Only $4.99 a bottle and very acceptable .
This was our dessert.
Anyway back to the Seafood market I have bought some beautiful fresh Tuna which I will be turning into Tuna and Ginger Burgers tonight for dinner.
This is the nicest fish I have seen in a while.We have a good market in NZ with a bigger choice but the presentation of the fish in this place is fabulous. I must take a shot.
So I bought some fresh tuna...look at it, it is superb.

We did make Tuna Burgers
I have already posted a recipe similar to this earlier but I made some changes and here you go.

The improved version
A delightful dinner

JT and I worked together on Kiwi Foodies Promos for the Food TV New Zealand and we are like clockwork in the kitchen.
Lots of fun…The cooks below

Tuna Burgers on Kumara Mash with Tomato Mint Salsa

For 4 people
2 large kumara (sweet potatoes) peeled cubed
Cooked till tender and mashed with a big knob of butter

800 gms fresh tuna (doesn’t have to be sashimi quality)
5-6 drops sesame oil
3 tablespoons soya sauce
Zest 1 lime Juice 1 lime
2 tablespoons spring onions finely chopped
2 tablespoons ginger grated
2 tablespoons mint finely chopped


Freshly ground black pepper Salt
2 eggs
2-3 tablespoons Vege oil (I use rice bran)

First chop the tuna into little dice
Place in bowl

Add rest of ingredients,
Into a hot pan add vege oil
Take a large spoonful and place in pan

You want reasonably sized burgers

Fry till golden brown each side (about 3-4 minutes)
Remove and set aside keeping them warm.

Meanwhile prepare the salsa

3 ripe tomatoes roughly chopped

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 clove garlic finely chopped

2 tablespoons mint finely chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

Juice ½ lime

Mix all ingredients together

To plate
A nice mound of mashed kumara
Burger on top
Garnish with salsa

I am so disappointed my camera is asking really bad shots on this holiday
It's not a great photo...
But I can assure you it tasted delicious AND there were leftovers but that is tomorrow's lunch.
But the crowning glory of the evening was the successful game of Rugby League.
Our team The Warriors won and now they are up for a home ground semi final.
Good news.

Sunday

Macadamia Encrusted Fish
Season fish both sides and press nut crumbs on presentation side

Olive oil in hot pan
Place nut side down.
Cook about 3 minutes
Turn over and cook about 1 minute
A good squeeze of lemon juice
Cook 1 minutes
Take off heat
Cover and leave for about 5 minutes
Guaranteed moist and delicious.

Marinated Mushrooms

I put my son Daniel off Marinated Mushrooms for life.
I always tried to make interesting school lunches for the kids
He normally loved the mushrooms…Soooo there were leftovers from the previous night’s dinner…what a good idea for his sandwiches.
Wrong…apparently 4 hours later when he came to eat them they were disgusting (his words).
Lesson learnt

But let’s not stop the rest of us from enjoying them

We had some white button mushrooms finely sliced
Chopped mint
Chopped chives
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 chili finely diced
1 spring onion sliced
Balsamic Vinaigrette

Toss everything together and leave to marinate at least 30 minutes.
Today’s Lunch became what I would frivolously call

A European Bento Lunch box
I dressed the plate with little gem lettuce leaves and filled them individually with
1. The mushroom salad
2. Nut encrusted fish
3. Last night’s tuna burgers, crumbled and mixed with leftover salsa
With little balls of mashed leftover kumara on the side
4. And finally Beautiful crisp pears sliced with a squeeze of lemon and some thin slices
of Jalsberg Cheese.

Once again the French Rose was consumed and we were fed and watered once again.

Roll on Dinner.

This is the land of Gluten Free products which is perfect for John who is a coeliac.
I have never seen so many gluten free flours, pasta everything before.
I wonder if it is more prevalent her in Australia than in NZ.

Anyway we have the San Remo penne pasta and it is fine.
I made this wonderful Primavera Pasta inspired by Giada De Laurentiis.
It takes a bit of time in preparation but is so light and delicious.

For 4 people
2 carrots
4 courgettes
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
2 onions peeled
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 punnet cherry tomatoes halved
Gourmet Garden basil paste
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

100 gms pasta of your choice per person

For the best effect you need to spend time cutting up the vegetables.
Heat oven to 200C

Cut carrots into tiny batons
Same to the courgettes but cut them a little bigger, they cook quicker
Thickly slice onions
Halve peppers remove seeds and core and slice

Toss the vege with olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place in oven and cook 20-25 minutes until tender

Meanwhile cook the pasta to manufacturers instructions in boiling salted water.
Place cherry tomatoes in a bowl and squeeze over the basil paste
Mix well
Drain pasta and toss with the tomatoes

Remove vege from oven and mix with the pasta
Add cheese and serve

Very popular dish.
Monday the Days are rolling by too fast.

We hit the Gym at the Golf Club Spar again.
It is lovely there…all very Asian inspired with running water and tinkling music.
Lovely aromas. The Spa not the Gym.
White robes and slippers to wander through to the showers.
All the lotions and sbhampoos everything you need.
Took the Ipod today to make the tread mill more interesting.

Everyone's workout...

John

JT

Dale Did some lifts on the machines and my knee froze that night.But nothing that a Voltaren and some pain killers can’t fix.Still a bit sore but improved

Made vegetable fritters with a tomato salsa for lunch

A lovely shot of this beautiful coast.

JT is Queen of the Smoothies
She adds almonds to hers for a wonderful texture.
All the frit in the world, mixtures of juices and a little soy milk (which I normally wouldn’t put in my mouth but you can’t taste amongst the lovely flavours.)

Breakfast treat.