Last days in Coolum

Beef and Onions and Beer
I can’t believe how greedy we are…Dale and I have almost consumed a casserole cooked for 4.
It was so good.
I watched Chef Michael Smith yet again and I raced out and bought 1 kg of beef and
Put this stew on and we ate it about 2 hours later. It was divine.
So tender and tasty and so so simple…
There is enough to make a pie…

I bought cross cut blade steak
So for 4 people
1 kg beef
Rice Bran oil 4-5 tablespoons enough to cover the bottom of your pan
Don’t be mean with the oil you need it to get good browning of the meat.
You can drain off the excess.

1 large onion chopped
2 shallots finely chopped
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bottle beer preferably a dark beer.
Packet beef stock
3 bay leaves
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Sea salt and freshly ground black freshly ground black pepper

1 large potato grated this is your thickening agent

1-2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar

Cut steak into large chunks
Heat oil in pan
Add meat don’t overcrowd the pan
Brown well
You probably need to cook in batches

Remove meat from pan
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Drain off excess fat
Add onion and shallots
Cook till tender
Add tomato paste stir well

De-glaze with beer

Return meat to pan and top up with beef stock.
Add potato, bay leaves and thyme

Bring to simmer and cook 1-2 hours in 155C oven till meat is tender
I decided that it needed a kick and added the red wine vinegar

Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary

To serve I accompanied with steamed rice.
To plate
Rice
Spinach
Hot stew

Just perfect.

We are home from Coolum Beach.
It was a real fun time.
Of course it rained on the last 2 days but we didn’t have any trouble filling in wet days.
Lunch in Noosa
Dinner at Coolum Beach’s Harvest Restaurant

Just a hop skip and jump from the apartment didn’t’ even get wet.

Excellent food particularly the desserts.
By the way just a quick look at the macadamia nut situation.
Yes we did eat nearly all those nuts.

Just perfect.


Leaving day

Our bus.

I meant to take a shot of the lovely beach in the sun but I forgot
But here is a wild shot of the sea from the bus window

We got to the airport early and the good thing about the Koru lounge is the opportunity to have a few drinks and a light lunch. Very pleasant.
Air NZ’s Koro lounge has an unusual view.
It reminds me of the time we took the kids to Disneyland 1981
Booked into the Disneyland Hotel
Spoke to the lovely girl behind the desk and especially asked for a room overlooking the Park. We though it would be lovely to wake up and see the Cinderella castle and all the other Iconic rides.
It was dark and when we awoke early in the morning opened up the curtains and yes we overlooked the Park alright.
The Car Park!!!

So Air NZ also got that short straw as well.

The view from the Koro Lounge

Anyhow a wonderful holiday was spent with John and JT.,
Final photo

Back home and there is quite a lot of recipes I have to write up.

The Saturday before we went away…our friends Mary and Heinzie Pictured in their Rarotonga Glory below

were staying with us.
It was a significant birthday for our friend Lana.

An excellent surprise party was held at Julia and Rex’s house.

She was surprised and I think really pleased...

We organised this amazing piece of Pop Art from a wonderful company called On2Canvas

Click on here for information about this excellent company.

All you need to supply is a photo and they do the rest. It's a great. idea for a present

Notice of course we always have a photo with drink in hand.

I think it is fantastic.

The next morning Dale who is not a cook of note!!! heard Peta Mathias on the radio talking about the best ever whitebait fritters.
She is a renowned NZ Chef and runs a cooking school in Provence

Check out her website.

Immediately our taste buds went into top gear. I have to say we were a little fragile after the party.
So Mary and I rushed off to the Fish market and bought a punnet of New Zealand Whitebait. This is a major delicacy here in New Zealand.
These tiny fish are absolutely beautiful and of course these days like all excellent produce… pricey.

Now I thought I was pretty good making these fritters

But this recipe is fantastic.

Now don’t forget we made these based on Dale’s understanding of the recipe.

The main difference was the use of egg whites only…pop the yolks away for custard or something.

The beauty of this is you can really taste the fish it's not a whitebait omelet.

1 punnet 250 gms whitebait
4 egg whites
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil and butter
Lemon wedges

Season the egg whites and beat till soft peaks.
Add whitebait

Drop in big spoonfuls into a hot pan with olive oil and butter
Cook about 3 minutes 1 side and
Then 3 -4 minutes other side. They should be golden

This is longer than I would normally cook fritters but the egg whites need to be cooked right through

Serve with a lemon wedge.

Excellent

Sorry about half eaten food below but it's just to demonstrate the fritter showing the whitebait.

Now on another matter entirely

Granddaughter Mia had her first Cross Country run today. She had a mishap and slipped at the beginning but with great determination arrived in at 4th place. Didn't get that athletic prowess from her maternal Grandmother

Meanwhile the first captured smile from Baby Cleo

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.

Coolum Continued

Wednesday
Today we played tourists.
First a trip to the Gym then
Off to Yandina to the Ginger factory.




Run run as fast as you can you can't catch me I'm the GingerBread Man
What a mad place. It is a amusement park as well, you can take a train ride and see how they grow and process the ginger. We didn't partake.There is a Macadamia Nut factory as well.
We shopped.
I am obsessed with Chocolate Ginger and they had Macadamia and Ginger encased in Dark Chocolate.
Yum.
Holiday heaven below. Books mags. TV remotes...
I wonder how long it will take to consume those nuts.!!!
We also visited this craft shop some of the strangest crafts I have seen in a while.
“Different!!!”
How do people think of these amazing things to make?

JT took a fancy to the pink tea cosy

Just focus on the middle shelf...there it is, in all it's glory

It was a big outing
Lunch in the sun on the patio

A simple Salad Nicoise

A little French Rose

Then rest

Paradise
Coolum Beach at sunset

Sound of the fountain-frogs chirping-

Dulcet tones of Tom Jones dueting with Van Morrison
Glasses of chilled wine
Beautiful birds flying past on their way home.
It’s a quick sunset…we are in the Sub Tropics of course
Its warm- doesn’t appear to be mozzie season yet.
Maybe the frogs eat them and keep them under control.
Go frogs

Then Dinner and Australian Idol
Yes we had picked the winners again. WE ARE GOOD.

This is a perfect holiday.

Thursday
The hosts took off for Golf
Dale and I sat in the sun.
It was very pleasant…

I spent most of the morning thinking about lunch and went shopping at the local shop.

Home, glass of Rose reading then

Dale picked up John and JT

and we late-lunched
Must use the macadamia nuts

So I encrusted goats cheese with crushed nuts
My camera is driving me mad so apologies for my shots these days.

Nut Crusted Goat's Cheese on a Roast Pepper

You need

120 gms soft goats cheese (will do 2 people)
Handful of either macadamia nuts or walnuts will just be fine.

½ red pepper per person
Sprig rosemary
Olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic sliced finely
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper.

Salad greens

Heat oven to 200C

Halve peppers and remove seeds and ribs
Add rosemary, garlic a little olive oil and S & P
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes

Meanwhile make the goats cheese into 1 patty per person.
You may need to wet your hands a bit easier.
Crush nuts in a mortar and pestle or food processor
Dip patties in nuts on both sides.

Place in the fridge for a little while to firm up.
Remove peppers from oven
Place cheese inside of peppers and back into oven for 5-8 minutes

To plate
Place stuffed peppers on salad leaves
Drizzle over with a little extra virgin olive oil.

3 tablespoons walnut oil
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon good white wine vinegar
25 gms of cooked beetroot

Blend all ingredients together and drizzle over the cheese.
Imagine the wonderful colour.
Yum.

But today I served this with this tasty little salad.

Cooked pasta gave us the carb content

1 carrot sliced
1 radish per person sliced
1 spring onion sliced
1 orange peeled and diced
Coriander leaves
Mint leaves torn
Cooked penne
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vinaigrette

Washed down once again with the very pleasant French Rose.

We ate a potato cake for dinner

using food in the fridge.

There was a packet of store bought coleslaw to be used

Just boil and mash potatoes

with butter and milk

Add coleslaw

Season

Add beaten egg and bake in hot oven about 20 minutes.

Very tasty. Just kind of like Bubble and Squeak really

We accompanied this with some grilled chicken.

Another grueling evening of Australian Idol and the World Athletic Championships.

It's exhausting really.

Thank God for wine it keeps us all going.

Sunshine Coast in the Spring

We have left the messy house and we are staying with our friends the Taymacs
John and JT

who have bought a Winter house in the winterless north. Queensland Australia.

It was a painless trip getting here. An early rising but that’s OK with me.

Dan kindly took us to the airport.
Checking in with the Koru Club was simple as and the check in lady kindly found a row where she could block the middle seat so we could have some extra space.
Didn’t hit the Sparkling wine in the lounge (it was a little early even for me,) but there was a nice little breakfast laid out for us.
Onto the plane, the 777 very spacious which is such a nice change.
Hopefully all the fleet will be like this from now on.

It’s not so hard traveling at the back of the bus when one is comfortable.

I have to say I do belong up front though...but the budget has changed over the years!!!!

C'est la Vie.

Lunch En Route

I chose the little steak pie, it was pleasant fodder and

Dale got his Vegan option which appeared to be a mingy salad.

No carbs...Wouldn't want to be starving. But he didn't seem to mind.

When you choose the Vegan option you get fed first. So there is some privileges!!!

The Kapiti Cheese Shop produces excellent cheese in New Zealand and also a great ice cream range.

Black Doris Plum ice cream for pudding. Tasty little finish.

Picked up a shuttle service from the airport to our destination
Coolum Beach on The Sunshine Coast, Queensland Australia.

We are lucky only a couple of days ago there was a huge tropical storm...roads have been closed they even closed the golf course for a day.
But now it is fine, sunny and very pleasant.

The apartment is right on the main drag of Coolum Beach and you just need to walk out the door and there is restaurants, bars, beach across the road.

Perfect
We had a late lunch (sandwiches) at The Coffee Club and in fact we double dipped and ate dinner there as well.
Simple food…café food.

For dinner I had steak the others ate Barrimundi Australia’s most famous fish.
Home just in time for Australian Idol. It is the semi finals and the home audience are the judges. We will find out tomorrow if we are right.

Lots of shouting and disagreements with the judges.

A bit exhausting really. Time for bed.

Tuesday

Trip to Noosa Beach. Now I now why everybody raves about this place it is lovely.

We had an excellent lunch at Season on the beachfront.

It was an interesting menu and boringly I chose fish and chips I can’t resist it… but I made the right choice it was superb.

JT had prawn dumplings in a broth with a little herb salad.
John had a wonderful looking Crab risotto with prawns and

Dale ate Atlantic Salmon fish cakes.
All washed down with a NZ Sauvignon Blanc.

Good shops we all bought something.
Home for a quick rest then
Wine at 5,

Earlyish dinner at home, a bit sick of restuarants.

We went shopping for food.
I bought NZ Hapuka/Grouper which was so good looking
(once again the best fish is obviously exported.)
and baked it on Golden Potatoes.
This is very simple and quick.

Fish and Potato Bake
1 potato per person peeled and sliced into 1 cm slices
Rice bran oil
S & P

White fish of choice 200 gms per person cut into large bite size pieces

1 tube Gourmet Garden coriander paste

Heat oven 200C

Toss potato slices in a little oil and season with salt and pepper.
We didn’t have a baking dish so I made a little foil container and it worked well.
No washing up!!!

Bake about 15 -20 minutes till golden

Season fish with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Remove potatoes from oven

Place fish on top and generously spread the coriander paste over each piece.

Bake another 8 minutes
Let rest for a couple of minutes.

We served this with a delicious salad inspired by Chef Michael Smith

Watermelon and Basil Salad
Couldn’t be simpler.

1 large piece of watermelon peeled and cubed
Handful basil leaves finely sliced
extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dash lime/lemon juice

Just before serving season watermelon with a little S & P
Sprinkle with finely sliced basil
Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil
Just a touch of either lime or lemon juice.

This was the first dinner eaten at the Winter House dining table

So after this we plonked down in front of TV in time for Australian Idol.

Yes we had picked the winning contestants last night.
Here we go again. Let's see how good we are tonight