Tag Archives: Costco

Brisbane high rise and food glorious food


The last few days have been fairly busy and on Thursday and Friday I had to be in Brisbane for an important meeting.

On Wednesday I forgot my lunch and after a frantic morning I was in a café and spied a Chiko roll. I haven’t had one in years. My maternal grandfather‘s brother told me many times when I was young that our family had somehow been involved in the invention of the Chiko roll. At the time they owned a Chinese café at a truck stop in Rocklea in Brisbane. They used to sell these super large spring rolls mostly composed of cabbage and chicken. They sold them as chicken rolls. Mum and her brother have confirmed this story for me. They claim someone got the idea for the Chiko roll from my grandparents chiekn rolls at the Golden Pagoda in Rocklea. The Golden Pagoda was destroyed in the great flood of 1974 and the loss destroyed my grandparents and immediate family. They never really recovered.

Later that afternoon a work mate said she was going out to get some chocolate and I asked her get me some. I love my work mates. They know me. Look at what came back :-)

Check out the size of the block.

That night I didn’t feel that hungry but had some chicken thigh meat thawing (and no I didn’t eat all that chocolate in one sitting).

The chicken burgers were tasty, you can see I used an English muffin for one and a hamburger roll for the other.

The next morning I woke up early for a 0620 AEST flight from Canberra to Brisbane. I like that the Qantas Club has breakfast.

On board the flight I had another breakfast.

I spent Thursday night in my hotel room working. The view of the Brisbane River from the twenty-fifth floor was pretty good.

I went and bought a couple of hot pies and an apple crumble to get me through the night.

In the morning the view was better. I left Brisbane in 1995 to live in Darwin until coming to Canberra in 2007. Brisbane city has certainly grown.

Look at the huge tree. they are amazing. I love them.

I indulged in a Starbucks breakfast of toast and a caramel mocha with cream.

So on the way back to Canberra I spent time chatting with a work mate and eating.

The pork buns here were crap. They are from the Sydney Qantas club and rubbish. You want to see a nice barbecue pork bun go to the Dumpling Inn. Check out the image here.

The soup was a spicy Mexican lentil dish.

On Saturday we went to Costco to buy some food. I hadn’t had lunch. I tried a Costco hot dog. It wasn’t that good.

For afternoon tea we went to Ricardo’s Cafe at Jamison and had a caramel praline mousse.

Last night Bron and I cooked dinner together. I cooked a steak with an onion dijon sauce and Bron cooked the cauliflower blue cheese gratin. The gratin was amazing. I ate two. I wanted more.

Bron cooked a caramel chocolate tart and a lemon tart for dessert. They were out of this world. Bron is amazing.

Caramel chocolate tart

Lemon tart

This morning we went light and had a poached egg before our big lunch.

It’s the weekend…Yay


It’s been a longish sort of week. Fairly busy. Tomorrow night we’ve been invited to friends for dinner and we’ve promised to bring crab for entrée. This afternoon Bron and I went to Costco to buy some crab. We also got some sparkling wine and something for dinner.

Crab, prawns and bubbles (iPhone)

Tonight Bron prepared a fairly simple dinner of pork buns, salt and pepper squid and fried prawns.

Pork buns, salt and pepper squid and coconut prawns (Panasonic DMC TZ10)

Later this weekend I hope to blog tomorrow night’s dinner ;-)

 

 

Alaskan King Crab, macarons and a chocolate meringue and orange chocolate ganache layered cake


Wow what a dinner we had this evening. Bron out did herself. This morning we went to Costco with the aim of getting some King crab. During the Summer, Costco has a pavilion set up for seafood. It looks like in the Winter this is not the case. We ended up finding some Alaskan King crab in the frozen food section of Costco.

King crab at Costco (iPhone)

When I got to Bron’s place this afternoon she was in the midst of macaron manufacture.

Ready for the oven (iPhone)

These are a jaffa flavour.

Piping macarons (iPhone)

Macarons with orange chocolate ganache (iPhone)

There is also some cointreau in the ganache.

King crab waiting to be eaten (iPhone)

You can find the twitpic link at https://twitter.com/bron99/status/226597992789065728/photo/1

The aioli was amazing (iPhone)

It took a while but we finished four legs and two claws (iPhone)

For dessert Bron made a chocolate meringue layered with orange chocolate ganache topped with cream and raspberries.

Chocolate meringue with chocolate orange ganache topped with cream and raspberries (iPhone)

Chocolate meringue with chocolate orange ganache topped with cream and raspberries (iPhone)

Chocolate meringue with chocolate orange ganache topped with cream and raspberries (iPhone)

After dessert I was still feeling peckish so had the last of the salted caramel chocolate Bron had made plus a macaron.

Salted caramel chocolate and macaron (iPhone)

I now feel full and have strong garlic breath from the aioli.

 

Best meal ever and #StateofOrigin Game 2


Last night Bron and I visited some close friends who we often have dinner with. Mostly it’s us going to their place to eat wonderful food. Last night was no different. In the words of Bron (and I agree), “Best meal in my life“.

A few weeks ago we set up the date and started talking about a menu. We suggested we’d go to Costco and get King crab legs for an entrée and Bron said she’d make a lemon tart for dessert. P and LP came back and said they would happily prepare an Asian degustation for our main course.

Bron and I ventured out to Costco yesterday morning to learn that the seafood arrangement only came out every fortnight. We’ve been to Costco so many times on alternating weeks that we had not noticed this. This was disappointing because Bron was also going to make her gorgeous aioli and and another dipping sauce. Bron sent P a text message and explained. No worries, “We have prawns” came the reply.

The lemon tart was an experiment. Bron had not made this recipe before. She need not have worried. It was perfect.

So we started with a few prawns and homemade dressing. These had only been frozen once and were a delicious and certainly acted as an entrée or appetiser for us. I was so hungry.

What followed can only be described as awesome. I use that word advisedly. Like a good many words used on social media and on television and movies, “awesome” is over used. This meal was awesome.

We started with LP’s dumplings. Mouth sized and full of flavour. The spicy dipping sauce was just right. P then followed with some of his signature pieces, namely, a crunchy Chinese cabbage salad and seafood cakes. I could have eaten the salad all night. This was followed with LP’s tamarind prawns. Oh my the flavour was fantastic. This was a first time for LP. The Pièce de résistance was P’s twice cooked belly pork. The reduction could be smelled when we entered the house. The star anise and cinnamon wafting in our nostrils tempting us to pick up the jug and drink the sauce was an ever present danger.

With the ‘mains’ over, we entered the dangerous world of dessert. I say dangerous because no one gets between some of us and their dessert.

LP was preparing the chocolate soufflé as we arrived. She was so delicate in folding in the cream. It was certainly worth the effort. I have never had a soufflé so light and fluffy. Bron was concerned that I had left crusty bits of chocolate on the edge of my ramekin. I quickly fixed the problem without burning my tongue :-)

Bron’s lemon tart was also a triumph. Earlier in the day Bron had received a gift from a dear tweep who shared from her bounty of lemons. The quickly prepared candied lemon rind was also delicious along with the cognac whipped cream that LP had provided with her soufflé.

To finish the evening we all enjoyed a half of a small pavlova that P has now perfected. It was a perfect evening with fantastic conversation, lots of laughs and dare I say, for me at least, belt loosening.

I apologise for the quality of my iPhone photography. I was trembling with multiple foodgasms that I had trouble focusing.

Prawns with homemade seafood sauce (iPhone)

Pork dumplings (iPhone)

Crunchy Chinese cabbage salad and seafood cakes (iPhone)

Tamarind prawns (iPhone)

Twice cooked pork belly (iPhone)

Twice cooked pork belly (iPhone)

Chocolate soufflé served with cognac cream (iPhone)

Cognac cream (iPhone)

Lemon tart with Cognac cream (iPhone)

Pavlova served with Chinese gooseberry, passion fruit and strawberries (iPhone)

More as a post script than anything else, I have not blogged for a few days and I should comment on the second game in this year’s State of Origin series. NSW defeated Queensland. As much as I wanted the Queensland XXXX Maroons to win, it wasn’t to be. The game was fierce, it was tight, it was superbly played. Queensland played well and NSW played better. NSW were the best team on the night and deserved to win. This now means a decider in two and a bit weeks. This is not a bad thing. If Queensland had won, this would have made game three a fizzer and given Queensland has won the series in the last six years it would severely damage the State of Origin concept. Dare I say it, NSW winning the series in 2012 would not be a tragedy. The important thing is ensuring the greatest game on the planet, i.e., Rugby League is maintained for everyone to enjoy.

Cheesecake returns


Earlier this year Bron made a claim that she would cook a different cheesecake every month. We’ve certainly enjoyed some great cheesecakes however, the one a month concept hasn’t quite come to fruition.

Today we started with breakfast at a sort of new place. The old Hudson’s in the Gardens is now floresco in the Gardens. Bron had Eggs Benedict with bacon and I had Eggs Benedict with Kransky sausage (A cured cooked sausage of dubious contents and indeterminate age). The café was only a week new under the new management. The Eggs Benedict tasted really good with a really smooth and tasty Hollandaise sauce. The Kransky was a little small and not as spicy as I was hoping for. I like a big spicy Kransky sausage. They also didn’t have any cracked pepper on hand which was a slight disappointment.

Eggs Benedict with Kransky (iPhone)

After a bike ride and then a walk I had a late lunch. The other day we did a trip to CostCo and bought a box of pork buns and yesterday Bron bought me a can of pineapple Fanta from a shop (she won’t tell me the name). The pork bun was really good.

Pork bun and pineapple Fanta (iPhone)

Tonight for dinner Bron made a slow roasted chicken with preserved lemons and risotto. The preserved lemons come from a twitter friend who is well known for her lemon curd, lemon jam drops and preserved lemons.

Chicken with preserved lemons and risotto (iPhone)

And for the Pièce de résistance we had vanilla baked cheesecake with salted caramel sauce and vanilla cream. This was so light and yet so rich and so so sweet and unctuous.

Vanilla baked cheesecake with salted caramel sauce and vanilla cream (iPhone)

 

Red meat, white meat and carbohydrates galour


It’s been an odd weekend. Bron has gone away for a couple of weeks so I have to fend for myself. Thinking of Bron I made Brioche French toast yesterday morning and then we went to the local club for dinner last night. Today I cooked pork belly (my other white meat).

The Brioche was soaked in cream, eggs, vanilla and sugar.

Brioche soaking in cream, vanilla, eggs and sugar

I served it with cream and maple syrup because I didn’t have any berries. Note the Brisbane Broncos mug taking pride of place given they defeated the Canberra Raiders on Friday night.

Served with cream and maple syrup

After breakfast I went to Costco to pick up a new pair of reading spectacles. While I was there I happened upon one of the many meat cabinets. I picked up some red meat in the form of a rack of lamb and some scotch fillet.

I plan to cook this this week some time.

I love my vacuum sealer. I can prepare meat and freeze it to keep for extended periods.

My scotch fillet in food saver bags.

On Saturday night we went to the Southern Cross Club at Jamison. This is a local club and they do a reasonable steak. I tend to go for the scotch fillet with prawns and calamari in a Béarnaise sauce served on a bed of mash potato.

Steak, served rare as I want it.

For dessert we had a layered meringue cake. It was delicious. I should have asked for ice cream too.

Meringue layer cake with cream

The meal was fairly good. The service is okay. Saturday night is a pretty busy night for the Southern Cross Club.

This morning I made a salami and Gruyere cheese omelet for breakfast. It was pretty delicious.

Salami and Gruyere Cheese omelet for breakfast

This afternoon I took a piece of belly pork and slowly cooked it in a low oven. After I got it to room temperature I scalded it with boiling water.

It's upside down but this is after it's been scalded with boiling water

I then seared the skin in a saucepan while the oven was heating up.

After searing in a saucepan

I then put the saucepan and pork into an oven for five hours at 110 °C.

This is how it looked after a couple of hours.

I also made a sweet potato and Gruyere cheese and cheddar cheese bake.

To the bake I added some curry powder we got from the Easter Show.

Madras chicken curry

I served the pork with the sweet potato and some asparagus spears.

Plated up pork belly with sweet potato and asparagus spears

It’s been a good weekend, although I will miss Bron for a couple of weeks.

My first Wagyu beef cooking experience


Yesterday we went to Costco and bought some Wagyu beef.

Wagyu steak from Costco

This morning we started with homemade Eggs Benedict to prove a point about the niceness of runny yolks and a smooth Hollandaise sauce. While yesterday’s breakfast was nice, this was better.

Bron's Homemade Eggs Benedict. Runny yolks are good.

A lot of thought and some research went into preparing for this evening’s meal. Wagyu beef is an expensive investment. The returns in terms of delicious flavours need to be maximised through careful cooking. The last thing we wanted was for the meat to be mishandled in any way.

After reading many websites and articles, we agreed on this method http://www.evernote.com/shard/s183/sh/6d02cff7-25f4-4a37-84ad-453bfa366032/72e8c7be756eac09e6fe4edc9b06a67c This is a method advocated by the Internet Chef.

Without an induction stove top we worked out our plan of attack. The meat was chilled and then the board dressed Jamie Oliver style to apply the seasoning. One side was cooked for 90 seconds and the fillet was turned and placed on a low heat hob with the lid on for 45 minutes. After cooking it was rested for 10 minutes. During this time Bron prepared a Jamie Oliver horseradish mash and we also had asparagus and peas.

Just look at how beautiful this piece of meat looks. It's good enough to cut thinly and eat raw.

The rib eye fillet looks gorgeous. Unctuous, gorgeous, beautiful, YUM…

Seasoned after seasoning the board as per Jamie Oliver

Don’t worry, this is not too much salt.

Bron's plate

I dissected the lean fillet from the fatty deckle. Bron prefers the lean fillet and I love the fatty deckle. The lean fillet was delicious and went well with the horseradish mash and peas.

My plate

I love the fatty deckle and all its succulent juiciness. The sauce was simply a white wine reduction with a little Dijon mustard and cream in the beef’s pan juices.

The tastiest meat and fat I've ever had

The deckle meat is on the left. It was separated from the lean fillet by a nice piece of fat. The fat tasted amazing. It was not a ‘fatty’ texture at all. It melted in my mouth and was full of flavour.

Steamed pudding with chocolate cherry sauce

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe.

Maestral Mediterranean and Seafood restaurant in Weston


Yesterday was a slow kind of day. We started with brunch at Black Pepper in Belconnen. This is a local café that does a good breakfast and brunch on weekends. It is very popular amongst locals and especially cyclists and walkers who exercise around Lake Ginninderra.

Bron asked for Eggs Benedict on Turkish bread and I asked for the Black Pepper big breakfast with Turkish bead. Black Pepper Menu July 2012

When our meals arrived, the Eggs Benedict were sitting on a muffin. Rather than waste time and send the dish back, I shared my Turkish bread.

Beautiful eggs Benedict

The plates were cold and the bacon was also cold. The eggs were slightly over cooked. The yolks were still soft but they weren’t really runny like we like them. Otherwise, the Eggs Benedict and Black Pepper Breakfast were very nice. As you can see I also asked for a bowl of hollandaise sauce to go with my breakfast. Along with our coffees, it was a good start to the day.

The day got better with a visit to Costco. I wanted to see the optometrist, although I didn’t realise I needed an appointment. I’ll be returning next Saturday. To compensate my disappointment we went to look at the meat section. There is a whole cold section dedicated to Australian produced Wagyu beef.

Costco's Wagyu cabinet

I will blog soon about cooking Wagyu beef.

The Maestral Mediterranean and Seafood restaurant is on 13 Trenerry Street in Weston. The menu is a combination of Croatian, seafood and beef. The surf and turf/reef and beef options look amazing.

We started with baby fried calamari and then went onto a Maestral seafood platter.

Baby fried calamari

The calamari was perfectly fried. It was juicy and tender.

The Maestral seafood platter. The soft shell crab was the highlight.

The platter had a combination of oysters (natural and oysters Maestral [see menu]), scampi, prawns, fish, soft shell crab and fried potatoes.

Me smiling because I love seafood platters

I would definitely go back and try other dishes on the menu. It’s a very popular restaurant. We saw a number of familiar faces and friends there last night.

After the Maestral we thought we’d enjoy dessert at Max Brenner in Belconnen. I chose the waffle with strawberries and vanilla ice cream.

Max Brenner waffle with strawberries and vanilla ice cream

And so finished a pretty good day.

Yep @PeskyPippi and @TheBernieBrand I got whipped cream


Not long ago @SarcasmFairy introduced us to @TheBernieBrand who introduced us to @PeskyPippi. One of the first things mentioned was whipped cream in a can and sending an image of a nozzle in one’s mouth inhaling whipped cream. I’ve never touched a can let alone had whipped cream from a can.

Yesterday while at Costco we saw, snaffled and bought a catering version of cream in a can from New Zealand. I’ve commented previously on fine produce from New Zealand in a post that is not meant to be mentioned in polite company.

So if you visit PeskyPippi’s website and go through the recent posts you’ll come across Got Whipped Cream? I Dare Ya On this you’ll come across a variety of tweeps who have had a nozzle in their mouth and swallowed.

I’m hoping PeskyPippi will download this image of me and post to her page.

I’m grateful to @bron99 for her photography assistance.

Catering quality whipped cream from New Zealand

There are other images but this one was the safest to send.

Dinner at Lemon Grass Woden and Max Brenner Belconnen


After an afternoon of shopping at Costco and DFO we’d worked up a hunger for Thai food and chocolate.

I’ve been to the Lemon Grass restaurant in Woden a few times. The food has always been nice. Last night was no exception. The service though was a little quirky. At one stage we had food and no plates and at other times plates and no food. All the servers looked unhappy and it appeared they didn’t have designated tables to wait on.

For starters we had Taud Man Pla (Thai fish cakes) and Goong Taud (deep fried King prawns coated in almond flakes).These were tasty morsels and certainly made me hungrier for more food.

Taud Man Pla Spicy Thai fish cakes

Delicious

Goong Taud Deep fried king prawns covered with almond flakes

A little over cooked.

For a main course I had the beef Gang Panang (creamy red curry with crushed peanuts and kaffir leaves topped with crispy egg noodles). Along with the rice to soak up the amazing creamy curry juices, this was a light spicy and tasty meal.

Gang Panang Creamy red curry (chicken or beef) with crushed peanuts and kaffir leaves topped with crispy egg noodles.

I’ve never really appreciated Thai desserts, so instead we went for a drive north to Belconnen to Max Brenner to enjoy some chocolate, viz., in the form of chocolate fondue (Pure melted milk and dark chocolate served with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and banana bread).

Chocolate fondue with melted dark and milk chocolate.

In the end there was melted chocolate left over. I didn’t want to waste it.

I think this is an acceptable way to finish the melted chocolate.

The Lemon Grass menu can be found at www.lemongrassthai.com.au/Images/LemonGrassMenuWeb01.pdf

The Max Brenner menu can be found at http://www.maxbrenner.com.au/menu/menu.pdf

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar on Urbanspoon