Quinoa fried rice
I was recently reading “Cooking is Fun … Really!!” and the blogger (whose real name I don’t know) posted about quinoa fried ‘rice’.
Quinoa fried rice
Prawns
Alfie’s Mooo Char & Bar Restaurant Review
Alfie’s Mooo Char & Bar Restaurant Review
On the Saturday, of this year’s Australia Day long weekend, I went to Alfie’s Mooo Char & Bar with my daughters and my eldest daughter’s boyfriend. We had planned this lunch since before Christmas 2017.
Who is Alfie?
If you’re not from Queensland or New South Wales (NSW) you may not know Alfie. Alfie is Allan Langer, and in my opinion the greatest rugby league halfback ever. Alfie played for the Brisbane Broncos, the XXXX Queensland Maroons, and the Australian Kangaroos. While small in stature for a modern elite athlete, his tenacity, skill, game intelligence and ability to read the field of play made him both exciting and dangerous if you were an opposing cockroach.
After Alfie retired from the National Rugby League (NRL) competition, he went on to play in the English super league. While he was there, Mr Wayne Bennett) was coaching the mighty XXXX Queensland Maroons and in 2001 during the State of Origin series, for the third and deciding match he called Alfie back to wear the Maroon jersey. Despite criticism and laughs of derision from cockroaches and cockroach lovers, Alfie set up two tries and scored one of the most brilliant tries of Origin history. While critics south of the border said he was too old and unfit to play Origin, Alfie inspired the team and Queensland won the series that year.
That try
Watch this YouTube video from about the 6 minutes 25 seconds mark through to 7 minutes 20 seconds to see THAT try.
Alfie’s Mooo Char & Bar
The restaurant is located on the corner of The Esplanade and Otranto Avenue, Bulcock Beach, Caloundra QLD 4551. Its website is simply http://www.alfies.net.au/ You can call to make a booking on +61 7 5492 8155.
For more information, you can go to Google maps. This site also has reviews and photographs.
My parents and brothers have eaten at Alfie’s many times and Dad has told me how he has even met Alfie who is often there and serving drinks at the bar. Apparently, he’ll walk around and chat with diners. Alfie wasn’t there on the day that we enjoyed our meal, I’m hoping to visit again for an opportunity to meet the man.
[social_warfare]
Lunch
The menu was as expected a food lovers paradise ranging from light and easy through to substantial meaty monuments to magnificent muscle.
My youngest daughter chose an Alfie Burger which she said was delicious and being in Queensland, it had beetroot and pineapple. These two elements are the sine qua non for a Queensland burger. In my mind, the only thing that could make it better would be a fried egg.
My daughter told me it was a really good burger.
My eldest daughter and her boyfriend both enjoyed fish and chips.
It looked like they both enjoyed their fish and chips.
My middle daughter and I agreed we would share a hot and cold seafood platter. This particular daughter and I have a very strong bond with food. She is a talented cake maker and cake decorator and she’s working in the food industry at the moment.
This platter was pretty good and it didn’t take us long to polish it off. The only thing that could have been improved would have been the crab. I think I’ve been spoilt with experiences with Top End mud crabs and imported King crab. The humble spanner crab isn’t quite the same. In some ways, a sand crab would be been nice. We agreed, the next time we might go for a cold platter with a side of the oysters Kilpatrick.
Everything tasted fresh and the oysters were plump and the prawns were firm. The deep-fried treats were very tasty and not over seasoned. The accompanying dipping sauces were also very good. The house tartare was great and next time I might ask for an extra dish of that.
My daughter and I were very satisfied with our choice and we felt like we had eaten well.
If you’re interested in what the damage was, check out the online menu for all the details.
Alfie’s burger
Beef pattie, bacon, beetroot, pineapple, vintage cheddar, caramelised onions, smokey bbq sauce, fat chips.
Alfie’s fish and chips
Fish and fat chips, summer salad, house tartare, lemon.
Alfie’s hot and cold seafood platter
1 spanner crab, 6 fresh Mooloolaba king prawns, 1 Moreton Bay bug, 6 natural oysters, 6 pieces of crumbed fish, 6 tempura king prawns, 6 Kilpatrick oysters, salt and pepper calamari and served with a Queensland nut and toasted coconut salad, tartare sauce, seafood sauce, fat chips, and lemon.
Final thoughts
Before I get to my final thoughts, you may like to read about the radio interview I did with Lish Fejer and Jolene Laverty on ABC Canberra about vanilla slice, one of my favourite things.
I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch with my daughters. The restaurant is well positioned so you can see the water. The sea breeze keeps everything cool. The wait staff are friendly and attentive to diners. Gratefully they didn’t clear plates before everyone was finished.
Once ordered, the food came out in a good amount of time, not too soon and we didn’t feel like we were left waiting too long. The food itself is well presented, fresh and delicious.
I’d happily return for another meal and I have no hesitation to recommend Alfie’s Mooo Bar & Char to others.
I reckon after a lunch, it’s worth going for a walk and enjoying an ice cream by the beach.
Anchor note For those not familiar with the finer points of rugby league, a cockroach is a player from NSW. So named by Barry Muir. Barry was one of Australia’s greatest 100 players of the greatest game of all.
Jalapeño spam and prawn curry
Jalapeño spam is a lovely spicy taste sensation
Jalapeño spam is a variation of my favourite tinned meat. When you slice through a brick of Jalapeño spam you come across small pieces of diced Jalapeño pepper.
So far I’ve had a couple of sandwiches with a thick wodge of Jalapeño spam either oven baked and fried, or pan fried in a toasted sandwich.
Please do me a favour
I think I’ve managed to work out how to use e-mail lists for sending post notifications and newsletters. I’d love it if you would sign up using the ‘form’ in the sidebar (if you’re using a laptop or desktop) or at the bottom of the post (if you’re using a mobile device).
By subscribing you’ll receive a personalised e-mail from me and from time to time, apart from the blog post I’ll share something new, like my ideas for a cookbook sometime this year.
Preparing tonight’s dinner
Today Canberra experienced another 41 °C maximum temperature. To avoid dehydration and heat stroke I’ve stayed inside and not done terribly much. I did go grocery shopping this morning and bought some raw prawns.
What you will need to put this meal for one together
- Jalapeño spam—diced
- Raw prawns that have been peeled
- Instant noodles
- Coconut cream
- Red onions—sliced
- Thai red curry paste
- Red chillies—sliced
- Jalapeño peppers—sliced
- Chilli flakes—dried
- Tomato—quartered (I wish this was a sweet fresh tomato)
- Peas
- Corn
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Lime zest and lime juice
- Mint
How to put all this together
- Cook the noodles in boiling water
- Fry off the spam and onions until they start to caramelise and then add the tomato
- To the spam and onions add the peas, corn, broccoli, carrots and potatoes and keep stirring while frying
- As the vegetables begin to soften add a couple of tablespoons of the Thai red curry paste and stir through the cooking food
- Once the curry paste has been well incorporated add the cooked noodles and stir everything through getting the curry paste mixed in with the noodles
- Open the tin of coconut cream and add it while stirring
- Bring the coconut cream to a slow gentle simmer and the red chillies, jalapeño peppers and chilli flakes
- Add the juice of one lime
- Hopefully, while the coconut cream simmers it reduces in volume slightly
- At this point add the prawns and let them cook gently and be careful not to overcook them
- Put everything into a bowl and garnish with lime zest and mint
How did it taste?
I liked it. What’s not to like, though? My favourite tinned meats are spam and corned beef. This jalapeño spam is very nice.
A like hot and spicy meals on hot days and today was a very hot day. It was worth making.
Final thoughts
If you’re not anti-spam, I reckon you should give this jalapeño version a go. If you do, please let me know what you think.
Parting words
I regularly post photographs of food to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Please feel free to connect with me on any social media platform.
I also have a podcast. It’s not food related but each show is short and it’s named Medical Fun Facts. You can find it in the iTunes podcast store as well as Stitcher. A show drops every Monday and Tuesday. It has a little cynicism, a little scepticism and occasionally some sarcasm.
My weekend in food
Hello there. It’s been a while since I last wrote. I feel like I haven’t had much to share. My time is now pretty divided. Work is getting busier and I’m enjoying blogging and podcasting Medical Fun Facts.
This weekend was pretty quiet for me. On Friday I had a good day at the hospital and ate a simple dinner of bacon with avocado on toast.
On Saturday morning I decided to make a grilled cheese toastie with bacon.
Before I started grocery shopping I had a double shot latte to get me going.
For lunch, I had a pulled pork burrito with guacamole, sour cream, jalapeño peppers and salsa from Guzman Y Gomez. It was huge. It’s a good thing I have a big mouth. I needed two hands to hold it.
For dinner, on Saturday night I made a light meal. A prawn salad.
I slept well Saturday night and woke up thinking I’d poach an egg and have some bacon. Sadly, I fail at poaching eggs.
I went for a walk. I love the coloured buoys at Yerra Beach on Lake Ginninderra.
For lunch, I made myself a mango salad.
And, finally, for Sunday dinner, I made a chicken schnitzel cheeseburger. It was delicious.
Parting words
I regularly post photographs of food to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Please feel free to connect with me on any social media platform.
I also have a podcast. It’s not food related but each show is short and it’s named Medical Fun Facts. You can find it in the iTunes podcast store as well as Stitcher. A show drops every Monday and Tuesday. It has a little cynicism, a little scepticism and occasionally some sarcasm.
Prawn and scallop sandwich
Prawn and scallop sandwich on a warm summer evening
I was inspired this morning to make this prawn and scallop sandwich after watching Quirky Katie Quinn on her YouTube channel. She was sharing her experience of a Po’ Boy in New Orleans.
Katie Quinn
I’ve been following Katie for a few years and always enjoyed her stories. Katie was sharing where to get a good Po’ Boy in New Orleans with her BF Connor.
Is this a Po’ Boy?
Now I’m not suggesting for a moment that I’ve made a Po’ Boy. I really don’t have a good enough grasp of American culinary history to suggest that I could replicate something like that. Instead, I figured I could just sautée some prawns and scallops and put it into a baguette with some lettuce, tomato and garlic aioli.
I noticed in Katie’s video that the prawns and oysters were crumbed and deep fried. I’d love to do that but I’m too lazy and sautéing in butter is good enough for me.
Did you know scallops have blue eyes?
I did eat this with some regret. A year or so ago, my friend Jennifer who blogs ate Little Monster Girl mentioned she doesn’t eat scallops because, amongst other things, they have blue eyes. You can search for scallop eyes in Google and check it out. I said to Jennifer I’d refrain from eating scallops but I couldn’t help myself today when I saw them in the display cabinet at the delicatessen section at Coles.
How did the sandwich taste?
As you’d expect, seafood, fresh bread, crispy lettuce and fresh tomato. What more could you want? It tasted great.
Parting words
I regularly post photographs of food to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Please feel free to connect with me on any social media platform.
I also have a podcast. It’s not food related but each show is short and it’s named Medical Fun Facts. You can find it in the iTunes podcast store as well as Stitcher. A show drops every Monday and Tuesday. It has a little cynicism, a little scepticism and occasionally some sarcasm.
