Queensland

The Ekka 2023

Introduction

Dear Reader, 

I hope you had a good week. Mine was reasonably busy.

I don’t have a recipe this week. I spent the weekend in Brisbane for my annual visit to “The Ekka” or “The Show” as we knew it as kids.

The Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland hosts the Royal Queensland Show.

Mmm… Dog Sushi at The Ekka. This is a joke, I’m joking. Sushi Hub sponsors the dog and cat pavilions.

I took my daughters plus my eldest daughter’s partner and his nephew. It was the young fella’s first Ekka experience. We all wanted to make it special for him.

It was a glorious day. The sky was clear for most for the day, the sunshine was bright and brilliant, and there was little to no wind. It reached a maximum of 28 °C and it was a perfect day to convert cholesterol to vitamin D.

The Ekka main arena. Mmm… beef 🤤

One of my favourite things about The Ekka is the wood chopping competitions. We sat and watched a few events including some amazing axe men and women at the standing cut, underhand, and team sawing. The sawing event was mind blowing. Those saws are so sharp.

What have I been reading?

I elected not to tackle any new books this week. I caught up on some podcasts and read work-related journal articles.

A couple nutrition-related pieces caught my eye.

Obesity may get a new name. It’s not clear at this stage what name might be chosen because there is debate about obesity as a disease. It could simply be clinical obesity rather than obesity. Many people object to obesity being classified as a disease rather than a symptom of other diseases. The article is a simple read.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has a new name. I don’t know that I’ll remember metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). It doesn’t roll off my tongue like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. I understand the words “alcoholic” and “fatty” cause stigma for some people. The new name does convey an accurate physiological process.

What did I eat?

I declined food on the flight between Canberra and Brisbane. I noticed the other passengers were eating hot pies. Everyone had smiles on their faces. I drank mineral water.

On Saturday morning, I ventured to the local mall and sat down to beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and fungi in the form of a steak, bacon, liver, eggs, and mushrooms. There were also four packets of Lurpak® butter too.

While I was at The Ekka we did the usual visits to all the food stalls, especially in the Food Pavilion where there are often samples available to taste and try.

I enjoyed a couple of yummy olives. One had a Sichuan chilli flavour and was delicious.

I elected not to eat lunch, I wasn’t hungry, so I waited until later in the afternoon when everyone was keen to enjoy a strawberry sundae. The Ekka’s strawberry sundaes are a tradition and worth a momentary departure from my low carbohydrate, healthy fat eating lifestyle.

I savoured every lick as I moved my tongue and lips across the rich creamy ice cream and whipped cream. I slowly allowed the sweetness of the strawberries and ice cream to coat my tongue and buccal cavity. I explored the cone with the tip of my tongue making the most of every new exposure to the ice cream and strawberries. It was worth it.

I know some readers are critical of foods like ice cream, I understand why. The amount of sugar and processed chemicals is obscene. The delight it gave my daughters to sit with me and for us to each enjoy an Ekka strawberry sundae in the sunshine next to the main arena of the RNA Showgrounds while some magnificent cattle were on show was worth every gram of sucrose.

At about five o’clock we made our way to Machinery Hill to find a piece of concrete to establish a position for EkkaNITES. We took it in turns to mind our spot and bags while we foraged for something to eat for dinner. I found some roast beef while my daughters found dumplings, baos, and toasties. The young fella had his first Dagwood dog experience, and he almost inhaled it. I think we’ve turned on a love for deep fried battered pork sausage.

On Sunday morning, I found a place and enjoyed poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, bacon, and pork belly.

Poached eggs with hollandaise on bacon and pork belly. I left the muffin behind.

EkkaNITES

I love EkkaNITES which is the evening entertainment program at The Ekka. This one was pretty special. The Queensland Governor and her husband, both of whom I know personally opened the Royal Queensland Show because it was the first night of The Ekka. The Governor’s husband was my boss for three years when I was a pathology trainee. It was a little weird standing to attention in honour of Her Excellency and her husband as she inspected the Royal Queensland Show guard which comprised ninety-nine ADF members from all three services. Her personal guard consists of mounted Queensland Police. I didn’t know this, but QPOL buys former thoroughbred racehorses for the mounted police.

The other interesting aspect of the opening was praying with an Anglican Priest as he blessed the plough. This is part of Ekka tradition and is a good demonstration of the RNA’s roots in agriculture and primary production. I was surprised by the priest’s prayer, because, as a diocese, Brisbane is not regarded as evangelical which is code for the priests don’t believe the bible is the inspired Word of God. The prayer however had words I could really get behind and it made the day even better as we communed with God. Maybe the Brisbane-based priest understood that rural Queenslanders are a bit different.

The entertainment consists of a wide variety of parts, and it culminates in fireworks. The horse-work this year involved Texas Longhorn steers and a small herd of bison being mustered by stockpersons. There were some other parts which involved singing, dancing, and circus performers. This is all good stuff for those that like that sort of thing. I loved the V8 utes doing circle-work and racing around the arena. The freestyle motocross part was fantastic. Each time one of the young riders was in the air pulling and twisting his motorcycle around in what seemed to be impossible situations I was praying God would keep the rider safe on landing. It’s hard to beat the noise of V8 and motorcycle engines and the smell of ignited petrol. Give me internal combustion engines any day. They bring so much joy.

You may wonder why the horse-work involved North American bovines. The show featured a competition between an Australian stockman and an American cowboy.

EkkaNITES ends with fireworks. Each year the show seems to get better. I love fireworks and The Ekka never disappoints. The whole arena is used and the choreographed work with fire dancers, motorcyclists, scooter riders all trailing sparks and flames from back packs as they speed around and across the arena is fantastic. The music is loud. The engine noise is loud. The smell of smoke and exploding fireworks along with ICE exhaust fills the nostrils. It’s a fitting climax to what was a fantastic day. I was spent afterwards and slept well.

Airport drama

I’m posting this from Brisbane airport. My flight home has been cancelled so I’m waiting to see what might be available later tonight.

Flying this weekend hasn’t been good. My flight from Canberra to Brisbane was delayed by three hours.

I don’t know what time I’ll be home tonight.

 

Have a good week.

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.

This is a photograph of the front of Alfie's Mooo Char & Bar restaurant at Caloundra.

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.

Footy food for game 1

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.

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Lunch

The menu was as expected a food lovers paradise ranging from light and easy through to substantial meaty monuments to magnificent muscle.

This is a photograph of a knife and fork plus cutlery used to eat crabs and oysters at Alfie's Mooo Char & Bar at Caloundra.

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 is a photograph of me (Gary Lum aka Yummy Lummy) and my daughter before we begin to tuck into out hot and cold seafood platter at Alfie's Mooo Char & Bar restaurant at Caloundra.

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.

This is a photograph of my view of the hot and cold seafood platter at Alfie's Mooo Char & Bar restaurant at Caloundra.

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.

This is a photograph of me (Gary Lum aka Yummy Lummy) on the beach at Caloundra. I'm wearing a Star Trek cap, sunglasses, a long-sleeve rash vest and board shorts.

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.

How to have the best weekend ever

This weekend just past has been awfully cold in Canberra. On Sunday I heard the maximum temperature didn’t get above 5 °C. So how would I have the best weekend with that sort of temperature? I escaped of course. I went to visit my kids and parents in Brisbane and had the best weekend I’ve had in ages.

The flight up was comfortable and I enjoyed a tuna salad for tea.

Tuna salad on QF 1554 CBR to BNE
Tuna salad on QF 1554 CBR to BNE

When I arrived we started planning the following day. Toast for breakfast, drive to Nambour and check out the markets at the Big Pineapple and hopefully pick up some morning tea. Drive on to Noosa, walk around and enjoy lunch. Drive back via Yandina and visit the Buderim Ginger Factory and Nutworks, hopefully for afternoon tea and then back to my parents’ place for dinner.

The Big Pineapple Sunshine Plantation
The Big Pineapple Sunshine Plantation

Meat without feet
Meat without feet

It sort of worked out that way. When we got to the Big Pineapple we enjoyed a walk around the old building and into the pineapple. The markets have taken over which is good. I’m glad to see the buildings are still getting use. The little zoölogical gardens are still there and fields of pineapples too. The cafe didn’t seem to have any pastries so we decided to look through Nambour.

As we drove through the main drag of Nambour we were surprised at how many of the shops were closed. Some were boarded up and most of the others were closed for business. We drove around and around and couldn’t see a bakery or a cafe open. Disappointed we drove on.

As we approach Eumundi we thought we’d check out the markets. Well that was great in theory but rubbish practically. We spent thirty minutes lined up along the road trying to find a park. In the end we decided to give it a miss. The place was so crowded it would have wasted time we didn’t have.

We drove on to Noosa, found a car park pretty easily and started walking around. We found a bakery and had morning tea. I had a small pecan tart.

Pecan tart from Noosa
Pecan tart from Noosa

As we walked up and down Hastings Street we had fun walking in and out of shops and checking things out.

Cockatoos by two
Cockatoos by two

Hairy Mannequin
Hairy Mannequin

Interesting tree roots
Interesting tree roots

Miss20 with a mask on Hastings Street Noosa
Miss20 with a mask on Hastings Street Noosa

Miss18 with a mask on Hastings Street Noosa
Miss18 with a mask on Hastings Street Noosa

Miss20 with a mask on Hastings Street Noosa
Miss20 with a mask on Hastings Street Noosa

We thought we’d buy some lunch and have it on the beach. Miss18 had brought a couple of beach towels and the girls wanted chips and gravy while I wanted sushi rolls. We bought both and shared it all 

Sushi rolls on Noosa beach
Sushi rolls on Noosa beach

Chips and gravy on Noosa beach
Chips and gravy on Noosa beach

The beach was glorious. It was about 22 °C and sunny. The water was so blue, the sand so white and fine. I looked at my weather app for Canberra and laughed out loud. I was in a T-shirt basking in the sunny goodness.

2015-07-04_12.45.31_004_GARY_LUM_FB

You can see the beach reflected in my sunnies
You can see the beach reflected in my sunnies

My daughters went to town taking selfies. All through the day they had their telephones out capturing everything around them. We were so happy, we kept saying to each other how glorious the weather was and how we wished we had brought our togs. The water would be cold but there was no wind and with the sunshine we could warm up on the sand.

After a couple of hours of just sitting under the shade of some trees looking out into the ocean we packed up and drove to Yandina.

We headed to the Buderim Ginger Factory and Nutworks.

Buderim Ginger Factory train crossing
Buderim Ginger Factory train crossing

A can of Buderim ginger beer and pear
A can of Buderim ginger beer and pear

This ginger beer and pear was delicious.

Buderim Ginger Factory Ginger scone with ginger marmalade and cream
Buderim Ginger Factory Ginger scone with ginger marmalade and cream

Miss18 loved her afternoon tea

Lizard on a turtle on a rock at Buderim Ginger Factory
Lizard on a turtle on a rock at Buderim Ginger Factory

Crocodile jerky
Crocodile jerky

I’ve never tried crocodile jerky.

After buying Mum some Queensland nuts for Sunday breakfast we headed back to Brisbane.

Mum had tea ready for us. I got to carve an amazing butterflied and stuffed lamb shoulder. It was glorious.

Roast lamb shoulder and vegetables for Saturday dinner
Roast lamb shoulder and vegetables for Saturday dinner

After a good sleep Mum and Miss18 put together waffles for breakfast. We had butterscotch sauce, caramel ice cream, Nutella, Queensland nuts and fruit. They were amazing.

Table set for waffles for breakfast
Table set for waffles for breakfast

Waffle with butterscotch sauce, ice cream, nutella, fruit and Queensland nuts
Waffle with butterscotch sauce, ice cream, nutella, fruit and Queensland nuts

After such a great weekend it was difficult to say goodbye and catch my flight back to Canberra.

Cheese box on QF1549 BNE to CBR
Cheese box on QF1549 BNE to CBR

When I landed in Canberra it was 3 °C and I was back to reality. I’d had a dream weekend. The best weekend. It’s a good thing I love my job, the people of Canberra and small town life in Canberra. They are the only things keeping me here.

 

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Footy food for state of origin 2

Tonight’s match was the most important game of rugby league this year. Queensland needed to defeat NSW to ensure not just a series win but a set up for a clean sweep. NSW was desperate to win to set up a decider at Lang Park.

Every state of origin match like a grand final needs footy food. In fact state of origin is more important than a grand final or an international test match so the food needs to be super tasty and super simple.

I started the day with a small simple breakfast with a big dinner in mind.

Bacon and eggs

A close up of my bacon and eggs
A close up of my bacon and eggs

For lunch I had leftover roast lamb with some cheese and leaves.

Leftover lamb with cheese and leaves
Leftover lamb with cheese and leaves

For my main meal I bought 500 grams of chicken wings. I specified the forearm equivalent, i.e., the radius and ulna and not the humerus. I reckon this has the most tender meat and when it’s cooked well it falls from the bones easily. I coated the chicken with oil and added some chicken salt, pepper and chili flakes. I put them into an oven at 150 °C for 60 minutes. I also added some Brussels sprouts and some little nubs of beef mince. To this I added some slivered almonds and pine nuts and then added a layer of grated cheese. All this is similar to what I had on the night of game 1. That night I had panko coated wings. Now that I’m doing a bit of low carb eating I’ve avoided the panko crumbs.

Chicken wings and Brussels sprouts with nubs of beef mince
Chicken wings and Brussels sprouts with nubs of beef mince

Chicken wings and Brussels sprouts from the oven
Chicken wings and Brussels sprouts from the oven

My bowl of chicken wings and Brussels sprouts
My bowl of chicken wings and Brussels sprouts

A close up of my chicken wings and Brussels sprouts
A close up of my chicken wings and Brussels sprouts

So this is the footy food I had tonight for game 2 of the 2015 state of origin series.

In the end New South Wales defeated Queensland 26:18. It was a bit of a lacklustre game tonight. Queensland’s defence wasn’t as good as it has been or should have been. Bring on game 3. A decider at Lang Park the home of Queensland rugby league.

What footy food will you have for game 3?

Footy food for state of origin 1

Every state of origin match like a grand final needs footy food. In fact state of origin is more important than a grand final or an international test match so the food needs to be super tasty and super simple.

I started the day with a small simple breakfast with a big dinner in mind.

Fried egg and parmesan
Fried egg and parmesan

For lunch I made a smoked salmon, Coon cheese, cream cheese and lettuce toasted sandwich with jalapeño avocado spread.

Smoked salmon, Coon cheese, cream cheese and lettuce toasted sandwich with jalapeño avocado butter #delicious #lunch #instafood #instayum #yummy #Food #foodporn #foodphotography #Sony #healthy #healthfood #mealforone #origin #Queensland #humpday

So for dinner I started with meat chips. These are slices of salami cooked in a hot oven and allowed to cool to a crunchy chip. I served these with cream cheese with chives and spring onion. That makes up this evening’s vegetables 

Meat chips with cream cheese. My vegetables tonight are the chives and spring onion in the cream cheese.
Meat chips with cream cheese. My vegetables tonight are the chives and spring onion in the cream cheese.

For my main meal I bought 500 grams of chicken wings. I specified the forearm equivalent, i.e., the radius and ulna and not the humerus. I reckon this has the most tender meat and when it’s cooked well it falls from the bones easily. I coated the chicken with oil and panko crumbs and added some chicken salt, golden syrup and chili flakes. I put them into an oven at 150 °C for 45 minutes.

Chicken wings ready for the oven with panko crumbs, golden syrup
Chicken wings ready for the oven with panko crumbs, golden syrup

Chicken wings ready for the oven with panko crumbs, golden syrup, chicken salt and chili flakes
Chicken wings ready for the oven with panko crumbs, golden syrup, chicken salt and chili flakes

Panko chicken wings with chili flakes and chicken salt
Panko chicken wings with chili flakes and chicken salt

So this is the footy food I had tonight for game 1 of the 2015 state of origin series.

I ended up finishing it before the game started. Kick off is meant to be at 8 pm but channel 9 never seems to get it right. The pre-game mucking around with singing songs no one understands and then listening to someone butcher our national anthem pushed the kick off to about 8.20 pm. I still reckon a sure winner for the national anthem is a school choir. What a thrill would it be for them to sing the national anthem for the greatest sporting event that happens three times a year for the greatest game of all.

I kept sane by listening to the game on the ABC Radio app rather than listen to the Channel 9 broadcast. There was about a 30 second delay on the telecast but it meant I didn’t have to listen to Phil Gould and Andrew Johns.

In the end Queensland defeated New South Wales 11:10. It was a tough tight game. Bring on game 2.

What footy food will you have for game 2?