It rained today so my plan to go for a walk didn’t eventuate. I’ve put on so much weight, I need to exercise and eat less. Well after last night I really need to eat less.
I made a light and easy steak dinner. The steak was a Scotch rib fillet that was about 1 cm thick and it had a nice amount of deckle around the lean fillet.
Scotch rib fillet steak NIKON D5300 with 40.0 mm f/2.8 at 40mm and f/8, 1/5sec, ISO 800
I left the steak out on the bench for 2 hours to let it get to room temperature and to reduce the moisture content.
Bread and butter NIKON D5300 with 40.0 mm f/2.8 at 40mm and f/8, 1/5sec, ISO 280
I needed some fried bread as a base for the steak. The steak always tastes good with fried bread. Frying bread in real butter is also important.
Sweet potato NIKON D5300 with 40.0 mm f/2.8 at 40mm and f/8, 1/5sec, ISO 360
I like sweet potato. I cooked this with the steak. In the finished product you can see the char marks
Saturday dinner. Scotch rib fillet steak with spinach, capsicum and sweet potato. NIKON D7100 with 90.0 mm f/2.8 at 90mm and f/16, 1/25sec, ISO 400
I like to cook my steak rare. I use the Heston Blumenthal method. I have a timer set for 5 minutes and the frying pan set to high. I turn the steak every 20 seconds. I then let it rest for at least 5 minutes. The resting is the most important part.
So do you like to eat a quick and easy minute steak?
If you have any comments or questions please send me a comment in the space below.
It was a great day for a drive in the country. Warm relatively humid weather. Not too much glare and not too much traffic.
Junee is about two and a half hours drive from Canberra. Junee is known as the home of NSW and Australian rugby league player Laurie Daley and rugby league broadcaster Ray Warren. It’s also the home of a licorice and chocolate factory which in a former life was a flour mill.
The factory does tours and has a gift shop plus restaurant and cafe. We went looking in the gift shop and the theme was mainly kitchen appliances and gadgets plus Crocs® The cafe is aligned with the sales outlet for the licorice and chocolate. There are all sorts of flavours and shapes. They seem to do a big trade in freckles, frogs and boobs. Yes boobs, milky white boobs. And also milk chocolate boobs.
The restaurant has a nice big spacious feel and a country style menu with steak sandwiches, hamburgers, fish and chips, steak and some salads.
Bron chose a Junee lamb burger with red beans, guacamole and sour cream plus a granny smith cider. I chose a sirloin steak with a garden salad and chips. I asked for the steak to be cooked rare and to come with a peppercorn sauce.
Junee lamb burger Apple iPhone 5s with iPhone 5s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/30sec, ISO 100
Bron liked her burger. The meat was juicy, flavoursome and tender and the bun was nicely toasted and still soft. The guacamole and sour cream with red kidney beans worked really well together. The chips had a great flavour, but we’re a bit too soft for Bron’s liking.
The cider was crisp, dry and wonderfully refreshing. Perfect for a warm 32 °C plus warm windy day looking out to the lovely shade of the vine encased outdoor dining area.
Sirloin steak with garden salad and chips Apple iPhone 6 with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/15sec, ISO 50
My steak was good. It was mostly rare with some areas a little more medium rare. The fat was mostly rendered but there was some gristle which tasted good but it was tough. The salad was lightly dressed so no splashing of vinegar and oil on my white shirt 🙂 The chips were tasty but soft. I also had a caramel thickshake which was pretty good.
Junee Licorice and Chocolate factory white chocolate boobs NIKON D7100 with 90.0 mm f/2.8 at 90mm and f/8, 1/30sec, ISO 400Junee Licorice and Chocolate factory white chocolate boobs NIKON D7100 with 90.0 mm f/2.8 at 90mm and f/8, 1/30sec, ISO 400
I recently had the opportunity to stay at the Oaks on Collins in Melbourne. I spent three nights in a room checking in on a Tuesday and checking out on a Friday. The check in experience was fast and efficient. When I got into my room I was struck by the kitchenette and the en suite. Both were made for giants. The amenities rack in the shower stall was set at about 170 cm (higher than my eye line). The kitchenette had a microwave oven, a dish washer drawer, a refrigerator and an induction hot plate. The fume hood controls were higher than I could reach and the upper cupboards were also beyond my reach (I’m 170 cm tall). There were also no plates or bowls and no pots or pans to cook with 🙂 I’m not sure what I was meant to do if I went out and bought my own food to prepare.
So, I was in Melbourne for three nights and one evening had already been arranged with a dinner associated with the meeting I was participating in. That left me options for breakfast and dinner. Over the years I’ve become less and less interested in hotel breakfasts. I’ve already written about my breakfast experiences at Kenny’s Bakery Cafe which was a superb option for me. For the two spare evenings I elected to have room service, mainly because I had a lot of routine work to get through and it is so much easier to just nest in the hotel room and get through it all.
On the first night I asked for a hamburger and an apple and cinnamon crumble.
Tuesday dinner. Room service. Oaks beef burger and chips.
This burger was pretty good. It was filling and tasty. The chips were also very good. The burger wasn’t as enjoyable as my recent Brodburger experience but then the context was also very different.
Tuesday dessert. Room service. Apple and cinnamon crumble.
On first inspection, this crumbled didn’t look that appetising when I first saw it. It looked pretty ordinary.
Tuesday dessert. Room service. Apple and cinnamon crumble. This was horrible.
When I tried to eat this it was just horrible. I tried to swallow a few mouthfuls but it was just disgusting. It is very rare for me not to finish a dessert. I think I’ve done it a few times and that’s about it. I would not recommend the apple and cinnamon crumble.
On the final night I’d already eaten quite a lot and I didn’t want anything really big. I also had quite a bit of work to complete. I just had a steak with king prawns and calamari.
Pay day room service dinner. Rare fillet steak with king prawns and calamari.
This was really nice. The steak was cooked rare. If I had a steak knife the experience would have been more enjoyable, but it was tender enough to cut with the butter knife supplied in the kitchenette.
So on balance, the room service meal experience at the Oaks on Collins was okay. The burger and steak were good. I think the less said about the apple and cinnamon crumble the better.
The checking out experience was fast and efficient and each morning I would get a takeaway flat white coffee from the hotel’s restaurant. The coffee was very good.
How have your room service experiences been? Have you stayed at the Oaks on Collins? Do you eschew room service or embrace it? Please write a comment and let me know.
If you have any comments or questions please send me a comment in the space below.
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