To prepare, for their coming, I did my usual frenzy of buying yummy nibbles and baking. My almond biscuits turned out well.
Almond biscuit recipe.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup processed almonds
3/4 cup almonds either cut into pieces or partially processed. The aim is to have chunks of almond
1/4 cup caster sugar
200g butter, in chunks
2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
2 egg yolks
Icing sugar.
Method.
Preheat oven to 160 degrees
Blend processed almonds, butter and sugar until soft.
Add flour, vanilla, salt and egg yolks until incorporated.
Mix in the almond pieces.
Roll walnut sized dough into crescent shapes.
Place on oven trays lined with baking paper
Bake 15 minutes or until lightly golden.
Cool, then roll crescents in icing sugar.
I had left over icing sugar, so decided to make some coconut meringues.
Coconut Meringue Recipe
Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup shaved coconut
Method:
Preheat oven to 150 degrees.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until thick and glossy.
Fold through coconut.
Put tablespoons of mixture onto baking paper lined tray
Bake 5 minutes, then lower temperature for 45 minutes. Turn off oven and leave meringues to cool in it.
My horrible oven did its usual trick, in spite of me lowering the temperature to compensate for its vagaries. My meringues were slightly burned. Thank goodness I was cooking for family!
Lastly, I made muesli bars with extra toffee:
Honey Muesli Recipe
Ingredients:
(This time, I doubled the first 5 ingredients because I wanted a toffee effect. To be healthier, use the original ingredients below).
100 g butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
6 1/2 cup mixed cereals, nuts and dried fruit. ( You can use muesli, corn flakes, rice bubbles, Sustain, muesli - whatever you like.)
1 teaspoon mixed spice
Methods:
Microwave first 5 ingredents on high for 8-9 minutes, stirring after 3 minutes. Check if it has reached soft ball stage and heat until it does.
Combine other ingredients and add liquid ones. Mix well.
Spread into a greased oblong dish, cool, cut into squares.
Store in airtight container
For their first dinner here, for nibbles we had roasted chestnuts and home made Thai Mieng Kham:
For the main meal, we had grilled pork:
steamed green vegetables:
grilled mackerel:
Japanese pickles and bonito flakes:
and steamed rice.
Then, we were off for a few days in Noosa. The pool proved to be freezing, the weather atrocious but we were all on holidays, so it was still fun.
The first night we braved the pouring rain and tried the Natural Thai cafe in Noosaville. We ordered chicken satays and fish cakes for entrees:
Then, we tried a green prawn curry, red beef curry and Pad Thai, plus rice, for the main course.
Quite nice food but not outstanding.
The next day, it was off to Tin Can Bay to try and see some dolphins being fed.
We missed the dolphins, but caught a break in the rain:
We shared a coffee with the local residents:
yearned after some coconuts which were out of reach
had a paddle next to the mangroves, and then drove to have lunch with in the birthplace of Mary Poppins, Maryborough, which we remembered as a beautiful town of lovely old buildings. Unfortunately, we discovered that it is also a town with no restaurants supplying lunch on the Queen's Birthday Holiday. With a two year old in tow, weak with hunger and being told by the only two places open that we could only buy sweet things, we wished we had stayed in Tin Can Bay. Then we found the friendly folk at the French Hot Bread Bakery and Cafe and had lukewarm pies
tasty Nanna's vanilla slice:
and Anzac cookies:
I've gone off Maryborough.
That night, we tried Laguna Jack's Steak Bar in Noosa heads. Apparently the steaks were beautifully cooked, though the accompanying sauce and hash browns were disappointing.
My seafood plate was good, but it was mainly calamari.
Still, the service was good, the staff friendly and efficient, so we enjoyed our meal.
The next day, we tried Aromas in Noosa Heads. The iced chocolate had lots of chocolate:
But the mango and passionfruit slushie was a bit bland.
After a session of swimming and sand-castles, we went off to try Bar Sushi Noosa's sushi train. The train was a great success with the two year old who liked it even better than the sushi. I enjoyed the dishes I chose, but there was a pretty limited range of ingredients, even though you can order other things from the menu. I suppose because there is not a large clientele.
And then it was back to Brisbane, after another break for a swim and more sandcastle making further down the coast.
We were far too exhausted to cook, so ordered the exotic potato and the barbequed chicken and chorizo pizzas from Capers. Not as nice as some of our other choices, but better than one of those other awful greasy takeaways.
