Month: December 2016

Lunch

Foodie Philip was continuing his family history interviews and the branch of the family in front of the camera today offered ham and cheese rolls for lunch, which were enjoyed by all.

Dinner

Foodie Philip’s host served ham and two salads: iceberg, tomato and avocado along with coleslaw.

Lunch

Foodie Philip missed lunch because he and his Uncle were visiting a niece’s property, after recording aunt and uncle’s family histories for his ongoing project.

Dinner

A large portion of Foodie Philip’s Brisbane family gathered for a ‘barbie’ – BBQ in Australian (but a grill) and salad.

Another family history recording was done with a cousin and general fun ensued as family caught up with each other.

Lunch

Foodie Philip was traveling to Brisbane to record family history interviews with his family there, so lunch was a ham and cheese panini at Newcastle Airport.

Because it was an airport, the ‘jaffle’ – an Australian take on a pressed sandwich – was Au$9.20 or US$6.72.

Dinner

Dinner tonight was a home made beef stroganoff with rice cooked by Foodie Philip’s aunt and was free.

Lunch

An unseasonably cold and rainy summer day led to thoughts of England, which lead to thoughts of fish and chips. Since we’d enjoyed the fish and chips we had back on Dec 4, even though we’d waited far too long to eat it, we went back for more.

Fresh from the shop this was an excellent example of perfectly battered and cooked cod and very decent Australian-style chips. The cod was coated with a batter, not breaded, and fried so the batter was just crisp and the fish inside melted in our mouth. The Australia ‘chip’ is a much larger, chunkier fry than typical in the US – almost a steak fry. These were buttery soft inside and almost crisp on the outside. Very close to perfect.

Lunch today was Au$5.00 per serve or US$3.65.

Dinner

The aforementioned cold and rainy day led to thoughts of soup, and salmon chowder was the decision. This is a favorite of Foodie Philip and we got close today. We were unable to source fish stock or clam juice, so we had to substitute chicken stock. We were fortunate to find wild caught canned red salmon, which has more flavor than the pink.

Of course, no half-and-half in Australia so the less rich full cream milk substituted. Normally we’d add a fair amount of Old Bay for seasoning but the chicken stock was quite salty enough, so we added only some smoky seasoning from Trader Joes. (Yes, even in Australia thanks to a previous parental visit.)

Not exactly the same, but good none-the-less. The recipe is one that Foodie Greg created and feeds six.

These prices are all in Australian dollars. Conversion at the end.

• A large carrot cost 51c but we only used 2/3 or 7c per serve
• The onion cost 81c or 14c per serve
• The potatoes cost $2.85 or 48c per serve
• A bunch of trimmed celery was 3.00 but we only used 1/3 or 17c per serve
• Chicken stock was $2.00 or 33c per serve
• Full cream milk (normal milk) was $1.10 for the carton, or 17c per serve
• The 1KG (just over 2 lbs) pack of frozen corn kernels was $2.70, but we used only 1/4 or 12c per serve
• The can of red salmon was $6.00 or $1.00 per serve
• 3 rashers of bacon (well, they put in 4) cost $3.34 or 56c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost Au$3.04 per serve or US$2.22 per serve. When we last cooked this at home in the US, it cost $1.92 per serve, for comparison.

Lunch

With mother in tow we had lunch with our niece at The Locale in a nearby suburb. Foodie Greg and mother had an interpretation of a cubano, which they thought was very tasty. Foodie Philip’s Wagu Beef Burger was, unfortunately over cooked, and our niece’s sandwich was overpowered by the mustard on it. The restaurant has a good reputation and some of our group had eaten there before and enjoyed the meal.

Our critical comments were well received, and suitable apologies made, so it seems this was one of those slip-ups that occasionally happen. Certainly the intent is to cook the Wagu Beef Burger to medium.

Lunch today cost an average of Au$14.63 or US$10.68. (It in fact cost less because the two imperfect meals were charged at half price.)

Dinner

The Foodies cooked Peruvian Meat Sauce,a.k.a. Red Curry and Pink Peppercorn Meat Sauce, we had on Sep 29th. This time with rice noodles that mom had precooked and froze. Sadly we had to cook without the pink peppercorns, which were unobtainable locally.

Tonight the recipe made four serves even without a salad, but without the precise breakdown of local prices here in Australia, I’ll simply refer back to the pricing for our last outing.

• 1lb of Prather Ranch ground pork is $9.30 or $3.10 per serve
• Limes were $1.56 and about half went into the dish, or 26c per serve
• The can of coconut milk was $1.99 or 66c per serve
• Red curry paste is $3.69 a jar and we used 1/4 or 31c per serve
• The soy adds 42c per serve
• Add 35c for the toasted coriander, pink peppercorns, rice wine and cornstarch
• Rice noodles are $3.56 per 14oz box, we used about 1/2 of the box, or 60c per serve.

Dinner tonight was good, as there was a misreading of the amount of soy and consequently tonight the dish was a little salute, and it cost an estimated $5.70 per serve. Because of the amount of soy the dish was a dark brown and not photogenic at all.

Lunch

In what is rapidly becoming habit, the Foodies had a white roll with ham and home-made pickles.

Lunch was again supplied by the Foodie’s mom, but would cost around $2.00 if paid for.

Dinner

Back to Foodie Philip’s brother’s for dinner with just the five of us. Brother had roasted his own chicken and roasted vegetables under the grill. All very good, and, again, free to the Foodies.