Days 185 - 187 - The Great Barrier Reef, Scuba Diving Trip - Scalloped Cheese Potatoes

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To date, the following three days I spent on-board a scuba diving vessel (and the subsequent experiences which took place underwater) were the ABSOLUTE HIGHLIGHT of the trip! It truly is amazing the beauty that exists in our oceans. As a completion of my PADI scuba diving certification, myself and roughly 20 other novice-level divers embarked on a multi-day tour around several reefs on the larger Great Barrier Reef. Aside from underwater encounters with creatures small and large (truly), our dives also included diving skills development … all of which allowed us to dive deeper and longer.

Me playing with a sea cucumber, and just some of the smaller creatures that live off the reef:

Trip highlights:

1) Reef Teach – before going on the dive trip, I attended a complementary 2-hour info session (held by a marine biologist) on the Great Barrier Reef and the life that can be found on it. Despite over two hours, we only received the bare minimum of knowledge needed to be able to identify fish / plan life, know what to expect, know what to avoid, etc …

2) Night Dive – THIS part of the trip had me a little uncomfortable prior to leaving for the trip. Although an optional part of the trip, the second night of our trip had us scheduled doing a night dive on one of the reefs we had visited earlier on. The thought of sharks / octopuses hanging just over my shoulder, attracted by my flashlight, didn’t appeal to me … I’m glad I went through with it – you truly do feel like you are flying out outer space: no light, except for your flashlight, everything is calm and slow at night, and you get to see a number of fish-life that only come out at night. Amazing stuff!

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3) Swimming with sting rays and other fish (large and small) – I was caught off guard how, generally, calm fish are around divers. Sometimes they were simply used to divers … sometimes they were simply curious to check us out … maybe we’re just too alien to them to be threatening. However, fish large and small were usually quite happy to follow us around underwater (maybe they were waiting for food hand-outs?). Too many pictures show to you all, but here's a great one of me swimming along side two sting rays.

4) Meeting the cast of Finding Nemo – I saw just about every type of fish underwater, including the fish from “Nemo” – clownfish, Moorish Idols, cuddle fish, rays, etc … Cool stuff! Here are some clownfish we came across on one of the reefs ...

5) Swimming with “Crush” – This was probably the highlight of the trip, for me! On the second day, we visited a reef where we were informed sea turtles are generally seen. I told my dive German dive-buddy that, despite whatever we were doing at the time, if we were to see a sea turtle anywhere within striking distance we were to make an IMMEDIATE b-line to see if we could get our pictures taken with it. I couldn’t believe our luck, but after only being underwater for 5 minutes, I saw a huge sea turtle swimming directly towards us, and as soon as it reached our general area, it relaxed, closed it eyes, and was all to happy to let us take pictures and swim with him for a while. Such a gentle creature – amazing to think they can live to be 100+ years old!

The food ended up being a pleasant surprise of the trip. Our Canadian-born live-aboard chef (<- no joke!) made sure we were fed healthily throughout the trip. Few dishes caused more of a line-up that his cheesy-scalloped potatoes. Recipe provided below.

I offer this piece of advice (for what it's worth) to anyone who is thinking, but uncertain, about taking a dive course at some point in their lives: JUST DO IT! Spend the money, gain the experience … it’s something you will certainly take with you for quite some time!

Ingredients:

4 pounds potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/4 cup butter or margarine, divided
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided

Method:

In a large bowl, combine potatoes and soup. Layer half of the mixture in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Dot with half of the butter and sprinkle with half of the cheese. Repeat layers. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Day 183 - Skybury Coffee Plantation, Cairns – Mom's Scotch Cakes (short bread cookies)

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Hmm … what to do on a lazy, Sunday afternoon now that most of my major sightseeing around the area was done? After asking around for some suggestions, the answer became clear: go to one of the area’s largest coffee plantations!

Perhaps I’m alone; however the thought of where my coffee beans come from generally doesn’t occur to me. My brain naively assumes that some Mexican / South American / African / … farmer is growing and roasting my beans before exporting them to Coffee Maker XYZ for my consumption. It never occurred to me that coffee beans might actually have been produced locally in rural farmland Queensland.

Indeed, I was wrong.

Nor did I know what coffee beans would look like on their tree … or what the tree would look like for that matter. ("Now I know ...")

Upon arriving at Sunburry Coffee Plantation, my Cairns buddy Brad and I signed us up for the plantation tour. Fun fact of the day: each coffee tree requires 15-20 liters of water … PER DAY!!!! (Woooh! That’s a lot of water!) It’s not surprising, then, that nearly 100 years ago the farmers in this farmland area constructed a series of naturally-fed waterways to ensure their land was moist enough to produce their crops.

Following our brief tour of the plantation, and a step-by-step explanation of the bean harvesting process (** go to a plantation if you are a coffee-lover, it’s neat stuff) we were lead into the plantation’s welcome center building for a roast tasting.

At the end of the hour-long experience, we sat on the balcony, taking in the amazing vista before us, sipping on flat whites and downing a few shortbread cookies I’d made the night before.

My mom’s (grandmother’s?) recipe, below, for shortbread cookies. I’ve yet to find their equal, though many have tried. USE BUTTER! (Don’t skimp)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup butter(must be soft - NOT hard or melted)

Method:

Using a pastry cutter, “cut together” all ingredients.
Roll out dough onto clean, dry, floured surface.
Cut out cookies (round, pattern, etc …).
Bake 300 degrees oven on ungreased cookie sheet.

Day 182 – Lance & Liz’s, Cairns - Liz’s Caramelized Banana Ice Cream Towers

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As thanks for me having bbq’d for them the previous week, my assistant rugby coach Lance and his fabulous wife Liz invited me and some family over to their place for a reciprocal thank-you meal. As I’ve mentioned a couple of times before, both Lance and Liz have previous history as chefs, so I was ALL too curious to know what they’d be making for us out of their home kitchen. The result of their efforts: a simple, but t-a-s-t-y meal of pan-fried chicken and fish pieces, served with a rainbow of chopped veggies, sauces (including peanut butter?!) and rice-paper wraps. After cleaning every morsel of food off the communal serving plates (seriously), Liz headed back into the kitchen to make us dessert.

Question: pastry chef + many years of experience + dinner party at her house = what’s she going to make for us?

Answer (too easy): caramelized bananas on toasted raisin bread served with ice cream and warmed pecans. If Mrs. Pastry Chef can get away with something this easy at her dinner parties, surely you and I can as well.

It was a great night of laughs and stories … and a great way to say “See you later” to a great couple of friends in Cairns!

Loose recipe: to make the caramel for the bananas, simply toss them into a pan over medium-high heat with a handfull of brown sugar and (in our case = fed four adults) maybe a half cup-sized glob of fresh butter.

The proportions of sugar-to-butter are more art than science (in my opinion) - if it's too dry, add more butter. If it's too oily / runny, add more sugar. When it bubbles in the pan, here's what you're looking for:

Serve atop triangular-cut pieces of toasted cinnamon bread with ice cream of your choosing, and a few microwave-warmed pecans ... and you have an incredibly impressive low-effort dessert.

Pastry Chef-approved, by Liz.

Day 181 - Nicki's Place, Cairns - Nicki's Thai Green Curry Chicken

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More reciprocal dinner party action following last week’s bbq on The Esplanade. This time, my co-worker Nicole was the one in charge, promising me + guests a healthy helping of her “signature Thai green chicken curry” chez soi.

We laughed … we watched Jamie Oliver on the tube … all good. Not much else to share from this evening – “you had to be there”.

** Recipe soon to follow, still waiting for Nicki to email it to me: "It's coming Kevin, I promise ...".

Day 177 - Rugby Coach Thank-you & See-You-Soon - Cairns, QLD - Brown Ale Maple-Glazed Barramundi

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As my time winds down here in Cairns, I’ve made a point to have at least a goodbye / thank-you coffee or meal with all of the people who have made my short time here so memorable.

I could not have ignored the contribution my rugby coaches had made to my Cairns experience. They were all too gracious in taking in a big lug of a Canadian, knowing nothing about the game, and including me immediately in team practices and weekend matches (even allowing me to substitute in for the A-team at the end of the season for a short shift).

So, as a sincere thank you for their time, efforts and generosity, I invited them to the waterfront for a full-on barbecue meal experience in the only way I know how: over-the-top!

After a great day at Turtle Cove beach / resort north of Cairns,

I headed down to the waterfront, armed with armloads of food and picnic hardware. (<- even I must admit, it was pretty full-on ... LOTS of great food) Since my head coach Billy and his wife are from Papua New Guinea, assistant coach Lance and his wife Liz are Aussie, as-is co-worker Nicole (her bf Dylan is Kiwi … ignore that for a moment, though) and I’m Canadian (<- no?!), I figured I would theme the menu based on our respective cultures’ cuisines. The resulting menu: Appetizer course – Australian-themed: locally-made artisan cheeses and crackers, served with Paw Paw and Jaba chutneys. Main course – Canadian-themed: line-caught Barramundi w/ Brown Ale Maple-Glaze, served w/ bbq’d vegetables. (fish provided by Lance, who had just returned from an extended fishing trip up north – sweet!) Dessert – PNG-themed: banana cake. The result was a fantastic few hours of stories, food and laughter. One last picture to commemorate the evening, with the quickly-rising full moon in the background. A great memory, for sure.

** Kinda cool: the below recipe comes from FoodTV.ca, Canada's Food Network. The recipe is from a show called "License to Grill" hosted by a guy named Rob Rainford. I actually took a 3-month food theory course from Rob Rainford at George Brown College ... so it's appropriate I'm using one of his show's recipes. :)

Ingredients:

Marinade

1 x orange, halved and sliced
1 x lime, halved and sliced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 knob ginger, chopped
1/2 red onion, halved and sliced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/2 bottle Brown Ale Beer
6 tbsp of vegetable oil (90ml)
1 tbsp hot sauce (15ml)

Brown Ale Maple Glaze

1/2 bottle Brown Ale Beer
2 cups of orange juice (500ml)
3/4 cups of maple syrup (175ml)
3 tbsp of hot sauce (45ml)
1 tbsp of ginger, chopped
1/8 cup of lemon juice
Celery salt to taste
2 tbsp of garlic salt

Directions:

For Marinade:

Make marinade by combining orange slices, lime slices, garlic, ginger, onion, cilantro, Brown Ale Beer, vegetable oil and hot sauce in large bowl. Place fish fillets / pieces in a large sealable plastic bag, pour marinade over top and marinate in refrigerator for 6 hours, or up to 24 hours.

For Brown Ale Maple Glaze

Preheat grill to 400°F/200ºC. Make glaze sauce by combining in medium bowl Brown Ale Beer, orange juice, maple syrup, hot sauce, ginger, lemon juice, celery and garlic salt. Place fish on grill and cook, turning, until done, about 3-5 minutes per side. Brush fillets with maple glaze sauce and cook additional 3-5 minutes on opposite side.

Day 176 - Thala Beach Lodge, North of Cairns - Wild Boar w/ Blueberry Coulis

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I feel a belated-birthday dinner coming my way tonight …

After another day spent at one of my more favorite off-the-beaten-path discoveries here in Cairns (Emerald Falls, north of Cairns by 45 min or so in the tablelands), my good friend Sir Bradley treated us to an unbelievable dinner at one of the area’s top-end seaside resorts.

Emerald Falls – way, way cool! Natural waterfall, rolling down granite hill, … amazing!



On the drive out there, you pass by hundreds upon hundreds of ant hills formed built on top of the ground (this is apparently done to fight the heat ... clever little buggers, eh?).

Afterways, we headed off to Thala Beach Lodge, an ultra-swanky oceanside resort with private beaches, honeymoon bungalows and great dining facilities. While we were waiting for dinner hour to arrive, I got my photography itch scratched with some great shots of the 2nd night of the full moon. It's EASY to take great shots with a moon like that!

Dinner was great - very inspiring menu, with lots of local goodies available for tasting. I've always wanted to taste wild boar (Why? Not sure ... just always have ...), and surprisingly it was on the menu. I won't provide a recipe for this posting, as the meal was very simply prepared / presented ... If you feel disappointed by that, just look at the picture of the rising moon above - hopefully that will be enough to bring smiles to your faces.

Day 175 - Apres Beach Bar "Crazy Pianos" - Pepper Steak w/ Horseradish Cream

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So little time left in Cairns … time to take one more thing of my “to do” list that I’ve been meaning to do in this town for a while now.

There’s a great restaurant / piano bar in the city’s restaurant district that (word has it) has great food, and has some fantastically talented piano men (and, yes, probably women too) tickling the ivories a couple of evenings every week. Seemed like a good spot for dinner with friends.

Inspiration from the ORIGINAL kings of blues …

Not to sound like a broken record, but I seriously have made some great friends here in Cairns. Meet my “Plan B”, the fabulous Miss Bianca.


We really “broke a leg” out there …

(OK, maybe that’s a lie … Mark broke his foot WAY before tonight … but it WOULD have been a funny story, no? “So there we were, dancing on the tables, and then Mark …”) lol

Great music, great friends, great food … good times. The dish pictured above is actually quite basic, but is presented with a bit of bling (triangular-cut puff pastry). No reason why you couldn’t do that with any other dish as well, anything needing a bit of flash.

Recipes - Horseradish Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup grated fresh horseradish
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Place all of the ingredients into a medium mixing bowl and whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight to allow flavors to meld. Sauce can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 2 to 3 weeks.

Day 174 - Jamie Oliver Australia Ep #4 - Thai Coconut Salmon In-A-Bag

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My interest in Jamie Oliver’s Australian expansion into Australia continues … One more episode on the tube, one more freshly-prepared meal to eat while watching.

This was a bit of an experiment. About a year ago, I attended a suit-and-tie business dinner at North 44, one of Toronto’s higher-end restaurants. One of the items on the menu was a salmon fillet with Thai ingredients steamed inside banana leaves.

I challenged myself tonight to the following: how could I pull off a similar dish, with NO banana leaves, and NO oven. (I could, however, allow myself to use the stove top.)

The result is pictured above: salmon fillets set atop vegetables and some other ingredients, all wrapped together in aluminum foil (so the fish would steam), which was cooked on top of the stove in an empty frying pan. ** Rather ingenious, I thought.

Ingredients:

½ pound of pumpkin
2 large carrots
1 onion
2 large (or 4 medium) salmon fillets
2 red chilies, seeded and diced
2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and julienned
2 limes
1 can coconut milk (full fat)
1 can chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
1 roll aluminum foil

Method:

1) Cut pumpkin and carrots into large, but bit-sized, pieces.
2) In a pot of boiling water, boil pumpkin and carrots until cooked approximately half-way. Strain.
3) Make two parcels out of aluminum foil. Place parboiled pumpkin and carrots on the bottom.
4) Place salmon fillets on top of vegetables. Salt and pepper to taste.
5) Placed ginger and red chillies on top of fillets.
6) Juice one lime per packet, also adding a small “splash” (1/8 cup) each of coconut milk and chicken broth.
7) Close aluminum packets to seal. Please inside a pre-heated, dry frying pan on stove over medium-high heat. This will steam the fish. Cook 8-10 minutes. Check fish periodically to ensure it doesn’t overcook.

Makes 2 servings.

Day 171 - My Birthday - Turkish Restaurant, Cairns - Birthday Baklava, Turkish Delight & "Schnapps Shots"

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Kevin’s 29th Birthday Extravaganza continues!!

Canadian housemate Krista, a few of her cool British friends and I headed out for Turkish food for Phase 2 of the evening!

(Pretty girl, eh? I tell yah … must be something in those Canadian waters)

After some great (and FILLING … oy) appetizers and mains, out came the drinks, and the dancing,

, and more drinks .. and more dancing … and … (ok, you get the point)

Actually, the night wasn’t that messy, and it really was a very memorably night. Our hostess at the restaurant (what was her name again?) was all-too-happy to keep us eating / drinking as long as she could, even providing us with a free round of her “signature shots”. Recipe provided shortly (I misplaced it, must have packed it away by accident ...).

“Birthday baklava”? Sure! The restaurant even served dessert with a side of Turkish Delight. (naively, I assumed this was only something you could buy in the candy bar aisle at the supermarket / convenience store) Again, we provided out birthday candles – like the good Boy Scout I am, one must be prepared for any and all situations.

Recipe for Baklava from AllRecipes.com, another recipe I've used many times before.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
2 cups chopped pecans
1 1/2 tablespoons whole cloves
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup white sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup honey

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2) Melt the butter over low heat. Pour 2 tablespoons of the butter into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. Layer 3 sheets of the phyllo dough in the pan. Trim dough to fit. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of pecans over the phyllo dough. Layer 3 more sheets of dough, brush generously with the melted butter, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of pecans. Continue dough -butter- pecan layers until pan is 3/4 full.
3) With a sharp knife, score phyllo dough to form diamonds. Press a clove at each end of the diamonds. Pour remaining butter over the dough.
Bake 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown.
4) Meanwhile, combine the sugar, water and cinnamon stick in a medium saucepan, and bring to boil, stirring constantly. Simmer for 10 minutes.
5) Add the honey and simmer for 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat and discard cinnamon stick. Pour honey mixture over hot baklava. Let cool on wire racks. Cut into diamonds.

Day 171 - Tides Restaurant - Cairns' Waterfront, QLD - White and Dark Chocolate Mousse Terrine w/ Caramelized Orange and Strawberry Coulis

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My birthday is “officially” today! (although, I’m stretching it to a week-long celebration … I’ve decided I’m worth it this year) I’ve met some great friends here in Cairns, and two (yes – TWO!) have offered to take me out for birthday dinner tonight! Oh oh … I feel a long night coming on.

The first meal, early-evening, was graciously had with Cairns-friend Matty J. Because it was my birthday, I convinced Matty that we should START the meal with dessert … Come on! It’s my birthday!

This is as fancy as birthday cake gets! (is it, in fact, cake?) My mom always makes a white cake with orange icing on my birthday for me … I miss mom … and I miss her orange icing … This is the closest thing I could find in Cairns’ restaurants to orange cake! Since it's a complicated recipe, I'll simplify and offer a recipe for chocolate mousse ... much more attainable. :)

“Happy birthday to Keeee-vvvvvin!”

Ingredients:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 large fresh egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream, heated
Sweetened whipped cream for garnish

Method:

1) Place chocolate chips, egg and vanilla into the container of electric blender and blend for 30 seconds.

2) Remove center of blender lid and while machine is running, slowly pour heated cream into the chocolate mixture. Blend until well mixed and chocolate chips are melted.

3) Pour into parfait or wine glasses. Refrigerate until set. Serve garnished with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

Makes 4 servings.

Day 170 - NRL Grand Final - 2Fish Restaurant, The Esplanade - Cairns - Coconut Battered Nunagai w/ Basil Mayonnaise

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One of the many things I’ve gotten into while here in Australia, as previously posted, is rugby. More scoring than hockey, more action than American-style football, it’s NOT soccer … Rugby has a lot of things going for it. *grin*

Three separate styles of rugby are predominantly played in Australia: (1) Aussie rules, (2) rugby union (which was the style I played in Cairns), and (3) rugby league. Think of rugby league as a marriage of rugby union and American-style football, only no padding, very few stoppages in play, and a LOT more smashing! Now THERE’S a recipe for a great game!

After our second day in the pool at ProDive, I headed out for a quick bite to eat before heading to The Courthouse Hotel & Bar (coincidentally our rugby team’s local sponsor) to watch the National Rugby Leagues Grand Final game … B-I-G deal in Queensland … B-I-G!

Although I haven’t been here in Australia that long, I’ve latched on to a couple of teams more strongly than others, and I’m happy to say that the Brisbane Broncos (“my team”) made it to the Grand Final and WON!



A little bit of a Cinderella story: the Broncos went through a rough patch mid-season, lost of a LOT of games, but re-gained their composure by season’s end and developed some momentum going into the Grand Final, leading them to win the season.

“My guy”: Darren Lockyer. Many are arguing he’s one of the greatest players in the history of rugby league .. and he’s my age??!! (29) Geez, makes you wonder what you’ve done with your own life, eh? LOL

Cairns, given that it’s on the ocean, not surprisingly has some great seafood restaurants throughout the city. 2Fish is a tasty joint, serving up fresh fresh fresh locally-caught seafood in fusion-like ways. I’ve made coconut-battered shrimp many times at home. Don’t be intimidated – you can do it without a formal deep-fryer yourself, it just means you have to watch your oil temperature carefully using a thermometer. I ate nunagai (a local fish), but no reason you can't use any other type of firm fish (<- which won't fall apart in the deep fryer!) or shrimp (<- my recommendation).

I've used the below recipe from AllRecipes.com a number of times ... pretty reliable.

Ingredients:

2 quarts vegetable oil for frying
10 ounces orange marmalade
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
3 tablespoons prepared mustard
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/3 cup beer
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined with tails attached
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
8 ounces unsweetened flaked coconut

Method:

1) Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together marmalade, horseradish and mustard; set aside.

2) Combine 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, paprika, curry powder, salt and cayenne. Stir in beer.

3) Dredge shrimp in 1/4 cup flour, dip in beer batter and roll in coconut.

4) Fry shrimp in hot oil until golden on both sides. Drain briefly and serve with dipping sauce of choice.