Being in Australia for at least 12 straight months, I knew there would be a few milestones which would be celebrated for the first time along, overseas, without the comfort of friends and family. October 2nd: my birthday. The first such important date soon to pass.
Question: So what does one do when he is away from home on his birthday??
Answer: One takes oneself out for an over-the-top romantic meal at one’s favorite restaurant!! (great idea, huh?)
So, off to The Red Ochre I went, Cairns’ premier modern Australian cuisine restaurant (in my humble opinion).
To loosen up my date (i.e. me) a little, we started off the meal with a lemon myrtle-infused vodka martini with cointreau and a splash of lemon juice.
Nnnice.
Then, as a main, we moved on to the “Slow cooked Mareeba pork shoulder with star anise butter sauce, crisp pastry, tempura bok choy and pineapple chili sauce”.
… hold on for a second … I’m re-living this dish in my mind …
OK .. I’m back. (note: this dish is completely UNBLOGGABLE, meaning I couldn’t possibly piece together the recipe on my own for posting on this site)
Then, what else is a guy to do on his birthday meal than order himself some birthday cake!
Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself: “Did the restaurant actually have a ‘Happy Birthday” candle set on-hand for its customers?” The honest answer, alas, is no … but a quick run down the street to the dollar store fixed that. And VOILA! You have a birthday cake + birthday boy picture for the blog! LOL
After dinner, I rolled myself (stuffed) down the street to stroll around the waterfront. (I even held my own hand. Again, I make a GREAT date!) One really cool thing about Cairns is the number of outdoor festivals, movie-nights-in-the park, and the like. Fortunately I was just in time to catch the last 20 minutes of AIR JORDAN with Cairns’ pre-school community. (Boy, I really do stand out in a crowd of 6-year olds, eh?)
Sticky date pudding is a VERY common, and popular, dessert in far north Queensland, and given that Macadamia nuts are a indigenous to the area (who knew Macadamias came from Australia?!) the two make a great pairing.
Recipe provided below … assembly required … birthday not included as shown.
Sticky date pudding recipe c/o Epicurious.com, with some minor changes.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups packed pitted dates (about 10 ounces)
1/2 cup chopped Macadamia nuts
2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
Method:
Preheat oven to 375°F. and butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan (2 inches deep), knocking out excess flour.
2. Coarsely chop dates and nuts and in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan simmer dates in water, uncovered, 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda. (Mixture will foam.) Let mixture stand 20 minutes.
3. While mixture is standing, into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, beating after each addition until just combined. Add date mixture and with a wooden spoon stir batter until just combined well.
4. Pour batter into baking pan and set pan in a larger baking pan. Add enough hot water to larger pan to reach halfway up sides of smaller pan and bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove smaller pan from water bath and cool pudding to warm on a rack.
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