Restaurants

Theo and I had a "date lunch" today since our visitor was in Brisbane visiting friends. Well at least that seemed like a good enough excuse anyway. See, it's been quite an adjustment for me to be home so much, cooking all 3 of my daily meals at home, then doing dishes at least 3 times a day. It can be quite maddening some days, actually. So any excuse to escape the hum-drum is highly prized for me!

I've found that eating at restaurants here is a little different from the States. First, the prices are pretty high. This may just be because we're in the Gold Coast, a very touristy part of Oz, I don't know for sure yet. But here, an "entree" (called here a "main," the word "entree" is used in the strict French sense) at a mid-scale restaurant is usually $15 to $25, which is above average for me, especially since I normally used 2for1 coupons when I dined back home. It took a while, but I have found these type of coupons here as well, usually on the back of cash register receipts. They're usually for local surf club restaurants. Surf Lifesaving Clubs (SLSC) are located at each suburb, where you can join for a small fee, which gives you access to surf lifesaving classes, sometimes a gym, food and drink specials, pokie machines, and probably a lot more. The clubs provide volunteer life guards during the weekends for the nearby beach, which is nice. It doesn't sound like it would be an ideal place to eat, but their restaurants are surprisingly good! The first time I dined at a SLSC was at Greenmount (since the suburbs are very small, there are at least 3 or 4 SLSCs within walking distance). I had an awesome seafood ravioli. Today I had a grilled salmon (probably from the Tasman Sea) at the Kirra SLSC. It was delicious! The clubs are always either right on the beach or right across the street, so the views are always nice, too!

Another thing I noticed about restaurants is the service level. I haven't been to any of the more upscale restaurants, but so far, at most of them you either order and pay at the register, or you order at the table and pay at the register before you leave, which results a gaping hole with regard to table service. You're pretty much on your own. They bring the food and that's about it. Most of the time, you're not even offered water with your meal (we normally have to ask for it), and you may even have to get your own silverware. But the positive side of this coin is that you don't leave tips, which is an annoyance I don't mind forgetting.

Overall, I don't think that eating out is as popular as in the States. (It's almost a sport to me!) I think Kansas City must have more restaurants than people (okay...exaggeration), so I'm used to having more than enough access to cheap yummy food. But at least now I've probably gained a greater appreciation when we do finally get to go out these days. And it has probably saved me a few pounds as well.

Mexican Food - 2 Thumbs Down Under

One of the few things I knew I would miss before I left the States for Australia was Mexican food. I was completely spoiled in KC. You can’t throw a stone in any direction in KC without hitting a Mexican restaurant. Twice I lived within walking distance of my beloved, affectionately nicknamed, “Mexican Price Chopper.” It had everything, from the best selection of produce (including cactus, every kind of hot pepper you could imagine, and strange looking vegetables I didn’t even know what to do with). In this grocery store, they even make tortillas, chorizo, and tres leches cake (yummmmmy) onsite.

So I figured Australia would be barren of most Mexican goods, and I had been dreading these food craving moments for months, but I still wasn’t mentally (or gastronomically) prepared. So let’s start with the most basic of almost-daily snacks for me, the “egg taco.” I had prepared for this one. There are 3 ingredients in an egg taco. 1. The egg. 2. The corn tortilla. 3. Mexican hot sauce. The hot sauce was in my suitcase.

Eggs are easy enough to find. The problem, I discovered, was the corn tortilla. I’ve searched every grocery store in our vicinity for what I thought was a basic food item. However, no corn tortillas can be found, only flour ones. In my search, I did come across something flat, with corn as a main ingredient, called “Mountain Bread.” Sounded cool and interesting, so I decided to “give it a go.” Although the ingredients list corn flour, wheat flour, water and salt, all these taste like are pure flour. And not even as good as a flour tortilla… just tastes like pure flour. Not cutting it for my egg tacos.

Next Mexican food attempt: the restaurant. Walking around the Gold Coast, you will actually see quite a few Mexican restaurants, at least more than I expected. I was reluctant to try them, but I finally gave in to my urges/curiosity. The first thing I noticed was the prices. Mexican restaurants in the US are notoriously inexpensive. Another way I was spoiled, I suppose, so I put the fact that even combination plates were $20 out of my mind. Scanning the menu, I saw “Chilli” Verde (sorry I can’t help pointing out the spelling mistakes!), one of my all-time favorite dishes. I read the description… capsicums!?? Instead of tomatillos, they use green peppers! I don’t think so… this is blasphemy!! So I finally decided on a “Burrito Americana.” I figured… if they can’t do actual Mexican, maybe they can do TexMex. When it came out, it actually wasn’t that bad. But not great either. And definitely not worth $20. I definitely needed some spice, as always, so asked for hot sauce. What do I get? Tabasco sauce. I don’t even like Tabasco sauce… I actually think it tastes gross. But I obviously didn’t get the hint, and decided to ask the waitress if she knew where they sell corn tortillas (she looked some sort of “ethnic”), but she obviously wasn’t Mexican because she had no idea.

SHEESH!!

The next project will be cooking refried beans at home. I've seen pinto beans at the store. So there I go. I can eat beans, at least...

...with hot sauce.