August Instagram

Instagram Collage:

In the month that was August I:

Remembered "The Sex Goddess" Marilyn Monroe on the anniversary of her death.

Went to Squires Loft (Robina Town Centre) and devoured a juicy steak.

Made the Donna Hay Chorizo, Spinach & Ricotta Frittata.

Went out for breakfast with NixyJ and had extra marshmallows in the babycino.

Had my own attempt at making a Frittata and Horn liked it better than Donna's.

Went to The Wine Barrel for a "boozy tapas" lunch.

Check out the new renos at Little Beans and burnt my tongue on a Vanilla Latte.

Kael came over for his first play date, power spewed and Darla licked his feet.

Went through a one week phase of eating "Crunchy Peanut Butter & Jam on Toast".

Took the Boat out with Friends and left the driving and horn tooting up to NixyJ.

Finally got my potted herb garden.

Celebrated NixyJ 2nd Birthday party TWICE.

Lady Dash's Thai Beef Salad Cups

Spring is fast approaching and so is the need to be in swimwear, trying to get heavy winter meals out of our systems i thought i would mix things up a little and turn our "Asian Stir Fry Night" into a lighter more interactive dish.

This recipes is for 2 people:

Stir Fry Mix:
2 Porterhouse Steaks (fat trimmed & sliced into strips)
1 Capsicum (sliced)
1 Zucchini (sliced)
1 Carrot (peeled)
100g Green Beans (diced)

Thai Dressing: (You can also just buy a Thai Dressing)
2 Long Red Chillies (seeded, deveined & sliced)
1 Large Garlic Clove (minced)
1 TBS Coriander (paste)
1 TBS Ginger (minced)
1/2 Cup Caster Sugar
1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
1/3 Sweet Soy Sauce
1 TBS Mirin
1 TBS Sake
1 TBS Fish Sauce

1 Bundle Organic Udon Noodles

Iceberg Lettuce (whole leaves)

1/3 Cup Stone's Green Ginger Wine (From the Bottle Shop)

2 TBS Peanut Oil

I hate washing up so i like to have as little dishes as possible, so it might sound like i am working backwards but its purely to save on excess dishes.

Start by preparing all the vegetables and put aside, the different ways of cutting the vegetables ensures they are all cooked the same.

Next prepare the Thai Dressing, place all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together, make sure the sugar has dissolved. Remember to taste and adjust to your liking, if you want more heat throw in some more Chilli.

Slice the beef to your desired thickness place in the dressing bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 20mins. (If you don't care about dishes or you don't have as much time as i do start with the dressing and the beef, by the time you chop and cook the veggies 20mins would have past).

Bring a small pot of water to the boil, leave boiling until needed.

If you have a wok use it, if not a large fry pan is fine.  Get your pan very hot and add 1TBS of Peanut Oil, add you Veggie Mix and toss around the pan until you see that they are all coated with oil, add 1/3 Cup Stones Green Ginger Wine and stir fry for a further 3mins, take Veggies out of the pan and put aside.

Place your Udon Noodles into the boiling water, keep an eye on them as they tend to boil over. If you blow on the frothy layer it should stop it.

Reheat the pan and add another 1TBS Peanut Oil, use a pair of tongs or a spoon with slits in it to transfer the meat to the pan. You don't want to much liquid in the pan or the meat will poach, not fry. I like my meat medium, so that is about 3mins. After 2 minutes add your vegetables and spoon in extra sauce as it evaporates, turn the pan off.

To prepare the lettuce cups, cut the bottom of the stem/core off so each leaf peels off into the shape of a cup-BE GENTLE, drain the noodles, mix through stir fry, add some more sauce if you like.

To serve, place the lettuce cups in a round ball neatly stacked on top of each other, put the stir fry in a large bowl with serving spoons, grab a plate, a lettuce cup and a spoonful of thai goodness, pop it inside the lettuce cup, wrap it up and eat.

Lady Dash's Thai Beef Salad Cups

The flavours in this dish are so amazing and fragrant, don't be scared to taste and adjust to your liking... I am so looking forward to having this dish again next week.

Score 10/10

Lauxes Dining Restaurant Review

Recently a friend of mine had raved about the new staff and menu at Lauxes, being an old regular at Lauxes (as it was once owned by a friend)- I suggested to my girlfriend that we should use our Entertainment Books and go to Lauxes.

Saturday was such a windy day, so I was excited to be sitting in the sunshine by the park. I had a 50^th Birthday on Saturday so we had a late lunch and we were starving… My girlfriend made the booking for 2.30pm, as we arrived it was busy which for Lauxes in the last 6 months was unusual. 

We waited to be seated and we waited and we waited, we then seated ourselves outside in the sun. Being starving, thirsty and slightly impatient after 15 minutes I walked inside and asked the guy behind the bar for a food & drink menu. He passed them to me and said “be with you in a minute”, understanding that they were busy (not packed), I sat back down and scoured the wine list for some Vino- Sav of course.

We decided on a bottle of Nautilus and started browsing the food menu, although the menu is small and they don’t do the tapas anymore (as far as I could see) we picked out a main each.

Another 15mins past so I walked back inside found a waitress and ordered the wine, it had now been 30mins since we arrived and not even one staff member had been outside to greet us….

Being very thirsty and very hungry now I could see that our bottle of wine was sitting on the bar waiting for us to drink it…. Another 10 minutes past and my girlfriend could tell I was getting very very agitated she then stated “if this is how long it is going to take to get a drink, how long is the food going to be”? Agreeing with her we picked up our bags and got the hell out of there.

Now there are no pictures with this post as there was nothing for me to take pictures of, I wont hold a grudge and I will give them another go as every place has on off day but I tell you what the food better be bloody amazing to make up for it.

As it was getting late, we decided to just share a bottle of wine and pizza at Alto Cucina.

Still dying to sit in the sun, we asked politely if they could open the blinds so we could sit in the outside booths and they did. We ordered our wine & pizza and finally began enjoying ourselves well that was until…………

CRASH, SMASH, BOOM! A flipping soccer ball game flying out of nowhere and knocked my girlfriends drink into my chest and smashed it to smithereens! I looked like I had umm well pissed my pants, I was so saturated I was dripping. I had glass shards stuck all over me and not to mention every pair of eyes in Broadbeach looking at me. So now I was thirsty, starving, saturated and reeking of wine plus I hadn’t even had a sip yet. 

The girls (which were about 20) were trying not to laugh but apologised instantly by saying-

Girls: Oh my god, we are sooo sorry can we buy you another drink?

Lady Dash: If you would like to? Go ahead but I am not asking you to buy me a drink.  I do however think it's pretty stupid to be playing with a ball next to restaurant when there is a park just across the road????

They then walked off and a guy comes over

Guy: I am so sorry about my friends, can I buy you a drink?

Lady Dash: Its not your fault, don’t worry about.

Guy: Oh ok you don’t happen to know where the ball went do you?

Lady Dash (with a smile): Mate, I don’t really give a shit where you ball is.

After all that we still managed to sit, eat and laugh after the day we just had. The staff at Alto were fantastic and looked after us and turned a shocker into a nice afternoon.