Roxburgh Park Hotel - Coolaroo - Victoria

One of the places I ate at while in Melbourne for Easter was a buffet lunch at the Roxburgh Park Hotel. As it was Dads birthday before Easter and mine this week, we went out to celebrate both birthdays.




My parents had been there and the food was lovely with a wide selection Now Miss Fish loves a buffet meal, she thoroughly enjoys going and selecting any food she wants and then being able to return with her plate and get some more.

Another plus was the fact that they have prawns, now Miss Fish is like me and loves seafood she sees prawns, I peel prawns and she eats prawns.

They have a vast selection of food and as it was Easter there was more seafood items than normal.

Some of the food was - roast meats, roast potatoes and pumpkin, stir fries, salads, risotto , chips, steamed dim sims, steamed mixed vegetables, pasta, crispy strips of both chicken and fish, soups, bread rolls.

Then you get to desserts fresh fruit, 3 different ice cream flavours, sticky date pudding, apple crumble, jelly, mango mousse, chocolate pudding and slices of several different cakes.

So. If you don't come out of there with a full tummy you didn't try hard enough.

All this for $24.90.

http://www.roxburghparkhotel.com.au/bistro.html

Happy Easter

A short note wishing everyone a Happy Easter.

I am back from visiting my parents and back online. I will post a longer post tomorrow.

I hope everyone has had a Happy Easter, and if you are on the roads be careful.

Beef Chow Mein

Now on the weekends our meals are dictated by what we are doing during the day.

As was the case last weekend Mr CLI was busy getting an old car ready for someone to pick up and Miss Fish was helping him !

Now Miss Fish is not a person who can "go with the flow" as far as meals are concerned as soon as she is up on Saturday mornings she wants to know what we are having for lunch and dinner on not only Saturday but Sunday.

Now I actually knew what we were having for lunch on Saturday, because the sausage lover in the house Mr CLI had bought rolls the night before to put BBQ'd sausages in for lunch.

Also Miss Fish was going into respite on Sunday morning so we only had to organise Saturdays tea.

So while eating her breakfast Saturday morning Miss Fish started to list off certain meals,  now most we had eaten in the past week or so, so they were discounted. Then she suggested stir fry, now we hadn't had stirfry for a while so why not.

This made Miss Fish happy because her meals were organised and they were food she likes, well she actually likes nearly everything except mushrooms - Mr CLI doesn't like them - and nuts she finds them to hard to chew.

When Mr CLI had returned from getting his um haircut, think kiwi fruit short and fuzzy, Miss Fish told him what we were having for tea,"fine he said, but could it be beef", "fine" I said.

So into the depths of the freezer I went and out I came with a piece of rump. Next what to cook, we had had beef and black beans not long ago, chicken with oyster sauce also.

So I put my thinking cap on I didn't want rice, but I do want those fine egg noodles that come in tight little bundles and cook in under 5 minutes. What was the best dish to serve with them well beef chow mein of course.

So that is how we come to today's recipe.

Beef Chow Mein

Dry egg noodles - I used 6 bundles.

500 - 750 gm piece of rump sliced very finely with all sinew and fat removed. I cut it while it is still part frozen that way you get very thin slices that cook quickly.

Meat marinade - 2 tbsps light soy sauce, 1 tbsp satay sauce, 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 1 tbsp shaoxing wine

Mix together the marinade and add the beef slices. Marinate the meat up to 1 hour

3 cups of chopped vegetables - I used 1 yellow capsicum, broccoli, 1 medium carrot & 1 stalk celery, 1 onion cut into wedges

Sauce - 3/4 cup water, 2 chicken stock cubes, crumbled, 2 tbsps dark soy sauce, 3 tsps cornflour, 2 tbsps oyster sauce

Whisk all ingredients together in a small jug. Set aside.

Bring enough water to boil in a large saucepan for the noodles.

Heat a large heavy based fypan or wok to hot add 3 tbsps oil. Add onion stirfry 1 minute then add vegetables stirfry 2- 3 minutes until they start to soften. Add 1/4 cup water then cover let the vegetables steam 3- 4 minutes or until nearly cooked. 

Add the noodles to the boiling water, these will cook while you finish you stirfry.

Add the meat and marinade stirfry 2 -3 minutes until the meat changes color.

Pour over sauce stir until thickened.

Drain the noodles, place some in the bottom of your serving bowl then top with chow mein.

Eat and enjoy.

Up up and Away ...

I only wish I was flying somewhere exotic or even not too exotic just away from the drudgery. After last Fridays horrible day, I have been busy all weekend and come to the conclusion that I need to concentrate on Easter and of course my forthcoming birthday.

Now as birthdays go this is one of those big numbered ones - not that I am acknowledging the number - I stopped a few years back.

From now on when asked my age I will give my Nanas standard reply " I am as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth."

What am I doing for my Birthday well something special for tea,then the day after on the Friday Mr CLI and I will be going away for the weekend.

Now it did start off as a weekend get away on the motorbikes, but if I am visiting places that have patchwork shops, food shops, farmers markets and all sorts of other interesting shops I don't want to be handicapped by limited space.

Last time we went to the Daylesford market we came away with a large wood framed mirror that we are going to repaint and hang in the bathroom, not something you can strap to a motorbike.



Mr CLI did grumble but as I pointed out it is my birthday and a big one at that so it is my choice, also I want to visit several towns, which on a motorbike I find hard to do as you get far more tired than if you are driving.

So till tomorrow I will continue to plan my weekend getaway.