But firstly, here are a couple of shots of the dinners I served up to my family during our weekend in Blairgowrie before the beau & I hopped aboard the ferry:
Dinner #1 - Organic porterhouse steak, broccolini, and bacon & cabbage sauté.
Dinner #2 - Almond-crusted chicken drumsticks, with roasted & sautéed veggies.
We also took lunch at the famous Portsea Pub; I went for oysters, and then calamari that was sadly sautéed in vegetable oil - my stomach soon rebelled!
And now, to the Tassie fare!
I wanted to ensure I ate seafood at least once per day - my ideal would have been to eat seafood for every meal, but it simply wasn't possible when staying at B&B's that provided a cooked breakfast. But I did okay, particularly in Hobart! Oh my, I could move there, I really could... Until I, you know, died of boredom. But my taste buds would be happy!
Off on the whirlwind tour...
Spirit of Tasmania - buffet lunch on the ferry (the restaurant booked up immediately!)
At the Edgewater Hotel in Devonport (food looked great, but its taste and the hotel's customer service were TERRIBLE!)
Freycinet Marine Farm - ate mussels at the Sales 'Room', crayfish and oysters for dinner, and bought up a bunch of food for the next day.
Swansea - steak & egg breakfast in our motel.
Hobart - a BBQ seafood lunch at my friend's gorgeous home.
'Mures', a wonderful seafood restaurant in Hobart. Amazing octopus, disappointing snapper.
Breakfast at our friend's place
Huonville - the home of Tasmanian salmon farms, and all I can find is trevalla smothered in questionable cheese? Shame.
Dropped in at Mures in Hobart on our drive to our next destination to pick up more fresh seafood, and some smoked salmon for the road.
Bronte Park - breakfast at our accommodation, cooked by me: scallops and prawns, with a side of salmon sashimi and salmon roe!
Strahan - we made use of our private BBQ at our accommodation:
Gummy flake & bacon for dinner.
Porterhouse steak & bacon for breakfast.
Buffet lunch on our cruise ship along the Gordon River and out to Hells Gates and Sarah Island.
Cradle Mountain Lodge - salmon fillet dinner in the Tavern.
Buffet breakfast - I had been promised chops, but instead I had to settle for still more sodium-soaked deli meats. Boo.
Lemonthyme Lodge near Cradle Mountain for dinner.
Entree - oysters.
The heartbreak of the evening - when I ordered the rack of lamb, I asked, as always, whether any sugar or wheat/grains were involved in the preparation of the dish. I was assured that they weren't. Yet, when my lamb arrived, it was topped with what I was told was a 'herb & fetta topping', though the top looked quite dry and crumbly. I tried a spoonful - crumbly cardboard taste. Hello breadcrumbs! So I then asked the waitress again to confirm what the topping was. "Lemon myrtle and fetta". "That's all? There aren't any breadcrumbs?". "Um, I'll check with the chef." Yes, of course there were bloody breadcrumbs. Too bad if I was a full-blown Celiac and had a major reaction to the small amount I consumed! Utterly disgusted.
They 'made it up to me' by letting me select another main, so I went for the beef steak. Delicious, but the taste was sullied by the prior experience.
I decided that it was time to try some of Tassie's famous cheese, so ordered the cheese plate. Yum! The cheddar was a little salty, but the blue was quite nice (and I don't usually like blue), and the brie was pure heaven!
Buffet breakfast in the morning - eggs and bacon. Somehow I managed to subsist on this tiny portion for the rest of the day, including a half-day horse ride!
Spirit Of Tasmania - Dinner on our return ferry journey.
Entree - smoked salmon fillet and veggies
Main - veal fillets and more veggies.
Dessert - one last cheese platter to farewell Tasmania; sadly, these cheese were all much too salty to be enjoyed.
Melbourne - Happy homecoming, celebrated with a breakfast of Jonathan's chorizo sausages and cheesy scrambled eggs.
And since then...
Sautéed prawns in butter:
And tonight, salmon and bacon. I was questioned in a comment about my portion sizes, so I thought I'd include my knife in the shot to give you a clear indicator of my usual plate size when I'm eating at home - it's an entree plate, not a full-sized dinner plate, so some of my shots may seem to show larger pieces of meat than I actually have. I do eat large meals, but not that large!
I hope everyone had a lovely Easter break!
Delicious! I find myself craving seafood now that it's warmer outside.
ReplyDeleteYum and yay you're back.
ReplyDeleteLooking fwd to the Tassie salmon farm expose.
You were in Hobart and you didn't call?
ReplyDelete*cries*
I could have taken you to a much nicer seafood restaurant than Mures too.. Mures is pretty awful.
I always, ALWAYS crave seafood. It's getting colder here, and my taste for fatty fish, tasty crustaceans and slippery shellfish has not diminished one jot. I think I'm meant to marry a lobster hunter (gatherer?) and live on a sheep & roo farm by the seas :) I'm a definite believer in the 'coastal caveman' theory.
ReplyDeleteTassie salmon exposé - one problem, they wouldn't let me in! The best look I got of any farms was whilst on the cruise out of Strahan. We were told that the fish (rainbow 'ocean' trout) were fed their natural carnivorous diet, supplemented with carrot (extract?) to help induce the pink flesh colour we know and 'love'. The farms are placed in the harbours, in ocean currents, so arguably they're as clean as wild-caught fish, albeit overfed. Sounds okay to me, especially if it means the oceanic ecosystem isn't being destroyed by trawling.
Liz, you hypocrite! You MOVED to Melbourne and didn't even call me! ;) But seriously, one of the main reasons behind our trip was to catch up with my friend who moved to Hobart 18 months ago, and it was such a short stay with her that there wasn't any spare time. Next time!
Inspiring meals they look great
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info on Hobart. I'm going over in June.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth - what Hobart restaurants do you recommend please?
Looks like a great trip!
Prue - actually, I'm probably not the best person to ask as my diet is pretty much the opposite of Jess's. I can't afford to eat out much, either. However.. if you'll have a car I reckon you should go down to Cygnet, there's a restaurant down there that I can't remember the name of that is apparently pretty good. If you're after a steak go to the Astor Grill in Macquarie St. Mzethes in Salamanca is also pretty good for Greek food. My favourite seafood restaurant is gone now but if you're driving, go down to Barilla Bay.
ReplyDelete