Brisbane to Kingscliff

Tagging along with my cousin and her husband to a beach resort! Relaxing way to start the holidays.

Breakfast:

Passionfruit yogurt w/cereal, banana slices & mango chunks

Snack:

White nectarine, green tea

Dinner at Food Fantasy in Jupiters Hotel & Casino, Gold Coast, Australia:

Stir-fried baby octopus salad, beetroot, cucumber, carrots, quinoa salad, pinenut & rice salad, veggie sushi w/ginger & wasabi, baby octopus & squid salad, smoked salmon
(Drove an hour just to get to this buffet because my cousin loves their oysters. I'm pretty particular about my seafood, but I have a thing for baby octopus. And the ones served here were delicious! Mmm. The smoked salmon was also quite delicious; I enjoyed how the slices weren't overly salty and were actually smoky.)

Raw oyster w/lemon juice & black pepper (2)
(I think this is the first time I've had raw oysters. The first one I had felt a bit ...weird. But the second one went down like a charm. According to my cousin, eating them gets addicting.)

Pumpkin soup w/black pepper
(A bit too creamy for my taste.)

Octopus & squid salad, baked mussel w/coriander sauce, BBQ oyster (picked the one w/o bacon), fried calamari w/tomato relish, steamed veggies, fried fish fillet, roasted pumpkin w/cranberry sauce
(Loved that baby octopus & squid salad. Mmm. The baked mussel and BBQ oyster were also pretty good, but I didn't like the textures. I was a fan of the fried calamari, but it definitely needed the relish because the breading was a too thick. The same comment applied to the fried fish fillet; I ended up just "scooping" out the fish in the middle.)

Black grapes, spiced Gouda cheese, Swiss cheese, Camembert cheese
(I really liked the grapes, but wasn't a fan of the cheeses.)

Chocolate mousse, orange chocolate mousse cake, mud cake, mixed berry chocolate mousse cake w/shortbread bottom, mince pie, Christmas pudding, butterscotch pudding, baked cheesecake w/fruit
(The only dessert that I finished on that plate was the baked cheesecake, but I also ate at least half of the two flavoured mousse cakes. I found the cheesecake to be a bit dry, but its richness was decent. The orange flavour contrasted with the bitter chocolate mousse quite well and the mixed berry mousse complemented the chocolate mousse and cream layers. The rest of the desserts were rather underwhelming and frankly, very disappointing. I could have gotten a better chocolate cake at the local supermarket, the butterscotch pudding was ridiculously sweet and the chocolate mousse tasted like whipped cream. The two Christmas themed desserts were just average.)

Eggnog mousse, pavlova, profiterole, chocolate rum cake, vanilla slice, watermelon cubes
(I only finished the chocolate rum cake and profiterole. Both the vanilla slice and pavlova were disgusting; the pavlova was probably under-baked because it had a horrible texture, and the custard soaked through the napolean layers, creating a soggy mess of a vanilla slice. I'm not a big fan of mousse in general and I don't really like eggnog, but this eggnog mousse was quite good! Bit too rich, but I could potentially see myself eating an entire serving with a cup of coffee. The profiterole was pretty good and I liked that the light custard/cream filling. But the best dessert of the night was the chocolate rum cake. I don't know why it's labelled as a cake, because it's more of a cheesecake, but it was delicious. Rich, creamy and absolutely decadent. I loved the bitter aftertaste of the rum and how it complemented the semisweet chocolate. Mm.)

Vanilla, chocolate & strawberry ice cream w/profiteroles
(Your average ice cream with better than average profiteroles.)