Tabata Protocol in the Outback.

Colossal. No need for a side dish. Today was a Colossal day. I went back to Boot Camp after a week of resting my rolled ankle in Ireland and I was handed Tabata for the first time. Scary, really. It is essentially 20 seconds of intense workout doing various exercises followed by a 10 second rest. Doesn't sound too bad unless you do this for 45 minutes straight. Now don't get me wrong, we did a little jump rope in between and ended with abs ... but still. Very intense. We told to push it until we felt like hurling. Looking forward to waking up with a body that can't move tomorrow!

I guess tonight was a perfect ending to a highly intense day. Lots of Protein. It seems that the Aussies like to pile the toppings on their Burgers on the Barbie. The kids ate simple plain while Andy I stepped up to this Colossal challenge. We immediately lost the bun after sinking into the 1st half of this delightful masterpiece. Wow is all I can say. It may be that I'm in a Burger phase right now. Craving them more often than ever, weird.

We paired the Burger with a fine Australian wine, Yellow Tail Shiraz. Another delightful reaction. It seems that you really can find great wine for $4.99. It was light, fruity with a great finish. Much more finish than you would expect for a $5.00 bottle of wine. Happy.

The kids were curious about whether their meal was Australian. Katy wanted to know... Elie replied, "No Katy, I don't think your Caesar Salad is Australian"... love the interest anyway.

Aussie Works Burger

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 4 eggs
• 4 slices Canadian bacon
• 4 pineapple rings
• 4 slices Cheddar cheese
• 1 (8.25 ounce) can sliced beets, drained
• 4 slices tomato
• 4 lettuce leaves
• ketchup (optional)
• yellow mustard (optional)
• dill pickle relish (optional)
• mayonnaise (optional)
• 4 Kaiser rolls, split

Directions

1. Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat.
2. When the grill is ready, lightly oil the grilling surface. Form the ground beef into four patties, and grill for 5 minutes per side, or until cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, and fry until soft. Remove the onions from the skillet, and crack the eggs in the same skillet over medium heat. Cook until the yolks are solid, turning over once. Remove eggs, and set aside. Place the Canadian bacon in the same skillet, and fry until toasted. Remove the bacon, and turn the heat to high. Quickly fry the pineapple rings in the bacon drippings just until browned on each side.
4. To Assemble sandwiches: Set bottom of kaiser roll on a plate, and top with burger, a slice of cheese, a slice of Canadian bacon, one fried egg, fried onions, a few slices of beet, a slice of pineapple, a slice of tomato, and a leaf of lettuce. Decorate the top bun with ketchup, mustard, relish and mayonnaise as desired. Place over the burger. Repeat with remaining burgers.

Note: We prepared 1 1/2 # Burgers for 5 of us and cut the ingredients down to two servings. We also didn't use lettuce or tomato and dipped the burger in dijon and ketchup.