On Sunday, after church, we attended our first St. Andrew's Social Event. One of the families opened their home after the 6pm service for a Sausage Sizzle. Observation #1 is that BBQ (grilling) is very big over here. The BBQs are cadillacs - large surface, sinks, counter tops, burners, etc. Observations #2 is that there are a lot of sausage categories. Perhaps it was just my upbringing, but when I hear sausage, I think Italian sausage, sweet or hot. In AU there are Italian sausages, German sausages, Australian, vegetarian, and so on. The sausages were expertly cooked on the BBQ and served with onions and sauce on slices of white bread. No plates. I thought this was a bit brilliant on the part of our hosts - no waste, no litter, and no expense of buying paper plates for 50+ people. Along with the sausages, we had veggie kabobs and a plethora of desserts. Observation #3 is that "brownies" are called "fudge" here. They were cake-like brownies, not fudgy, but still called fudge. No idea what "fudge" is called.
Observation #4, and I like this one, is that peanut butter is not very prevalent at all and has been banned from most schools. Whereas many desserts are designed around peanut butter,and American kids live on PB&J, in Australia, it's quite a rare ingredient. That being said, most cereals, breads, and cookies all have the allergy warning "may contain" - so Nicole has found her diet to be restricted. If you'd like to send Nicole something, send her some breakfast cereal - Rice Krispies, Coco Krispies, Fruit Loops are all off limits here.
Observation #5 is that the egg yolks here are ORANGE. We scrambled eggs and they turned out fluffy and orange, not fluffy and yellow. And no, I didn't buy ostrich eggs by mistake.
Observation #6 is that the meat tastes better. Fresher. More flavorful. Not sure why that would be, unless the American goal to breed bigger chickens, cows, pigs has the side effect of diluting the taste. No idea, but I like the chicken and the beef better. The pork tasted a little "funny" to me.
They do have ketchup here, and sometimes it is called Ketchup and sometimes it is called tomato sauce. Mustard is mustard, and I found my beloved Hellman's mayonaise in the grocery store. All would be right with the world, except that I can't find really good sandwich meat, and there doesn't seem to be any American Cheese (observations #s 7-8-9-10).
This evening, Wednesday, we are invited to the minister's house for a kangaroo dinner. I've seen kangaroo in the meat section, and it looks like a really nice, lean piece of beef. Can't wait to find out what it tastes like!
No comments:
Post a Comment