Tim Tamilicious

I've done a quick review just to survey previous posts for Tim Tams. There were none, so it's fair game. As cliche as it may be, I haven't done a post yet about the things Aussie that I have come to enjoy. People often ask about what is different from the US of A to Australia, and my response is often: the food. Try finding canned pumpkin or canned black beans here. You'll search til your blue in the face with no joy. Mexican ingredients are hard to come by; given the distance we are from Mexico, it shouldn't be a surprise. You can find the packaged taco ingredients, but fresh tomatillos? Forget it. Any Goya products? Only online. Ancho chilis in adobo sauce? If you're lucky, and buy in bulk. Because when you come back, they probably won't have them.

On the up side, we get oysters and seafood aplenty. I'm hoping the amigos are up for trying this place. OVER FORTY different kinds of oysters. And that's fair dinkum (i.e., no lie).  There's kangaroo at the ready and the sweets and snacks are pretty tasty too.

In a quest at the grocery store yesterday to find all-things-Aussie for some friends arriving tomorrow, I discovered the many varieties of Tim Tams. White chocolate, dark chocolate with mint, chocolate with caramel, double coated, just to mention a few. Tim Tams are delciouslly Australian. Eating one correctly is known as the 'Tim Tam Slam,' as demonstrated here. Apparently this amounts to biting off the ends, dipping it in a cup of tea and then eating the whole 'biscuit' before it melts. So we've got a few for the amigos to try out.

And whoever came up with the concept of 'Tasty Cheese' as a type...like edam or cheddar. 

There is of course the infamed 'roo that most visitors have wanted to try. It comes as a surprise too that it's sold in the grocery store. There are roughly 22 million kangaroos in Australia, compared with almost 23 million people. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there is one birth every 1 minute and 46 seconds, one death every 3 minutes and 35 seconds, and one international migration every 2 minutes and 20 seconds. All this meaning there is an overall total population increase of one person every 1 minute and 24 seconds.

 My favourite. Chicken flavoured crackers, crisps or pretty much any snack item. Chicken people. It's meat. I get cheese flavoured, because you could make cheese crackers if you so desired. But how would you get the chicken into the cracker. It's just wrong. But chicken salt on the other hand: devine. Nothing ever made more sense that an insanely tasty salt made with chicken flavouring and MSG. Don't knock it til you tried it.

I could go on, but I think I'll stop here for now. The rain has paused for what I hope is a good soild few hours and there's work to be done in the garden.

So to any questions, I say, no worries, mate, I'll catch ya next time round.

Cheers.

Bobbing along...

On this rainiest of rainy days, I'm desperately trying NOT to get cabin fever and claw my eyes out. We were lucky to get our Coastreking Training in a few days ago and walked from Spit to Manly, a short walk at roughly 10 kilometers.

When I lived in London, February was always the worst month. The joke amongst us was that by Feb, you'd be ready to poke your eyes out. So off to Spain or Italy or Greece you went...

Travelling remains a different sort Down Under. A weekend away is much more local. As in get in the car and drive to the Blue Mountains. Like I said, different, not better or worse, just different.

So, I digress. Instead, we are lucky enough to have the ocean in our reach. Which is worth all the weekends in Spain, Italy, Greece or beyond.

So this has been my Friday night quite happily spent the past two weeks...

This was after an early evening storm following a 46 degree (115 for you Fahrenheiters) day.Swimming in the ocean when there's lightening over the abyss is a unique experience. The only other time I've truly seen a stormy sea is in Aruba during a most impressive lighting storm over Venezuela.

Now, don't let all this waxing lyrical about rambling waves cover up the truth: swimming in the ocean is a skill. And it's hard. And you're likely to lose your swimming gear at least once if you're a newbie.

All of this on top of trying not to lose a contact, get used to the salt water in your various facial orfi (orfices?),  and not get completely hammered by the waves. Like I said: skill. And rules. Swimming in between the flags is pretty basic, but the nuances that come with the 'surfers code' (which, yes, is very real) I have yet to make out. MacBoyfriend is ever so patiently teaching me the difference between a rip, swell and a wave. It's more complicated than it sounds, especially to this Chicago native that grew up on the much tamer beaches of Lake Michigan.

But when you do catch a wave, even if it's only a few feet, you realise why the Aussies love their body surfing. Because it's fun. It's even great as a spectator-sport. Watching the waves and the surfers / swimmers in them is incredibly relaxing.

I usually last about 15 MAYBE 20 minutes before I have to retreat to the sidelines, usually chocking on sea water and with only one contact.

But it's not so bad there either.

Egg salad memories

I'm baaacckkk!!! It's been over a month, and a new year has rolled on through. Firstly, happy New Year and whatever holiday you observe, I hope it was enjoyed with family, friends and was a most joyous occasion.

Now....what have I been up to...

A bit of a shameless plug, but I'm waiting for the Coastrek manual to print.1st March D-Day, so it's t minus six weeks and a few odd days now, and no holds barred training is out in full force! Please visit the page and have a look at what we're undertaking, 50 kilometers (roughly 30 miles or so) walking along the Sydney coast. From Palm Beach to Balmoral for those locals. It's a challenge of all sorts: physical, mental, emotional and will give our feet a run for it's money (pun intended)! There should be spectacular scenery and we're praying for good weather! Watch this space...

There was Christmas and New Year's, the former of which was spent up at the Gold Coast with MacBoyfriend's extended family. It blows my mind that it's hot in January, but also that people still cook turkeys, hams, and lambs among other animals on a 25-30 degree (75-80) day. The Christmas cards also all have snow on them. So there you have it.

But today, I'm really here to talk about egg salad. Yup, egg. Salad. During this most festive of season, I can often find myself missing home and those that are still there. I remember a friend in the UK saying she cried from Thanksgiving to Christmas one year. After Thanksgiving, it really hit home how much the women in my family have taught me.

So I make egg salad because it reminds me of my mom and her kitchen. And that's a  very comforting thought. My job was to cut the eggs using this little silver egg slicer that was just the bees knees. I have no memory of what it tasted like. I'm not sure if she used a recipe or not. If she did, it hasn't been passed down. I don't remember if we ate egg salad often, but do for some reason connect it with my grandmother. All I remember is that egg slicer, and the French's yellow mustard that went in with the eggs. To this day I find mustard a very reassuring thing.

So when I came across egg salad in this book it was lunch served.  So for the past two weekends I've made egg salad for Saturday lunch. This week's included some chopped dill pickles and lemon juice, because how can you go wrong with those two. The last meal game is a favourite of mine.....as in, if you had to choose your last meal, what would it be?

Today, mine would be egg salad, white bread, and a green salad with little slice of mandarins made by my mother.