Easter & ANZAC Day

Hello from down under,

We just finished the Easter Holiday, and I do mean holiday! Aussies have told me that they take their holidays seriously and they are right. They normally get 4 days off for Easter but this year it coincided with ANZAC Day, so it was a 5 day weekend. When I talk to Aussies about Easter, I explained to them that I felt like Easter had lost some of it's importance over the years and that it was not as big of a deal in the US. In fact, I haven't had a long weekend off for Easter in years. Good Friday was still a work day for me unless I took it off or unless the governor decided to let all the state employees go home early. Not even all the kids have Friday off, many of them still had school because it was a bad weather make up day. Not so in Oz. Aussies would tell me that they love their holidays and if anyone tried to take away a day of it that they would not put up with it and throw a fit. It made me think...well, Americans like our holidays too! However we have lost a lot of our holidays over the years. I remember when I was in elementary school that we would get to have a day off school just to go to the Texas State Fair and Stock Show. We eventually lost that day, and we used to always have a 3 day Easter weekend and now it just iffy. In fact, my mother said they used to have Easter Monday off as well but not anymore. I guess the Easter thing has to do with religion and the government tries to stay out of the religious holiday controversy that non-Christians have brought us....which honestly I don't get...I mean I would be happy to get a day off school or work for a Jewish Holiday or Ramadan or whatever...I will not argue with a day off! Anyway...I digress...

So, Easter here in Australia...The holiday goes from Good Friday to Easter Monday. Now, when I say Good Friday is a holiday, I mean it is like Christmas. This is not a day to go shopping and finish your meal plans for Sunday, this is a day of time with your family. Almost every store and business is closed, in fact McDonalds and 7-11 were the only places that we knew were open on that day. Then Saturday, the stores opened up but stores here aren't open all day on Saturday, most close at 4:00 p.m. Sunday everything was closed (and it should be) and then Monday places seemed to open around noon but I am not sure all of them opened.

In going shopping before Easter, I noticed a few things. First, it is hard to find Easter baskets. I only saw one store that sold Easter baskets and they only had a few and were very girly, so Landry ended up with a Toy Story metal old fashioned lunch box for his basket. Also, I never saw Easter egg dye and I asked my Aussie friend and she said it is not really very common to die eggs. She said you can find die at the craft store and such but it just isn't done here very much. It seems that their Easters all centered around chocolate, because at KMart, that was pretty much what all their Easter stuff was, chocolate. Not that I minded chocolate, I was just surprised that there was not more variety. To me, it seemed like Easter was more about the actual religious event and church type activities than bunnies and chicks...so good for them for that!

Tuesday was ANZAC Day, which is a memorial day for those Australia and New Zealand military who fought in World War I, it is the anniversary of their first battle. ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Air Corps. Tuesday seemed to be a shopping and sale kind of day plus there is a sunrise 4:45 a.m. service honoring ANZAC Day. ANZAC Day is the only day that you can play 2-up legally. 2-up is a gambling game that is illegal all other days of the year except ANZAC Day. It was explained to me this way: You have a stick that you place 2 old pennies on (Aussies don't use pennies anymore, everything is rounded up or down to the 5 cent piece) and then you toss the pennies in the air and people bet on whether it will be both heads, both tails, or split. Evidently everyone goes to the bar and plays this while they drink...a lot.

It was a nice holiday, although we missed being with our family back in the states. A few days before Easter, we went to Sydney for the annual Aggie Muster celebration and got to spend time with some Aggies and eat brisket and cole slaw and all sorts of good old American food, so that was a nice taste of home.

Our little family was planning on having a nice quiet Easter. We were going to make Texas Fajitas and were excited for some good Tex-Mex food. However, when we were at church, we found that four of our missionaries did not have a place to eat for the holiday, so we invited them to come with us. I told them it would be nothing traditional since we were having fajitas, but since one was from California and one from Arizona, they were thrilled that they were getting Mexican food! We also had a British and Chinese young man with us too and the British one said that he loved Mexican food and the Chinese one had never had Mexican food, although three helpings later, he was a fan. It was really a fun way to spend our Easter and I am so glad they came over.

I hope you all had a Happy Easter too!

Heather

Things you won't see in the US Grocery Store

Hello from Oz!

In this episode of Aggies in Oz, I thought I would take you to one of the local produce markets that I like to go to. This is Crinis Produce, (pronounced like Guiness but Krenis). They have great prices and lots of variety and sometimes...they have things that I have no idea what they are.

Here is a shot of the inside, it is not a huge place but has lots of stuff. This aisle has pretty normal stuff on it.

Here is the tasty cheese...Aussie's version of cheddar cheese. They have a small dairy section.
This bin baffled me and some of my friends. I did not know what these were and the store was busy so I didn't want to ask. One of my friends said "For $24 a box, you should have just bought them and we would figure out something to do with it!" Do you know what these are? (answer below)
This box contains olives...raw olives. Evidently the Italians and Greeks in the area buy raw olives and then they brine them themselves...who woulda thunk it?

Below we have parsnips...not something you see very often in the grocery stores in Texas. And the green things are called chokes. These fruit are used as fillers because they basically take on the flavor of whatever they are cooked with. For instance, I was told that the McDonalds used to use these in their apple pies because they took on the flavor of the apples.

These are pretty normal...cucumbers...except they are calling them Ques...Aussie Ques to be exact. Do you remember I told you Aussies shorten a lot of their words? This is a good example except that I would think they would call them Cuq's instead of Que's...but what do I know?
Another normal thing...mushrooms...but here it is shortened to Mushies! And, $5 a kilo is a great deal considering a kilo is 2.2 pounds and mushrooms weigh nothing.
Cherry juice? I cannot remember ever seeing cherry juice. Do you?
Chicken Salt...chicken salt? Chicken salt is a popular seasoning here...I am not real sure what it is but people put it on their French fries (or chips as they call them here).
And these little furry things are lychees. For those who are Penguins of Madagascar fans, you will remember that King Julian loves lychees and he once ate some bad ones and they made him sick and Maurice crazy...but I digress. These things are just weird looking.
And here we have drinking coconut....yep, drinking coconut...in a coconut.
And here we have papays and paw paws. I have never had a paw paw however there is an ointment made from paw paws that is really good for burns and such...but that about concludes my knowledge of paw paws.
Now, if you are paying attention to prices, you will notice that they are high. Remember that these are by the kilo, not the pound, so 2.2 pounds equals one kilo. However, the fresh produce is actually some of the best priced food you can find here. Anything processed and such costs a lot more money so we buy fresh produce all the time. I can say that I have never eaten as much fresh produce than we have since we moved here and that is a good thing! It is just as expensive to eat healthy here as it is to eat junk food, so we generally eat healthier. In fact, my husband has lost probably lost at least 30 pounds since we moved here which is another good thing. I think I have lost some too but I haven't weighed myself.

I am sure there will be more posts about the food here. It is a learning experience but we are enjoying the adventure!

**Waving** See you later!

Heather

Easter Bonnet Parade

The Easter Bonnet Parade last night was a hit and it seemed like everyone was smiling and having a good time. Children of all ages made hats to wear to the festive event and there was some fine haberdashery going on!

There were games for the kids...this one the kids are pushing large chocolate eggs with their noses.



The there was some parachute fun that produced lots of squeals of delight!
This game had something to do with passing an egg on a spoon. This was for the older kiddos, the ones over 8, I think.
And there were lots and lots of bonnets.....
And bunny ears...
Hats of all shapes, colors, and sizes...

And styles...quite a few decorated cowboy hats!

A rather tasty cowboy hat...

Lots of pink...
This was my hat, I decorated it with my scrap booking stuff that had arrived in my boxes from the U...so this hat is compliments of Stampin' Up!
And here is Landry's cowboy bunny hat...

and Landry's from the back...

And Aaron's duck hat...
and Kiri's Easter Fez!
I think this is the mad hatter himself!
It was a fun night and everyone seemed to be laughing and chatting throughout the night.

Our first Easter Bonnet Parade...a total success!

Scones with jam and cream

Before coming to Australia, my life with scones was all wrong. For one, I was pronouncing it wrong, the Aussies are quick to tell me it is not skoan, as we would say it in Texas, it is skon (like rhymes with gone). Also, I thought scones were these little triangle things they had at coffee shops and the occasional bakery, but here (where I am told they are done correctly) they are round and look an awful lot like a southern biscuit, only lighter and a little fuller/richer tasting. They are very good and I reckon I will love them even more once I leave. (Aussies say reckon a lot, it is quite cute and reminds me of older generation Texan folks, like my grandparents).

Now, if you are going to serve scones, there are many different ways but the traditional way is with jam and cream. I have had them with Devonshire cream and whipped cream, both excellent. I especially like them with a strawberry jam. In general, my favorite jam (or jelly as the US folks might call it, which to Aussies is jello...I know, not confusing at all!) is grape...the traditional kind you see at every American grocery store in all shapes and sizes...which cannot be found here where I live in Oz, I have not seen a single grape jam/conserve/preserve in any of the stores and I have looked in all the ones I have been in. You can get all sorts of flavors...fig, boysenberry, blueberry, cherry, rhubarb, quince, persimmons, strawberry, cherry, passion fruit, etc...but no grape. These poor people have been deprived of grape jam...the poor dears.

So, I decided I would make some scones this morning and they turned out pretty good. I used a basic scones recipe I found online that had lots of good reviews. Now, the Aussies use good old cups and teaspoons and such for baking, the same as we do, however their measurements are different! A cup is not a cup the world around, so I will try to post the recipe below and then translate it to American cups and measures as well.

Basic Aussie Scones

Makes 16

Ingredients for Americans...

plain flour, for dusting
3.6 cups self-raising flour **
6 tablespoons butter, cubed
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups milk
jam and whipped cream, to serve

Ingredients for Aussies...
plain flour, for dusting
3 cups self-raising flour **
80g butter, cubed
1 to 1 1/4 cups milk
jam and whipped cream, to serve

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 200°C or 385 °F. Lightly dust a flat baking tray with plain flour. Sift self-raising flour into a large bowl.

Using your fingertips, rub butter into flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Make a well in the centre. Add 1 cup of milk. Mix with a flat-bladed knife until mixture forms a soft dough, adding more milk if required. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until smooth (don't knead dough too much or scones will be tough).

Pat dough into a 2cm-(a little less than an inch) thick round. Using a 5cm or 2 inch (diameter) round cutter, cut out 12 rounds. Press dough together and cut out remaining 4 rounds. Place scones onto prepared baking tray, 1 inch apart. Sprinkle tops with a little plain flour. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and well risen. Transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm with jam and cream.

** Note, if you do not have self rising flour, you can use all purpose flour, for every cup of self rising needed, use 1 cup of all purpose and add 1.5 teaspoons of cream of tartar and 1.5 teaspoons of bicarbonate soda/baking soda.


Here is what mine looked like after cutting them out and before baking.

And this is what they looked like after....yum!

And here is a picture of them with some jam and cream...please ignore that I didn't bother to take them off the plastic plate I had sitting there...how tacky of me!

They are delicious! I am a fan and will forever do my best to pronounce the name correctly and give them their just desserts! Plus, they make me feel all fancy when I eat them and say "I am having scones with jam and cream."

Ta Ta for now...

Heather

Flowers and greenery

Howdy from Oz,

I thought I would post some pictures of our area so you could see how pretty it is. Right now, there are some beautiful flowers in bloom and as I walked down to the shops today, I shot a few pictures. This is about a 2.5 block area, so not very much to have so many beautiful flowers and trees...even the McDonalds is prettily landscaped!

Mackies, as the Aussies call it, is landscaped and has palm trees and all sorts of greenery surrounding it. They have some typical McDonalds food but they also have others, like a mud muffin. I have not had one yet, but I hear they are a chocolate muffin that many people order with the coffee for brekky (breakfast).


These flowers below are ones that I pass on my way to the bus stop or the shops. They smell lovely and are just so gorgeous right now. The one below is a shrub with pretty pink flowers.
There are purple flowers in bloom everywhere right now, this is in front of the Catholic Church down the street.
This whole tree looks like on big petunia tree. I am not sure what it is, but I love them. They are all over our neighborhood.

This succulent plant is big and beautiful. We always called this a "Wandering Jew" but I have never seen one this big.
This is actually in my front yard by the stairs. A bromeliad maybe?
More purple....
Pretty yards...

I have some rose bushes in my front year as well but they are not in bloom...in fact, I have no clue when I should trim them or expect them to bloom...my seasons are all confused since we are now in Autumn.

I also plan to do a post of pictures of the campus. The campus is green and lush and is like going to school in a rain forest.

It is a beautiful place, I cannot deny it!

The Bush Dance

Howdy from a real Aussie Bush Dance!

Tonight we were invited to a Bush Dance! This was an engagement party for friends of ours and they were celebrating with an Aussie Bush Dance up on the mountain. This house is actually the one we stayed in when we first arrived, it has a lot of land around it and is perfect for a big party and dance. I tell you, you could have taken this bush dance and placed it in Texas and it would have been right at home, it was very similar to a barn dance or hoe-down. They had great food, lots of friends ,food on the grill (or barbie as they would call it), folk music and other country music, a stage, a caller for the traditional dances (which were similar to square dances), and a polka or two...and a party is not a party without a good polka, I always say. Aaron and I actually love to polka!

Some of the traditional dances were the Heel and Toe polka (also called Brown Jug Polka, I believe) and Strip the Willow. They also did a few line dances too. It was fun to watch and it looked like people were having fun, from kids to old folks, everyone was smiling.

There was a gorgeous cake...

A nice spread of food plus the barbie was grilling up sausages...more was added after this picture was taken and desserts were added later as well.
Chairs and bales of hay to sit on, plus a trampoline for the kids...
I took this picture before it started going so you could see the lay out before it got too dark. There was a stage with a screen behind it that showed pictured of the happy couple. There was a fire pit (hence the smoke) and torches up all around. The open area in the middle is the dance floor and just to the right, out of the picture, is the back of the house where all the food is located.
I put on my favorite boots...I love these boots!
The back porch where the drinks were and the food was just inside.

Some really cute kids!
I think this one is the heel and toe polka, you forms two lines with the guys on one side and the girls on the other, it was very simple, something like heel, toe then sashay 4 steps, do it again and then sashay back, then you clap left hands 4 times, right hands 4 times and then you slap your thighs four times...and do-si-do...or something like that...fun stuff!

And this is the happy couple who were hosting the party! Thanks Peter and Imogen (pronounced Em-o-gin) for a great night!
I highly recommend a bush dance, it was great fun!

Have a great one!

Heather