misgabi

We went to dinner last night to my favourite restaurant threechefs and one of our party had the kangaroo. Only got a taste but it was absolutely delicious and I would seriously consider having it next time (unless the menu changes). Their last menu had as an entree kangaroo sausages with pepperberry mash that my father swore by. We get it in the supermarkets occasionally down here. One of my clients actually traps them for a living and keeps offering to get me some (bit more dubious there!!)

Thanks for the great blog - I was glad to see the aussie burger made an appearance was worried you would run out of time. Does the beetroot taste the same as here? BTW - outstanding looking burger, my husband couldn't do any better and he makes a mean burger. Thanks to both of you for taking the time to make this so interesting, now if my asian food only looked half as gorgeous as yours I would be happy.

Golden Syrup Dumplings We used to have these in winter as a treat - serve with lots of whipped cream - yum. Golden Syrup Dumplings 2 Both recipies are Australian so watch measurements. Just found another favourite - havn't made this recipie but Janelle is really good with the microwave so shouldn't be a worry Golden Syrup Pudding

Just wanted to add my view to this thread, I can only think of a couple of things that I don't like but I make up for the short list with my passionate dislike (even loathing) of them: 1) Corriander - cannot abide the taste (has been mentioned here as tasting like soapy wax - but to me it tastes like I imagine my husbands joggers would taste if I licked the inside!!) 2) Coffee - I just don't like the taste and get very depressed when it sneaks into desserts that don't mention it 3) Onions - am gradually getting better at eating really well cooked ones but usually just try and skirt around them 4) Cracked black pepper - hate, hate, hate .............. no pepper steak for me, I can't even stand the smell of pepper - to make this worse my husband loves the stuff and would eat pepper steak with pepper sauce for every meal if he could. 5) Orange Juice - cannot drink a glass of orange juice for any money. I like oranges and anything cooked with orange but cannot force myself to swallow down a glass of the juice. Oh well, I suppose the world would be very boring if we all liked exactly the same things.

One of the best meals I ever had was whilst I was living in Papua New Guinea. I had invited 9 friends for dinner as had been promising chilli mud crabs for ages. My downstairs neighbour knocked on the door just before everyone arrived and presented me with a blue fin tuna he had caught that day. As the sun set over the harbour we all sat on my balcony, drinking a really crisp Sav Blanc that we had found at the local bottle shop for a ridiculously low price whilst my neighbour turned the tuna into sashimi. Followed this extremely hard to beat entree with the chilli mud crab which we all ate with our hands and ended up covered in the sauce. Dessert of cheesecake (made with my precious once month delivery to the country cream cheese so a definite treat) smothered in pulped up mango from the trees in the yard. An unforgettable setting, good friends and fabulous fresh food ................ what more could you need for one of the best meals ever

Great blog so far Laksa. Looking forward to seeing what an Aussie burger looks like when constructed in the states. (Will yours have a pineapple ring?) Do you miss much about Australia now that you live over there - the Laksa for instance?? Can't wait to see you make something edible out of those dried headless fish

Great blog so far. Looking forward to hearing about (and being jealous of) all your summery fruits and vegetables as we are having winter here in Australia and missing them all. Not sure about those Lucky Charms though - green milk???

anzac biscuits Anzac Biscuits - version 2 That other link does not seem to be working properly so here are two new ones.

sponge cake is traditional with lamingtons (but again there might be a difference in an american and an australian sponge cake). This site might interest you - the anzac biscuit recipie is similar to mine and there are other recipies including lamingtons that you might like to look at. Also other australian things that might give you ideas site Please do post pictures and let us know how it went.

Thanks for the most amazing blog. As everyone else has commented on the pictures are incredible and your words just as amazing. I too hope that you continue to update in the future.

I was going to suggest the lamingtons - but say they were easy! You could buy a sponge ready made and then cut it up and dip in the chocolate icing and coconut. Then it occured to me that maybe your sponge in america is completely different to ours here in Australia. I second arbuclo's advice to spread the vegemite VERY thinly on the toast. I used to hate it as a kid unless it had sugar sprinkled on it. Another way to eat it here is on biscuits called Vita Wheats (made by Arnotts) which are very hard savoury wheat biscuits with lots of holes in them. By putting heaps of butter and a tiny scrape of vegemite and then pressing two biscuits together buttery/vegemite like "worms" came out of the holes (and went all over your fingers) - we used to love having "wormy biscuits" after school. The kids would love violet crumble if you could get it. A chocolate bar that is honeycomb in the middle and coated in chocolate. Anzac biscuits are really easy to make and the kids would love them (also really easy to manage as not crumbly etc and moderately healthy with the oats) Let us know how it goes!

When I lived in Port Moresby a friend visiting from Australia gave me a gift of two fondue sets (she figured I owned just about everything else for the kitchen). We planned a grand fondue night - we would have a cheese fondue with bread and veges for dipping, a meat fondue (dipped in hot oil) and after borrowing another two fondue sets two dessert fondues - a chocolate one and a caramel sauce one with fruit/marshmallows etc for dipping. We all went waterskiing that day (drank champagne for lunch - quite alot of it) and returned happily to town. I got home, made the fondue sauces, chopped up some vege/fruit/meat) and started to feel queasy. An hour or so later I am lying on the floor of my bathroom because it is the coolest place in the house and really close to the toilet so that I don't have to go far to be sick. First guest turns up, looks at me and phones the duty doctor who comes straight over and announces to the assorted guests that I have sunstroke. He tells me to try drinking water as often as possible and he will see how I am later (you would not voluntarily go to the hospital in Moresby - we were all medivaced out to Australia if we actually got sick so a wait and see policy was the usual one). The guests shut the door of the bathroom (so as not to "disturb me") and proceeded to have a fondue party - they invited the doc to stay and set about making the most amazing mess I have ever seen in my life. There was cheese sauce on the windows!! Someone spilt the chocolate sauce into the cutlery drawer and they drank every drop of booze in the house - and as we got it at duty free prices that was no mean feat. Nobody cleaned up, the doc went home and forgot to check on me. Feeling very sad and sorry for myself the next day I set about cleaning up the monster mess. Worst of all people rang all day and said it was the best time they had ever had at my place - and I wasn't even there

Hope the ankle doesn't impact too greatly on the rest of your trip (see what happens from playing a leaping in the air game like Aussie Rules - all that jarring of the ankles as you finish the mid-air pirrouettes - now Rugby Union - less ankle strain there - just broken necks for the front rowers ) And getting right back to the food... those spit rotisseries are excellent large enough to feed a mob but the meat comes out really tender (we did goat once). What other food are you going to try over there? Feel better soon

Great blog StInGeR, As a fellow aussie I am keen to hear your take on the food over there and how it differs from Australia. Keep up the good work Happy Anniversary

ripe banana, butter, dark brown sugar and a little vanilla all mashed together then wrapped in spring roll pastry and deep fried .... but only late at night when my husband is on night shift

Adam, You're right. The potato scallop is the battered slice of potato. If you want a battered scallop (seafood) you just ask for a scallop. I havn't seen a battered dim sim offered around here (just the unbattered ones look disgusting enough ) But deep fried Kabana is huge.

Thought this was funny: take-away In that the Bendigo Takeaway lists both the dim sim and the chicko roll as a "delight" but that they also offer a battered dim sim Also happy to deep fry a tim tam for you!!

alacarte, Following on from Adam - - lamingtons - potato scallops - balmain bugs - anzac biscuits - pawpaw - pie floater

Kitwilliams, I like the Donna Hay cookbooks - have found them reliable and don't remember every having a major dissappointment based on the recipe (as opposed to a personal stuff up). I started with Bill's Open Kitchen last week and cooked four things out of it over the weekend - mainly because the Lifestyle channel is showing Bill's Food at the moment and I love his style. The recipes were great, easy to follow and all worked perfectly. I intend to buy his other two this week!!

Thanks Carolyn, just a quick question. Do you subscribe to the theory that you should run your thumb around the top the the souffle dish (creating an "indent") before baking? I have seen this demonstrated by some chefs but not others - does it make a discernable difference. I now feel inspired enough to attempt a souffle - something I have not ever tried in my life (always believing they were too temperamental). Thanks egullet for dispelling this myth!!

This is the fruit Donna Hay has in mind for her recipies. pawpaws Obviously, when she calls for green pawpaw - it is the unripened version of the orange one. We tend to call the red fleshed fruit papaya (and it is generally not grown in Australia but imported). Edited to add the observation that the site also has some really interesting tropical fruits, their characteristics, taste and uses.

My brother used to make lettuce and vanilla ice-cream sandwiches after school. If we were out of ice-cream he would eat peanut butter and vegemite sandwiches. In summer - if he was really hungry he would eat canned baked bean or spagetti (cold) and potato chip sandwiches - very very soggy!!. In winter he would put a slice of bread on a plate cover in baked beans, make a "well" in the top and crack in an egg. Place a slice of cheese on top of the egg and then top with another slice of bread. All this was then microwaved until the egg was cooked.

Raw onions Tripe Corriander

I make the lemon linguine often - it is delicious. Another favourite is butternut pumpkin (squash to you americans) cut into cubes and cooked until soft in salty boiling water. When soft fork mash half of this and pour some thickened cream into the half mash/half chunk mix. I them put all of this into the cooked pasta and throw in some parmesan cheese and a handful of cashew nuts right at the end. Top with more parmesan.

"The Cook's Companion" - Stephanie Alexander "How to be a Domestic Goddess" - Nigella Lawson (for baking) and I love the "Marie Clare" cookbooks for quick ideas