Simple Pleasures

A Bunch of Little Aussie things for One BIG Post

Life for the last while has been pretty basic, nothing to out of the ordinary to write home about. Siyani works detailing cars for Avis out at the airport and I go in service, clean the unit and bake. Every now and then though a little something interesting does happen. 

For example:

Siyanis first Aussie spider. 

While not as big as others here, it was the first one Siyani saw. Almost a right of passage for living in Australia seeing your first of many and most of the time bigger spiders.

Iced Coffee: Espresso, Milk, Ice Cream, Whip Cream and Chocolate Shavings.

What I should have gotten was a picture of Siyanis face when this came to the table. We went out when Sam and Deb Clements where in town driving through after Deb's son Alecs wedding. We hit the coffee club and I just ordered for Siyani. I had been dying to get him one of these since we landed but had not yet had the opportunity. His exact words when this was out in front of him were "that's not coffee, that's dessert." The Aussies know how to do Iced Coffee right. 

While pizza is not purely an Aussie thing, being here has allowed me more time to try out recipes. This wonderful creation was my attempt at something Aussies don't have. Perogies.....to be more exact perogie pizza, like what Boston Pizza makes. It turned out really good, and was almost a baby. Let me explain. Back home we used to get together with Taija, Rowan, Shaun and Gina and order pizza from the take and bake shop Papa Murphy. They weigh your pizza after it is made, and one time after doing one of the make-your-own we were told it weighed 6.5 pounds. We of course marveled at the fact that we had just created a pizza that weighed as much as a new born baby. Now every time after we make pizza it usually comes up about whether or not we just made a baby.

Finally, something I really enjoy while being in Australia. Making pumpkin pie and sharing it with the Aussies. The hardest part of making pumpkin pie in Oz Land is not the varied recipe I have to do for the pastry or even the true essence of "from scratch" for the pumpkin pie filling which includes peeling, boiling and pureeing, it is convincing the people to even try a piece. Pumpkin here is either an entree side or a scone, not a pie. Once you get them to taste it though, it is generally a big hit. For the encounter shown above we were invited out to a BBQ with a group from the congregation, as a back up I also took some pumpkin roll. The Aussies ate it up, literally, right down to licking the plate clean. 

Simple Pleasures......Aussie Style!