I would like to share
with you some foods we have been impressed with here in Canberra. A very
diverse set! Just as a heads up these are by no means representative of
our diet.
When I looked up the bakery's web page there were lots of raving comments. The page warns to expect to wait 2 hours for a table. A few people commented to say that they would be driving up from Melbourne for the weekend to have a shake. That is about 12 hours of driving! These shakes must be really good. And we only have to make it across the lake. So we waited for a rainy morning (thinking that this might reduce the wait time) and went at a time most working people should be stuck at their desks (10:30). The girls were giddy with excitement. Jakob was stuck at his desk giddy with envy. We only had to wait twenty minutes for our table. The girls ran around a tree in frenzied anticipation. And I have to say that it was a very very impressive milkshake.
There was shake, and mountains of homemade whipped cream, and ganache oozing and dripping everywhere, and homemade marshmallows and even a brownie on top. Yup, they put a whole separate indulgence on top of an already indulgent indulgence. And so we set to work enjoying ourselves. And here is the part where I have to bow my head in shame because there were four of us sharing this shake and we could barely finish it. The only reason we succeeded is because I felt it would be inexcusable to leave any and so took it upon myself to drink the last 1/3. I felt like I had eaten a Picasso.
On
a whim I bought a cereal based purely on the cover. It had words like
Australia and Bush (the Australian version of Bush) on the cover. It was
colorful. Claimed to be made of Australian ingredients. And really the
topper of them all was the claim that all profits went to charity. So,
even if I detested the cereal I could still feel good about having
purchased it. And then when I got home I took a closer look and all
these things hit me again but in a more impressive way. By 'all' did
they really mean all? And so we looked it up and it got even more
interesting.
Dick Smith made a fortune off of his
electronic store. Likely the name rings a bell as all the stores are
named after him. While he sold the chain awhile back he is still rolling
in money. He has chosen to invest his money in Australia because he
thinks it is a pretty great country. One part of this involves having
his own brand of foods to address the tragedy of foreigners owning much
loved Australian products. For example, Australia's pride and joy
vegemite, is owned by Kraft and made with foreign ingredients. All the
foods in his chain are made with Australian ingredients, produced in
Australia, and run by Australians. If the products are successful enough
to yield profit all profits go to Australian charities. While we
usually have to pay four times as much for local products this is not
the case with these products which are often cheaper than their
counterparts. Really, I think this is a genius was of investing in a
country. I am sure if I were a refuge trying to get into Australia I
would detest this man who wants to keep Australia for Australians. But,
it is really difficult not to respect his efforts and his national
pride. I really felt proud of Australia while I ate my cereal. Plus, in
his free time he does things like fly his helicopter around the world and
over Mount Everest.
This last item doesn't require
much introduction. As part of our science class we do experiments. Our
latest - orchestrated by Aurora- was rock candy. We have spend the past
week watching pieces or string bulk up with crystals. The results were
way more impressive that I expected. Tonight we finally got around to
eating our rocks. |
| It's almost as big as me! |
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| Australian food for Australians |
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| If only all gems were this easy to make |
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