First off, Tim Tams. These are a cookie, or as the Aussies would say, a biscuit like an Oreo on chocolate crack. It is two chocolate biscuits with a chocolate filling in between, and then dipped in chocolate. They are so amazing.
A close second in the chocolate world is Cadbury Marbled chocolate. This is a mix of milk and white chocolate marbled together, with a hazel nut praline filling, which is fabulously soft, but not creamy.
I have also found a new soda to enjoy. It has a variety of names, but it is sort of like carbonated lemonade. Sadly it doesn’t have caffeine and does have calories, unlike the must missed diet Pepsi, but it is still quite enjoyable.
Meat pies it turns out are also amazing. They have a million types, but I am a traditional girl and like the beef pies. They are pretty much beef and gravy in a pie shell. They make a great, and cheap, lunch when you forget yours at home.
I have also discovered a love of roasted sweet potatoes. Now I can’t say whether this is a pallet change, or if the Australian sweet potatoes are better. I do know that I have not developed a love roasted pumpkin, it still grosses me out.
Along the non-food lines, the weather here is unbelievably beautiful. We are now in what is considered fall, which means 80 to 85 degree sunny and not so humid days. This is the type of weather where you feel like a part of your soul might be dying as you sit inside, and then you remember there are several months of it to follow, and you realize that this might just be paradise.
Also the hats here are fabulous. Everyone has a hat! I need to get a hat, preferably pink with some sort of kangaroo on it.
I have a new Australian TV show addiction. It’s called Dance Academy, and it is a really overly dramatic soap opera about a group of 18ish year olds studying to be professional dancers. It is on every day too! What’s not to love?
BBQ’s. I have been to 4 BBQ’s since last Thursday. The Australians, being the social beings they are, just invite people over, or to the beach and you all bring your own food, and just hang out with people while you eat.
The people here have been so warm and accepting. It helps everything be more of the glorious sort of adventure, and less like the movie Behind Enemy lines. J
