Santa Claus is Coming to Town. . .

There are a number of notable differences between Christmas in Australia and Christmas in the US.  Here are a few examples:
1.  Santa Claus doesn't come to town.  Father Christmas does. (but you can still visit him at the mall as you can see from the photo!) 
2.  The most common greeting:  "Happy Christmas"
3.  Christmas pudding and mince pies.  I really didn't want to buy either but could tell that it would upset my MIL if I didn't so I gave in.  I also bought a bottle of brandy as it seems "brandy butter" (homemade, not store bought) is equally essential. 
4.  Weather.  This one is pretty obvious but definitely worth mentioning.  Despite the fact that Sydney is experiencing the coldest and wettest December in 51 years, the kids have been swimming nearly every day and the forecast for Christmas Day is sunny and 23 degrees (that's mid-70s).  Perhaps we'll hit the beach?  Now that's a tradition I could get used to. 
5.  Christmas Eve dinner.  Now I know that every family is different, but mine tends to eat Italian on Christmas Eve (lasagna is popular because it feeds a lot of people!)  But this Christmas Eve we will be eating: meat pie.  A burgundy beef meat pie to be exact.  Pies are very popular here but they are almost always savory.  There is little chance of finding a pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie or, my personal favorite, a chocolate silk pie but you can find meat pies on nearly every street corner (both here and in NZ.)  This is no doubt why Andy loved going to Boomerangs  in Austin. 

Of course there are a lot of things that are universal and key among them are the thoughts of friends and family - near and far.  Thinking of you and wishing you all a very happy christmas!  

Thanksgiving: Lost in Translation?

I have never felt as far away from home as I felt at the grocery store shopping for our Thanksgiving feast.  And I've never felt quite as frustrated by the differences as I did in trying to actually cook some of my most favorite things.    Turns out that a stick of butter is a very American measurement, sugar is not sugar and no one knows what marshmellow creme is.  Here is a photo of what happened when I tried to make "Mississippi Mud" for our Thanksgiving feast.

I must have called my mother-in-law in New Zealand a dozen times (is granulated sugar the same as sugar?  is icing mixture the same as powdered sugar?  can i use karo syrup for corn syrup?) and even she couldn't prevent this nightmare.  My "homemade" marshmellow creme would not set and the icing layer just sunk straight in.  Fortunately, I had enough time to make another layer of icing and hide the evidence.  While it looked terrible on the plate (marshmellow creme oozing out), it still tasted delicious.  Of course, i wouldn't want to venture how many calorires were in each slice. 

Corn Casserole presented a similar problem but I was prepared - or so I thought.  Our family recipe calls for "jiffy corn muffin mix" which, alas, is not sold in Australia.  But a quick google search uncovered a "clone" recipe.  Unfortunately, when I went to grab the cornmeal it was actually cornflour.  Another call to MIL confirmed what my gut and google said - NOT the same thing.  Fortunately, I was able to find a corn casserole recipe online that didn't call for cornmeal or jiffy mix. And then I left Andy to make everything else. . .heck, I even let him clean it all up. 

Zachary with our Aussie neighbors

The good news is that our guests didn't care one bit that the mud was messy or that we had to make some last-minute substitutions to the menu.  And they didn't care that the feast was held on a Sunday afternoon. They were thrilled to be included in such an American tradition and even came looking the part.  What a wonderful reminder of all we have to be thankful for - wonderful friends and family in every corner of the world.

A belated happy thanksgiving to you!