Eating Around the World - Australia

It's been a while since I posted, but we're still working our way around the world, eating a meal from the country we've been studying each week. Last week we finished up Asia, and this week we moved on to Australia!

Our entire dinner consisted of Aussie burgers, or "Burgers With The Lot." And, boy, did they have a lot on them! 

Besides the burger and bun they had grilled pineapple, beets, fried egg, Swiss cheese, avocado, lettuce, and sriracha mayonnaise. Now, you may wonder, looking at that photograph, how one proceeds to eat such a tall burger.

Well, the first time I tried to take a bite everything slipped...

And landed right back on my plate. Amature.

Eventually, I got it! These burgers were delicious, although more up my alley than Collin's. He found them too rich and sweet, since he prefers his burgers with pungency: mustard, pickles, blue cheese, and raw onions. I like sweet and spicy. The pineapple and beets were the bit that was especially Australian, but while I loved the grilled pineapple I could take or leave the beets. They weren't bad, but they weren't that good and the burger was ridiculously tall.

For dessert we made Lamingtons! After a couple months in Asia I think the girls were glad to get back to a country with more familiar desserts. Lamingtons are a sponge cake cut in cubes, dipped in chocolate frosting, and rolled in coconut. I'd never made a sponge cake before (I know!) so that was fun for me. The dipping and rolling was a bit challenging, but fairly similar to breading chicken or vegetables for frying, which is a skill I'm slowly improving at. Just remember: One hand wet, one hand dry - and you'll save yourself a big mess.

Next week we're moving on to Papua New Guinea and the Pacific islands. Some summery island food sounds pretty good round about this time of year!