Food & Drink

So Jake has discovered fish and chips and thinks he has found culinary perfection. I heard him telling his friend Sarah on the phone yesterday, "It's like an ENORMOUS fish stick and it comes with fries, which they call chips. Fish and chips come from England. English people brought them when they tried to discover Australia." (I like the "tried").

Lucy we think was separated at birth from her real Australian family. She eats like an Aussie. She loves their traditional meat pies (which are truly foul) and guzzles the beer, or would if we didn't keep reclaiming the bottle.

Matt has also focused his epicurean research on beer and has found joy in Victoria Bitter on draught. It is creamy and delicious.

Night before last I had a "Roo Salad." I was momentarily shocked that they ate such adorable creatures until I reminded myself that we (the carnivorous we) devour lambs and bunnies by the thousands. Kangaroo meat is lean, full of iron, and quite flavorful, without being gamey. And it goes nicely with roasted beets and goat cheese.

I've also noticed two little linguistic variations in food products with big psychological consequences. Skim milk is called "skinny milk" and cookies are "biscuits." Both lead to increased consumption, something you'd think U.S. marketing companies would have picked up on by now.