Chapter 31 - ANZAC Biscuits

In which our hero makes a sheepish return to the blogosphere, having been gone for rather a longish time ...

When last we spoke it was the weekend before ANZAC Day, which is the 25th of April.  This year it landed on a Thursday, which meant I got the busiest and longest day of the week off.  Before I go on about that, though, I'll get to the bit of the week before.

On the weekend of April 20 there was something on called Supanova.  (Say it with an Australian accent, so it sounds like 'supernova').  It's essentially ComicCon, but in Australia, and more than once a year, because it travels to different cities.  In April it was in Gold Coast.  In September it'll be in Brisbane.  It was only like $30 for a day pass.  I didn't go.  I can't remember why.  I was disappointed with myself for not going.  I really really should have, because Alex Kingston was there, and so was Sylvester McCoy, and they were doing a panel discussion about fifty years of Doctor Who.  I really really should have gone.  Bah.

Anyway, on the Wednesday of that week, having finished my lab in a reasonable time, and feeling like my sense of adventure was sort of stagnating, I decided to take the bus in the opposite direction and go to the Australia Fair shopping centre.  I was on a mission to find an A4 paper carrier.  One of my lab partners had got one from K-Mart, but I'd looked at the K-Mart near my house and found nothing.  I knew there was another K-Mart at Australia Fair, so off I went.  They didn't have one either.  But I did find this interesting games shop that sold a plethora of chess sets.  Like, some really very exciting chess sets.  An outside observer would probably think I'm some kind of chess nut, but really I just like the creative chess sets.  See the pictures below.

Look at them all!

Star Wars (Baddies).

Battle of Waterloo.

Australiana.  There's echidnas as pawns, and the Sydney Opera House as a castle.

Robin Hood Baddies.

Robin Hood Goodies.

Sherlock Holmes Goodies.  The baddies side has Moriarty as the king, but the picture was kind of dark.

Isle of Lewis.

Alice In Wonderland.

I also found a toy store that had this game, which I would love to play.  I'm not normally a fan of board games, but this one looks quite excellent.

As I was leaving the shopping centre I spotted a store called Japan Dollar Shop.  I remembered a while ago that Wen Ying told me I could get cheap lunch containers at a Japanese shop in Southport, so I went in to see if that was it.  I think probably it was.  I didn't buy any lunch boxes, but I did get my A4 paper carrier.  (A4 is like an equivalent to the 8.5" x 11" paper that we so commonly use, except it's slightly longer and slightly narrower.  It's the standard sort of binder/notebook/printer paper that the whole world uses, except for North America.  Letter. That's what it's called.  A4 is the rest of the world's Letter.)  (And an A4 paper carrier is the Japanese name for a sort of plastic hinged thin box thing.  I don't know what the rest of the world calls them.  Therese brought us a couple from Japan, though, so that's what I know them as.)  I also found these things in the Japan Dollar Shop. 

"Private Room - Because it wants to relax..." (Toilet seat cover).

"The Relax Room - A colorful waffle design enables the coordination of I liking."  Also a toilet seat cover.

By that point it was getting a bit late, so I figured I should make my way home.  I managed to find a bus stop, despite never having been there before, and the whole area being under construction for the light rail system, so everything's all madness and chaos and there's no real way to know what buses stop where.  But it worked out.  One came along.  I got home.  I spent the evening vegging out in front of the telly with the kids, because the next day was a holiday and I figured I'd do my homework then.

The next day was ANZAC Day.  It's basically like Remembrance Day, except that unlike at home it's a public holiday, so everyone can go out to the parades and ceremonies.  ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, and it's on April 25th to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand soldiers landing at Gallipoli in WWI.  ANZAC biscuits, if you've heard of them, are essentially oatmeal cookies made with no eggs or milk or anything that can go off, and they were made by the wives and mothers and sweethearts at home to send to their boys overseas in care packages.  So now they sell them in shops around ANZAC day, or people make them.  They're really quite good.  You should try them.  They make good breakfast cookies.

Anyway.  So we'd received this thing in the mail from our local MP or something informing us of all of the local ceremonies and things, so we'd made a kind of plan to go to see the parade nearby in Upper Coomera, then the ceremony, then stay for the BBQ after.  When we arrived the road was blocked off, so we had to park and walk for about ten minutes.  As we approached we could hear a band playing, and by the time we got to the cenotaph the parade had just ended and everyone was organizing themselves for the ceremony.  It was very hot and sunny, and we were melting just standing there and doing nothing.  And yes, I was wearing sunscreen.  It was a very nice ceremony.  At one point a poem about the flag was read, and what it represents, and about the country, and it was quite emotional.  And of course, who doesn't get chills when the Last Post is played?

The ANZAC Day ceremony at the Upper Coomera Cenotaph.

Kangaroo crossing sign!

By the time the ceremony was over we were all very hot, and the munchkins were getting restless, so we decided to just leave instead of stick around for the BBQ.  Because we were so hot and melty we thought it might be a good idea to swoop by McDonald's for a 30 cent ice cream cone.  Then we went home, and I spent the afternoon doing homework. 

Around 3:00 I left to go to my lab partner's house for our fortnightly late night lab report session.  By the time we finished it was approximately midnight, which seems to be the norm.  Although this time we started earlier than the previous time, we had also done less work beforehand.  So it took just as long.  Or longer, I suppose, since we started earlier and finished at the same time.  It got done, and this past Friday, when we got it back, Professor Lu said he though it was so good that he wanted to borrow it the next time a delegation from Engineers Australia came by so he could show them what kind of skills the Griffith students have.  How awesome is that?  I attribute most of the credit to Josh, who is used to the style of reports that Professor Lu likes.  They're a little more involved than I'm used to, but luckily we can submit a team report, so we can each bring our own strengths to it.

The next day, Friday, my only class was Maths from 3:00-5:00.  Afterward I'd made a plan to go out to my friend Rachel's house for an Aussie themed night of dinner and movies.  The dinner was lamb roast, which was seriously the best lamb I'd ever eaten.  I'm not normally a big fan of lamb.  There was also Lemon Lime Bitters, which is sort of the go-to stand-by designated driver's drink, made with lime cordial, lemonade (sparkling lemonade), and a wee bit of angostura bitters, which on its own tastes very much of cloves.  (I spilled some on my finger, that's how I know, because I then licked it off).  There was also mint sauce on the lamb, which I've never had, and which was quite good.  As snacks there was a bunch of Hallowe'en sized chocolate bars that are particular to Australia, like Cherry Ripe, Caremello Koala, and Picnic.  I think I've already explained about Cherry Ripe.  It's coconut and cherry in the middle, and chocolate on the outside.  Caremello Koala is a little chocolate shaped like a cartoon koala and filled with caramel.  Picnic is like Mr. Big.

We put on the first movie during dinner, which was "The Man From Snowy River".  I highly recommend it.  Like, really highly.  Like, really really.  You should watch it.  It was great.  It's based on a long story-poem type thing. 

After the first movie we made our dessert, which was pavlovas.  These were way different than the ones I'd had here at home several weeks ago (see the post titled "Pavs!" for a reminder.)  Those ones were in hard meringue nests.  These ones were on soft meringue cakes almost, and we covered them with cream, then bits of kiwi and strawberry and a couple spoons of passion fruit pulp, and they tasted like awesome.  There was another meringue thingy left, and Rachel said I could go for it, so I did.  It also tasted like awesome.  You should try it.  Apparently Kiwis will try to tell me that they invented pavlovas, and they know how to do them right, but I'm not to believe their crazy talk.  (I apologize to any Kiwis reading this, if there is any.  I'm very easily influenced by the people around me.  I'll no doubt change my tune when I get to New Zealand).

First pavlova, half eaten.

Second one, that I decorated myself. There was crazy amounts of cream on it. (Whipped cream essentially, but not sweet.  Just thick.)

After dessert we put on "The Man From Snowy River II", which was also good, but not as good as the first one.  I recommended again that Rachel look up Five Mile Creek, as it takes place in a similar point in Australian history.  Also, it's really good.

Lastly, at some point, possibly the next day, I spotted this on the wall on the way to the bathroom.  It's inside.  It was surprising, but not at all scary like a spider or a snake.  I don't know what kind of ungodly place would have snakes on the walls, though.  That would almost be doubly startling.

House gecko! (I captured it and put it out in the garden.)