Teens, Thots & Testimonies: The Great Australian Lifestyle

I'm trying to define what is the "Australian Lifestyle". What are some things that people living here do that are uniquely Australian? Perhaps I should do a survey of any friends who is or was an Australian resident.

The survey will have only one simple question.

Q) Fill in the blank:

"You are NOT living the Australian lifestyle until you ________."

There is no right or wrong answer, it's just basically what you think. Through my own observations and experience, I have my personal top 3 answers for it. (Disclaimer: Subject to changes over time.)

Here it is:

Q) "You are not living the Australian lifestyle until you....."

A1) ".... use colour printed toilet paper."

I've noticed this when I travelled to Australia previously and stayed at rental apartments. And also when I visit the homes of Australians. The toilet paper provided are so beautiful! It is colour printed with designs such as seashells or flowers. Some even feels embossed. It's almost a waste to use it...you know, to clean waste. Wow, it's strange, but when I finally had these nice toilet paper in my house, I felt very "Australian".

A2) "... dine at Nandos."

Nandos is big in Australia. It's everywhere. Almost every major shopping center has an outlet, I believed. In Victoria alone, they have 88 outlets. Nandos serve Portugese-style flame grilled chicken. Since it's so popular, I believed there must be something about it that we don't

know. So one day when I don't know what to cook, we brought the kids out to the nearest shopping center for Nandos. Now we know why. Their chicken is really delicious! We had the lemon herb one and it was well-marinated and juicy. Can't say much about their service though. The outlet we went to, we were served by a group of young girls. They had skin tight t-shirts that says 'Chicks Rule' with no manners. Nonetheless, this didn't stop us from going back there last Saturday again....for the real chicks.

A3) "... own a BBQ pit."

Every decent Australian home I've been to owns their own BBQ pit. There are public pits at parks (free of charge) but no one uses them. Now we know why. Nothing beats having your own private BBQ in the comfort of your own backyard. The last few weeks, BBQ pits and outdoor dining sets have been drawing my attention when I go shopping. We're planning to have our own BBQ set since we've such a big yard and the weather is turning good. It's time for some outdoor activities! A lot of people own the gas burner kind where you basically turn on the gas and it heats up a hot plate. To me, that's really no different from cooking your meat on the grill pan on the stove, except that it's outdoors and you can grill a lot at the same time. I still prefer the traditional charcoal kind. The flavour is better. So finally, we decided our first BBQ pit will be a 55cm "charcoal kettle".

Today, we tested it by having a mini-BBQ at home for lunch. The weather forecast was very good and indeed, the sky was cloudless and the sun was out for the whole day. KK was super excited about it and had specifically requested us to buy him marshmellows.

The menu is relatively simple but requires some advance preparation. I marinaded some chicken wings with tumeric and chicken thigh fillets Tandoori-style the night before. I also did another marinade for Chicken Tikka Masala and put in more thigh fillets cut into cubes. These, I'll skewer and BBQ them, to be put into the sauce for dinner on Monday night, when my parents-in-law will be here. For KK, we have chipolata sausages and some bread rolls. There's also red capsicum, portabello mushrooms and enoki mushrooms rolled in pancetta ham (couldn't find streaky bacon).

It took a while for the fire to get started. This is the disadvantage of the charcoal style. You need to start up the fire and wait for the coal to get hot. For the gas stove type, you basically just turn on the gas and go. Still, the wait was worth it, just make sure you start earlier when you're not too hungry. It's really nice to be able to eat outside without sweating profusely. But one thing's consistent, the smell of BBQ on your clothes and hair after everything..:-P

We wrapped up by 3pm and after putting XX to his nap, I still had the energy to bake a cake! I made an Earl Grey Chiffon cake using the recipe from Happy Home Baker. For my first attempt, I think it was a success. Hubby's comment when he took his first bite was good texture and the aroma of earl grey tea is nice. The cake wasn't too tall, partly because my tube pan was bigger - 21cm while in the recipe, HHB uses an 18cm one. I must thank my sister for helping me buy the tube pan from Singapore. I can't seem to find it here, maybe I don't know where to look. I sure wish Phoon Huat can set up a branch here :)