It was 18 months since I last had poutine, so at my first opportunity in Welland, Ontario, I ordered a poutine with bacon and extra cheese.
Oh man, it was good. Delicious, cheese curdsy, saucy fries topped with extra cheese, bacon and shallots. I enjoyed every moment.
The good news is, I’m only in Ontario. The poutine is only going to be better in Quebec.
Yes, please!
This afternoon a bunch of people came to Sean and Jenn’s for the “Meet the Aussie” pot luck supper.
It was a really great time. Everyone just chilled and chatted and ate – holy Toledo, did we eat. There was so much good food, and a number of things I hadn’t tried before.
Pumpkin tarts. Oh. My. Goodness.
Those are amazing. I only had one, mainly because I was minding my manners. I could have eaten ten without any trouble.
Butter tarts: these would be more aptly named ‘Caramelised buttery fruity deliciousness tarts’.
These are really good, but the pumpkin tarts were better.
In return, I made two classic Australian desserts: a pavlova and a chocolate ripple cake.
Both were a huge hit. I think I scored a million brownie points with the pavlova. It was pretty darned spectacular, even if I do say so myself.
And, in a ‘karma smiling on me’ kind of way, we had an extra guest visiting in the yard with us. This little guy sat on the fence for some time, and kindly did not run away when I wanted to take his picture.
All the Canadians thought it was funny that I was so excited about a squirrel, until Sean explained that we don’t have them in Australia.
The following conversation was all about Australian wildlife and all the dangerous critters we have. That’s more fun than telling ghost stories around a camp fire because it’s all true.
As the sun went down and the temperature dropped, people went home and we finished the day very well fed and very tired.
Today Sean and Jenn are hosting a pot luck supper for their family and friends to “meet the Aussie”. I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone.
My contribution will be two classic Australian desserts: I’m making a pavlova and a chocolate ripple cake.
Yesterday we went shopping for ingredients.
Challenge #1: There are no chocolate ripple biscuits in Canadian stores.
Solution: I have substituted chocolate chip brownie cookies instead. They are a bit softer, but given the premise that the nature of the dessert is that tje biscuits soften in the cream, that should not be an issue.
Challenge #2: There are no Peppermint Crisp bars in Canadian stores. I always top my choc ripple cakes with a smashed up Peppermint Crisp.
Solution: Grated Aero Peppermint bar. It’s chocolate and mint. It works. All good.
Challenge #3: My pavlova recipe calls for cornstarch. I am corn sensitive, in a nasty coeliac/volcanic/cramping/wanting to die kind of way. At home, we use a wheaten cornstarch whicj solves that problem. BUT
Challenge #4: We have a gluten intolerant person also coming today. Same coeliac/volcanic issues.
Solution: I found potato starch in the store, which has the same fine, silky texture as corn starch.
I was very relieved when beating the meringue mixture that it looked exactly like my pavlova meringue batter usually does with the wheaten or corn starch. The meringue stiffened up beautifully. So far, so good.
Once in the oven, it did exactly what it was meant to. It rose, it spread and it got all nice and crisp.
How good does that look? It’s just about cooked. Almost there…
Alright! It looks perfect.
Challenge #4: You have no idea how hard it was to find passionfruit here. Seriously.
When I did find some, the checkout chick didnt know what they were and had to call for a code.
Somewhat incredulous, I smiled and waited patiently. At least the folks who are here today will get to try something iconically Australian, the way it’s meant to be.
Wins all round. Yay!
“So, is your Glock your only registered weapon?”
“Yeah.”
“What about the .22 you got from your brother?”
“That’s not registered.”
“Did you even manage to get bullets for it, though?”
“Yeah, but it sticks sometimes so it’s no good as a defensive weapon.”
“Was that why he gave it to you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
I was left with just the one question: what exactly was his brother trying to achieve?
For some time, LMC has been saying things she’s heard on American tween TV shows.
One of her favourite phrases is “Oh no, you didn’t!” when someone says or something she doesn’t like.
Today I was browsing in a shop when I heard stuff land on the floor and an employee say “Oh no, you didn’t!” in exactly the same way and with an accent that LMC had perfected far better than I had previously realised.
It made me smile.
Even more than that, it made me miss my girl.
I’m at Dagwood’s Sandwich Bar in Farmington Market, Detroit.
This place must have 200 different sandwiches on the menu board. If there’s nothing there that pleases you, you can choose your own fillings. Mind you, if there’s nothing on that board that appeals to you, you’re probably way too fussy and I don’t know how you ever manage to order off a menu.
I had the Chicken Caesar roll up sandwich and a pickle. It was so freakin’ good, I can’t even tell you how good it was.
I just met a great guy named Larry who runs a store called Clothes Encounters in Farmington, a suburb of Detroit.
I’ve met lots of friendly people here, but Larry is just that bit nicer, funnier, and sweeter than most. We chatted, talked about politics and the state of the world, we joked and laughed, and then I walked out of the store feeling great. I think Larry is the sort of guy who has a gift for making the day better for everyone he meets.
If you’re ever in Detroit, pop down to Clothes Encounters in Farmington and tell Larry I sent you. Maybe we can make his day great, too.
This is my second visit to Detroit.
On both occasions, I have had a wonderful visit and met some delightful people. Everyone is so nice and welcoming here and, apparently, Australian accents are sexy. I’m good with that.
I honestly don’t know why TV shows and movies are so committed to portraying Detroit as such a bad place. Like any city, it has its poorer areas, and you can see a number of abandoned buildings and places that have slid gradually into dereliction. That’s not really a fair reflection of what Detroit is, though.
Detroit is a lively city. Downtown has some great restaurants and bars, a beautiful river walk by the Grand River, and streets lined by trees and gardens alongside the city buildings and construction sites. It’s a city which has obviously had its struggles, but it has fought its way back and is doing a fabulous job of reinventing itself as a 21st century city.
Please don’t believe everything Hollywood or the television industry tells you, about Detroit or anywhere else. There are good people and bad people anywhere you go. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by how nice this city and its people are.
It had been a long, busy day at work following several days plagued by severe headaches. I headed to the supermarket to get some things for dinner and to stock up on Tim Tams for my family and friends in the U.S. and Canada, as I am heading back over there in a couple of weeks.
I had ten packs of Tim Tams and a stack of other Aussie treats in my basket. A lady nearby looked into my basket and then looked at me, as though she were trying to shame me for my wilful flirtation with Type 2 Diabetes.
I could have called her out on being a nosy cow who makes assumptions about strangers way too quickly but, instead, I looked her right in the eye with feigned innocence as I took the last box of Tee Vee Snacks from right in front of her and said, “What? I’m hungry, okay?”
She couldn’t look away fast enough.
“There!” I said inside my head, “that will teach you to mind your own business.”
When I got to the checkout, the attendant was looking strangely at my stash and at me, but at least she tried to hide it. Once again, I looked at her and said, “Never can stop at just one, you know!”
She tried to hide her reaction with a smile, but it was awkward.
“Not really,” I continued. “I’m going to America and Canada in a couple of weeks and they can’t get Tim Tams there. I’m performing a mission of mercy.”
That time, she really was horrified.
“Those poor people!” she said. “Ten packets isn’t enough!”
“I know, right,” I said, “but I don’t want to be arrested for trafficking a drug of dependence.”
“Can they do that?”
“Yeah, twelve packs and I’d be a goner. They’d confiscate them all at the airport and arrest me. ”
Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open.
Never mind how tired I had been just twenty minutes earlier. I walked out of that store feeling like an absolute legend.
Tonight, LMC and I were both in my study, playing on our iPads.
It was quiet for a long time until, out of the blue, she said, “You know what’s funny?”
“Me,” I said.
There was no further conversation.
An Aussie Maple Leaf, adrift on the wind... 
