Recently, a very sweet friend of ours in Australia sent us a special package. It arrived just in time for Christmas!
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| Australian Tim Tams and Vegemite |
It contained a few uniquely Australian products. Tim Tam's, a chocolate covered cookie/biscuit sweet treat and of course, the uniquely Australian snack spread that is known as Vegemite.
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| Tim Tam Slurpee |
These can be eaten as normal snack cookies might and they are delicious that way. But, per the suggestion we were given, there is something called the Tim Tam Slurpee. First, you nibble off one end, then you nibble off the other end. Do you see where we are going? No? Hang on. Next you take a cup of hot coffee or tea or, in this case, hot chocolate and get ready. You will use the Tim Tam as a straw! You place one end in your mouth and the other in the hot beverage and suck up the liquid through the cookie (biscuit). Then, as quickly as you can, you put the whole thing in your mouth.
What happens next we can only describe as a magical experience...the inside cookie part has turned to liquid, held together only by the chocolate coating. It's like chocolate air. Just wonderful!
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| Vegemite on toast with butter |
We went into this knowing full well that it could go either way. Vegemite is one of those love it or hate it things, apparently there is no in between. It is not eaten by the spoonful (though perhaps some do). Instead, the best instructions for eating it, especially for the first time, are to eat it on toast spread with butter and then a thin layer of Vegemite. So that's what we did.
All we can say is...YUMMY! It's a salty flavor, a bit sour, kind of like what I would imagine eating a beef bouillon cube might be like. That's probably why using a little is best. I asked 2nd Man what he thought and he liked it too...he said it was a very 'umami' taste. It's definitely something we will have again. We can actually order this from Amazon Vegemite and I believe we will do that and keep some on hand!
Many of you who follow our blog know that our cats are named Sydney, Brisbane, and Hobart. I'm not sure why we've always been fascinated with Australia but we have been and of all the countries we'd like to visit, it's at the top of our list. Someday, we hope to make it there and will definitely have to take some time to see the sights of this beautiful country. One thing we know for sure, its people are kind and generous!
THANK YOU!!!!
