A piece of Holland in Alice Springs

Hey hola, here I am again, with yet another fabulous news:

I found stroopwafels in Alice!

A miracle! Last friday, I finally made it to an organic food shop (the only one in Metropalice) called Afghan Traders to buy some locally roasted coffee and there it was - a pack of stroopwafels... Well it's not all that perfect - it's aussie made which means it's far from that heavenly taste and texture of the original ones and it's bloody expensive - $3,50 for a pack of 4 (I miss you Holland!). But hey, I'm in Alice Springs!

It reminded me of the good old days at TU Delft, when stroopwafels were my staple food - I ate at least 2 packs (of 10) every week and I remember I ate them even in a shower (hope you're reading this, Andrew!). A student's life...

Poached eggs

Here comes another of my culinary discoveries! Poached eggs! Don't know where they come from but I'd never heard about them outside Australia.

It's nothing more than yet another way of preparing eggs but I just love it, so I thought I'd share it with you.

The preparation is very easy: crack each egg into a small bowl and then gently slid into a pan with simmering water with small amount of vinegar (to prevent dispersion of the egg white). By checking the softness of the eggs, you can easily find out when they are ready the way you like them (I like runny yolk). It usually doesn't take more than 3 minutes.

Enjoy!

Tim Tams

When I wrote earlier that the only typical Australian food I could think of was Vegemite, I totally forgot about Tim Tams!!! Time to fix it.

Tim Tams are absolutely divine chocolate biscuits. Once you discover them, you want to eat them all the time (something like Dutch Stroopwafels)!

Interestingly, a wonderful technique of eating Tim Tams called Tim Tam Slam has been developed over the years. You bite off the opposing corners of a Tim Tam and use it as a straw to suck up your coffee. Then just let your Tim Tam full of hot coffee melt on your tongue. Orgasmic!

Vegemite

Does Australia have its own cuisine? Or at least its own foods? In fact the only one I can think of is called Vegemite. So what is it? It's a Nutella-looking spread for your toasts that is as unique, as rich and as surprising as Australian fauna. But hold on, you've gotta be careful when you first taste it! You'd better read this post first!

How to taste Vegemite for the very first time

Typical scenario
Your very good Australian friend keeps talking about this fantastic thing, as huge part of true Aussie culture as stubby holders, to the point where you just have to try it. So he or she gives you the magical jar containing this divine food with a simple instruction: "Spread it on a toast! That's the best way". And so you do, you warm up your toast, take a generous amount of Vegemite and put it on your toast in a half-inch thick layer. Then the most exciting part comes, you're about to taste it! Expecting sweet Nuttela-like taste, you don't hesitate and bite as much of your toast off as you can. And suddenly, your face turns into an awful grimace expressing mixture of endless surprise, disgust and pain! You definitely didn't expected THIS, right? The content of your mouth together with the rest of your toast (if there is any) fly into a rubbish bin and you are done with Vegemite for the rest of your life. What a loss, what an unnecessary inconvenience! Your life can't be considered complete without Vegemite! But your life can be saved thanks to this blog. Keep on reading.

Recommended procedure
1. warm up your toast
2. put generous amount of BUTTER on your toast. You see how the toast beautifully soaks all the butter like a thirsty alcoholic her morning beer? Wonderful! You are on a good way to complete your masterpiece!
3. spread VERY VERY thin layer of Vegemite on your buttery toast
4. eat your toast without fear! Enjoy every bite! Bon appetit!
5. make another 5 Vegemite toasts and eat them all!