Today’s entry starts a few days before the big Turkey Day….
The weekend before I spent some time preparing the menu, going over recipes to pick the perfect food items to show off our national holiday to my new Australian friends. I had to make several trips to various stores. Of course one of them being the previously mentioned USA food Store. Where I picked up just a few items this time. A box of bisquick to make the biscuts with for $10, a can of cranberry sauce for $5, plus a few other things and a Whatamacallit candy bar. I had forgotten how much I loved those as a kid.
I spent some time searching my neighbourhood for all the right things needed. Items like a pan that will hold a good sized bird and fit in my oven. Which proved harder than you would think I had to bring one pan back because it was too big. I found another one that with a little manipulation I was able to get into the oven. I ended up taking some pliers and bending the handles down flat. The oven in our apartment is brand new. Which is nice, but it’s only 43 cm wide (about 17”), small by American standards. I think I could fit the entire unit into the oven I had back in Portland. I also spent about 2 hours looking for a turkey! There aren’t giant freezer sections with piles and piles of turkeys waiting for every Australian to come pick out that special one. The grocery stores, Coles and Safeway, in my area don’t even stock small turkeys at this time of year. So I trekked to the 4 or 5 butcher shops along Carlisle Street. (the main strip just a ½ block from my apartment) All of these places are locally own mom and pop shops. Some are more like delis, with some raw cuts of meat. No where did they stock turkeys here either. I compared prices at the 3 shops that could order me one (with a 1 week notice) and placed my order for a 6 to 7 kilo fresh bird at $9 AU a kilo (about $2.70 per lb US). Once I had my lists created, as many items completed as possible, all my things in order. (If you’ve been to one of my dinners you know I like EVERYthing to be in order.) There was a little weekend left for me to do some relaxing.
Sunday (Nov 23rd) afternoon, I took the book I’m currently reading (a gift before leaving Portland by Rob and Michelle Lennox), entitled "The Brothers K" by David James Duncan. Which is about a family of 8, baseball and 7 day Adventists from Camas Washington. 2 topics that I don’t hold a lot of interest for me. However the book is very well written and I’m finding the 600+ pages hard to put down. But I digress…
On a beautifully sunny, windy, near 75 degree day I grabbed the book and head down to the beach. Hoping to find a beautiful place to do some reading along the shore line. My stroll to the beach takes only about 15 minutes. All kinds of people are milling around on this lovely afternoon. Tourist, young lovers, screaming kids, and sweet older couples holding hands are scattered about. Near one of the piers I notice off in the distance there are some paragliding surfers. Tony and I saw some of these while in Florida back in June. People jump into a elaborate harne
s thing that goes over the shoulders, around the waist and up between the thighs, with a good size parachute attached to it. Strap a small surf board kind of like a wake board to their feet and let the wind sail them along on top of the water. I watch these guys come very close to the pier and then sail off into the distance again. As one guy did I noticed a lot more of these crazy people doing the same thing farther down the beach. I thought to myself I have to get a closer look and besides this must take a lot of upper body strength which means a good chance at seeing some hot men all wet! As a draw closer I can see they have set up on a small stretch of beach and seem to be having some type of competition. There’s a guy in a tent with coloured flags, a fog horn and a megaphone. 
All the participants (men and women alike) are wearing full wet suits so maybe the water isn’t as warm as it could be in late spring. The beach is littered with more parachutes and I tried several times to count the people out on the water coming up with somewhere around 30. This looks fun to watch so I plant my butt on the sea wall and enjoy the show for a while. The MC blares into the megaphone that in 5 minutes the leaping round of the event will start. With this 5 or 6 more contestant hurry to get their giant kites strapped on and into the water. There are so many of these people out on the water I wonder how they can sail in all directions without getting their lines all knotted up with each other. It seems to be utter pandemonium. After a few minutes I start to see a pattern develop. The people farthest from the shore are widely scattered and going from the left end of the bay towards the right. Then there was another row of people going from the right to the left. This is more densely packed but in a fairly efficient organized manor. Then there a row that is the closest to the shoreline and these people are neatly one at a time running from left to right in front of the judge’s tables. The MC is back on the Mega phone announcing the start of this time period. They change the flag from red to green and lay into the fog horn. All of a sudden people are literally flying in the air. Each person takes their turn coming be near the tent and leaping off of the surface of the water 20, 30 or even 40 feet into the air. Boards strapped to the feet, kicking them back, trying hand stands, doing turns and some moves I can’t really explain. All to impress the judges. I tried to get a movie clip for the blog but it was just too difficult to get a still set of images with the wind so strong, not to mentioned the shear awe of watching all of these people at once made it difficult to do more than just stare. I must have sat there for 30 minutes or more watching in amazement. I couldn’t tell you who was winning. In my book they all got awards for skill and expertise beyond words.
After this amazing display of fun I wandered a little more down the beach road and found my book reading space. A little bench in the middle of some dunes between the roadway and the beach. A quiet spot without a lot of foot traffic where I could still watch the adrenaline junkies and have enough solitude to read. As the evening wore on I found my way back to a restaurant along the beach for some dinner, to get out of the sun and wind, but let’s not forget the real driving force here a glass of vodka. Shortly after dinner I wandered home and before you know it Monday morning was at hand and I had to work all 5 days while my American counterparts were looking at the short work week of thanksgiving.
Monday evening the gym, Tuesday evening Sax practice, Wednesday evening the gym again, Thursday something a little more exciting! I picked up the 7 kilo (14lb) fresh turkey from the butcher shop and left them my thanks along with $60, ($40 US). Has anyone reading this blog paid $40 for a turkey EVER in their lives! My guess is probably not! Typically, Australians eat turkey and seafood for Christmas. The clerk mentioned that at Christmas the price goes up to $12 to $14 a kilo! What I had forgotten is that turkeys aren’t native to Australia. They don’t gobble through the forests looking for grubs in the leaf litter here. They all get shipped in, from you guessed it, the good old US of A.
After taking Tom the turkey home and putting him in the fridge I was off to band practice. We only have 3 more rehearsals until the Christmas concert on Saturday Dec. 13th. Taking place at Prahran Market and we’ll be joined by the Melbourne Gay Chorus. The whole show is to be broadcast live on Joy FM 94.9. The gay radio station here in town. They do broadcast on line so if you want to listen in check out their website at http://www.joy.org.au/. Keep in mind we’re 19 hours ahead of the west coast and 16 hour ahead of the east coast. 8:30pm Saturday night here is 4:30am in the east and 1:30am Saturday morning in the west. (if my math is right).
Friday evening I ran through all of the recipes one more time making my list and checking it twice. Another trip to the store for the freshest fruits and vegetables. Then a little time for Brian, which means I went out for a drink… After all it is Friday night and I had 2 days of cooking ahead of me.
Saturday morning I’m up at 8am and off to the store for the last few items.
Back at the house around 9am to start prepping the menu items. First it’s chopping all the items for making the stuffing from scratch (there’ no Stovetop stuffing and not even a generic brand I could find) I had surfed the web for a few recipes and remembered Grandma’s sausage stuffing with "Tom’s" organs…. After sautéing up some onions and celery with spices. I open up the turkey and realize there’s only the neck, no little bag of internal organs. I'm not sure where they went but they weren’t there. I boiled up the neck with some pieces of fat I cut off and made a nice broth which I saved to use on the turkey when I cooked it. Michael (my flat mate) was up now and very helpful. He takes 
direction well and was trusted peeling potatoes and sweet potatoes along with making the shrimp stuffed devilled eggs. All ingredients in a bowl and put it his 1984 food chopper turn it on and POOF a bang and a big cloud of smoke. We broke the darn thing. Michael justified it by saying it hadn’t been turned on in 2 years, luckily there was no fire and the smoke alarm didn't go off. The picture doesn’t do the scene justice. This thing was really smoking. It smelt like burnt plastic and metal. It was good for a laugh and we were able to salvage the 
devilled egg batter. The prep cook day ended about 3pm with a nice pumpkin pie. Nice because I burned the crust a little and the pie dish was more of a deep dish apple pie plate then a pumpkin pie plate, not to mention this is the first time I used the new oven. Any cook knows too many variables and things just don’t always go as planned.
The weekend before I spent some time preparing the menu, going over recipes to pick the perfect food items to show off our national holiday to my new Australian friends. I had to make several trips to various stores. Of course one of them being the previously mentioned USA food Store. Where I picked up just a few items this time. A box of bisquick to make the biscuts with for $10, a can of cranberry sauce for $5, plus a few other things and a Whatamacallit candy bar. I had forgotten how much I loved those as a kid.
I spent some time searching my neighbourhood for all the right things needed. Items like a pan that will hold a good sized bird and fit in my oven. Which proved harder than you would think I had to bring one pan back because it was too big. I found another one that with a little manipulation I was able to get into the oven. I ended up taking some pliers and bending the handles down flat. The oven in our apartment is brand new. Which is nice, but it’s only 43 cm wide (about 17”), small by American standards. I think I could fit the entire unit into the oven I had back in Portland. I also spent about 2 hours looking for a turkey! There aren’t giant freezer sections with piles and piles of turkeys waiting for every Australian to come pick out that special one. The grocery stores, Coles and Safeway, in my area don’t even stock small turkeys at this time of year. So I trekked to the 4 or 5 butcher shops along Carlisle Street. (the main strip just a ½ block from my apartment) All of these places are locally own mom and pop shops. Some are more like delis, with some raw cuts of meat. No where did they stock turkeys here either. I compared prices at the 3 shops that could order me one (with a 1 week notice) and placed my order for a 6 to 7 kilo fresh bird at $9 AU a kilo (about $2.70 per lb US). Once I had my lists created, as many items completed as possible, all my things in order. (If you’ve been to one of my dinners you know I like EVERYthing to be in order.) There was a little weekend left for me to do some relaxing.
Sunday (Nov 23rd) afternoon, I took the book I’m currently reading (a gift before leaving Portland by Rob and Michelle Lennox), entitled "The Brothers K" by David James Duncan. Which is about a family of 8, baseball and 7 day Adventists from Camas Washington. 2 topics that I don’t hold a lot of interest for me. However the book is very well written and I’m finding the 600+ pages hard to put down. But I digress…
On a beautifully sunny, windy, near 75 degree day I grabbed the book and head down to the beach. Hoping to find a beautiful place to do some reading along the shore line. My stroll to the beach takes only about 15 minutes. All kinds of people are milling around on this lovely afternoon. Tourist, young lovers, screaming kids, and sweet older couples holding hands are scattered about. Near one of the piers I notice off in the distance there are some paragliding surfers. Tony and I saw some of these while in Florida back in June. People jump into a elaborate harne
s thing that goes over the shoulders, around the waist and up between the thighs, with a good size parachute attached to it. Strap a small surf board kind of like a wake board to their feet and let the wind sail them along on top of the water. I watch these guys come very close to the pier and then sail off into the distance again. As one guy did I noticed a lot more of these crazy people doing the same thing farther down the beach. I thought to myself I have to get a closer look and besides this must take a lot of upper body strength which means a good chance at seeing some hot men all wet! As a draw closer I can see they have set up on a small stretch of beach and seem to be having some type of competition. There’s a guy in a tent with coloured flags, a fog horn and a megaphone. 
All the participants (men and women alike) are wearing full wet suits so maybe the water isn’t as warm as it could be in late spring. The beach is littered with more parachutes and I tried several times to count the people out on the water coming up with somewhere around 30. This looks fun to watch so I plant my butt on the sea wall and enjoy the show for a while. The MC blares into the megaphone that in 5 minutes the leaping round of the event will start. With this 5 or 6 more contestant hurry to get their giant kites strapped on and into the water. There are so many of these people out on the water I wonder how they can sail in all directions without getting their lines all knotted up with each other. It seems to be utter pandemonium. After a few minutes I start to see a pattern develop. The people farthest from the shore are widely scattered and going from the left end of the bay towards the right. Then there was another row of people going from the right to the left. This is more densely packed but in a fairly efficient organized manor. Then there a row that is the closest to the shoreline and these people are neatly one at a time running from left to right in front of the judge’s tables. The MC is back on the Mega phone announcing the start of this time period. They change the flag from red to green and lay into the fog horn. All of a sudden people are literally flying in the air. Each person takes their turn coming be near the tent and leaping off of the surface of the water 20, 30 or even 40 feet into the air. Boards strapped to the feet, kicking them back, trying hand stands, doing turns and some moves I can’t really explain. All to impress the judges. I tried to get a movie clip for the blog but it was just too difficult to get a still set of images with the wind so strong, not to mentioned the shear awe of watching all of these people at once made it difficult to do more than just stare. I must have sat there for 30 minutes or more watching in amazement. I couldn’t tell you who was winning. In my book they all got awards for skill and expertise beyond words.After this amazing display of fun I wandered a little more down the beach road and found my book reading space. A little bench in the middle of some dunes between the roadway and the beach. A quiet spot without a lot of foot traffic where I could still watch the adrenaline junkies and have enough solitude to read. As the evening wore on I found my way back to a restaurant along the beach for some dinner, to get out of the sun and wind, but let’s not forget the real driving force here a glass of vodka. Shortly after dinner I wandered home and before you know it Monday morning was at hand and I had to work all 5 days while my American counterparts were looking at the short work week of thanksgiving.
Monday evening the gym, Tuesday evening Sax practice, Wednesday evening the gym again, Thursday something a little more exciting! I picked up the 7 kilo (14lb) fresh turkey from the butcher shop and left them my thanks along with $60, ($40 US). Has anyone reading this blog paid $40 for a turkey EVER in their lives! My guess is probably not! Typically, Australians eat turkey and seafood for Christmas. The clerk mentioned that at Christmas the price goes up to $12 to $14 a kilo! What I had forgotten is that turkeys aren’t native to Australia. They don’t gobble through the forests looking for grubs in the leaf litter here. They all get shipped in, from you guessed it, the good old US of A.
After taking Tom the turkey home and putting him in the fridge I was off to band practice. We only have 3 more rehearsals until the Christmas concert on Saturday Dec. 13th. Taking place at Prahran Market and we’ll be joined by the Melbourne Gay Chorus. The whole show is to be broadcast live on Joy FM 94.9. The gay radio station here in town. They do broadcast on line so if you want to listen in check out their website at http://www.joy.org.au/. Keep in mind we’re 19 hours ahead of the west coast and 16 hour ahead of the east coast. 8:30pm Saturday night here is 4:30am in the east and 1:30am Saturday morning in the west. (if my math is right).
Friday evening I ran through all of the recipes one more time making my list and checking it twice. Another trip to the store for the freshest fruits and vegetables. Then a little time for Brian, which means I went out for a drink… After all it is Friday night and I had 2 days of cooking ahead of me.
Saturday morning I’m up at 8am and off to the store for the last few items.
Back at the house around 9am to start prepping the menu items. First it’s chopping all the items for making the stuffing from scratch (there’ no Stovetop stuffing and not even a generic brand I could find) I had surfed the web for a few recipes and remembered Grandma’s sausage stuffing with "Tom’s" organs…. After sautéing up some onions and celery with spices. I open up the turkey and realize there’s only the neck, no little bag of internal organs. I'm not sure where they went but they weren’t there. I boiled up the neck with some pieces of fat I cut off and made a nice broth which I saved to use on the turkey when I cooked it. Michael (my flat mate) was up now and very helpful. He takes 
direction well and was trusted peeling potatoes and sweet potatoes along with making the shrimp stuffed devilled eggs. All ingredients in a bowl and put it his 1984 food chopper turn it on and POOF a bang and a big cloud of smoke. We broke the darn thing. Michael justified it by saying it hadn’t been turned on in 2 years, luckily there was no fire and the smoke alarm didn't go off. The picture doesn’t do the scene justice. This thing was really smoking. It smelt like burnt plastic and metal. It was good for a laugh and we were able to salvage the 
devilled egg batter. The prep cook day ended about 3pm with a nice pumpkin pie. Nice because I burned the crust a little and the pie dish was more of a deep dish apple pie plate then a pumpkin pie plate, not to mention this is the first time I used the new oven. Any cook knows too many variables and things just don’t always go as planned. The rest of Saturday afternoon was actually spent in bed napping so I could go out again that evening. My band friend, Andy, (See Numurkah entry) had invited me to come along with him to a private party that was taking place as a warm up to “Beyond” A big leather party that happens 3 or 4 times a year in a warehouse in the central business district. This was my 1st private party invite and I didn’t want to miss it. But
going out on Friday night and up early cooking all day left me wiped out. Unfortunately, I’m not 21 anymore no matter how many times I say at least I’m NOT 40 yet, I really needed the nap. I got up around 8 and got ready to go. Stepping out on our little balcony I caught this beautiful sunset. Being the good little boy my mother always hoped I’d be (but never was as a child) I was home by 1am (skipping the big warehouse party that went until 9am) and back up at 7:30am prepping Tom for the oven. Dinner was to be served at 2pm and there were still several hours of cooking to be done. Around noon the first guests arrive on schedule and in true “I am my father’s son” fashion I put them to work. There were appetizer plates to be put together and I still had to get a couple things in casserole dishes so when the turkey was done they were ready to go into the oven. Right on time the turkey was done and I pulled it out of the oven. The 
room quickly erupted in Ooohhs and Aaahhhs (As any good cook would expect) 1 golden brown turkey done and now back to the remaining dishes. I learned that I can fit 3 casseroles in the oven at once. But which ever one is on top will burn. I also learned the Australian marshmallows melt instead of puffing up and browning. Good thing there was only one other American that knew what dishes should taste and look like. So I scrapped off the burnt Durkee freeze dried onion from the green bean casserole and placed some
tinfoil under the sweet potatoes. Then dinner is served. (They’re several more dishes on a small table behind the photographer.) After all of the guests had filled their plates I went to fill mine and would you believe it BOTH drumsticks were still there! I pointed out that people fight over these legs of savoury tender dark meat back home. The only thing I forgot in all that preparing was to open the can of cranberry sauce! Which I didn’t remember until I was at work on Monday. The guests gobbled up turkey, potatoes, Bisquick biscuits and so much more. We 
drank wine, beer and my beloved vodka. We laughed, we cried (tears of joy) and we even dropped a bouquet of flowers all over the kitchen floor. (a hostess mishap). The guests from left to right are Brian (back of his head, not me another one), Giacomo (my Italian friend that reminds me of Sven), Jock (Michael's’ boyfriend) Sam (the other American) Peter (stuffing his face) , Ian ( a friend of Michael’s he used to live with), Peter and Darrin (Darrin was a friend of Michael’s that used to live in Byron Bay and Peter is his boyfriend) Then my flat mate Michael is seen just barely on the right. A couple others showed up later but by then I was done cooking and taking photos. I had moved on to the drinking part of the afternoon. Once our stomachs had settle enough to fit more food in I served up the best dam pumpkin pie ever seen outside of America! You must understand that Australian’s eat pumpkin like any other squash 
they roast it, put in curry stir-fry, grill it or, boil it and mash it like potatoes. But no one in the room except me and Sam had ever had it in a pie. Like with all my dinners the guest lingered all afternoon and as they departed each took a little bag of goodies for them to enjoy later. Around 8pm when the last guest departed, Michael and I practically fell on the floor in exhaustion. By then most of the cleaning had been completed and everything in our home was back in its place. I was in bed at 9pm and this is after falling asleep in a chair out on the balcony.The holiday, in all, was a GREAT one. Michael was a HUGE help throughout the process and many times during the party came up to me and asked what he could to do help. This was our first dinner party in our new home and I hope it is the start of many more to come. I think a new tradition has been started here and I invited the guests to come back next year for more turkey. The only draw back to the entire event was that I had to work the next day and couldn’t properly enjoy all the leftovers. I was able to save some stuffing from the bird and some dark meet for my lunch the next day.
Monday morning came too quickly, as it always does. Dragging my but out of bed at 6:30am was tough. All morning at work there was a little piece of happiness in my heart, knowing that I had my lunch leftover waiting for me in the fridge.
This so ends my first thanksgiving in Australia. I hope you all had a fabulous time with your families and friends. You were thought of many times through out my day. You are all welcome and now officially invited to attend Thanksgiving Dinner Australian Style next year.
Next up on the horizon is the previously mentioned Christmas concert with the band, my 40th b’day (arrgg can we skip this part PLEASE), the company Christmas party on the 19th and my departure for my next big adventure. On December 20th at 7:30am I get on a auto ferry for a 8 hour ride to another part of the land down under. 12 nights, through Christmas and New Years, camping and travelling all around Australia’s Island State… that should be a big enough hint for you all to guess where I’m going. So stayed tuned for future updates to Brian’s Travels Down Under!
Happy Birthday to Michael Gustafson, on the 5th (I think that’s the right day)
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