Happy Australia Day to all of my Aussie friends in Australia and abroad!

To celebrate Australia Day, I wanted to share some of my favourite snack foods from Australia:

1. Vegemite

Synonymous with Australia, most people would recognise Vegemite as one of our most iconic foods. Made primarily from yeast extract, it’s a thick, dark spread that people usually put on their toast, crumpets and crackers. Due to its strong unique flavour, people either hate it or love it but I personally love it and there’s always a small jar in my pantry! The trick to enjoying Vegemite is moderation and I think it’s best served on freshly buttered toast, mmm!

2. Cheezels

Cheezels are a fun trip down memory lane as  I remember my mum packing small packets of Cheezels in my lunchbox for school. These are corn-based, cheese-flavoured rings of goodness! The best way to eat them is to put one on each finger and thumb, and pluck them off with your mouth!

3. Shapes

In addition to Cheezels, I also remember eating lots of Shapes as a kid! Shapes are savoury, almost puzzle like shaped biscuits that come in a wide range of flavours such as barbecue, pizza, cheese and bacon, and roast chicken. Each biscuit is packed full of flavour and I love the crunch as I chomp into them! In recent years, a new ‘light and crispy range’ was released making the biscuits even thinner and crunchier! Nowadays, my favourite flavour is sweet chilli and sour cream shapes from the light and crispy range!

4. Tim Tam’s

After Vegemite, I would say that Tim Tam’s are another one of our most iconic foods. Tim Tam’s are smooth, cream-filled biscuits coated in chocolate. They are so delicious and although I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, I’ll never turn one of these bad boys down! They come in a wide range of flavours such as original milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate and my favourite, chewy caramel. They also release limited edition flavours from time to time, and I’m dying to try the coconut cream!

So there you go! These are just a few unique snack foods from Australia that I’m enjoying today!

Have you tried any of these and if so, do you have a favourite?

Marie xo

This weekend marks the start of a new Chinese lunar calendar. As we bring in the Year of the Rooster, I wanted to share what Chinese New Year is all about and how my family and I will be celebrating this year.

When is Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year corresponds to the Chinese lunar calendar, so the date will vary each year. The festivities last for 15 days, from the new moon to the full moon. This year, Chinese New Year starts on Saturday 28 January. The most important dates are Chinese New Year’s Eve where families typically get together to celebrate and Chinese New Year’s Day, where families will begin visiting close family and friends.

How to Prepare for Chinese New Year

Before Chinese New Year, people usually clean their houses from top to bottom, to get rid of all the bad luck from the previous year. If any sweeping is done during the first few days after the New Year, it’s said that this will sweep away all the new luck, so be sure to get all of your spring cleaning done beforehand! Other preparations include decorating the house with messages and symbols of New Year cheer and good luck, and preparing food for the festivities.

What to Wear 

During Chinese New Year, people will typically wear bright red clothes as it’s believed that the colour wards off bad fortune and evil spirits. Some people may also purchase and wear new clothes to symbolise a new beginning for the New Year. For men, this typically means a red shirt and for women, this typically means a red dress. My husband and I prefer not to buy new clothes every year, so we have red clothes on hand for special occasions such as Chinese New Year.

What to Say

There are various greetings and sayings that you may hear during Chinese New Year. However, the most common one is wishing someone “happiness and prosperity” or “gōngxǐ fācái”. For close family and friends, you can be a bit more cheeky and ask for a red envelope filled with money, by saying “gōngxǐ fācái, hóngbāo ná lái!”.

What are Chinese Red Envelopes?

Also known as red packets, or “hóngbāo’s” these are typically given to kids or unmarried adults from their parents, grandparents, family members and close family friends. The red packets symbolise happiness, good luck and blessings, and inside each packet you’ll find money. Traditionally, people should only receive red packets while their unmarried. So when they do get married, it’s time to give rather than receive! Parents will typically keep on giving red packets to their married children however, as a symbol of their love and blessings.

What to Look Forward Too

There are so many things to look forward to during Chinese New Year but my top 3 would be:

1. Catching up with family. Here in Australia, my family isn’t too traditional so all of us including my extended family will catch up on the weekend closest to Chinese New Year’s Day over a delicious feast.
2. Indulging in Chinese New Year treats. There are special foods and treats that are made especially for the Chinese New Year festivities. Every year, I look forward to having pineapple tarts and bak kwa, which are salty-sweet dried squares of pork, similar to jerky.  I also love the “Prosperity Salad” or “Lo-Hei Yusheng”, which is a delicious raw fish salad that is tossed with chopsticks by everyone at the start of the family catchup feast. The higher, the better!
3. Giving red packets. Although I have to admit receiving is a lot more fun than giving red packets, it’s a privilege to give red packets to younger family members as a married couple. They say the more you give, the more you’ll receive happiness and prosperity in return, so it’s important to be generous!

Wishing everyone a happy Chinese New Year – may the Year of the Rooster bring you much happiness, prosperity and luck!

Marie xo

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years celebrations with family and friends. My Christmas was spent with family – catching up, laughing and eating way too much! In contrast, New Years Eve was a relatively quiet affair and my husband and I had a low-key albeit fun night in.

The past year flew by so quickly but I’m glad to be welcoming in 2017. There’s something so magical about the start of the year that seems to give people renewed energy, optimism and opportunities to start afresh, form goals and try new things. I’m not sure what 2017 will bring yet but I look forward to the adventure!

Wishing everyone a brightly-filled year ahead!

Marie xo

As an Australian immigrant, Anzac Day doesn’t have the same meaning for me compared to others who have had or continue to have family members in the Armed Forces but it’s a day that I’m respectful of and reflect how fortunate I am in being able to live in such an amazing country.

I’ve attended quite a few dawn services in the past and it’s something I definitely recommend doing if you haven’t done so yet. Nowadays though, I like to spend the day with family, food and of course, baking Anzac Day biscuits! This year my wonderful husband helped me out and it was amazing having the smell of baked oatmeal goodness wafting throughout the house. Not bad for a first timer!

My husband asked me if I knew about the origins of the humble Anzac Day biscuit and I was surprised that I hadn’t really wondered about it before! Turns out they were a bread substitute for soldiers used with ingredients that were easily available and wouldn’t spoil, so no sugar or eggs. They were originally savoury, extremely hard and often ground up to eat like porridge. Today, there are so many different versions of this recipe and our biscuits were inspired by Maggie Beer’s recipe. They were absolutely delicious and well worth the effort if you have the time!