Monday 26 January 2015

tens of thousands of Aussie pies


For the first half of the 1900s only fish and chips challenged the pie as the natural choice for Australians bent on instant gratification of their hunger pangs. In fact, when they opened Parliament House in Canberra in 1926 the organisers decided to feed the multitudes with tens of thousands of Aussie pies. Unfortunately, they grossly over-estimated the number of visitors who would flock to the heart of new democracy. The great earth movers employed to lay the foundations of Parliament House had to be revved up again to bury thousands of left-over pies. The place of burial is said to be beneath the present Treasury Building so in more ways than one the great Aussie pie lies at the foundation of the country's economic health.
Robert Macklin (2012)
The Great Australian Pie: a history and culinary adventure

I discussed this book here.
See also the Guardian on the Australian pie.

Happy Australia Day!

Monday 19 January 2015

slipping off a piece of toast


Her Serene Highness made one of her characteristic exits, which Lady Caroline declared always reminded her of a scrambled egg slipping off a piece of toast.
'Saki' (H. H. Munro)
The Unbearable Bassington (1912)

I can't believe I've never reviewed any Saki. 
Wonderful short stories ('Tobermory', the talking cat!) 
and this rather odd novel (also here). 
See reviews by desperate reader, stuck in a book
& i prefer reading.

Poor Saki.

Really wikipedia does not do him justice...