Happy Australia Day

Today is “Australia Day”, which is the official national day of Australia and celebrated every year on 26 January.

The day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia.

Australia Day is an official public holiday in every state and territory of Australia, and is marked by the Order of Australia and the Australian of the Year awards.

But what does the average Australian do on Australia Day??? Why have a BBQ of course!

So that’s exactly what we did! Sporting my best national pride t-shirt of course…..

Today we were invited to our friends’ place for a bbq, where I was tasked with bringing dessert. In the spirit of the day, I chose a (controversially) Australian dish – pavlova.

(Pavlova is named after the Russian ballet dancer –Anna Pavlova- and is believed to have been created to honour her after one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. Where it was created and the nationality of its creator has been a source of argument between Australia and New Zealand for many years, but I say it is Australian – or at least now ingrained into the Australian cuisine.)

I topped the pavlova with cream, and a heap of fresh fruits including strawberries, blueberries, kiwi fruit, apricots and nectarines.

And added some passionfruit syrup as the finishing touch.

Voila!

Such an easy dish – but certainly not one that you would have all the time given the high sugar content.

We had a wonderful bbq lunch, and were spoiled for choice.

Starting with garlic prawns.

Followed by a full spread of sausages, steak, zucchini, mushrooms, eggs, garlic bread, pineapple, beetroot and salad.

    

The full spread laid out.

  

I had a little of most things, except the bread and potato bake.

Delicious :)

Overall it was a wonderful afternoon, with great food and great company. A perfect Australia Day.

Happy baking :)