While Australians around the world all celebrate Anzac Day in their own way, one staple year in, year out, is the consumption of Anzac biscuits.
A hearty treat made with shaved coconut and oats, the original biscuits were much tougher to be able to withstand being sent overseas to the troops by their wives and mothers. It has become so iconic that the base recipe of the contemporary version is now protected by Australia's Department of Veteran's Affairs which forbid it to be called a cookie!
The version below recipe is on loan from my bestie who used to be very popular with her fellow Australians at the cabaret she used to dance at, so much so that the usually figure-conscious dancers wouldn't stop at one!
While the recipe calls for quite a lot of ingredients the biscuits are ridiculously easy and super quick to make.

Anzac biscuits

Makes approx 20 biscuits

Ingredients

(French terms of ingredients are provided in brackets for those on this side of the world to more easily locate them in the supermarket).
+ 125g butter, chopped into blocks (beurre)
+ 2 tbsp golden syrup (this product, as us Anglos know it, doesn't really exist in France, I buy my golden syrup from Marks and Spencer in Levallois)
+ ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda (bicarbonate de soude)
+ 1 tbsp water
+ 1 cup rolled oats (flocons d'avoine)
+ 1 cup desiccated coconut (noix des coco rapée)
+ 1 cup plain flour (farine de blé)
+ ¾ cup caster sugar (sucre en poudre)


Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Mix together in a large bowl the coconut, flour, sugar and oats.
Place the blocks of butter in a small saucepan and melt on low heat melt. Once half the butter has melted add the golden syrup. Stir until melted and then add the bicarb soda to the water and stir to dissolve. Add the water to the butter - it should froth and double in size. Very quickly add this to the dry ingredients and mix together until the all the mix is wet.
Take a small amount of the mix and roll into a ball. Place on the baking paper and flatten slightly. Repeat until the baking tray is full - don't place the balls too close together as the mixture will spread. Bake for 15 minutes or until the outside is toasty brown. Take out the tray and with a spatula transfer the biscuits to a flat surface - I use a glass chopping board - as they will be very soft and need to set flat as they cool. Repeat with the rest of the mix.

xx

N'oublions jamais l'australie

Today Australia and New Zealand celebrate Anzac* Day, the day we commemorate those that fought for our countries in the great wars and all peace keeping conflicts since. The day usually starts very sombre as millions of Australians and New Zealanders attend dawn services through out the world to lay wreaths and let the haunting sounds of the 'Last Post' ripple through their hearts. Usually it finishes in an RSL* club to drink beer and play Two-up, a gambling game where people bet the results of two coins tossed in the air against one another, as it's the only day of the year unlicensed gambling of this kind is permitted.

For the previous two years I've had the opportunity to attend the Anzac Day dawn service at the Australian National Memorial just outside Villers-Bretenoux, a tiny village of a town 20 kilometers east of Amiens in the Somme region about two hours drive north of Paris. Unveiled in 1938, the Memorial lists the names of the 11,000 Australians that died in the surrounding country that have no known grave and encompasses a military cemetery for hundreds of fallen who fought on behalf of the British Empire.
Both expats living in Europe and Australians on a war history pilgrimages in France come together in their thousands to hear the stories of the men and women that gave their lives protecting their country as well as France for the French people. The service is broadcast live on Australian television networks and the minister of Foreign Affairs is always in attendence.
Situated on a hill, as you approach it in the dark, the monolith of a tower that rises in the middle of the memorial looks much taller than its 30 metres. Aided by a bright light shining upwards that can be seen from miles around, it acts as a beacon summoning those that have journeyed to pay their respects.

Attendees clambering to get a photo with former Australian Prime Minister and 2011 Minister of Foreign Affairs Kevin Rudd.

It was at Villers-Bretenoux in 1918, coincidentally on April 25, that the Australian contingent of the Allied Forces halted the German invasion by liberating the city for the local people. From that point onwards Germany proceeded no further into France during World War I and the Australians were heralded as heroes. Even today any Australian that finds him/herself in The Somme region may be bestowed with extra friendliness from the local townsfolk as the children are taught from a young age N'oublions jamais l'australie (never forget Australia), as this is what graces plaques and murals throughout their primary schools.

Australians are renowned for their camaraderie and spending the Anzac Day public holiday amongst family and friends after attending the local veterans service is both very humbling and uplifting. However, to be remembering those that bravely gave their lives on the very ground that they did so is an incredibly moving experience and one I'd highly recommend to anyone that finds themselves in the north of France at the end of April.

After the service the local people serve breakfast of tea/ coffee and croissants to all the 7000 odd attendees before most head into the town centre for more services.
For future information on the dawn service and subsequent services in the area keep your eye on the Somme Anzac site.
http://www.anzac-france.com/

Photo: Diane Robertson Photography

Lest we forget.
xx

*Anzac stands for 'Australian and New Zealand Army Corps'
*RSL stands for 'Returned Services League'

Lady Lamington's chocolate-coconut cake

Lamingtons are to Australian kids what un pain au chocolat is to les enfants français. From a young age Australian children are taught that if you take a square piece of plain sponge cake, coat it in runny chocolate and roll it around in shaved coconut it will make an absolutely delicious treat. When eating it as an adult the mixed taste of the sponge cake, the chocolate and coconut just tastes like childhood.

As popular as it is, ask anyone who first thought to coat a sponge cake in chocolate and coconut to create the 'Lamington' and you will likely receive a blank stare as your answer.

Few people may mention Lord Lamington, Governer of Queensland from 1896 until 1901. It's not absolutely confirmed he had anything to do with its inception, however the similarities between the names is somewhat hard to ignore. The story goes that one day the Lamingtons had impromptu guests to entertain for afternoon tea. All that was available to serve was day-old cake. Now, this point in the story is where the outcomes become ambiguous as to how the cake came to be encased in chocolate and coconut. However the one that seems to be most credible, and most definitely the one that I'm more partial to believe, is the one that ends with the Lamington being invented by a Frenchman!
Monsieur Armand Gallad was the Lamingtons' chef while they resided at Queensland's Government House and, after being pressed to whip up something for their surprise guests, he took a traditional Italian génoise cake he'd made the day before and did what every Frenchman is quite good at - he dipped it in chocolate. He then he rolled it in something quite rare in dessert-making at that time, shredded coconut, on hand thanks to Gallad's French-Tahitian wife.

The cake proved to be so popular the recipe was immediately demanded by their guests and very shortly there after was printed in the woman's journal of the day, given the name 'Lady Lamington's chocolate-coconut cake'. After time it became known as just the Lamington and the most iconic cake in Australia. Cheers Monseuir Gallad!

As ubiquitous as the cake is in Oz it is positively unheard of on this side of the world. So, to celebrate this Australia Day weekend, I armed myself with (web)pages of recipes, Mr M's patience and attempted to recreate M. Gallad's first ever Lamington.

 

**Please note, this recipe requires overnight refrigeration for the cake (it helps to ice it the next day, and follows how the original one was made). I don't recommend icing a warm cake, I don't believe it will work as well. This recipe also requires the use of hand held electric beaters. If you don't have any, but have the biceps of Popeye, feel free give a hand-whisk a whirl - pun absolutely intended.

Génoise Cake
Adapted from various recipes found on the internet, credits follow.
Makes one 20cm x 30cm (approx) rectangular cake.

Ingredients
(French terms for ingredients are provided in brackets for those on this side of the world to establish them more easily in a supermarket).

+ 6 x eggs (ouefs)
+ 180 grams x caster sugar (sucre on poudre)
+ 180 gms x cake flour, sifted (farine pâtissière #45) + extra for pan greasing
+ 30 gms x unsalted butter, melted then cooled (beurre doux) + extra for pan greasing

Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180ºC. Take a large cake tin (I used a glass baking dish) and grease bottom and all four sides with butter. Cut a piece of baking paper the size of the base and lay down flat over the butter. Sprinkle flour over all sides and bottom until the butter is coated and shake out the excess. Leave the pan aside.
In a large bowl put the whites and yolks of the six eggs then with a fork mix together to break the yolk membranes. Place the bowl over a saucepan of just simmering water, ensuring the level of the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl, and add the sugar. Using a hand beater whisk for about 5 minutes. The colour will change from very yellow to a pale cream and the consistency should change from very runny to mayonnaise-like. The volume should third in size and the movement of the whisks should leave a visible tail.
After the five minutes remove the bowl from the heat and keep whisking for another 5-10 minutes. Stop when the volume has almost doubled from its original size, the colour is quite white and the consistency is very mousse-like. When you take the beaters out, the mix should stand upright where they were lifted.

Before folding in the flour, heat the butter on low until half the butter is liquid, then take off the heat and mix to melt the rest.
Lightly dust the sifted flour onto the mix, covering the whole top surface area and then properly combine with as minimal folds as possible. Do this in about four batches - you do not want the weight of the flour to deflate the size of your egg/ sugar mix.
Letting the butter cool a little beforehand, take a large scoop of the egg mixture and place into the pan with the butter. Mix well to form the same consistency as the egg mixture. Add more egg mixture if needed. Once mixed well add the butter mixture to the egg mixture, folding in as little as possible.

Gently pour the cake mixture into your prepared pan and pop on a middle shelf in the oven for approx 25-30 minutes - it will be ready when the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and the middle springs back when lightly touched.
Leave to cool a little in the pan, then place a cooling rack upside down over the top of the pan and flip the both over. Leave to rest and the cake should fall out on its own accord. Very gently peel off the baking paper.

I left the cake like that until cooled to room temperature as it left neat straight indentations where I planned to slice to make the individual Lamingtons. If you want to gingerly attempt to flip it back so you don't get any markings feel free.
When cooled to room temperature wrap in cling film and pop in in the fridge over night.

Chocolate-coconut icing for Lamingtons
Adapted from various recipes found on the internet, credits follow.
Makes enough to ice 22 10cm x 4cm slim slices of sponge cake.

Ingredients
(French terms for ingredients are provided in brackets for those on this side of the world to establish them more easily in a supermarket).

+ 170 gms x good quality milk-based cooking chocolate (chocolat pâtissier)
+ 2 tbsp x unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (poudre de cacao)
+ 2 cups x icing sugar (sucre glace)
+ 3 cups x unsweetened desiccated coconut (noix de coco rapée)
+ 3/4 cups x milk (lait)
+ 40 gms x unsalted butter (beurre doux)

Cut your Génoise cake into slices or squares.

Over a simmering saucepan of water place a bowl containing the cooking chocolate, butter and milk. Lightly stir until the butter and chocolate have melted and the mixture is smooth. Take off the heat and whisk in the icing sugar and the cocoa.

Set up a drying rack off to the side where you'll leave the iced cakes to set with baking paper or cling film underneath to catch the the drips.
In a separate pan or wide plate - it helps if it has a flat bottom - put half the coconut. It makes things easier to have the cakes at one end of your bench and the drying rack at the other, with the chocolate and coconut in the middle, to form somewhat of a production line.
Using your hands dip the cake slices first into the chocolate, covering all sides and wiping any excess on the edge of the bowl, then flip them through the coconut pressing down to coat it evenly. Top up the coconut as needed.

Place coated slices on the drying rack for about 20 minutes to set - they will be set when the chocolate and coconut coating doesn't come away from the cake onto your fingers when picking it up.

Then, make yourself a nice cuppa and enjoy eating a little combined culinary history of Australia and France.

Recipe credits;
+Zabar's - A classic: Génoise (Basic French Cake)
+ Azélia's Kitchen - How to make: Genoise Cake
+ David Lebovitz - Lamingtons

10 tips for surviving Australia Day in Paris

So, you've just landed in Paris and don't know a soul... Or all your Skippy friends have skipped across the channel to a Walkabout in London... Or you happen to be passing through on holiday... And you find yourself spending glorious January 26 in the French capital with no idea how to reveal in awesome Aussie spirit? Here are ten tips on how to paint Paris green and gold this Saturday.

1. Start the day with a flat white near you.

For your morning caffeine-fix à la Australie consult the blog of Aussie transplant Jesse Walker. When Jesse, hailing from NSW's Blue Mountains, isn't studying science at one of Paris' top universities he's scouring the 75 for the city's best caffeinated brews and reports on the good, the bad and the amazing. His blog 'Good coffee in Paris' may be only one month old but already he's hit up a dozen of the best new-coffee-age cafés the city has to offer and after posting up his brilliantly detailed reviews and pics he pops their locations on this snazzy map to benefit those crying for a decent crème.

2. Dress the part.

Image: http://martingrantparis.com/

Once fit to face the day post-coffee, don your Aussie best. I am most definitely not referring to a pair of pluggas, stubbies and a wife-beater. Sporting these items of the "Australian uniform" on the streets of the world's fashion capital will surely not bid you a warm welcome - and I'm not even alluding to the 0ºC weather forecasted. How then does one look stylish while staying true blue? By seeking out ex-Melburnian Martin Grant's eponymous label at the grand department store 'Le Bon Marché'. Designing on antipodean soil for more than 20 years Martin Grant epitomises quintessential sophisticated Parisian elegance, however his homeland connections are as strong as ever since it was announced he will be the next designer bestowed the privilege of updating Qantas' newest uniforms, set to launch 2014. 

Martin Grant at Le Bon Marché
24, rue de Sévres, 7e
Open Mon - Sat 10h - 20h, - 21h Thurs and Fri
Martin Grant website

3. Make your home smell like home

Image: http://diptyqueparis.fr/

While on the Rive Gauche, stroll down to 34 Boulevard Saint Germain and visit the beautiful Parisian candle store Diptyque. Amongst its collection of the world's most heavenly scented candles is a range perfumed by the floral scent of Australian mimosa. Nothing is more charming that a burning Diptyque candle in the home and it makes the perfect chic souvenir while the smell will soothe any homesickness you may be enduring on Australia Day.

Diptyque
34, Boulevard Saint-Germain, 5e
Open Mon - Sat 10h - 19h
Website

4. Bush tucker for lunch

When three friends decided there was no place like home to sit and have a decent cup of coffee in Paris, the Tuck Shop was born. Located in a very culturally-diverse part of town, stepping into Tuck Shop will transport you to a tranquil, homey neighbourhood café one might find at Leura in the Blue Mountains or Springbrook on the Gold Coast's Hinterland. Branches of eucalyptus and vintage toys decorate shelves of books and magazines, and while the cafe is completely vegetarian, the sweet girls who run Tuck Shop prepare enough fresh and creative sandwiches, soups and scones each morning to satisfy the most demanding of hunger pains. Coupled with their own blend of Coutume coffee or yummy caffeine-free LSD (latte, soy and dandelion) tea, it's impossible to walk out without feeling content and revitalised.

 

Tuck Shop
13, rue Lucien Sampaix, 10e
Open Tues - Fri: 9h - 17h, Sat + Sun 11h - 19h
Website

5. Take in some traditional Aboriginal art

'Rainbow Serpent' by the Pintupi People. Image: http://quaibranly.fr/

Walk off lunch by perusing some traditional Australian art at the Mussée du Quai Branly. Situated around the corner from the Australian Embassy, the Quai Branly, the first and only museum of its kind in Paris, showcases indigenous art from the ancient civilisations of the world including Oceania, and features over 40 items of traditional Aboriginal arts and weaponry. When you're done, check out the Quai Branly's terrace café's magnificent view of its neighbour, the Eiffel Tower.
Musée du Quai Branly
37, Quai Branly, 7e
Sun - Wed: 11h - 19h, Thurs - Sat: 11 - 21h
Website

6. Pick up an Aussie afternoon snack

Behind the unassuming glass doors of a building down very nondescript Latin Quarter street hides a treasure trove of goodies and memorabilia from Australia and its Pacific cousins. While the store full of keepsakes like boomerangs and road signs that you may not have much use for, it does stock Australian culinary staples such as Tim Tams, Vegemite and a great deal of decent Australian wine.

The AustraliaNZ Shop
4, rue Domat, 5e
Mon - Fri 9h - 19h, Sat:10h - 18h
Website

7. Arvo' session at the pub.

Image: http://cafe-oz.com/ © Diane Robertson Photography

No 'Australia in Paris' round up would be complete with out a mention of Café Oz - The Australian Bar. With four location in Paris, the largest and grandest situated adjacent to the Denfert-Rochereau RER station, Café Oz has become the 'go-to' place for expatriates living in Paris wanting a taste of home and Frenchies wanting to drink Aussie-style along side them. Head there for a bottle of Coopers Pale Ale, served with a "No worries, Mate" and cheery smile, and sit back on one of the biggest beer gardens in the city, no doubt to be full of Australians on January 26.

Image: http://cafe-oz.com/ © Diane Robertson Photograph

Café Oz - The Australian Bar
3, place Denfert-Rochereau, 14e
Everyday 12h - 2h
Website

8. Dine on French fare prepared with no-frills Australian attitude

Everything about 'Au Passage' screams little neighbourhood French bistro. But then you see a tell-tale empty bottle of Coopers on the bar back, next to a little jar of Vegemite, and your lips curl into a knowing grin. Since opening one and a half years ago Au Passage has played host to two Aussie chefs, both mates, both partial to amazing fresh produce prepared to play up the textures and flavours of each dish instead of the plate itself. Every day the menu at Au Passage changes dependent on what current chef, Australian import Shaun Kelly, finds that morning at the market and he'll write up each offering for lunch and dinner on the chalkboards scattered between the tables. While there being no menu, there is a six page wine list; not that you really need to refer to it as Au Passage's French waiters know their wines well and are happy to suggest the best pairing to your meal.

Au Passage
1bis, passage de Saint-Sebastien, 11e
Open lunch + dinner Mon - Fri, dinner only Sat, closed Sun.
Website

9. Finish with some moonshine

Run by two larrikins of brothers, but the friendliest guys you'll ever come across, prohibition-style bar 'The Bootleg' is the latest joint to join Bastille's late-night bar scene. The Bootleg may be reminiscent of an underground New York speak-easy, but the Australian accents wafting over the beer taps and The Cat Empire playing over the sound system will remind you that this place is very much an expat bar, and a very popular and celebrated at that, in part due to co-owner and soul of the place, Damian 'Damo' Tither. Damo has the knack for making everyone that walks into the place instantly feel at home and also for making the best dirty martini you'll ever have. To finish your Australia Day crooning to "You're the voice" end up here.

The Bootleg
55, rue de la Roquette, 11e
Everyday 17h - 2h
Website

And to finish, a non-Parisian suggestion...
10. Go for a bush walk

Flashy yachts and tote-swinging tanned blondes are likely to spring to mind when one thinks of the south of France. However, heading west away from the La La Land of Cannes and Nice into the Var region of Provence, where all the towns' names are hyphenated and positioned on the one road, you will notice, in the depths of the vrai sud, bushes of mimosa as tall as houses and eucalyptus trees that seem to touch the sky. Actually, you're likely to smell them first. Despite being completely native to Australia, Mimosa - or Wattle as Aussies know it - and Eucalyptus have more than thrived in their Mediterranean habitat since being introduced to the south of France in the early 1800's. Early spring sees many towns holding their own 'Fête du Mimosa' festivities and bunches of fluffy yellow flowers in front of every florist. To grow eucalyptus in the backyard is dream undertaking by many a French gardener. It's so very surreal to see flora from home so far from home, growing as though it has always been there. It'll transport you straight to the Australian bush, some 17,000 kilometres away.

What ever you do, have a good one Saturday. Happy Australia Day!

**This post is otherwise entitled 'Aussies doing good in Paris!'