National Celebrations!

[Kirstie]

Hi all,

As some of you may be aware, today is Burns Night, which is an annual celebration of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns. This is traditionally celebrated with a supper of Haggis, Neeps (turnips) and Tatties (mashed potatoes) in a whiskey sauce, and during the evening certain poems by Robert Burns are recited and bagpipes are played. This is then sometimes followed by a ceilidh, a traditional Scottish social event with folk music and dancing. Although this is not THE national day of Scotland, it is a very popular one! Being half-Scottish myself and having lived up there, I've been to a fair few Burns Suppers and they are great fun!

Australia Day, however, is one I have much less experience of! My research tells me that it is the National Day of Australia and it marks the anniversary of the First Fleet of British Ships arriving at Port Jackson, New South Wales in 1788.

I would like to ask our Australians in the CC to share how you celebrate this day! Do you spend it with friends or family? Does it involve certain foods or drinks? What happens in local towns and cities?

It would also be great to hear from any Scots who celebrate Burns Night and also everyone else - what do your National Celebrations involve? 

I look forward to learning more about your traditions! 

Kirstie 

@Sandra, @Robin, @Raffaele-and-Astrid0, @Christine1, @Victoria, @Louise0, @Wei-and-Ting0

[Robin4]

After some food and a few nice wines we probably combine these celebrations because many of us feel like 'Rabbie" Burns!

Each year I host a street dinner to celebrate Australia Day. If you are a decendant from immigrant stock there is a fierce sense of patriotism to this country. As an aside I was always puzzled by the Irish! They are so patriotic about Ireland....but they can't wait to leave and live somewhere else....and they do in massive numbers. But to every Aussie, as singer/songwriter Peter Allen wrote, and sang...."I still call Australia home", and we always will! 

Getting back to the thread....which is not something I am good at 🙂 we live in a short street of about twenty houses with a school oval directly behind us and a large lake and park in front of us so, we do feel like a real little community!

Each year I host this dinner, I don't have to send invites any more, they just turn up. This was the main table!

With the progression of my wife's MS I have had to take over the cooking skills but she still keeps her hand in with dessert. She makes a great Pavlova, and Pavlova is about as Australian as a dessert comes, unless you're a Kiwi (they are under the misguided notion that they invented it) so we humour them!!!

You need something to get the taste buds into gear, so down here we do things back the front! First on the agenda is a plate of crackers and various cheeses and an equally large plate of fruit. I will only use cheeses crafted locally in the Adelaide Hills, of which there are a considerable number. We even have a cheese shop here called 'Udder Delights'....and this is the white wine part of the lunch. Around here is whire wine territory and some of the examples are outstanding.

Summer is not 'oven food' time in this part of the world so any main course has to come off the barbeque grill plate. I manage each year to source grain fed, beer watered Angus beef fillet steak and this is always a hit. One of the guests secures it for me so I am sure I am not going to get 'shafted' where the quality is concerned. I also have Lamb rump steaks marinated with olive oil and summer herbs and I make a cold salad of roasted cubed Pumpkin, Zuchinni, Capsicum, Eggplant which I assemble on a bed of lettuce, a layer of Mountain Blend wild rice and top with button mushrooms, grape tomatos, cubed Fetta and a sprinkle of Basil....

And a sliced potatoe bake.

This is the point in the day where the good red wine comes out...Most of us have a reasonable wine cellar, and Australia Day demands a nice wine to be consumed with a nice steak, and you don't really care about the cost! If you googled this particular wine it would probably have a price tag of about $120US on it but, as the French say....'Wine is made to drink'!

And that is exactly what we did!

Desert was of course Ade's Pav topped with strawberries and whipped cream....and then to finish it all off we pulled the cheese plate out of the fridge and went back to that.

What is Australia Day?.......It's a day when we say sorry! We are sorry that we ever took this land away from it's indigenous people....but you can't turn back the clock, it is what it is!

What is Australia Day?...... It's about summer sun, that back yard 'barbie', a dip in the pool, a chance to make a 'show-off' of yourself!

What is Australia Day?......It's Fireworks, it's cars driving around with Aussie flags flying out of car windows or proudly flappin' away at the top of every flagpole in the country.

What is Australia Day?......It's a time when we thank god we are Australian.

But at the end of the day, it gets messy just like it does everywhere else on earth!!!

Cheers......Rob

[Kirstie]

Wow @Robin4, what an incredible spread! Reading about the delicious meal you provided and seeing the photo really made my mouth water! Sounds like you had a wonderful day. It's great that you have such good quality local cheese and wine to enjoy, sounds like the French have some competition on that front!

It's funny that you mention pavlova, I actually always thought it was a British dessert! Having checked though I see you are correct, its heritage is disputed between Australia and New Zealand! Interesting.

Thanks for sharing more about Australia Day and what it involves, it's fascinating to learn about different cultures and their celebrations across the world!

It's Chinese New Year coming up this weekend, there's a big celebration and parade happening in London. Are there any celebrations for that in Australia? 

Kirstie