Marmite v. Vegemite

Talk to any Marmite-loving Brit about moving to Australia and sooner or later the big Marmite Problem will come up. On Australian supermarket shelves, in amongst the Cadbury's chocolate, Heinz Baked Beans and a plethora of other recognisable brands, Marmite is conspicuously absent. And in it's place? Vegemite.

Those little red and yellow jars have been taunting me whenever I go grocery shopping. "Try me!", they seem to cry out at me, making me feel weak from Marmite withdrawal. But thus far I resisted, the advice of friends ringing in my ears: "If you like Marmite you'll never like Vegemite"...."it tastes like Marmite gone wrong"....."just get someone to send you some Marmite in the post"....

But today, I caved in. The curiousity had become too much. "If I just try it once, I never have to try it again", I thought to myself, and before I knew what was happening I was grabbing the jar, hurrying through the check-out, and dashing back up the hill home, where my loaf of bread awaited.

Dear readers, I invite you to join me now, on a journey of Vegemite discovery.

Let us start with the jar. The jar itself looks harmless enough, and it even has a yellow lid like Marmite. I bought the smallest size - easier to dispose of in case of taste-bud disaster - 150g of 'concentrated yeast extract', which cost just over $2. Proudly made in Australia since 1923. Let's see just how proud they are entitled to be.



The lid is stiff, but off it comes. The moment of truth awaits - will it look and smell like Marmite? It certainly looks like it; opaque and brown. The smell is similar too, although sweeter and perhaps less potent. Now my bread is at the ready, a nice layer of margarine on top. Only half a slice, in case it is horrific. Knife goes in....



It's like jelly! It is not runny like Marmite and in fact resembles more of a marmalade in its consistency. It does not reform it's flat surface when you remove the knife, which is disconcerting. But still, I've got this far, so on to the bread it goes. It spreads nicely; being less sticky that Marmite it doesn't pull the bread apart or refuse to leave the knife. Now we have the finished article....



I chew carefully. It is most definitely a sweeter substance than Marmite, and a lot less salty tasting. This would all be acceptable were it not for the strong aftertaste of beer. Yes, I am aware that yeast goes in beer as well as in stuff to put on bread and that this is therefore only natural, but Marmite seem to have worked out that that is a taste worth removing. Or at least covering up with excess salt. The makers of Vegemite seem to have missed the memo that nobody likes spreading thick brown beer spread on their toast.

Still, I make it through the whole thing and out the other side feeling enlightened. Whilst different from Marmite and perhaps an acquired taste, I think with a bit of perseverance I could get used to this Vegemite malarkey.
But don't worry, Marmite, it's just a little fling: you're still my number one yeast extract!

Cherry Ripe

This is Platypus. He came to live with us recently from Sydney Aquarium. He likes to sleep under my pillow at night.

We got a fridge and a washing machine delivered this week. Which was a relief. Considering how many thousands of years human beings must have coped without fridges, we found being without one for a week rather hard going. And the washing machine is a nice touch too. And it's nice to be able to hang washing in a garden instead of in the corner of an apartment as we have been used to doing for so many years.

The past weekend was so much fun. On Friday Mark and I went for drinks with the Sydney postgrads in Surry Hills. The weather on Saturday was so warm - I think it hit 25 degrees. We caught the ferry in and pottered around in the city, then saw Lovers Electric at the Apple Store. I liked them. Mark bought their CD today but it's not so good recorded - I don't like the production on it. Live they were much more raw and energetic. Then we got pizza at Hugo's Bar Pizza in King's Cross. The pizza there is so good but it's so swanky! Full of cocktail-sipping rich kids... tanned skin and designer handbags....and everytime we've been it's been kind of on a whim and I've always been looking a bit rough. Haha. I don't mind though.
Sunday involved sushi, Otto Dix at the Art Gallery of NSW, and the Fair Trade Cafe in Glebe. A good combination I found.

Last Thursday I watched a French film at the cinema called Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis. It was very good, very funny. Apparently it is now the most successful film ever at the French box office. I don't really know why, since this accolade is surely normally reserved for some kind of big budget Hollywood blockbuster trash? But, hey, I'm glad it is. It is deserving. It is about French stereotype of the inhabitants of very Northern France; Nord- Pas de Calais, who are known as Ch'tis after the dialect they speak. Despite the jokes about the dialect not always translating effectively into the English subtitles, and the dialect itself not being something that most English speakers would be familiar with, it was a good story, well written, and in parts hilarious!

I forgot to mention that I also finally saw In Bruges a couple if weeks ago. This was also pretty brilliant. Basically the premise is these two hit men, hiding out in Bruges under instruction from their boss after doing a hit. The dialogue was brilliantly written, and it had this way of being one moment laugh out loud hilarious, immediately followed by quite shocking moments as more was revealed about the characters' histories. Highly recommended.

I am also in love with this chocolate bar:



Like a Bounty, BUT WITH CHERRY! CHOCOLATE CHERRY COCONUT!!!! Why don't Cadbury distribute these in the UK? I would like to shake the hand of the person that invented this!!! GENIUS! I am actually quite addicted. I spend most of everyday thinking about when I might be able to get my next Cherry Ripe. There is also Cherry Ripe ice cream. I almost died of joy.

Home sweet home.

Well, we finally made it to our new house! After a month of going near crazy in dead dump North Ryde, we moved on Wednesday into the house in Meadowbank. So far, it is every bit as good as I remembered! Beautiful period features (especially the fireplaces) and so much space! Plus there is actually public transport here! The train station is 5 minutes walk down the road, and my journey to work is now a relaxing 40-50 minutes, which is a big improvement on the almost TWO HOURS it was taking from North Ryde.

After a night sleeping on the floor on Wednesday (fortunately wrapped in our new big soft duvet), our bed arrived and it is the comfiest thing. Which is a relief considering how much we eventually decided to spend on a mattress (hope it lasts a good few years). Also the dining table and chairs got delivered from the awesome junk shop on Broadway, along with Mark's new office chair.

I will definitely get some pictures up on here in the next few days. There are two things stopping me at the moment:
1. We are now in our third day of torrential rain, and I cannot get out to photograph the outside without being washed away (I don't think much of Australian spring yet!); and
2. I have been ill, ill, ill. I have been coming down with something all week, then on Thursday night I pretty much just broke. Friday I called in sick to work and was bedridden all day, sleeping mostly. I'm getting better now, and hopefully my recovery will coincide with the rain clearing up!

When I am better I am hoping to start going to some dance classes at Sydney Dance Company. I really want to do Ballet again, but the classes have a dress code and for ballet it is obviously leotards. I'm going to feel quite shy starting at the classes on my own anyway, and I think having to turn up in nought but a leotard just might push me over the edge of comfortableness! So I think I'm going to start with Jazz or Contemporary dance since for those you can just wear gym clothes (leggings, jogging bottoms, t-shirts) and see how that goes first. Also ballet requires proper ballet shoes which I can't really afford on top of the cost of the classes for the next few weeks because of all the money spent on the house and money lost being off work sick, whereas the other classes can be done in bare feet.

I'll leave you with a picture of the beach at Meadowbank - taken obviously in better weather!