Real Australian Tukka

Ted and I are in Australia visiting his family for the holidays. We arrived yesterday after a very long flight from LA, California to Sydney, Australia. The flight went well, despite the restless sleep. We watched some television shows, played some games and I think I watched about 30 minutes of How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey. Honestly, I was amazed at how fast the flight went this time as well as how much easier it has been to adjust to the time difference. For those of you who are not familiar with the difference, Australia is currently 17 hours ahead of MST. Ted's parents picked us up from the airport and then we went for some coffee and smoothies downtown with Ted's sister and her husband. It was good to see all of them again! We also all had dinner together last night.

Today was another fun day of seeing people. After a nice sleep (again much better than last year!) we went and spent the afternoon with some friends of ours who used to live near us. It was good to see them too, especially seeing their girls who are as fun and crazy as ever! :) Tonight we went to a restaurant called Tukka, which has authentic Australian food. When I say authentic, I mean lots of native berries, nuts, and animals. Tonight I had the pleasure as well as the palate experience of eating emu, possum, kangaroo, and crocodile. WOW!! I actually tried three different emu dishes. Lets say that all emus are not alike! My main dish was an emu and that was soooo good. The best I can compare it to is a very delicate filet mignon. Another way that was not my favorite was a very dark emu meat which looked similar to a jerky in color, however it was soft and almost mushy. Not my favorite, but again, an adventure. Oddly, besides the delicious emu, I loved the crocodile! It was like a mix between chicken and fish, however I don't like fish. :) It was tender, light in color, and served with a berry sauce that was also yummy. Ted's favorite was the desert lime and the desert quandong. We also had the lillipilli berry. Honestly, is was all delicious, just a very different experience for my very American taste buds. :)

Tomorrow brings more adventure as we will be celebrating Ted's sister's birthday. Then we will have Christmas and then I believe some time at the beach! I will try and stay updated with the fun adventures of our summer Australian Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you all!