Jan 26 - Happy Australia Day!

  Today was the mighty annual Australia Day party at Bertie and Tricky's place!  Mr Smart and I headed down and arrived shortly before lunch time.  First order of business was our Australia Day tradition!  For three years now, Bertie has obtained a large canvas and a couple of pots of poster paint and all guests have been encouraged to immortalise their hand prints.
  The first year it was blue and red, the second was green and gold and this year we went with the colours of the aboriginal flag, red and yellow on a black background.  After we had made our marks, we noted our names against them in silver Sharpie and washed the paint off our hands.  With our hand prints now recorded for posterity, we went to the garden to say hi to Tricky.

  Tricky was manning his beloved lamb spit.  It was loaded with 10kg of marinated lamb rotating lazily over the powerful radiant heat of the coals in the trough below.  As more guests arrived, it was not surprising to see the men congregate around the meat, sneakily taste testing bits of it before it was declared 'ready'.

  Captain Cupcake arrived and joined in the festivities.  We were all bringing a plate today.  I brought a huge bowl of broccoli salad and Captain Cupcake brought a really yummy curried pasta salad.
  I ate lots of the wrong things today, though I'm pretty sure that the bulk of my 'naughty' calories came from the two alcohol-free slushie machines.  While we waited for the declaration of 'ready' from the boys, cola and raspberry slushies were consumed and they nibbles were laid out.
  Kabana slices, cheese cubes, corn relish dip, chocolate croissants, Jatz crackers and fairy bread (made by the fabulous Allmix).

  The boys started serving up the lamb, carving off chunks and strips as they were deemed ready.  My first plate was a slice of white bread with tzatziki and chunks of lamb with broccoli salad and pasta salad.  I had a second plate full too, a little more lamb, a sausage and some more broccoli salad and some greek salad.  By the end of the day, the lamb was gone and so were all of the salads!

   Mr Smart's sister, brother-in-law and nephew came to the party too which was a lot of fun for me.  They are really fun people and it was so cool to see our two nephews playing together.  There were so many kids at the party today and my nephew happily shared his toys and trampoline with them all.

 

  Once everyone had eaten there was yet another Australia Day tradition to be completed.  The boys relocated the trampoline to clear the lawn and out came the backyard cricket.  Mr Smart took turns at both bat and bowl and it was a fun game.  So many dads at the game which meant many kids took turns to bat.  At some point, with Mr Smart bowling and my nephew batting, my nephew figured out that if he picked up the ball in play and ran with it, he couldn't be declared 'out'.  Everyone had a laugh at his tactics.

  At around 4pm I had to make a quick run out to take Mr Smart to the train station.  Australia Day is important for more reasons than Bertie & Tricky's mega party after all.  It also happens to be the annual Melbourne Victory vs. Sydney soccer match for which Mr Smart and Miss M managed to get tickets!  They are both big soccer fans.

  Mr Smart suffered through a one-hour train trip on the Frankston line to be at the match (a trip which was unfortunately not yobbo/hooligan free).  Luckily, his dedication was rewarded as Victory triumphed 3-1 over Sydney at AAMI Park.

  By the time I got back to the party everyone was starting to mill about, comfortably dozey after a huge meal.  There were still more nibbles, more slushies, a four-layer Mexican dip, a spinach cob dip, salsa and corn chips, chocolate crackles and more that we all grazed on idly while we chatted.  But soon it was time for the final tradition of the day, the Australia Day cake!!  And I must say, the marvellous Muttley from Party Supply Haven in Hastings really outdid herself this year!
  Muttley is a friend of Bertie's with her own party supply and cake making place so she always brings an 'Aussie' cake to the party.  This year it was a pair of Aussie Flag Thongs with green and gold cake hidden inside.  The cake looked and tasted amazing.  I need the recipe for the beautiful moist sponge cake within!

  After cake I continued shooting the breeze with a few of the girls but it was soon time for me to be heading home.  I was starting to feel a bit exhausted and I knew I now had two blogs to write up.  I headed home and began.
  I noticed after a bit of typing that I was beginning to feel a bit hot and scratchy.  I went to fill up a water bottle, knowing I should take care to replenish fluid if I'd perhaps got a bit dehydrated today.  It was just after that as I walked through to the bathroom that I noticed in the mirror, I'd fallen prey to one of the traps of Australia.  It was a pretty overcast day today, but the sun was still throwing out its UV rays apparently, and I have a rather large patch of vivid pink skin on my chest to show for it.
  Back on the wagon again tomorrow.
  Jess