Photo Credit: ecstaticist.

So I’ve dedicded to start a new project for dining in 2010. The tagline of this site is “Sampling the World’s Cuisine Without Leaving Vancouver” and so instead of of traipsing around Vancouver’s culinary delights in the random way I have been for the last (almost) 2 years, I am going to present my finds country by country.

I still have a bit of a backlog of reviews, so I may post those interspersed with the project and if I feel really keen, I may even post some recipes.

First stop on the grand tour: North America. Got any favorites you’d like to recommend?

I somehow managed to pass over Robbie Burns Day (my heritage and a holiday I grew up celebrating) AND Chinese New Year (which I at least know something about) yesterday without too much thought, only to come to work today and partake in an Australia Day celebration.

Although it doesn’t say anything to that effect on Wikipedia, I’m left with the impression that Australians celebrate their national holiday with copious amounts of sugar. There was fairy bread – white bread spread with butter and coated in sprinkles – which is apparently a staple at children’s birthday parties, butterfly cakes – cupcakes with the tops cut into wing shapes and held on with whipping cream, lamington cakes (pictured above), pavlova, and some chocolate Tim Tams and other assorted Austalian candy.

It was quite the spread of sweet things for 10 o’clock in the morning and I was vibrating from the sugar not very far into it. I balanced it out with a couple of Vegemite toast soldiers that most of my coworkers deemed inedible, but which I thought were easily the best part.

So Happy Australia Day! I love being a part of different cultures and traditions (especially concerning food), so now I’m tempted to look at the calendar and see what else is coming up. Groundhog day, anyone? Uh, maybe not.