Vegemite Musings

Jesse came over to play with Ellary after school today. She is in Ellary’s class, she’s tiny, strawberry blond, very energetic and gave us a lesson on Vegemite. I had decided that quesadillas would be a good snack for after school. Even if Jesse had never had one, it’s basically a grilled cheese sandwich with a tortilla instead, and I know they eat grilled cheese sandwiches here, but, not Jesse. She informed me she didn’t like melted cheese, only triangle cheese, which she couldn't explain in any greater detail so we had to leave it at that. She did offer an alternative, “I like Vegemite sandwiches,” she cheerfully said. So I pulled out the little single serve packets of Vegemite the hospital had initially stocked for us and pulled out the bread. She looked at the bread and said, “I think your different type of people, I don’t like that kind of bread.” The whole grain bread with seeds wasn’t going to work. So we came to a compromise. She would have butter and Vegemite on a tortilla. I told the girls this was true fusion cuisine, perhaps the first Vegemite quesadilla in the history of Tasmania. She helped me put the proper amount of Vegemite on, quite liberal I must say, compared to the other Aussie who had us try it on toast in Melbourne. Jesse makes a kind of yummy slurpy sound when she talked about Vegemite, she really seems to love the stuff. Her Mom later told me she even eats it on pancakes.

She tasted it, liked it and enthusiastically encouraged me to have some. I did, and I couldn’t let her down so I made a face like I liked it. But, it was way too much Vegemite for me. Bill tried it too, but I think he felt the same way. [No, I actually thought it was OK - just in small amounts]. She ended up only eating ¼ of her vegemite quesadilla, which I thought signified our failure in our cross-cultural food experiment. But, at dinner she only ate the very tip of her pizza (again, with the melted cheese) and ½ her ice cream cone. How many children don’t finish an ice cream cone? I had to ask her if she would have preferred Vegemite on her pizza. She thought that was just silly. So, she’s really is just a tiny eater and maybe our experiment worked, despite us being a “different type of people.”

As an aside, after much campaigning on the kids' part, we obtained a new pet bunny (from friends who have several). This one is about two months old. In the week run up to us actually getting the rabbit and purchasing the necessary stuff, we asked Ellary and Risa numerous times what they thought the name should be and Ellary always said "Fiona." Risa never had a suggestion. Just as we were picking up Fiona, Risa decided the name should be "Chimzey," (?!?) and was quite distraught when anyone suggested otherwise. Hence, the bunny's name is Fiona Chimzey Lockwood.

We've only had her two days and she already seems to be enjoying herself and the kids attentions and seemed to like being on the leash today, for the first time. The girls had a snack of celery at 9:30 am while watching the bunny eat her celery breakfast. This could be good for their overall vegetable consumption.