Differences

I love the internet.  Mostly because you can get information about anything with the click of a button, but also because it allows people from all over the world to share their lives with each other.  It allows us to share ideas and discover new ways of doing things.

For example, I used to play online games with friends who live in America (I live in Australia).  During this time, one of my friends, Chris, would often say he was going to make some PnJ on toast.  I had no idea what he was talking about and when I asked him what PnJ was, he was amazed that I didn't know and was quite happy to share something that appears to be a part of American culture.  Of course most of you probably know that PnJ is Peanut Butter and Jelly.

In Australia, Jelly is a crystalised powder that, when mixed with hot water and then chilled, turns into a gelatin dessert (something like this).  Something which I believe is referred to as Jello in the US?  You can imagine my thoughts at the time as I pictured a peanut butter and jello sandwich...  until I worked out that jelly in the US is what we call jam in Australia.  I have since tried PnJ many times and agree that it is rather tasty!

Another difference that came up was with pumpkin.  I would often tell the guys that I was cooking a roast dinner with roast potato and pumpkin.  Pumpkin as a main course??  Pumpkin is a dessert they would tell me.  A dessert??  No way, you guys are weird!  Afterwards, Chris told me all about pumpkin pie and said I had to try it.  In Australia, we traditionally boil, steam or roast pumpkin and eat it as a vegetable with our main course, so the concept of pumpkin as a dessert is a little strange and unfortunately I have yet to try one.  So if anyone has a good recipe they would like to share, let me know :)

So thank you internet, and thanks to all the blog writers out there for sharing just a little bit of their lives.