ANZAC Day - April 25th

Today is ANZAC Day. Jeremy is off work and we are at home enjoying the holiday. As we are moving into winter, it is very cold and windy outside. It is only 2 degrees Celsius. The leaves are changing and look beautiful. It is strange that we are moving into winter and that we are not getting ready for the holiday season. It makes me think that Christmas is coming soon. I will have to have some cookie exchanges or holiday'ish parties over our winter so that it feels like home.

We are watching the ANZAC Day parade on TV (the tele as they call it here). We thought about taking the kids to the War Memorial today but it is probably too packed to enjoy it. The War Memorial is pretty cool. It has real life size helicopters and airplanes that they used to fight in the World Wars. The kids can even get in the helicopter and pretend they are driving. It has sound effects and sits in front a a big screen so it looks like you are really flying. This is worth going to see if you come to Canberra. Today we will be making the famous Anzac cookies/biscuits below. I will have to let you know how they are.

 What is ANZAC Day? ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.  

What does ANZAC stand for? ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they took in that name endures to this day.  

What does it mean today? Australians recognise 25 April as an occasion of national remembrance, which takes two forms. Commemorative services are held at dawn – the time of the original landing – across the nation. Later in the day, ex-servicemen and women meet to take part in marches through the major cities and in many smaller centres. Commemorative ceremonies are more formal and are held at war memorials around the country. In these ways, ANZAC Day is a time when Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war.  

Red poppies This is a picture of the poppies that they put next to the names at the War Memorial.

The Flanders poppy has long been a part of Remembrance Day, the ritual that marks the Armistice of 11 November 1918, and is also increasingly being used as part of ANZAC Day observances. During the First World War, red poppies were among the first plants to spring up in the devastated battlefields of northern France and Belgium. In soldiers' folklore, the vivid red of the poppy came from the blood of their comrades soaking the ground.  

Anzac Biscuits Traditional biscuits baked by anxious wives and mothers during World War I, packed in food parcels, and sent to the Australian soldiers in the trenches.

Anzac Biscuits
INGREDIENTS
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup desiccated (dried/unsweetened) coconut
1 cup plain flour
1 cup sugar 125g (4oz) butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup (I asked someone if I could use any breakfast syrup and she said yes, but then they aren't real ANZAC cookies)
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (Baking Soda)
1 tablespoon water Preheat oven to 300F (150C)

 Mix oats, flour, sugar and coconut together. Melt syrup and butter together. Mix soda with boiling water and add to melted butter and syrup. Add to dry ingredients. Place 1 tablespoonfuls of mixture on greased tray (allow room for spreading). Bake for 20 minutes. Loosen while warm, cool on trays. (makes about 35)

 ***Update*** We made the cookies and they are delicious! I've never heard of "dessicated" coconut and am not sure where you would find it in Utah. It's like a dried, powder of coconut flakes. I also don't prefer the word "dessicated" it sounds like "defecated" and kind of ruins it for me. However, the cookies were so yummy. They tasted like granola cereal made into a cookie. The mixture seemed dry and crumbly but we went with it and made a batch with our trusty cookie scoop by packing it in as tight as possible and pushing down with a fork. I made a second batch with more water added to it and it wasn't as good. So, definitely make it the crumbly way and pack it tight before cooking it so it doesn't fall apart. Also, I just used the Kirkland Organic Pure Maple Syrup, which I believe you can find in the Costco in Utah...