Most days, Ryan and I marvel in the fact that we’re newlyweds living in Australia.
We are so busy exploring our new city, meeting new friends, or cooking up a storm in the kitchen, that we don’t have time to be all “boo-hoo” homesick. Don’t get me wrong, we miss our friends, family, and home everyday, but forging our new life together in this country is pretty amazing.
On days like today, however, the 4th of July, our nation’s Independence Day, home feels a particularly long ways away. So to help ease some of the ache, I planned to make an American-Summer inspired meal for my husband, featuring brats, sweet corn, and a cucumber salad. For dessert I planned Red, White, and Blue parfaits. Easy peasy, right? Not.
As it turns out, brats are not easy to come by in Australia and neither is whipped cream. I spent no less than thirty minutes in Woolsworth (Wooly’s, to the locals) trying to locate both of these items. I could’ve gone with hotdogs instead of brats but stubborn me was going to find brats (gosh darnit!!). After ten minutes I ended up finding the one package of brats (no lie) among the stacks of sausage, kielbasa, and hotdogs. Score! Then began my quest for Cool Whip…
Aisle after aisle and multiple trips down the same aisles, I ended up asking someone who was working, only to find out that Cool Whip does not exist in 
Australia. Whaaaaaa?!?!?! Oh, this was the ultimate travesty to a Cool Whip lover like me. But alas, when the reality of my “spoildness” came into clear view I graciously decided that thickened cream would suffice. Who knew that by trying to make a “home-inspired” dinner, I’d end up frustrating myself and missing home more than before?
Ultimately, the meal ended up being a perfect taste of home.
And we finished dinner with these yummy Red, White, and Blue Parfaits, recipe courtesy of a lovely little website. Thanks, Better Homes and Gardens. You never disappoint! 
To top off our American holiday from Oz, I recently discovered (from a fellow American ex-pat’s blog) Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the President of the United States, Barack Obama, had sent this supportive video message to those of us living and working overseas.
We, as Americans, sure have a lot to celebrate and for which to give thanks. One of those things is our accessibility to and working ability in places like our lovely host country, Australia. So today on our nation’s Independence Day, I’d just like to say, “God Bless America! (And Australia, too)”
