It is sometime between March and May of 1945. You just got informed that you and your family have less than 24 hours before the Allies pull out and the Soviets are coming into your small German town. The future was unknown and frightening. You make your choices after weighing the options… So, you hop aboard an allied aircraft and make your way across the channel with your foot sticking out the plane's side window all while flying for the first time ever to Ireland. This is just one of many travel stories that simply have to be told and shared.
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| Brisbane, Aus Christmas 2018 |
Folks, doesn’t this sound like a Hollywood-styled pitch for a new Netflix original? I would defiantly binge-watch for sure. But, no folks, this is the true story of how Paul’s father got to Ireland to start his life during the later months of the second world war. He told this short story to me after a wonderful holiday meal and after finding out I was a Yankee traveling about Aus.
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| O'Sullivan Christmas Dinner 2018 |
A Christmas celebration for this family means family gathers and sits around a large table, where bonbons were pulled, corny jokes shared, funny hats worn, and mildly heated political conversations vocalized, and all during a very bright Aussie Summer’s Christmas day. Cue Alvin and the Chipmunks to complete this Anthony “Bourdainian” lifestyle that was then satiating my appetites for these moments and not just for the variety of different dishes to go with the seafood spread. Growing up in with December being a cold winter month in Indiana I was used to holiday hams, yams, and all sorts of sugar-based sweets.
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| O'Sullivan Christmas Dinner 2018 |
But this is not exactly fitting for a 30+ C degree day in Aus.
Remember folks, the holiday season in Aus means that summer has arrived! Yes, Santa does still come here, but on a surfboard vs sleigh and reindeer.
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| Brisbane, Aus Anna's Christmas dinner 2018 |
As for me, the next came, and instead of watching through all three Lord of the Rings with the O’Sullivans I was off to a second-holiday feast at my mate’s mum’s house - Anna. I forget how spoiled I was growing up without ever having to fidget with or fight to get food. Here at Anna’s mum’s house, a full bowl of fresh prawn lay waiting for nimble enough fingers to crack open this crustacean shell and devour the sweet meat inside. What I failed in my first one is to scoop off the back before popping the prawn in my mouth. Those that have a little more sense already know what I forgot to do… And it was terribly sandy once I bit down. Yes, folks, Mr. Life-in-the-Romp bit down on a fresh prawn and didn’t de-turd the bloody thing. Anna, watching simply stated in her thick but delightful Aussie accent and brash word choices, “Oh no! You didn’t wipe the poo off. You have to wipe the poo off before you eat it.”
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Brisbane, Aus Anna's cat's Christmas dinner 2018
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At least the little cat was enjoying her fresh antennae from the deshelled prawn on the floor. Me, however, I’ll never forget this unexpected lesson on Christmas Day. So, folks, I guess no matter how traveled I think I am, I’ll still take life in the romp so maybe you don’t have to.
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