Vegemite Demo

My photos will end up being added later or in one big photo post, but this morning I received a "Vegemite Demo" from native Australian Tony Goodhew ("toast spread, axle grease and dingo repellant:" he observes).

I noticed the breakfast setup of jam and butter and so on included little packages of Kraft Vegemite. Since all I ever knew of this substance was that it was sung about by Men at Work ("she just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich") I was game to try it. For those of you who have ever had Chinese Hoisin sauce, or put soy sauce on toast, that begins to approximate the taste (the black bean Hoisin sauce is really the closest but not precise).

Tony smeared enough on my toast that I could not see bread underneath and I cautiously tried a nibble. I liked the taste initially - again mix of soy, Hoisin, and some kind of grease - but the aftertaste was a bit much. He shows me his own, which you can see crags of bread underneath the spread. "Youi really only want to have a light spreading" he noted, though he thought I might be one of the rare people that can take more vegemite.

The best use of vegemite is in gravy he noted - you make a roast, deglaze the pan, pour the meat juices and fat into another sauce pan and reduce it, adding a bit of vegemite - I can see how it would add a richness to it the way we add bouillon cubes here to deepen the flavor.

Today by popular demand,  I don't seem to be speaking to the public (tomorrow cabana with Frank Arrigo, then podcasting Friday). I'm still catching up on mails and organizational instructions though not to mention the 1,000 work emails that came while I was asleep. If Ihave no where specific to be I will hit up the MSDN booth and see also if I can hit the ASP.NET 2.0 sessions by Bradley. I feel guilty tho because many of these sessions are out of control crammed and overbooked - more important that the customers go than I get to see it. We'll see.

Did I mention that the Gold Coast is the Florida of Australia? My hotel is pink and there are senior discount early bird meals. :) I have to figure out where the beach is...