Hot Cross Buns

I never imagined that hot cross buns existed outside of the realm of nursery rhymes, but for the last several weeks, they have been a national obsession of Australia...well, that and the women's waterpolo world championships. I never imagined that waterpolo existed outside of high school PE class.

In every grocery store and bakery, shelves are literally sagging under the weight of sticky packages of hot cross buns. The morning news shows feture invesitgative reports into the makers of the best hot cross buns. The break rooms at work (called "tea rooms" here) are laden with the smell of toasted cinnamon and raisins as my colleagues stuff bun after bun into their mouths, butter dribbling down their wrists.

Good Friday marks the beginning of a two week school holiday and a four day weekend for the working class. I've never heard of Easter Monday, but I am grateful for the day off. For a country that is not especially religious, Easter is a big deal here, but it seems to be more about the chocolate than the crucifixion. An article in yesterday's paper announced that the Minister of Fair Trade is inspecting chocolate eggs to make sure they are the correct weight. Of all the social ills in the world, Australia actually has the ministerial resources to send field inspectors to shops with chocolate scales. How great a job is that! I have been dropping hints to Kevin about a 2 kg chocolate egg I saw at Coles, but he is indifferent to my needs, and now I worry that it might have only weighed 1.98 kg...

Personally, I think the Australians invented Easter Monday just so they could have another day to sit around eating chocolate and hot cross buns.