April 25, 2009 is ANZAC Day which is an Australian and New Zealand holiday to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). That morning I went to see a parade of those who had served in the Australian military and was very impressed with the liveliness of the marching bands, the cheering crowds and generations of men and women - young and old - marching through downtown Sydney.

For lunch I met up with a friend of a friend, Andrew and his partner Jaden who took me to this amazing place for dim sum (or as the Australians call it "yum cha") in Hay Market. I was glad to find a place that had good dim sum (surprisingly it was in a big shopping mall, called "Grand Palace" I think) because the week prior I had dinner in Chinatown and was very, very disappointed (I could have prepared it better and for the friends who know my skills in the kitchen it's not saying a lot).

Later that evening I participated in another ANZAC Day tradition which involves gambling (which ordinarily is not allowed, except on this one day of the year). Called "Two-up", it's a simple game played in pubs and requires you to find someone to bet heads or tails against you and then the two coins are flipped and both must either be heads or tails for someone to win.

While it sounds simple, it's actually quite exciting and can entertain adults for hours on end and really empty your pockets. My average bet was $5-$10 and my record was 2 wins and 3 losses. Amazingly, my 3 losses was against this guy who all afternoon/evening was losing (meaning he only won against me) --- I kept playing him because at some point I thought I'd win!

To wrap up the evening I joined Annette (work colleague) and her husband Andy for dinner and then on to a comedy show with Steve Coogan a famous comedian from the UK (althought until that evening I had never heard of him). His humor was wry and sharply edged.

The photo above is of a bag of cookies I saw at the grocery store. Looking for the full ANZAC experience I thought I'd give them a try. They were hard, biscuit cookies with a buttery taste :)