Small simple question.
 

This should be very easy to the 'tfp world travellers'.
I was driving into work this morning, and couldnt get this off my mind.

Im in canada (near toronto to be exact), lets estimate Austrialia is exactly opposite to me. Its just becoming winter here, is it just becomming summer there?

Its November here, is it november there?

Ive never quite understood this, and well, never being on a plane, hasnt given me any first hand experience.

Yes it is November in Australia, but this is their summer starting. So they can have barbecues on the beach on Christmas day etc.
My Auntie does this sometimes and calls us from the beach while we are shivering round a fire in darkest Scotland.

I'm not sure what the question is.

Yes, it's November in both Canada and Australia.
Yes, it's almost winter in Canada and it's almost summer in Australia.

The difference in seasons is a result of the tilt of the earths axis in relation to the sun. When it's summer in the Northern hemisphere, the north pole is tilted towards the sun, while the south pole tilts away. As fall approaches the Northern Hemisphere, the north pole begins tilting away from the sun.

ah i see..

yep, answers my question just fine.

thanks

I can confirm that it's getting on to summer here. We were up to 40C a couple of days ago.

As for Christmas...our traditional christmas lunch is seafood, hams, a lot of cold meats, and big salads and stuff. Occasionally, we'll throw a few snags on the barbie as well. We'll either be at the beach, or at someone's house with a pool, and swim all morning before lunch. Then, after lunch, we're all too full to eat another bite, so we go to sleep while the little ones play with presents.

Christmas dinner isn't a big deal here. We're rarely hungry after lunch, and if we are, it's leftovers all round.

Are y'all big on turkeys, TIO? Any at all? Or is it a Northern hemisphere thing?

We very rarely have turkey, Fremen. We don't have thanksgiving, and turkey's not really traditional at Christmas, but occasionally cold turkey will be among the meats we have at lunch.

Oh, and a couple of other things: over here, Santa wears shorts and a singlet, and his sleigh is pulled by six white boomers (kangaroos). We like fruitcake (because we know how to make good ones), but plum pudding is a more traditional christmas lunch dessert, although it's also pretty common to see a pavlova or two. And to us, a pumpkin pie is a silly idea. We eat pumpkin with the rest of our veggies.

Christmas in July parties are reasonably common, but by no means universal, where we get together and have a hot dinner; it more closely resembles a traditional northern hemisphere christmas.

I want to live in Oz so bad! :D
You make it sound enticing.

Thanks for the images, TIO. :cool:

How do you eat pumpkin? Just curious as i've never seen anyone eat it (or want to eat it) outside of pumpkin pie, or just eating the seeds (plain/salted/roasted/etc).

Roast it, generally. We also have it mashed, usually mashed pumpkin and potato together.

Any chance you can get me a recipe? Roasted pumpkin is uncommon here in the south and I'd love to give it a try.

Do you know how to roast a potato? Exactly the same thing. Just cut the pumpkin into wedges, get rid of the crap in the middle but leave the skin on, and coat it in a bit of olive oil. Add a little salt to taste. Chuck the lot in a roasting pan, and stick it in an oven at about 200 C (425 F) for about an hour, or until it's real tender in the middle.
And don't eat the skin.

As for the mash, do exactly the same as you would for mashed potatos, but cut up some pumpkin (skin removed) and throw that in as well.

I'm not sure how well it'd work there. You guys grow pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns and pies, so they might not be much good for roasting. But give it a go, anyway.

Sounds like it wouldn't be half bad. Will have to give it a try. The mashed potatos one sounds interesting.

Mashed potato and pumpkin isn't all that exciting. It was just a good way for Mum to get pumpkin into us :p