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Sunday, August 22, 2004
Aussie Damper 18 August 2004
Sitting round the fire the other night, looking into the glowing red embers, I thought; "we should be cooking damper, I'll introduce these guys to damper".
It was then I realised I've cooked damper many times but never actually made it. How hard can it be? I bought 2 kilos of flour some butter and something I hoped would make it rise. With a bit of sugar and water we had a nice lump of dough. A couple lads helped me prepare some sticks and with a fire deep with hot coals we began to turn and toast some of the best damper I've had. The Ukrainian twist is what to put inside. Honey was too expensive, golden syrup doesn't seem to exist and I couldn't find any jam in the market. So sweetened condensed milk had to do the trick and it was a very tasty alternative.
Why should I tell you all this? After the initial rush of curiosity we ended up with 6 or 7 die-hard, cook all night damper eaters. While I'm sitting turning my stick, Olek, who I've just met, says "Will you please tell me about Jesus." Wow!! Svyeta from our church did her best to translate while I shared that Jesus is my friend, my Saviour and I can talk to Him anywhere and anytime. He asked about church, about prayer and about icons. I didn't speak for long but that brought a couple of other interested folks who spoke to Svyeta and Luda for quite a while about what they believe.
I kept turning my stick and praying silently for them and praising the Lord for Aussie damper!
It was then I realised I've cooked damper many times but never actually made it. How hard can it be? I bought 2 kilos of flour some butter and something I hoped would make it rise. With a bit of sugar and water we had a nice lump of dough. A couple lads helped me prepare some sticks and with a fire deep with hot coals we began to turn and toast some of the best damper I've had. The Ukrainian twist is what to put inside. Honey was too expensive, golden syrup doesn't seem to exist and I couldn't find any jam in the market. So sweetened condensed milk had to do the trick and it was a very tasty alternative.
Why should I tell you all this? After the initial rush of curiosity we ended up with 6 or 7 die-hard, cook all night damper eaters. While I'm sitting turning my stick, Olek, who I've just met, says "Will you please tell me about Jesus." Wow!! Svyeta from our church did her best to translate while I shared that Jesus is my friend, my Saviour and I can talk to Him anywhere and anytime. He asked about church, about prayer and about icons. I didn't speak for long but that brought a couple of other interested folks who spoke to Svyeta and Luda for quite a while about what they believe.
I kept turning my stick and praying silently for them and praising the Lord for Aussie damper!
