This is meal #9 in my personal challenge to eat one meal from every country in the world.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

For the third time Keith waved his hand over $50 dollars worth of kangaroo meat to feel the grill.

“I don’t know why the grill isn’t hot,” he muttered, “It’s just warm. It won’t get hot. The grill should be hot. I think it’s out of gas.”

I looked over at our friends who were expecting their first taste of kangaroo any minute. A few glanced back at me. I felt my neck get hot and repressed the urge to get mad. The grill had not even been on 10 minutes.

The irony? For the last three days Keith and I had this exact conversation at least five times:

Me: “Do we have enough gas for the grill?”

Keith: “I don’t know.”

Me: “We’re having 15 people over. We’re going to use a lot of gas.”

Keith: “Yeah.”

Me: “You don’t think we need any gas?”

Keith: “Yeah. Maybe.”

Hosting tip of the week: Never be caught with your grill down. Always have an extra tank of gas handy, especially when having a large group of hungry bikers to your home. IF you should ever be caught with your grill down, be sure to make fun of the person who caused the problem to keep your mood up. And pass out more beer while someone goes to get the gas.

Thank goodness the kangaroo survived the incident.

Kangaroo Bites: [Recipe]

What I liked most about this dish:

Despite the gas fiasco, the kangaroo bites were especially tender. Perhaps this was thanks to the low, slow heat they got from our sputtering gas grill. Does this mean I am supposed to thank my husband for letting us run out of gas? How ironic!

Some of our friends thought the kangaroo tasted like duck; the meat tasted exactly like steak to me. I was pleasantly surprised how much everyone enjoyed them. A big conversation dish, easy to serve to a big group due to the kabob format, and quick to cook (making them an ideal appetizer).

What I liked least about this dish:

At $19.99/lb, these kabobs are not cheap. If you’ve got the cash, and you live in Tulsa, head down to Harvard Meats. Just call ahead and make sure they have some in stock.

Bratwurst:

What I liked most about this dish:

Easy, easy, easy. Throw bratwurst on a hot grill and you’ve got good eats in about 25 minutes. Here’s a recipe for great grilled bratwurst. If you have burgers and a lot of other food at your barbecue, you don’t need a brat for each person. I would do about 1 brat for every 2 people.

What I liked least about this dish:

The brand of brats we bought were loaded with salt. I guess it would be okay if I had just done a bunch of exercise and needed to replace some sweat.

Aussie Burgers: [Recipe]

What I liked most about this dish:

I enjoyed trying something different on top of my burger for a change. Most interesting was the pineapple. I loved the fresh juicy fruit. The pickled beetroot slices were pretty good too. I liked the bacon, cheese, and egg the most.

My favorite part of the Aussie Burgers was watching egg run down everyone’s burger onto their hands. Oh, and I got a friend to read the recipe, telling everyone how to assemble their burger.

What I liked least about this dish:

Personally, I would prefer to eat just a few select toppings. I felt like I was eating a big buffet in each bite. However, the unusual variety of toppings made burger assembly fun for our guests.

Damper: [Recipe]

What I liked most about this dish:

Damper is dense and surprisingly biscuit-like (considering there is no butter in the recipe). The bread gets huge points for simplicity and was a big hit with some of our carb crazy friends. I liked it and would make it again for a quick breakfast treat.

What I liked least about this dish:

The original recipe was too salty for me, so I adjusted the recipe. The recipe I published should work fine.

Ava’s Corner:

Ava got to try kangaroo this weekend. I gave her the littlest piece and she kept sticking out her tongue, trying to shake the eat meat off. It was too funny. After offering it to her for the third time, with the same results, I gave up and served her some of her regular food… homemade puree of chicken, broccoli, and corn.

Pot Luck Extras:

This barbecue made me a pot luck junkie. I loved trying everyone’s food. I loved not having to make everything or spend an entire paycheck on one meal. I also loved how much more fun potlucks are for the guests! They all had something to talk about (how did you make this? Was it hard? I’d love a copy of the recipe… etc) and you could tell they were proud that they had gone Global Table style and made some genuine Aussie food.

There were tons of dishes and I was not able to get pictures of everything… but here are a few highlights:

Lamingtons

Pavlova

Bacon-wrapped Potatoes

Deviled Eggs

As you can see, we ate like kings and queens this weekend! I’d like to thank EVERYONE who made something. I loved all the food, great work!