ciao tutti….Happy Queensland Day!

6th June 1859 – Queen Victoria, reigning Queen of England, signs the  Letters Patent that formally declare the colony of Moreton Bay as a separate entity from New South Wales with the name honouring the monarch – QUEENSLAND!

If you are looking to bake anything this weekend, try your hand at LAMINGTONS!! Yes, it’s a genuine Queenslander owing its invention to the quick thinking chef to Governor Sir George Ferguson Bowen, first governor of the newly separated  colony.  With guests turning up unexpectedly and nothing but some state plain cake on hand, this enterprising chef cut it into small pieces, coated each with chocolate icing and tossed each  in coconut.  Better still he named the tasty rat after his boss who was none other that the Lord Lamington!! Nothing wrong with purchasing some from you local baker and toasting this decidedly  quick thinking lad.  buon appetito…. buona cucina!