Before Australia enthusiastically embraced the disgusting habit of finger lickin' en masse , the American Women's Club of Sydney in 1962 issued a recipe book , Star Spangled Cooking , above , a copy of which was served up to this blog , a fast food perusal failing to find any mention of Kentucky fried chicken . Anybody for Kentucky strawberry pie ?
(The first KFC store in Australia opened in 1968 in Guildford , Sydney . Now it claims 2 million customers a week pass through its more than 600 stores .)
Compiled by members of the American community in Australia , the recipe book was edited by Mrs (Anne) Rush Clark , wife of the US Ambassador, Ed Clark , during the Vietnam War years .
Nearly 40 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy , a sensational report in the Sydney Morning Herald said the latest conspiracy theory was that JFK had been killed in a plot by his successor Lyndon Johnson and there was an Australian link . Gerard Noonan wrote that in a book about to be published, Blood, Money and Power . How LBJ Killed JFK, the main informant in this top secret revelation was LBJ's close Texan friend , personal lawyer and all round ole boy, Ed Clark , the former US Ambassador to Australia in the Vietnam War . Noonan continued :
Known as "Mr Ed" after the talkative horse in the TV series,
the talkative and rambunctious Clark had wowed the Australian diplomatic
circuit in the mid-1960s with his howdees and ya'alls and yellow roses of Texas,
disguising a wily and manipulative foot soldier of Johnson's Great Society
dream.
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The American Women's Club of the American Society , designed to help Americans get acquainted with the community , seems to have been established as early as 1946 . The recipe book was dedicated to the long suffering husbands and families whose "cast iron constitutions" , through trial and error , had enabled the contributors to reach perfection .
As mentioned at the outset of this post , there was no mention of Kentucky fried tucker in the poultry section , although there were tantalising dishes such as Tipsy Duck , Porcupine Meat Balls , Russian Rum Cake , Snickerdoodles , Hootenholler Whisky Cake and Mrs Eisenhower's Cookies . Aussie fare included trout and Pavlova and a reference to a shrimp dish is obviously good old Aussie prawns .
One normally associates Americans with being great coffee drinkers , but there were instructions for making COCOA for 80 , which involved the use of an egg beater . Instructions for coffee making provided only up to 50 cups . Tea making for 100 involved placing two cups of tea leaves in sheer muslim bags -the forerunner of tea bags ?
After slaving over a hot stove preparing a mess of Snickerdoodles , a cocktail called White Cargo , made from gin and vanilla, was suggested .
Mrs Clark wrote a book about her time Down Under called Australian Adventures : Letters from an Ambassador's Wife .
In it she outlined here travels about the nation ,including the Northern Territory (specific mention of Darwin , Tennant Creek, Brunette Downs ) , Coral Sea Battle anniversaries , mixing with prominent people , including Lady Mary and Sir Warwick Fairfax , Sir Warwick probably revolving in his grave right now over what is happening to Fairfax publications .
People who had taught her much were Lady Casey (wife of the Governor-General ), Lady Winton , Lady Johnston, Lady Waller, Dame Pattie Menzies, Dame Mabel , Betsy Phillips, Jodie Lydman, Dottie Cronk, Marg Martin , Betty Smith and Marjorie Turbayne . The last named person in this list was the wife of spook Keith Godfrey Turbayne, director general of ASIO the night in 1973 when Attorney-General Lionel Murphy raided the Melbourne office, convinced he was not being informed about Croatian extremists in Australia .
Following the raid, Turbayne, who admitted taking his children with him when he was on a spying missions , said ASIO had investigated Murphy as a possible KGB agent !!! as his first wife had been Russian . Britain had also asked for a check on him , which found nothing untoward .
Following the raid, Turbayne, who admitted taking his children with him when he was on a spying missions , said ASIO had investigated Murphy as a possible KGB agent !!! as his first wife had been Russian . Britain had also asked for a check on him , which found nothing untoward .
Mrs Clark expressed the hope that in a small way she had contributed to her country's welfare as she tagged along behind her energetic husband , though sometimes " he was dragging me footsore and protesting ." There was also a wish in her book that she would return for a second spring in Western Australia, for another flutter on the Melbourne Cup , to hear an opera from the Sydney Opera House , for another plate of Sydney rock oysters , to hear again the reassurance "Not to worry, Mrs Clark ."
