Saved by a Lamington

This past week, it seemed the city of Boston had made a New Year's Resolution to freeze everyone. When it gets that cold out, there are few things that make me feel better...I know, I know...I am Canadian - so shouldn't I be used to the cold!? Well, the answer is NO - I really have a bad relationship with it.

Luckily, one thing that makes me feel better is a big bowl of Pho, which, my friend and I found tucked away in Chinatown. The speedy service traditional in most Vietnamese restaurants did not allow us enough time to catch up and my friend, who happens to be Australian and who had another fellow Aussie in tow, had the brilliant idea to check out KO Catering and Pies - Boston's one and only Australian food shop specializing in meat pies.

With this new mission, entailing hot meaty pies at the end, suddenly the cold became all that more bearable. Bearable that is, until halfway through our quest (for some unfathomable reason we decided to walk...), I got an emergency tweet saying that KO was actually closed and would reopen the next day.  Upon receiving this news, I was perhaps not the most gracious guide.

 

Seeing as we were half way there, we decided to at least get a good look of the place, maybe snap a sad pic and then head to a bar along Broadway in South Boston.

Something in my companion's blood must have told him this would be worth it...and it was. With a stroke of luck and a bit of Australian spirit, KO was closed to the public, but still full of a bustling team, getting ready to open its doors after its holiday hiatus.

Baby - it was Pie Time!

 Once our faces had thawed enough to allow for talking, Sam, the owner and genius behind KO, graciously invited us to sit down and enjoy a cup of steaming hot tea - It saved me!

Just getting ready to re-open the following day, there were no fresh pies, but their freezer full of the frozen ones you can purchase for between 5 and 6 dollars to defrost and enjoy at home.

 They did however, have some freshly made 'Lamingtons', a curious cube covered in what looked like toasted coconut. I had never heard or seen such a thing, but my two companions were all in a dither the moment Sam brought them out. So what is a Lamington you ask? (Much as did I at the time) Well, they are simply pieces of yellow cake smothered in chocolate and then coated with coconut.  So simple, and yet soooo delicious.

They went down an absolute treat with the tea! It felt as though we had just stopped by our neighbor's home for a little chat, a little reminisce over the land Down Under. It was so interesting!

Australia has always been a place I would love to visit, but it is quite far away.  With KO Catering and Pies offering up fresh and assorted meat pies (when they are officially open of course!) and many other traditional Australian accoutrements, aka Lamingtons, Tim Tams and Vegemite, at least I know I can swing by for the real deal - which I will certainly do soon!