The Lamington

Is this the food of the G-ds...the ambrosia if you will! Well, we say hell yeah! This little treasure is found only in Australia and New Zealand, apparently, and it is such a divine piece of cake heaven that it is hard to believe that I have lived a life that I consider full of pleasure and enjoyment without having ever tasted this spongy goodness. Alex first discovered the Lamington about 5 years ago when she was living in Australia, but failed to mention this to me so we discussed this immense mistake on her part and she explained that she had to just forget the Lamington, as she does not have direct access to them in London and it was just too painful for her...and now i understand. We were driving through the outback, just turned down the road leading to Uluru when we stopped at Mt Ebenezer to get a bit of petrol...population 25 and they all reside in the roadhouse and work there as well. There is an aboriginal population of about 250 people in this area, but we only met the few that reside and work in the Roadhouse...one of which bakes the divine creation known as the Lamington. I was introduced to this cube of pleasure after returning from the toilet covered in mosquito bites, sweating and cursing those damn bugs when Al passed me a white bag with a large square-shaped item inside. I pulled out this palm-sized chocolate dipped sponge cake square that was rolled in coconut shedding and just looked at it for a bit...the circumference and height of the Lamington was a bit too large for bite, but I managed to squeeze the upper right hand corner into my gob and sliced the first layer off into my mouth...a rush of fluffy, yet moist golden sponge lightly rolled in chocolate frosting (not too much, just a thin layer) with bits of sweet coconut swirling around my mouth. But then, just when I thought it could not get any more special than that, a tangy burst of strawberry jam exploded in my mouth hitting my taste buds along the side of my tongue. At first, I did not realize that there was a layer of jam, but the rush of strawberry flavouring hit me hard and I needed to sit down...and so I did. I sat down and just lamented about a life of 33 years having been lived without the divine sensation of the Lamington and how I will ever live a full life again once we live Australia. I continued to eat this cube of sweetness for about 10 minutes, trying to relish and savour every single moment until it was all gone and I fell into a kind of mini depression...then Alex reminded me that this was the only road to and from Ayers Rock, therefore, we could get another one on the way out...and so we did. I sometimes have dreams about that Lamington...like I am sleeping on a mattress made out of 1 big Lamington with smaller Lamington pillows and thinner Lamington blankets. We have even explored the mass-produced varieties of Lamingtons that can be found in the local grocery stores...some have cream in the middle, are in different shapes such as a roll or even a cake, some have nothing in the middle, but honestly the best Lamington is a homemade Lamington with jam in the middle and until you experience one of these beauties, you have not lived a full and/or meaningful life. I just want to thank you Lamington for being there for me and bringing me such inexplicable pleasure and enjoyment...you will never be forgotten.