Sailors, Sydney and pie

One year, an American military ship docked just before Christmas in Sydney, Australia. A call went out for local families to host sailors for a night or two.

The family of Lorraine Jones, now an Amity resident, took in two of the men. “For Christmas dinner, I had to use the ironing board to make the table longer,” she recalled.

Her daughter, Lynn Harrell, remembered giving the sailors the grand tour of Sydney, from the central city to the zoo. She said the zoo is considered one of the most beautiful in the world, with its displays and sweeping view of the harbor.

They also went to Bondi Beach. The warm water and surfers surprised the Americans, who weren’t used to summer weather at Christmastime.

“One of the guys was hungry, and he said ‘Let’s go to Mickey D’s for a burger,’” Harrell recalled. “I told him, ‘We don’t go to McDonald’s for a burger. We go to a milk bar.’”

Milk bars, a melding of convenience store and fast food joint, served up burgers the Australian way — with a slice of pickled beet included with the other condiments.

That’s one of the Australian foods she recalls with relish. She also misses the famous Australian meat pies, small individual pies brimming with beef or perhaps steak and kidney filling.

“Nothing beats an Aussie meat pie,” she said. A standard food there, it’s what Australians think of when they hear the word “pie,” Jones said.

In fact, she recalled taking her second husband on a picnic. “I’ll made some pies to take along,” she said.

His eyes lit with delight — until he realized he wouldn’t be forking up apple or berry. Until then, Jones said, “I had no idea what Americans thought a pie was.”