French Toast
Last Monday was a pretty big deal for Arnaud and I. People who know us know the dramas we have been through to try to keep Arnaud in Australia, especially during the first few years of our relationship. To the people who don’t know us, in a nut shell: Arnaud is French and to have been able to keep him in Australia as a working member of society rather than a tourist was quite the challenge. We eventually were able to apply and successfully gain a partnership visa in the end but due to the fact that our relationship was so young at that point, it was difficult.
Over the course of the years we’ve had to renew visas, apply for different ones and do further steps to keep Arnaud here. It has progressively gotten easier - thanks to our wonderful immigration agent and the fact that I think the Government started to trust that we weren’t criminals. This journey has eventually led us to this point and as of last Monday, Arnaud is officially an Australian citizen!
Arnaud received an email during our holiday in SA at the start of the year. In fact, it was the day after he had proposed to me (to which I said - YES. And it’s about time!) telling him that he had successfully passed his citizenship test and that congratulations - you’re an Aussie! We were on the highway back home. To anyone behind us, I’m terribly sorry. I’m sure we would’ve looked like maniacs swerving all over the road yelling in excitement.
We’ve had to wait some time for the official date for his citizenship ceremony. So when we got the call from the Broken Hill council telling us it would be on the 19th of September, it was a relief. To see the end of all the immigration issues we have been battling with now for years finally over. Well, I can’t tell you how good that feels.
In celebration of this monumental event I thought to myself: Let’s make French toast for the morning of his ceremony and then for dinner, we dine on the most Aussie-est of desserts possible: the classic pav! Start the day as a full Frenchman, finish it as a dual Aussie-French citizen. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate. Actually, I should run it by the immigration department: to become a citizen you need to be able to eat an entire pavlova in under 12 minutes to pass the test. Arnaud has had a lot of training over the years. I think he would’ve passed no worries!
Should you want to indulge in your own little bit of French culinary delight, I encourage you to try this recipe. It’s incredibly easy and I promise you that you needn’t be French to enjoy it. Although, in the spirit of this blog post, should you make it, it comes with the preface that you need to serve it to your guests by saying: “Get it into ya mate!”
French Toast
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- pinch salt
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 6-8 slices brioche bread or stale sandwich bread
- butter - for cooking
Instructions
- Place eggs, milk, salt, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar into a medium sized jug. Whisk together well before pouring custard mixture into a large flat-bottom pie dish or baking tray.
- Start to preheat a large frypan over medium heat. Once hot, add a tsp of butter. If the butter sizzles and bubbles, the pan is hot enough. Swirl the butter to evenly coat the bottom of the pan.
- Place two slices of brioche into the custard mixture. Soak each side for 15-30 seconds before placing into the hot pan. Cook until golden brown on each side.
- Place on a large tray and keep warm in the oven while cooking the next slices. Wipe the remaining brown butter out of the pan with kitchen towel before adding another tsp of butter. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for remaining bread.
- Serve immediately with cream, berries and golden syrup.