BBQing for my country

Last night we had guests over who were from England. They were hubby's Nana's sister's grandson and wife, so I guess that makes them some sort of cousin?
Anyway, they are on holiday here in Australia, we'd never met them before, so asked them to come visit. At first they were like "Don't worry about cooking us a meal, don't want you to go to too much trouble". I explained that it was no trouble, would do a BBQ. Well, that changed their tune... "Oh, the world famous Aussie BBQ, count us in". No pressure on me there, just now I had the reputation of Australia riding on my shoulders!
I was a bit hesitant about the whole thing, as we had never met them before, hoped we'd find stuff to talk about, that we'd like each other etc etc. Would be a very quiet meal if we didn't. Anyway, my fears were groundless, they were lovely. A youngish couple (I'm guessing middish 20's), both doctors, who come from London. It was classic listening to their accents, felt a bit like we were watching a British TV show! I never really think of myself as having an accent, I know I do, but because everyone around me pretty much has the same accent, it is not something you notice. Also, in Australia, there is no real difference in accents around the country, unlike America and England, where different regions have quite a different accent. Ours can range from a reasonably posh accent like Nicole Kidman's, to a real ocker accent, like Steve Irwin's. But this is not dependant on location, although I guess in the country, accents do tend to be a bit more broad.
Anways, for dinner, I started off with a thai prawn and lime satay (closest we get to chucking a shrimp on the barbie!). Very yummy, but fiddly to prepare. The prawns take a while, as I take the heads off, shell 'em, then get the vein out (really don't like the idea of eating a prawn's intestine, plus it can make you sick). It's worth it though, the lime and coconut milk marinade is heavenly, a perfect summer meal. The recipe called for 450g deheaded prawns, I didn't read that bit, so bought 450g prawns, heads and all. D'oh! Meant we only got one skewer each, but it was ok, only meant to be an entree....
After that, we did marinated steaks, and onions. The steaks were marinated in red wine (shiraz), crushed black peppercorns, a head of garlic, rosemary, and thyme. The marinating really helps to keep the steaks tender, and I must say hubby did a superb job of cooking them. We served this with a preprepared green salad, bread rolls, and a butter that I had made up, which had shallots, mustard, and crushed peppercorns mixed through.
All in all it was a big success.
We had fun comparing TV shows that the two countries had given to each other (Neighbours, Sons and Daughters to England, Jamie Oliver, Blackadder, The Office etc to Australia). Somehow, I think we got the better deal there!
Apparently Bill Granger is making himself known over in England. He is an Australian chef who has a few books and a TV show, and a couple of restaurants. His recipes are easy to cook, and are usually very tasty.
It's so interesting talking to people from different countries, comparing similarities and differences. That's partly why I blog, and read other blogs, although I love communicating to my fellow countrymen too! (Hello Daffy!)