I first remember colours, the red pepper and then the green. Mum would line them up side by side and I would help her chop them. At first I couldn’t stand the capsicum, the red type or was it the green? Over time it didn’t bother me, although red or yellow taste slightly sweeter. I like sweet tastes.
For birthdays I would choose chocolate ripple cakes. I loved constructing the long logs of alternating cookies and cream, brown and white – like the keys of a piano. Nana would make a Pavlova. Once she would make it all - from the egg white heart to the crunchy base but now she just adds the fruits and cream topping. I like to help her arrange the strawberries and raspberries and squeeze on the juicy passionfruit. In the earlier years mum would make cakes from a Woman’s Weekly children’s cake book. She made the shoe (which the old woman lived in) for my brother once. Using sponge cake, food dye and lollies she also made a football oval, numbers 1 to 6 or 7, and a piano and a teddy bear for my sister I think. For me she would make simple pink cakes. Decorated with flowers and ballerinas on top. We still have the book. I hope to make such cakes for my kids one day.
The kitchen was always an area of interest. In the mornings dad would stir porridge in a big pot, or semolina on the odd day, chocolate semolina too. After school a Polish lady Mrs Teresa would bellow ‘Zuppa is ready’ and would serve us lamb goulash with African chips. She would also make pancakes. I’d watch in wonder as time after time they came out perfect large circles, always paper thin. We ate them up with lemon and honey. I haven’t tasted pancakes like them since. Then there was the Shepard’s pie from our regular nanny Gwen. The potato was so crunchy and the meat sweet and soothing with a generous dollop of tomato sauce. Mum’s cooking was always different and delicious. My favourite was her cauliflower in white sauce. Over time she added sweet chilli to the fetta and Parmesan topping. Her vegetarian lasagne involved artful layering of marinated eggplant, capsicum and zucchini. For parties she would sun dry her own tomatoes - flavoured with orange grind. Roast beef with horseradish and prosciutto wrapped around cantaloupe. At Christmas we made balls of watermelon and cantaloupe in red glass desert bowls, with sugar encrusting the bowl edge.
For take-away it was always spaghetti marinara from Florentines, and later Indian from Shalimar Indian Restaurant or Indian Express. I loved malai kofta and onion baggi. On Sundays dad would bring home pan au chocolait from Mamalln’s Bakery and later, after it closed down, bagels and pastries from Aviv Cakes & Bagels. Our Sunday brunches became well known. My favourite pastry was always apricot and custard, I always loved the fruit and colourful types. Cherry’s worn as earrings, criss crossed mangos.
Other Memories. The buttery smell of the squash, corn, potatoes and brussel-sprout mix at kindergarden. Spitting out my first oyster across a restaurant table in Surfers Paradise, this incident has been repeated on numerous oyster trialing attempts since. Hallucinations of prawns coming to life as they were peeled. Coming home to a hot bowl of fresh vegetable soup after a long day at school. Nana’s chicken and sweet corn soup, with niblets and soya sauce. Ribena, Nutella and the fresh peanut butter from Prahran Market. Sweet smelling honey satay skewers, English muffin pizzas and teddy bear biscuits for the sick stomached served on trays. Ixy drixy (a creation by nana) – sultanas pierced into banana slices with toothpicks. French toast frying, apple soufflé rising. Sizzler’s hosted us many nights, for the all you can eat spaghetti and pumpkin soup. Sweet and condensed milk while camping burnt marshmallow exteriors and liquid insides around the campfire, giant toblerone when someone returned from an overseas trip. If they still sell them, I will bring one back with me when I come back home. That will be a sweet taste.
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