Short story blog
My Christmas baking this year has included a special Aussie Christmas treat: Chocolate Slice. I made this sweet slice for two pre-Christmas functions last week and, on each occasion, it was a great hit. So much so, many people asked me for my recipe. If you live in Australia or New Zealand, you’ll know what […] Read more…
This story is a tribute to the late Elizabeth Annie (“Betty”) Anderson, of Rockhampton. Betty died on 25 February 2020, aged 100 years 6 months. I met Betty when I was a child. She was a long-standing family friend. My mother Evelyn and Betty had known each other since their late teens. My husband, Tony, […] Read more…
Recently I tried my mother’s 1949 spiced meatloaf recipe. It’s a good example of home cooking of that era. I used her old mechanical meat mincer to produce the mince for the meatloaf. The mincer worked perfectly, and the meatloaf was a great success. I shouldn’t have been surprised, given that my mother Evelyn won […] Read more…
In my recipe collection, I have an old-fashioned honey pie recipe. It’s the only recipe in my collection attributed to “Thelma Baker”. Every time I make this sweet pie, I think of her and thank God I had the pleasure of knowing her. Why? This dear lady, long deceased, was one of the sweetest people […] Read more…
I tried Health Slice for the first time in the 1980s. I was visiting a friend at the time and she served this delicious freshly-baked moist and chewy fruit slice for morning tea. When I asked about the recipe, she listed its ingredients and explained how quick and easy it is to make. To my […] Read more…
Vanillekipferl, or Vanilla Crescents, are among the many traditional festive biscuits baked each year at Christmastime by home cooks in Austria, Germany and a number of other European countries. For most families in these countries, Vanillekipferl are an essential part of their Christmas fare. Baking festive biscuits (called Keks in Austria, Plätzchen in Germany) […] Read more…
At the end of this post, you’ll find my recipe for Crusted Savoury Beef. I rediscovered the recipe for this delicious beef mince pie when I was scouring through my collection of recipe books. The recipe is not new. It dates from the early 1980s. Given that rolled oats is one of its main ingredients […] Read more…
Are you looking for simple, no-fuss, wholesome desserts that will delight your family and woo your guests? Then I suggest you try these two quick and easy baked puddings: Nana’s Impossible Pie and Blueberry Bread and Butter Pudding. You’ll find my recipes at the end of this post. Nana’s Impossible Pie and Bread […] Read more…
The Easter lamb cake (in German “Osterlammkuchen”) is one of Germany’s enduring Easter symbols. Baking or purchasing a lamb cake and serving it on Easter Sunday is a tradition many German families have passed down from generation to generation. Up until several years ago, I had never heard of a lamb cake. It was […] Read more…
This novel Pearl Barley Salad is light, nutritious and versatile. Additionally, it is super-easy to prepare. The lime juice dressing gives the dish a refreshing, tangy taste. You can serve the salad as an accompaniment to grilled chicken or grilled fish, or as a vegetarian option, on its own, with crusty bread. You’ll find my […] Read more…
This post features another one of my mother’s heavenly sweets: Orange Jelly Pie. It also includes my mother’s recipe for Easy Pastry, a sweet pie pastry I can recommend for busy folk or inexperienced pastry cooks (like me). And, if you are not aware of the difference between a pie and a tart, you’ll find […] Read more…
This food story features my recipe for Bircher Muesli. I included it last year in my story Yoghurt Zest (August 25, 2016). If you missed it then, here it is again (by request) in a stand-alone post. In addition to Bircher Muesli, this post is about rolled oats, porridge and natural muesli. It includes a […] Read more…
This post is about my Grandma’s Easy Lemon Meringue Pie, an easy-to-make version of an old favourite dessert. But more than that, it’s a story about the relationship I had with my Grandma. Lemon Meringue Pie remains one of my best-loved desserts. I make it quite often for my family and when I entertain guests. […] Read more…
Fruity Baked Pork Rashers is about pork and how Australian meat preferences have changed over the past 50 years or so. It features an easy recipe for cooking pork rashers, which you’ll find at the end of the post. The recipe Fruity Baked Pork Rashers is one my mother collected in the 1980s. At the […] Read more…
The Kentish cake was one of my mother’s specialties. I remember her baking Kentish cake often when I was a child (I wrote about this in Pasta Bake). As well as my mother’s Kentish cake recipe, this story includes a “slice of history”: food and home cooking in Australia in the 1930s and 1940s. It’s a […] Read more…
