This and That.

Cushion is fond of saying that all someone has to do is tell me an interesting story about an item and I will buy it. In short, I'm the sucker that was born 2.89272e7 minutes ago. [I got that figure by googling my age. Cool eh.]

I hate to say this, but he's right.

[NOTE! If you're a scammer reading this, please do not take this as an invitation to try to sell me something. It won't work because I am no longer shopping for anything! other than a Footrot Flats #12.]

It's going to take me some time to sort through all the junk we've I've accumulated over the years and I will need a hard heart for the task. After hours of opening up boxes, and rummaging around baskets and cupboards, I've only managed to fill 2 or 3 shopping bags worth of This and That to give away. That's it! 

I'm nowhere near done.

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Here are some of the things I think I must keep. They're all from my family home and childhood days.

My father's bulldog mug.
This is 1 of a pair. My brother has the other. 

My father had a Guinness or beer with slices of fried spam, peanuts, or fried salted anchovies every night before dinner. But he seldom drank out of this bulldog mug. It was mostly for display.

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My nanny was a great cook. I resisted going into the kitchen as a child [too busy running around with the dogs] so learnt absolutely nothing from her. 

Then, one night when I was in my 30s, I sat down in the kitchen with her and got her to tell me how to cook many of my favourite dishes. I was married by then, you see! And suddenly, it was important to know more than how to fry an egg!

The recipes are all in this book.

She couldn't give me a single precise measurement for the ingredients. It was all done by feel. I remember being very frustrated by that! It's only been in the last 3 years or so that I've begun to understand this "cooking by feel" thing. Better late than never, I suppose.

My nanny made pink jellies for us in these rabbit moulds. Not often enough, in my opinion. Sometimes, they had a layer of coconut cream on top.

I was always sad to cut into the bunny. Where to start? The tail or the nose? 


She also made some terrific cakes with this simple whip. 

My favourite, that she made for me every birthday, was a vanilla sponge with a sugary cream middle and crushed peanuts, maraschino cherries and more cream on top. For a child in those days, it was the height of decadence.

She baked the cakes in this oven.

This was my school lunch box.

Was I ever that little?

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I don't remember there being a lot of display items in our family home but these were 2 of them.

This 3 Wise Monkeys sat on my father's old writing bureau. 
The bureau was made of dark wood. It had [if memory serves me right] a formica top. There were little pigeon holes crammed with bills, notes and a coin box where I could take money from, when the ice cream truck came by. The drawers had brass clamshell handles and there was a lovely rumbly rolltop. We all wanted that bureau! But it's now living with Sister 1. 

I suppose my mother must have bought these little ballerinas. I think there used to be mirrors for them to dance around but these are all I have now.

Their bases are magnetised.

Fortunately, they're tiny enough to pack up and take anywhere.

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Thanks for going on this journey with me and for telling me about your favourite books yesterday! A couple are totally unknown to me and I'll be checking them out when I have some time. Especially that "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" one. What an inspired title HAHAHA!

My question for today, if you so wish to play -

What thing or things most remind you of your childhood?