nostalgia

Oct 4

When your mom cuts your fringe... | www.myfoododyssey.com

It’s curious how seemingly ordinary and even mundane moments can bring on a flash of nostalgia. Twice a day I walk the dog around our beautiful village. I never find it boring – there are always new things to see, whether it’s the coming and going of storks, the gradual change of the seasons, the cutting of hay and other crops or the sound of a pair of hedgehogs engaged in mating calls. There are lots of animals – at least one dog in every home, cats, ducks, geese, frogs, birds – but yesterday it was this horse that caught my eye and sent me into a kink of laughter. Read more

Dec 28

Mam's Christmas Cake | www.myfoododyssey.com

13 Comments

The Christmas Cake [Recipe]

“Don’t slam the door!” my mother would yell as I walked into the kitchen. The Christmas cake was in the oven and in the early eighties, when oven seals weren’t quite what they should be, slamming the door could create enough draft to cause the cake to sink in the middle. Or so the theory went. Read more

Dec 13

14 Comments

The Superser

Grandad tore a strip off yesterday’s newspaper and leaned down to light it off the gas flame. He lifted the burning paper to his lips and lit his cigarette before throwing it into the empty fireplace. It was Saturday, so the fire was not lit. My grandparents always went out for a drink on Saturday night and didn’t waste their time or their fuel lighting the fire when they would not be home. Instead, if it was chilly (as it was today), they would light the Superser. Read more

Oct 29

23 Comments

A Taste of Home | Barnbrack [Recipe]

I longed for a taste of home. Something simple, wholesome, comforting – something my mother used to make. Halloween was coming and I longed for a bowl of colcannon, that dreamy combination of creamy mashed potato and deep green curly kale. Mam always made colcannon for Halloween and always took the trouble to hide a coin, a ring and a rag for us to find. We always knew what was coming but there was something safe and soothing about the familiarity. I longed for that feeling.* Read more