My mother bakes beautiful cakes and puddings. Whenever we'd have guests over for lunch my father would prepare the vegetables, my mother would cook and then present the pudding she had carefully created that morning. To think now she was actually quite creative with her pudding selection and put alot of effort into everything she made. I remember her kiwi fruit cheesecake, trifle and the most amazing banoffee pie.
If you haven't been fortunate enough to try banoffee pie that is a real shame. I think the recipe originates from America, but my mothers consisted of a chocolate digestive and coconut base, boiled condensed milk filling, whipped cream on top with a crumbled flake chocolate bar to finish. This pie was able to move even the toughest looking men into a soft ball of toffee. Something about the sweet layers and the comforting feeling you get from condensed milk is just bliss. I think this pie may have started my love of textures in food. I love the crunchy base mixed with the gooey toffee and smooth finish of freshly whipped double cream. Texture in food is fantastic, no good dish is without a range of textures, similar to the salmon en croute or even just a simple salsa, with avocado, chilli, corn and tomato.
My mother baked the most amazing cakes. But she excelled in birthday cakes. When the time came for your special day the Childrens cake book would come out of the cupboard and we'd be allowed to go through the pages and decide which one we would like for our birthday. I remember my sister having a dog shapped cake with marbled butter cream fur effect, I had a Peter Andre cake for my eighth birthday which was literally Peter Andre's face with licorice hair, I was so in love with him back then! But the best and most well remembered cake was the princess castle.
The princess castle was as the name says an actual free standing castle, complete with turrets, a moat, windows, doors and other little details. Baby pink and topped with sprinkles this was to us like my mother had just painted us the Mona Lisa. This cake would take a long time to make and would be in the cake box for days on end due to the huge amount of cake and icing and sweets. Luckily my family love a freshly baked cake and we'd be more than happy to re visit the cake box every day till then last scrap of baby pink icing had been consumed.
My mother has always worked so hard, being a stay at home mum, to a working woman, she has always tried her best to make and teach us how to bake. We don't celebrate halloween but I remember one year when dad was not home she let us make a witch cake. I couldn't care less what shape the cake was but I do remember how exciting and how rewarding this cake was to look back at. We had made a cake all together and it looked like the one in the book! I still remember that night clearly and I slightly remember the taste of the cake, but not too sure how to put it into words.
Dinner time growning up was a modest affair. When my mum went back to work full time she had to find quick and simple ways to feed her family. Saying this though we never once complained about the food we were eating and my mother always wanted us to enjoy what we were having. Examples of usual tea time meals would be; jacket potato with tuna, cheese and beans, tuna mayonnaise sandwich with chips, cheese and beans on toast, a microwave meal such as chicken korma or turkey escalopes with chips and beans. We did eat highly processed meals, but we did enjoy them. I feel that not being forced to eat food we didn't enjoy has led my sister and I to our healthy relationship with all types of food. We have never rebelled and now appreciate food alot more due to seeing how my mother would juggle everything to make meal times enjoyable. I am not saying that children should be fed large amounts of processed foods, but I understand the need and ease of serving quick food when you have not been well educated with how to cook from scratch quickly. My mother always did the best for her children and her family. I feel she found an escape from her busy life on the weekend, creating her lovely cakes and puddings.
My mother has influenced my relationship with food and my appreciation for parents having to make food on the go. Home cooks to me are the real celebrity chef, I agree that we need to show more praise to those who don't get paid to cook and create.
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