country comforts...

I was given a dozen freshly laid eggs this week from a work colleague who lives in the country and visited the office. Her last months visit bought me some delicious apricot jam made exactly the way I love to eat this sticky preserve. Slightly runny and sweet but not too sweet that you can't taste the freshness of the fruit with whole pieces of apricot still visible. This present made my day and provoked memories of my childhood.

Growing up in a very small country town homemade jams, chutneys, sauces, biscuits and cakes are seemingly the norm and more readily available than their inferior branded versions from supermarkets. I didn't realise or miss this aspect of the country for a good few years until I wanted to purchase a tomato relish, similar to my Nana's. For this indulgence I was soon to learn I would have to pay a ridiculous sum of money for something I once received out of generosity and love. To my horror I found myself paying as much as $15 for something that didn't have a smidgen on my nan's relish! For the first time in a very long time I felt far away and I missed the country!

In country living friends pop in unannounced for coffee and with them bring a dozen eggs or a fresh batch of Yo Yo's they have just whipped up that very morning! My sisters and I would eagerly watch out the window on weekends waiting excitedly for my Nan's car to pull up knowing full well what she would be bringing with her. Two extra large trays filled with her famous home made cupcakes. These were no ordinary cupcakes like the ones you buy in shops that dissolve in your mouth as soon as you take a bite; these cupcakes were a childhood and now an adult dream...... Cream filled fairy and lamington cakes, passionfruit iced cupcakes and my sisters favourite the 'chocolate cupcake' decorated with pink, white and chocolate icing and sprinkled with coconut or sprinkles. We were the most spoilt children on the block and didn't even realise! I remember the tray's lined with white baking paper and the cupcakes standing neatly side by side and grouped by icing colour.

I have asked my nan for her special cupcake recipe many times but every time I do she quite casually answers.

' I don't have a recipe, I just throw all the ingredients into the bowl and mix until it looks right'.

I have since tried to perfect this treat but I have abandoned this for the moment as my own recipe just doesn't quite cut the mustard. Or maybe its that I prefer the memory much more than the cake itself!

We don't seem to receive as many treats now as we did in our childhood as my sisters and I are have all grown up and scattered across 3 different states but I do love how food can re-kindle a lost memory.

My next visit home I think I'll request a fresh batch of these, just to see if they still taste the same ;-)

Bon appetite,

Thanks for spoiling us Nan!

love amie x

Picture - Nana in pink and baby Harry (4th generation) in blue!