Posted on by Cathy

Dying for a cup of tea

Well not literally but so close to.

Out with The Golfer yesterday looking at cars ………. he did have something in  mind but was disappointed….unlucky for him – lucky for our bank balance 🙂

Anyway I was surprised to see the yard we visited was almost empty of buyers only to be told by one chap ‘everyone’s down the road at the shops, we’ll be lucky to make a $ today.   With that he said he was off to his office for a cup of tea.

Coming home Maroondah Highway was chock a block, bumper to bumper at one spot; people might not have been looking at new cars but they were certainly going from one place to another – very quickly……. and as could be said ‘without due care and attention’ or acting like b…..  lunatics which was a comment I kept hearing from the driver of our car.

So by the time we got home I was dry in the mouth and couldn’t get the kettle on fast enough.  Out of nowhere as I gathered up cups and other bits and pieces together I was ‘plagued’ by this little childhood ditty running through my head.

Tea Time, Tea Time.
Come and get your tea
Bread and Butter, cakes and jam
For me me me!

I’ve ate my bread and butter
Drank my cup of tea
What is left for supper time
Wait and see!

With no cakes in the house The Golfer jokingly made a jam sandwich for us both, which had us laughing and talking about running in from school starving and Mum putting jam sandwiches on the table, reminding us to ‘not eat too much and leave room for your dinner (or supper in some parts of the country)

He asked me if I knew there was a special day to remember Fairy Bread – sandwiches (for children here in Australia) made with bread, butter and 100s and 1000s – those little coloured balls used to decorate cakes.  Seems it’s celebrated every year on November 24th.  Well, you  live and learn something every day I said.  And then told him about our own special sandwiches Dad use to make us when we were little.

Bread Butter and Sugar – similar to Fairy Bread without the colouring lol

We didn’t often have butter (best butter my mother always called it) in our house but when we did Dad would say it was a treat for his little ladies. He’d chop some into pieces (to warm and become spreadable) pour some sugar into a glass bowl, make us a cup of milky tea and then let us get on with our special little tea party.

I must be feeling in need of comfort this morning because look what I rustled up for myself – just for old times sake 🙂

So what special memories does food have for you?

It’s often the silliest simple ones that have me close to tears
What about you?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Excuse me I must go and enjoy my memory – my tea will be cold
and as we all know, there’s nothing worse than a cold cup of tea!

 

 

31 Replies to “Dying for a cup of tea”

  1. now the car sale yard – need to create a “tea shop” so that he has an incentive to bring people to look at his cars…he could have an air conditioned waiting room…

    a bit like shops that would provide a convenient seat for someone whilst there other half browsed racks, hardware tools demo’s, or went into the changing room for hours…

    possibly the stale bread that Mother put marmite and cheese on – then baked until crisp in the oven.. I made it once in my adult hood, but I couldn’t get it right and it tasted terrible. Maybe it was missing Mothers’ “love”, however I can’t eat marmiteor vegemite now!

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    1. Funnily enough there was a little cafe on the site – it’s one of those yards where several dealers have a pitch each – at the time we were there the cafe was completely empty.
      I love cheese and vegemite sandwiches….wouldn’t think to put them in the oven though. I have to agree about the ‘love’ element making them especially delicious. My sugar sarnie tasted awfully sweet – nothing like I remembered 😊

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  2. My grandmother would make us strawberry jam sandwiches but no butter. So the jam would crystallise the bread and a glass of milk before going to bed
    She said it helped us to sleep longer lol

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    1. Maggie, isn’t it funny the way Grannies gave us those comfort foods we crave now and again. These days youngsters are presented with fresh fruit. I wonder what their memories of that will be?

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  4. Fairy bread has some very special memories for me. In my working life a colleague said she made it for her boys with wholemeal bread. She was howled down. Mixed messages we told her.
    And home-made scones, topped with home-made jam. Bliss.

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    1. Oh no EC – it’s plain white bread for Fairy Bread! Wholemeal wouldn’t be sweet enough.
      Did someone special make the scones for you? They obviously left their mark in your memory bank 😊

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  6. Hi Cathy, yes I too used to love Fairy Bread when young (definitely white bread) – it was always for birthday parties in our house.
    I can tell you really enjoyed revisiting your bread, butter and sugar sandwich – it’s nice to have some comfort food.
    I chuckled at your jam sandwich ! Hubby and I sometimes have jam on buttery toast if we’re gasping for something sweet and dinner’s well over ;D)

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    1. Hello Sue, we can’t have too much comfort food, well you can (it’s usually a fattening comfort) so it’s best just to have limited quantities.
      Blackberry jam on toasted fruit loaf is another delightful filler when you want something but shouldn’t really have something 😊
      Lovely to see you – hope it’s not getting too hot where you are.

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    1. I only had one granny (the other was gone before I arrived) Granny S lived across the water in Belfast- her specialty was an Ulster Fry Up! A full cooked breakfast that my parents enjoyed the morning we arrived off the boat from Liverpool. Us children were given Toasted Soda Bread along with ‘fried’ Potato Bread.
      No homemade sponges from her 😊

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  8. Weekly my Mom would make her own brown and raisin bread and when they came out of the oven she would grease the top of them with butter. Well my father was the worst we would sit around and beg her to cut it then and she wanted to it to cool – well she was pleased and we won out so I can still taste the hot raisin bread with butter and it was usually in the winter time before supper.

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    1. Hello Germaine That sounds like a ‘warm’ memory 😊 And to have your father involved in the fun certainly makes it even sweeter

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  9. My mother was a lousy cook, so I don’t have great childhood food memories, although I used to swap my bought biscuits with my school friend who did not live far away for his home made ginger biscuits. I assume that was Sunday when you were on the Maroondah Highway. Why is there traffic congestion on big multi laned highways?

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    1. I blame the traffic lights Andrew.. The powers that be say they help with the flow but to me they just seem to make big blocks of traffic that move along in a ‘lump’ with more from the next block going like mad to join up with them making an even bigger block. Well that’s me theory lol

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  10. We had Indian snacks of all kinds when we returned from school and before we went off to play. Each day had a different snack but, like your parents, ours too told us to eat less so that we could have proper dinner. Bread / bun, butter, cake, etc came into our lives much later. We have now gone back to Indian dishes and reserve bread etc for rare treats.

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  11. Lovely memories. I used to enjoy a sugar sandwich as a kid, the crunchy texture mixed with the soft bread and butter was great – but I can’t imagine eating anything that sweet nowadays! Another favourite was Gypsy Tart: I think this may have been local to our area – pastry base, filled with a whipped mix of syrup and condensed milk, which was allowed to set. It sounds revolting now but was always welcome as a school lunchtime dessert!

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    1. Don’t think I’ve heard of Gypsy Tart before. Syrup (Tate and Lyle kind ) plus sweetened condensed milk – all thick and gooey- would’ve been heaven to a child of those times Clive. Wonder if it’s still made?

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      1. It was a speciality at both my primary and grammar school. I’ve since heard it was a local dish in East Kent, where I was born, but I guess there were similar sickly sweet treats elsewhere! I bet it’s not on the menu these days though: not exactly healthy, is it!

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        1. You obviously went to a different grammar school to me. Speciality of the House at mine (Retford County High School for Girls 😊) was Tapioca Pudding (frogspawn yuk)

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  14. I love fairy bread …and bread with butter and suger….and cinnamon toast. I can’t say any of them are in my special food memories though!

    I can’t actually think what I would put in the list of special food memories

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