

It’s a Christmas Miracle!
I’m giving it away. My mother’s secret. The one she held close; a few scribbles on a greasy, dog-eared page. I know she had others. Sad secrets, mortifying ones. As we all do. But this one made her a special sort of genius. A star. It gave her powers. Kitchen witchcraft of the highest order. Well, at least I thought so. Christmastime for Mother meant baking her once a year shortbread cookies. She baked dozens and dozens of them, stacking and stashing them away in tins between


A Tart Tart!
If I failed to ask nicely for something, Mother always reminded me that I would attract more flies with honey than vinegar. It was a long time before I understood that one; longer still until I discovered that you could make a delicious sweet pie with the stuff too! Between the Great Depression (1929 - 1939) and the extreme food rationing of WW2 (1939 - 1945) both luxury and everyday ingredients were in short supply, and in a world without luxurious, expensive cream, vinegar