Twenty year old Roy Fluke was studying to become an artist when he enlisted in WWII and served in New Guinea. His leg was amputated at the thigh due to a severe gunshot wound and he spent many months in rehabilitation hospitals. It was a sad
Read more →One of the now forgotten, long term chocolate makers of Sydney was Hilda Gurr (nee Bell) and her husband Arthur. The couple’s enterprise began in the 1930s, when Arthur was seriously injured in a car accident and had to find a way of making a living without
Read more →Butter is one of the joys of life in my opinion. Mind you, I’m a dairy farmer’s daughter, so that’s hardly a surprise. But..er, 😎 can this age old, natural product be improved upon? YES IT CAN! COMPOUND BUTTER Compound butter is simply butter incorporated
Read more →With the arrival of winter here in the Blue Mountains I bought a packet of Golden Crumpets. My partner Rob and I both commented that it was exactly the same red and gold packet we remembered from our 1950s Tasmanian childhoods. It also had that unusually soft
Read more →BEFORE READING THIS ARTICLE IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE READ PART ONE OF ERNEST’S STORY. In 1937 twenty year old Ernest Renault from Launceston became the world champion banana eater. Yes…strange, but true. 😎 After a difficult childhood there was a brief period when the possibilities of
Read more →Earnest Renault did not have the best start in life. He was born illegitimate in 1917. His mother Violet successfully sued his father, Raymond (later named as Ronald) Holmes, for maintenance. Oddly enough Violet married a William Holmes in 1919, when Ernest was two years old. I
Read more →Bubble gum was one of my old Dad’s pet hates. Any gum was bad, but bubble gum was beyond the pale. Of course we kids adored it and took no notice of him whatsoever. It was invented by an American (well naturally eh?) in 1928. When a
Read more →Hello, Editor Des here. If anyone knows about Teddy Bears it’s moi, because….well I am one! And I do love a picnic. John-Paul Bernet and his dear wife Bevie are very special people. For them, the term Teddy Bears covers all manner of comforting, cuddly creatures. I
Read more →Bowery restaurant is located in Katoomba’s old St Andrew’s Church building (built 1914) at 56 Waratah Street. It was recommended to us by a food loving Frenchman, so we thought it must be worth a visit. 😍 The food is not French. though…it’s classed as Modern Australian,
Read more →Scallop pie…🥧 it’s a desecration in my opinion. No-one loves pastry more than me, but the delicate Tasmanian scallop should never be interred in a ‘coffin’, especially not with curry! How it became so popular in the land of my birth is a mystery to me. Naturally
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