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2005-06-19 - 2:26 p.m.

Seems like, after twenty odd years of not living at home, I miss my mum's cooking heaps.

Yesterday I bought Margaret Fulton's updated cookbook and to top it off, an edition of a CWA (Country Women's Association) cookbook (with home handy tips). Some recipes in both books are so close to what Mum used to make. (I think she did have a Fulton cookbook, as did the majority of homes in Oz when I was growing up.) Some of the recipes in the CWA are over 60 years old - no fancy French cooking here. Some are from the depression years where you had to substitute cheaper and/or more readily available ingredients to stretch your money further.

I'm sick of looking at all the celebrity chefs' books which have recipes for meals you'll only ever cook if you're entertaining and some of them have ingredients you can't get here. Yes, you can subsitute but sometimes it's not the same. The Fulton cookbook has some great international recipes along with more everyday meals and all ingredients are available here.

As cookbooks always inspire me I was thinking yesterday how lucky this country is with it's numerous cultures and all the cuisines they've brought here. My mum was a very good cook and fortunately she did pass her talents on to her youngest son (ahem). And I always used to say to her that the Swiss-Italian bloodline on my father's side was a big part of my huge talent in the kitchen (cough). Must've been some French somewhere in the mix too.

Let's face it, it's certainly not because of the English blood in me. Unless, of course, it's from the Normans.