A Week of Vintage Australiana - With Gemma Jones - Day One

Soldiers, Poofy Woollies, VOLVOs and Ballerina's
(It's not really meant to say VOLVO.. but you'll have to read on to find out what I mean...)

Have you met Gemma Jones?! You really should..! She's a rad gal who makes art, go-go dances, curates a wonderful gallery and bakes and stitches with the Kaotic Kraft Kuties! I've invited Gemma to host this week on the Mikes blog.. and she's come up with a doozy of a theme! I'm looking forward to a week of Kitsch styling from a styley girl! Read on...

I'm banning the use of certain words this week - and one word at the top of my black ban list is "cookie". Bring back the biscuit and celebrate! Bikkie-au-gogo! ANZAC Biscuits are the golden syrupy goodness that demand to be homemade ONLY. I love ANZACs all year around - ask anyone - the recipe is permanently on my wall.

image from here

image from this Flickr user

Check out this link for the original wartime soldiers version of brick hardness (ouch - my tooth! I like mine A BIT more chewy)

My friend Louise and I argue quite often about whether Lamingtons should have JAM therein. What do you think? I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo BUT in Perth supermarkets you can buy a Lamington Cake Mix in a box! Rad! And its the cutest most old fashioned presentation.

There is some kinda whack theory on Wikistoopida about a cook dropping a piece of cake in gravy and then throwing it over this shoulder into some peanut butter - what the? I'm telling you I'm not dreaming of the heavenly combo of sponge, gravy and peanut butter in my spare time. And ... the really funny one: Lord Lamington was known to have hated the dessert that had been named in his honour, once referring to them as "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits"

This is apparently the authentic CWA Lamington Recipe

Iced Vovos are just plain goodness in the form of jam, marshmallow, coconut on a biscuit. Anyone who thinks they look like genitalia needs their heads checked! (Gemma, I took out the word vulva here.. i thought some people might spit their coffee...!) My big gripe is that they seem to have become flatter and less fluffy over time. What to do?

Pavlova is the fluffy goodness of egg whites and sugar made to celebrate the Russian ballet starlet Anna Pavlova! Yes, name a cake after me!



Here is the recipe from my much loved edition of The Golden Wattle (c. 1969 edition). Personally, I like a touch of banana on top too - and I think Anna would've too.

xx gemma

Edit - If you'd like to join in on A Week of Vintage Australiana - then drop me an email to mikesfitzroy@bigpond.com and I'll be sure to link to you! You need to post at least twice this week with our theme - and be sure to pop around and visit other bloggers who have joined in too! You can post images, recipes, poems... whatever you like! And thanks to Tanya for last weeks Week of Frenchness.. and I hope you're feeling well again!

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