Bo-Jangles

What else to do on a wet Sunday afternoon than bake some cakes to warm the house and the soul. DH was sat at the breakfast bar, mouth down to the floor willing said cakes to hurry up and I offered him the mixing bowl. He who not often misses a chance to gollop up any waste, turned his nose up in disgust, so then started a big trip down memory lane about the things we used to eat or like when we were kids.

We used to sit and pester my mother stupid, for a sip of the juice from a tin of rhubarb, or just a lick of the spoon. Oh my, we even used to fight over who had got the most.
Kids today, they don't know that they're born.

So I thought it would be a nice fluffy light-hearted topic at what other folks here remember from being a kid?

shirl

I was the youngest of 5 so was quite spoiled. I remember mum used to bake a ginger cake called Yorkshire Parkin and the smell of that was quite divine. She would bake it in a big roasting type pan and cut it into squares for the lunch boxes. Then there was meat and potato pie with a lovely crunchy pastry top mmmmm. Summers that seemed to last forever down in Devon where I grew up. Listening to the top 20 on a Sunday night with Alan Freeman waiting to see if my fav record had got to number 1. Ahhh those were the days = simple pleasures.

Batty

I never think I was a deprived child until I hear other people talking about the scrumptious dishes THEIR mums used to make Mine is not a good cook. She didn't let us starve but she never enjoyed food. I'm sure there must have been some unresolved issues there but she believed you can never be too thin long long before it became fashionable We used to love going to a friend's house because her mum was always baking. As soon as you'd walk into the house you'd get the smell of warm chocolate I can still smell it ... and my sister says the same They had one of those kitchen cabinets where the middle piece was a pantry cum shelf/counter thing - it was never closed and we'd just be in a trance looking at all the cakes and stuff . I don't think there's anything lovelier than walking into a house when there's something baking - I did loads today too and my OH was in raptures when he came home from work!

CCGM.IN.NZ

I remember those long summers. Mum used to make us lolly ices out of Ribena. We never had those shop bought lolly moulds, she used to use the old plastic egg cartons with small wooden lolly sticks. Me and my two sisters would sit in the paddling pool eating our home made lollies while we cooked in olive oil . That was what mum used to put on us instead of sunscreen the smell of it still reminds me of my childhood summers now. We did go a lovely golden brown though

SarahB

Oh Batty, poor you! My mum was and still is a great cook. One of my favourite meals was her beef stew and dumplings, mmmmmmm..... Ive never managed to make it as good as hers though. She used to bake great cakes and biscuits.... and puddings to die for. I got my love of cooking from her and just before I started college I changed courses and did a Catering Management course instead. I still bake when I have time, but I'm still even now not as good as my mum! Oh gosh, now I can remember all the yummy food she used to make......

dreamfish

i remember cycling around our cul-de-sac wearing flip flops, scraping toes on the pavement as we peddled *wince*

playing curbie

digging for worms - and spending all day at it too. No running back to the house after ten minutes announcing i was bored!

Our mother used to make 'healthy' meals - so on a sunday we would have stuffed marrow (urgh). Other evening meals included liver and mash and corn on the cob. Mom rarely made cakes - we did all that around nan's house. Lemon meringue pies, fruit loaf and custard. yummy!

Batty

haha - no, I really didn't feel deprived and I suppose, looking back on it, she did instill 'proper' eating habits but it was a bit of a shock finding out everyone didn't eat like us

Persephone

Me and my sister used to fight over who got to lick out the bowl and spoon when mam was making cakes, I always thought it was the best bit, often wondered why she didn't just make up a whole load of cake mixture just for us as well as putting some in the oven!

We used to get ice lollies made from orange juice, ribena etc made in the ice cube mould with a cocktail stick in, they didn't seem that small when I was a kid

We only had fizzy drinks for Sunday dinner when my dad would take us to the off licence and we got to pick what we wanted as long as it wasn't alcoholic!. My dad of course picked his own very special "fizzy pop"

Waking up very early every new years day and finishing off the remains of the food and drink from my parents' party the night before - well, they never invited me . Apparently I was always very merry followed by being very quiet on new years day Nowadays I just feel very ill

My parents would never allow me a pet so I had to make do with a collection of pet caterpillars. The local gardeners loved me! It also meant I could stuff my mouth with raw peas when they weren't looking!

I used to ride my bike up and down the street and we'd play rounders with however many kids we could get together - I remember only 3 of us playing once, along with a complicated system of rules which entailed us swapping teams at each go I lived in a cul-de-sac so probably had a lot more freedom I suppose as we rarely had any cars driving around and everyone knew each other. I can't remember being inside a lot, was always out playing.


Life was simple then

howden40

I feel very old with this one, but I used to really enjoy going to the pictures, it didn't matter what time you went in, if it was half way through a movie, you saw the end and then watched the whole movie.

We even had a little local cinema where entrance was an empty jam jar, I'd take an empty jar and gain admission and sometimes an ice cream (or maybe this was a trick my father played with managers permission).

My mother was and is a terrible cook, to survive we learnt to cook at an early age, but she did make 2 signature more than edible meals, bacon and egg pie and curried mince.

Easter eggs, you only got one small hollow egg, nothing like my kids got.

Life was simpler and cheeper, but onward to progress

clair73

I remember leaving the house at sunrise and not coming home until sunset,walking through remote places without a care in the world....wish my kids had the same freedom.

Cloggs would always go a** over t*t due to the slippery bottoms but they were cool so a bruised behind came with the territory

Jelly bean plastic shoes with matching bag, using the coolest shopping back to but in there, and the plastic colour see through rain coat

Leg warmers thinking i had just stepped out of Flashdance or Fame.

Sitting watching Dukes of Hazzard, Starskey and Hutch, Charles Angels Saphire and Steel or Logans run, all snuggled up as a family to watch the latest episode.

Toad in the hole mmmmmm bangers and mash and visiting my nan for the best roast dinner in the world, followed by a cuppa tea and a jam sponge cake.

Dreaming of marrying Adam Ant some day or Nick Haywood, Limahl...None of them ever came to sweep me off my feet.
Singing in my hair brush thinking i was part of Bananarama while my sister banged on the door because i was wearing her favourite top.

My memories are endless

howden40

First memories posted were as a wee wee lass in the UK. Now for NZ style.

Walking to school during summer holidays to use the swimming pool for as long as I liked, did this most days.

Going to the midnight to 6am picture session on a Sunday (Monday being a Bank Holiday), 4 movies back to back - usually Bruce Lee.

Shops closing at 9pm on Friday and not opening again until Monday morning. Made going to the Mall more exciting as only 1 late night (Fridays).

Afghans were proper Afghans, not these little round things you get now. I still have my Cadbury's cookbook from 1972.

My mother still couldn't cook, but dad cooked once a week and it was always something exotic.

Watching the cricket with Dad and my brothers, sat on the grass. Football each weekend in Winter with Dad and my brothers.

I was never home, had curfews as I automatically told my parents where I was going and who with. If I felt it was late I rang home to check in. Was never to to do these thing, you just did it.

Enough, I like many other could go on and on and on. Life was so much more simple when I were a lass.....

Wiz'n'Ton

Oh yeah - cake mix! My sister and I would hang at mum's feet waiting for her to finish putting it in the baking tins. She would then make one of us divide it in 'half' by drawing a line through it with their finger, and the other one would chose which half was theirs.

Mayhem would then ensue!

Meals I loved my mum for:
Liver (lambs fry they call it here) & bacon - gorgeous!
Stuffed lambs hearts - I loved these but we only got them a few times a year
Slow cooked beef stew
Chicken soup made with the laft overs of the sunday roast - it would last for days and got better and better with all the reheating the longer it took to eat
Corned beef pie & colemans mustard
Toad in the hole with baked beans
Also 'pressure cooked mince' she called it - but basically mince, veg and spuds all together in the pressure cooker. I loved it!
Spag bol - or mums version of it. It had carrots and bacon in!
Stuffed marrow and tomato sauce - all home made - I loved this too

Cooking at home with my sister: making butter biscuits, chocolate loaf, victoria sponge and shortbread.

No mobiles, running around with your mates till it was dark and then it was time to be at home. As someone else has said - telling your mum where you were going, and going there, then coming back when it got dark.

Mum wandering up and down the road shouting 'Aaaaaaandrewwwwww - Teeeeeeas Ready' - as did everyone else's mum.

Playing football in the street, hitting parked cars and running away

Playing knock down ginger - ringing doorbells and running away

Roaming through the woods with my mate Adam for hours and hours - making bows and arrows, camps in the trees, spying on innocent dog walkers

Making up secret codes with my mate Tim

Letting off joke-shop stink bombs in the hall-way

Bloody hell, any chance of going back and doing it all over again....?

weejie

This is what I shout now to my Andrew I also remember our WEEKLY bath and hair wash and mum going through our long,long hair with a nit comb,she was bloody obsessed we would catch nits( never did though)! My boys now have a shower every night but I don't think I ever felt dirty as a child.We seemed to have more freedom as others have said,out to play in am home if hungry then out until dark drew in. You just knew when it was time to go home. I remember as well all the kids in the street playing games together...rounders,skipping ropes,chinese ropes,kick the can,playing balls off the wall and doing under legs,one-handies,behind the back etc. Those were the days.

howden40

I remember as well all the kids in the street playing games together...rounders,skipping ropes,chinese ropes,kick the can,playing balls off the wall and doing under legs,one-handies,behind the back etc. Those were the days.[/QUOTE]

I remember those games well, i was 'reallllly good at ball, both one and two handed, long and short distance, high and low. Used to play every break during school, after school, every chance. When the weather was bad we did 'scraps', carrying loads of books around with scraps, swapping. Used to love rounders, funny enough I never made the adjustment to baseball.
Pauline

Yotty

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