Chocolate straws for milk

We were doing our shopping this morning, and I bought some condensed milk so I could make some mayonaise.  On the shelf opposite the condensed milk I spied something else from my childhood that appears to have been resurrected - flavoured straws for milk!  According to the web, they were 'invented' in Australia in about 2006, and called Sippah Straws - but I certainly had them in the 60s.  Can't remember exactly what they were called, but I know that as a special treat we were given one to take to school so the school milk tasted nicer.

Now, school milk (this link is specifically about Queensland, but it seems it was a Commonwealth scheme, so was the same in all states) - thereby hangs another tale.  Somebody had decided that children needed extra nutrition, so every day we got to drink 1/3 pint of full cream milk.  Trouble was, the milk sat outside, often in the sun, from when it was delivered to when we were issued with it at morning recess.  Strangely, although it was usually warm rather than cold no-one ever seemed to get sick from it, and we all drank it.  The use of the wonderful flavoured straw (which from memory had a felt-like "wick" inside the straw, through which the milk passed and became flavoured) certainly enhanced the experience.  Milk monitors used to collect the milk for each class and then distribute it to the students.  Once a month (or was it weekly) we also received an iodine tablet - this was because it had been determined that in our area there was a lack of natural iodine, which is needed for brain development.  Once the use of iodised salt became prevalent we no longer received the tablets.  Apparently it is becoming a problem again, because a) people are using less salt and b) the salt they ARE using is often non-iodised, rock salt or salt flakes etc.

Sugar on lettuce

Brother John rang Mum the other day - question, did we put sugar on lettuce when we were kids?  In short, the answer is YES!  And boy, did it make lettuce taste yummy.  As well as putting sugar on lettuce on a salad plate we also used to sprinkle the sugar on the lettuce leaf and roll it up and eat it in our fingers.  This writer obviously has similar memories - but I'd question her assumption that sugar on lettuce was her mother's invention. 

The other thing we did was to make sugar rolls - fresh white bread with butter, sprinkled with sugar and rolled up.  Yummy!  This writer is one of many I discovered on the net who has similar memories, although most seem to be of a traditional sandwich with two slices of bread - we used one slice and rolled it up.  But it had to be fresh white bread.

This one also reminded me of mayonaise sandwiches which I also used to love.  Mum made her own mayonaise, as I did for many years too, but it wasn't an egg mayonaise.  Rather, it was made with a tin of Nestle Condensed  Milk, some powdered mustard and an indeterminate amount of brown malt vinegar.  Mum always used to make it in a tupperware container and the trick was to pour in the milk, then add the mustard powder and fill the container with vinegar.  This gave the right proportions.  She then used a long handled teaspoon to slowly mix the milk and vinegar.  Absolutely yummy mayonaise!  And delicious when spread on a slice of white bread and butter!

Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb I suppose - the third thing we did with sugar was to put sugar and lemon juice on pancakes - a favourite Sunday night easy tea, often eaten in front of the open fire in the loungeroom.

And while I'm at it, another favourite Sunday night tea in the loungeroom was scones and jam and cream, or crumpets and honey toasted on the open fire.

More Sing-a-Longs

While we've been away, I have had songs running through my head when I've thought about singing while doing the dishes.  As well as the ones mentioned in my previous post I still remember the words to:
Mona Lisa, (Here's a video of Nat King Cole singing Mona Lisa) -
Some Enchanted Evening and Happy Talk as well as a host of others from South Pacific, and The Girl That I Marry.  Oh, there were so many more, I could go on forever.
We always had music in our home, although no-one played any instruments.  The record player and the radio were on more than the television ever was.  Dad belonged to the World Record Club and bought lots of records, especially Gilbert and Sullivan, Rogers and Hammerstein and other musicals, as well as bands and other instrumental recordings.  Consequently I have a very wide ranging taste in music.