Your Page: Readers’ emails and letters
A MOTHER’S MIGRATION STORY IS A TREASURED MEMORY, SCULPTURES ARE A JOYFUL SURPRISE, AND A TEENAGE DAUGHTER’S SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GIFT – ALL THESE HAPPY STORIES ARE LINKED BY THE VITAL ROLE COUNTRY STYLE HAS TO PLAY IN THEM.
CHERISHED MEMORIES
My mother, Doris Mifsud, featured in the April 2019 edition of Country Style magazine in Heirloom. At the time she was 91 years of age. Her migration journey from Malta to Australia as a young bride in the late 1950s was detailed in her story,
Table of Plenty, as well as the recipe of her prized almond biscuits. The biscuits, known as Biskuttini tal-lewz, were a recipe she brought from her homeland. I remember showing her the double page that had a black and white photo of her with my brother and me. Mum was in aged care at the time and had often said her life was ordinary but happy as a wife and mother of four children.
Her smile the day I showed her the article is a memory I will cherish for the rest of my life. “I’m a celebrity at 90,” she said with a laugh, rolling her eyes, but secretly thrilled. Mum’s recipe and story also featured in the
Country Style Heirloom Cookbook.
Mum passed away on 10 December, 2019. The April edition of the magazine and the Heirloom Cookbook sit on shelves in her children, grandchildren, relatives and friend’s homes. Tracey Platt, who wrote the article, captured the essence of my mum’s humour, sense of adventure and love for her family.
Thank you, Country Style, for the gift of happiness you gave to my mum.
Mary Howley, Wonga Park, Victoria
FEELING INSPIRED
After poring over Country Style over the decades, we finally had our own renovation. For four months, we struggled in the temporary hallway kitchen, lugging water by bucket from the laundry and cooking with a benchtop oven and electric frypan. But boy, was it worth the wait! We now have our own Country Style kitchen, which replaced the swollen chipboard cupboards and asbestos walls. Thank you for the inspiration!
Louise Fulton, Alstonville, NSW
TEA TIME
On checking out the old woolshed at Kimo Estate farmstay in Gundagai, a vivid memory of spring shearing on our Riverina farm flooded my mind. Trying to be useful, but always getting underfoot and annoying both shearers and the sheep, I was told to
“go help your mother in the kitchen”. Today I instinctively returned to our cottage to whip up scones for afternoon tea. Good shearer’s tucker! Luckily, on our road trip around the district we had collected a jar of Batlow Bees ‘n’ Berries raspberry jam, a jar of Tilba Real Dairy cream, both from Tumut, plus the September issue of Country Style (of course!). As the sheep bleated out their contentment we savoured our repast, and enjoyed sharing the many interesting stories in the spring issue of our favourite mag: Country Style.
Lenette Allen (née Muntz), Dubbo, NSW, formerly of Bartagunyah in Boree Creek, NSW