childhood food memories

A meme with a slight difference today... instead of something with questions, it's going to be a little bit more freeform.

I remember seeing this somewhere, I just can't remember where now... but essentially it's your "top five" childhood food memories.

So here goes, in no particular order...

1. Pineapple Rice Surprise
   I've already blogged about why this is totally has to be at the top of my list of childhood food memories... from people requesting it instead of birthday cakes, to me and my two cousins taking off the cherries and "saving" them under our glass, it's something we still talk about to this day (La Cousina and I discussed it at Christmas)!
   
   
2. Lemon Meringue Pie
   This one isn't so much about the pie itself, but I do have an incredibly vivid memory of Ma making the lemon part in our (I'm guessing reasonably new) Kenwood blender/mixer. And my Nanna asked her how you got the bottom section off for cleaning. Without thinking about it, Ma held up the blender jug FULL of lemon filling and said "you just turn this here". Yep, we had lemon filling from one side of the kitchen to the other.
   
   
3. Oliebollen
   When I was growing up we were really good friends with the (thinking about it now, fairly odd) couple across the street. He was Dutch, she was Indonesian (it was a whole WWII War Bride thing I think), so we kind of got the best of both worlds, she made both kickass Fried Rice and these amazing little fried balls of dough with sultanas and stuff in them. The downside was that they were a New Years Eve treat, so you only ever got them once a year... but fresh from the pan and still warm... yum!
   
   
4. Pressed Ox Tongue
   Sadly, not all childhood food memories can be good ones. For a period of time when I was about 14 or 15, it seemed like Ma and Nanna were making pressed ox tongue every other week... or maybe it just feels like that because it was such a horrible experience. Basically they'd boil this horrible ugly grey monsterous thing until it was even more grey and monsterous and the smell had infused every inch of the house, then it would be put in a glass bowl (you know, so the full spectacle of the grossness wouldn't be lost) with a heavy weight on it, and just lurk there on the counter being all gross and pressed up against the glass. *Shudder*
   
   
5. Orange and Mango Juice
   For whatever reason I still remember the very first time I experienced orange and mango juice. I was probably, I dunno, 7 or 8, and Ma and I were out with my Not Really Auntie But Kinda and her kids, interestingly enough at a playground that I now pass every single day on my walk (but which seemed about 100 times bigger and more interesting before they "updated" it). And NRABK poured me a cup off juice. Now I'd had orange juice before, and I'd probably had like apricot nectar and stuff, but for whatever reason, orange and mango hit my brain as a taste sensation.

And just missing out on the top five is the memory of picking apricots and peaches straight off the trees in the backyard and gorging myself silly all Summer long.

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