They look nice, don’t they? Except in making these I remembered why I don’t like packet mixes and would rather cook food from scratch. The icing sachet, when it came to making that part, was white, which I thought odd, as it was pink on the packet. So I mixed in the teaspoon of water and butter and before my eyes the colour changed! A chemical metamorphosis was taking place! Lord knows what was happening on a molecular level; and I don’t think I want to know.

While we’re on a food subject: the other week I made a lamb stir fry. Gee it was nice. From SCRATCH, all the garlic, vegetables, ginger etc. Then, about half an hour after tea, I got that…yucky…feeling I get from MSG. Headaches. A second bout of hunger. So I got out my condiments. And yes, there it was on the oyster sauce bottle: flavour enhancer (621). My old nemesis.

So this week, I bought fish sauce to replace it. At least that’s just fish and water and salt. Salt enough to preserve an elephant, yes, but I’d take that any day.

karen andrews

Karen Andrews is the creator of this website, one of the most established and well-respected parenting blogs in the country. She is also an author, award-winning writer, poet, editor and publisher at Miscellaneous Press. Her latest book is Trust the Process: 101 Tips on Writing and Creativity