How quickly can Easter get here this year?
Thanks to the stocking habits of local supermarkets, Col 8 is well ahead with Easter discussions, but while we are there, let us continue. John Bunyan of Campbelltown asks, “Does a ‘not cross bun’ (Col8 Wednesday) just lack a cross? If so, what makes them different from any ordinary bun? Kilvert’s Diary reminds us that, in pre-jingle days, they were simply called ‘cross buns’, eaten on Good Friday. Now, I call them (year-round) Christian buns, perhaps with ancient pagan precedents.”
Doug Richards of Tamarama brings more to the table, writing: “The original hot cross buns were known as soul cakes, and were distributed at Christmas, Easter and All Saints Eve (Halloween), until Queen Elizabeth (the original one) decreed that they should only be baked and sold at Christmas and Easter, as their distribution at All Saints Eve was definitely Papist and had to be banned, as England was by then not a Catholic Country.”
On a lighter note, Brian Kidd of Mount Waverley in Victoria, wonders, “In these dour times, why hot cross buns? Time for some warm, happy buns instead.” Granny feels there is much in what you say, Brian.
Ruth Saunders of Dulwich Hill says we should “forget about Easter buns being on sale on 24 December. A large Chinese online retailer is now showing me ads for their ‘Halloween Giveaway’. Very early or extremely late?”
Meanwhile, Pastor de Lasala of Seaforth witnessed a bread technique in a French restaurant in Sydney worth raising a toast to. “There was a delightful table of young Japanese ladies showing their best manners. They would pick up the cut up baguette with their fork, butter it, and then eat the bread from the fork without touching it.”
Regarding feeding caviar to toddlers (Col 8 Friday), Judith Campbell replies, “Our family was sharing a meal with some visiting Russian scientists who brought the caviar as a gift. We encouraged our children to eat what we were eating. There were fewer fussy eaters in those days.”
Mention of the San hospital in Wahroonga last week brought back memories for Nicolas Harrison of Evans Head. “After my wife gave birth to our third child at the San in 1981, my daily visits included smuggling in real tea and sausage rolls.”
William Galton of Hurstville Grove notes that “rat coffins” (Col 8 Wednesday) is also “the name given to the sausage rolls sold in service stations. They can be found in heated glass cabinets, with no indication of how long they’ve been there.”
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