About This Blog

I have many passions in my life including family, genealogy and cooking. 

This is my first attempt to combine these interests in a blog and to recall family memories and events around cooking, especially from my numerous cookbooks. These books and favourite recipes will help me remember the special people in my life who fed and sustained our family and friends in many ways. The blog will also record my favourite recipes with easy access.

Ingredients, methods of cooking, utensils, food fashions and presentations, have all changed over the decades, i.e. within my cooking life from a child in the 1950s to the present.

I am renown for adapting recipes and I look forward to reading your comments on how you cook and your comments on any of the topics discussed.

You can add any comments under individual posts or if you prefer you can contact me through the contact form which is private.

If you have any difficulty in reading the scanned recipes, click on the individual image and this will allow you to increase the size.

The memories recorded in this blog are mainly for my grandchildren but I hope you all enjoy my Cookbooks and Memories Blog, as I know I will have fun in creating it.

Barbara Broad


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Popular posts from this blog

A French Connection

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A French family connection was discovered through my genealogy research with my great grandfather, Francis (aka Joseph) Ascoli (1821-1895). Three siblings' birth certificates (Alf (my grandfather), Sarah and Marcus), all show their father's birthplace as France (specifically Marseille, on the birth certificates for Alf and Marcus). Ascoli birth certificates, siblings: Ernest Albert (aka Alf) 1872, Sarah Hannah 1875, Marcus George Daniel 1877. Mother Christina Long (note transcription error, Christina Dong, on Alf's birth certificate). Marseille is the oldest city in France and an ancient trading port. It is famous for Bouillabaisse, a traditional fish soup, made with a variety of local fish and shellfish, cooked with herbs and spices, and served with a garlicky sauce and crusty bread. A simple Bouillabaisse recipe from Rhodes, Lorna. 1989. The Book of Soup s. p 107. Joseph Ascoli's French ancestry was further confirmed through shipping records that stated he was French
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Albert, barbecue man and cane cutters cook, 1930s and beyond

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Albert Ascoli’s first job in 1928, aged sixteen, was as a cook for the cane cutters in the Clarence River district, around Maclean, Palmers Channel and Yamba, NSW. Cane cutters gang at Palmers Channel, abt 1928. From left: unknown, unknown, Bill Baker, Len Sutherland, Albert Ascoli, Jack Schipp, unknown. In front sitting: Fred Gard. Albert (1912-2001), my Dad, left school at about 14 years of age and worked on family farms before he had his first paying job as a cane cutters cook.  Grandad Alf Ascoli (1872-1956) carting sugar cane on the Palmers Channel family farm, about 1918. Grandad Alf Ascoli ploughing the land on the Palmers Channel family farm, about 1920. Uncle Vince (Vincent Ascoli 1918-1997) on the back of the plough. Albert worked as a cane cutters cook for about six years (1928-1936) before he married Bridget Gooley. After his marriage he was a farmer in the Clarence River and Richmond River districts. Wedding Day, Albert Ascoli and Bridget Gooley, 1936 What did Albert l
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The Coraki cake and sweet shop, 1954

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Our family lived in the small town of Coraki (opposite the Catholic church, school, and convent) before we moved to live in Inverell in 1954. Link to  Coraki,    https://coraki.town/history  link below for the history of Coraki, NSW. Dad (Albert Ascoli, 1912-2001) worked my maternal grandparent’s dairy farm which was situated just out of town on the Casino Road. Albert had built a new dairy and was improving the farm. See:   Family Charts    Patrick Gooley and Lenora Lulham family chart (my maternal grandparents) . Mum (Babe Gooley, 1906-1993) decided she could help the family finances by starting a shop from our home. Albert built a shop counter (through to one of the front rooms) so customers could order and collect their goods from the veranda. Babe catered for the school students, their parents and teachers, and any passing customers. It was the school tuckshop and the local cake and sweet shop. Babe recalled later that she also provided a lot of free scones and cakes to the nu
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