Serves: one typical adult

Ingredients:
1 familiar childhood object;
5 favourite family photos;
250g of memories;
a pinch of nostalgia;
a handful of often-repeated phrases;
1 packet of love letters or a Valentine’s card;
some imagination;
3tsp related tales.

[More:]

Method:
Start with a clean white bowl.
Choose an old, familiar object
– a favourite teddy bear, ears worn,
or your dusty striped school tie
which has lain forgotten
for years in the attic.
Add the much-loved family photos.
Stir the mixture. Using a metal sieve,
slowly sift in several half-formed memories
– fragments of colour, boiled cabbage
smells, the sound of seagulls squawking,
the feel of sand beneath your feet,
the taste of Mother’s home-baked bread,
that first kiss with Rory Martin.
(Be careful not to add these ingredients too fast
and do keep stirring, as they may separate
or clump together into lumps of confusion
instead of forming the desired smooth, even mixture.)
A little pinch of nostalgia
will give flavour to the blandest base,
some well-chosen phrases lend weight
– like Up the wooden hill to bed,
or Snug as a bug in a rug –
and a packet of love letters
or carefully kept Valentine’s
card from a teenage boyfriend
will hopefully give the blend some added sweetness.
Now pop it in the oven. Cook for three hours
on a medium heat. Brush with imagination
and lightly sprinkle the surface
with related incidents to taste
(those tales parents tell
of when Johnny first met Kate
and Claire chased the neighbours’ kitten).
Then serve it straight up
on a large warm plate and enjoy.
But please don’t feel too disappointed
if your concoction is not quite the pièce de résistance
your adult mind was looking for,
as childhood is a subtle dish
– always best savoured while fresh.

18 November, 2007

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