A Meal That Feels Like Comfort
and the start of a brand new community project which involves you!
Sometimes, on Sunday evenings, Mum and Dad would suggest we have an ‘easy’ dinner.
My brother and I loved these nights, because it often meant baked bean and cheese toasties cooked in an old cast iron jaffle iron that we’d use ourselves, straight over the open fire. We didn’t call them ‘toasties’ back then, they were ‘jaffles’.
They were round in shape, and the bread we used was usually the small, square, extremely seedy Vogel’s slices—because Mum’s homemade bread was way too big to fit inside the rounded iron mould.
Round jaffles felt pretty special. And the bonus? Those crispy edges of bread that poked out beyond the iron. Carcinogenic, perhaps—but still, that cheesy, burnt crunch was delicious.
Baked beans, garlic salt, and thickly sliced cheese from the off-cut block Mum bought direct from the cheese factory on her weekly shopping trip into town.
We’d sit side-by-side on the hearth, holding our jaffle irons over the crackling orange fire embers. It was hard work. The heat would build, and we’d need rest breaks between batches for fear our arms might burn.
The ho-ho-ho-ho noises of every mouthful as we bit into those boiling-hot jaffles by the fire - I rarely escaped those Sunday nights without a burnt tongue. Honestly, they were the hottest toasties I’ve ever eaten. There’s nothing like food cooked between cast iron over bare flames;)
It was always winter when we had Sunday jaffles. And often, Bob, Neil, or Cat would be playing on the record player in the background. The occasional scratch would leave a few lines of the song stuck on repeat, but a quick stomp on the lounge room floorboards would jolt it forward and fix the issue. Then we’d be back to singing along between our ho ho ho ho-ing.
But the comfort wasn’t only in those jaffles.
It was in the cosy warmth of the brick hearth where we’d sit to cook our dinner.
It was in the music and lyrics of songs we’d heard all our lives.
It was in the quiet chatter of Mum and Dad.
In the sibling tauntings between my brother and me.
In later years, it was in the sweet babbling of our tiny brother and sister.
It was in the hot Milo that would often follow our meal.
In the loopy green carpet that once lived in Grandma’s Allawah unit.
In the four walls of our tiny lounge room.
And in the Disney Sunday movie we’d soon sit down together to watch.
I remember that feeling of comfort. The first noticings of a cosy life.
Warmth. Chatter. Music. Family. Food. Home. Winter.
Mum was a good cook. We grew up with wholesome meals—plenty of homegrown veggies, not a lot of meat, but lots of flavour and deliciousness. But I think my most favourite meal of all were those baked bean and cheese jaffles, cooked in our living room fire, all cosy and warm, on a simple Sunday evening in Winter.
This was the theme for our June Lovely Letters monthly exchange.
This is also going to be the very first question I will ask in my new project which has a name! Tell Me Over Tea. Do you like it? I hope so. I can’t wait to share some lovely story snippets with you here every second week, and also over on Instagram every second Tuesday.
Beg.
Grovel.
We all carry stories. Some are quiet. Some are joyful. Some live in old songs, hand-written letters, or the smell of something yummy bubbling on the stove.
I’m creating a new community storytelling project, and I’d love for you to be part of it.
Each fortnight (on Mondays here, and Tuesdays over on Instagram), I’ll ask one simple question—something gentle and memory/thought-stirring, like:
What meal takes you straight back to childhood?
What have you learnt from life so far?
What’s something your younger self would be proud of now?
You’re invited to answer in whatever way feels good —
write a few lines
record a voice note
send a short video
or even share a photo with some words
I’ll be sharing a selection of responses in my Substack newsletter and on social media—to celebrate the beauty of ordinary lives, to spark joy and nostalgia, and to remind us: we all have a story worth telling.
Want to join in?
Just reply to my fortnightly prompt (posted every second Monday newsletter and every Tuesday on Instagram) via email or DM on Instagram. (@bettymaewrote ) Make sure you only share a story that you are happy to have shared:)
Let’s collect and connect over these little life stories of ours.
Okey doke, here’s our first question:
Which meal, from your childhood or younger years, brings you a sense of comfort? Share a story to go with it.
I can not wait to start hearing your stories.
Have a lovely week!
PS If you’d like make a start with writing your own personal life stories and don’t feel sure where to begin, please know you are very welcome to grab my free Beginner’s Guide to Turn One Memory into a Written Treasure:
If you do happen to be new here, hi there! I'm Kim, and I love to share stories of home and childhood, and the moments that connect me with the people and places I love so much. I have a passion for encouraging you to write your own life stories down too and I have a new offering to help women do just that: Little Life Stories. I also have a free Beginner’s Guide to Turn One Memory into a Written Treasure: grab the guide here.
I also love the good old-fashioned art of letter writing, in particular, and of course, all things stationery. I have a gorgeous letter writing group for women, called: The Lovely Letters Project.
I write about the connection between my precious Nan and I, in a letter bundle here: Dear Nan.
I share all of these things over on Instagram, Pinterest and my website.
It’s really lovely to meet you!
Already part of the club? Welcome back! Love you long time! Hit that reply button to let me know you’re here. ◡̈ xox
