I know food isn't love.
But let me say this: some nights, when your teenage rower is so tired after training, when he still has hours of Latin to study for his Half-Yearly exam, when you tell him to go to bed for 30 minutes and you promise to wake him up to do homework, sometimes then, food becomes love.
Tonight, love was Lemon Bread in the guise of a deliciously old-fashioned recipe from the 1960s.
As I whipped the butter with the sugar, squeezed two lemons, folded in a cup of flour, I remembered this son at four, not seventeen.
He used to love my Lemon Bread fresh from the oven after preschool.
Now he's in Year Twelve.
Soon he'll be gone, grown into a man.
Every mother knows the old cliche: the days are long but the years are short. It's been around forever and it's true.
Classic 1960's Lemon Bread
You can mix one gorgeously light, fluffy lemon loaf in a few quick minutes, and when it's done baking, you can serve up love to tired hearts.
You'll need two lemons (or lemon juice!) and butter and eggs, flour and sugar, baking powder and milk. You likely have all this right now.
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees fan forced. (350 F in North America).
Cream 1/2 cup butter with 1 cup white sugar
Add 2 eggs
Gently mix in 1 1/4 cup plain flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 cup milk and 1/4 cup lemon juice.
Put batter in a loaf tin, greased or lined with baking paper.
Bake for 45 mins (fan forced) to 1 hour. Check with a skewer...your oven may bake faster or slower.
Spread your love.
Enjoy your weekend!
Catherine x
P.S.
Hi to everyone new! If a girlfriend sent you this email, you can get your own weekly email here! One fun happiness note every Saturday night or Sunday morning. (I'd fit you ALL at my kitchen table for Lemon Bread if I could.)