Back when the dinosaurs walked the earth, all of the districts for our school had a Mother’s Club, where once a month the mothers from that area would meet at someone’s house to discuss school news and fund raising events for the school. The biggest fundraising event of the year was the School Bazaar. The Bazaar was held in the school hall, and all of the Mother’s Clubs had a stall, where they would sell home made baked goods, home made confectionery, home grown plants, home made clothes and home made toys. There was always a raffle for the most beautiful patchwork quilts, which sadly, I never won. I usually came home from the Bazaar with nothing to show for my money except memories of the toffees I had bought and already eaten.

The Mother’s Club’s meetings always finished with supper. When Mother’s Club was at our house, all of the dining table chairs used to be moved into the lounge room so there was enough seats for everyone. Mum used to make gorgeous suppers, with slices and cakes and on one very special occasion, chocolate dipped strawberries, none of which we were allowed to eat. This seemed very hard.

I still love homemade anything. Home made marshmallow is particularly good. This is a very sticky recipe (I was licking marshmallow off the beaters, the bowl and the bench after trying to wrestle it into the cones). I have also made Marshmallow Sandwiches which are much more civilised – use a slice tray and line it with with wafers, but for visual appeal, you can’t go past a Marshmallow Cone. Mum used to make these for the Mother’s Club stall at the Bazaar.

1 Cup sugar
1 Cup water
1 Tablespoon gelatine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lemon juice
12 flat bottomed ice cream cones
Sprinkles or 100s and 1000s (I like Sprinkles better, the feel of 100s and 1000s crunching in my teeth makes my hair stand up on end),

Place the sugar, water and gelatine in a saucepan and stir until the sugar dissolves. Brush the sides down with a wet pastry brush if necessary. Once dissolved boil the mixture for ten minutes without stirring. Take off the heat and allow to cool.

Once cool, add the vanilla and lemon juice and beat until thick. With the electric beaters this takes about five minutes. Take another ten minutes to lick the beaters.

Now for the dangerous part. Use a teaspoon to get the marshmallow into the ice cream cones. Once full, swirl the top a bit to make them look good, then sprinkle the sprinkles on top. Refrigerate until ready to eat. Don’t leave them too long or the ice cream cones go soft.