My pre-dinner drink this evening is taking me back to my childhood. A glass of cold, Cottee’s Coola Lime. And my younger kids – who have never sampled this lime wonder in a glass – are enjoying this sweet blast from my past. It has been a long time since my last glass of this iconic Australian cordial, and it comes in a month that has had me feeling nostalgic. 

This month marks the fifth anniversary of my Mum’s passing and lots of little things have been sparking memories of my childhood years in North Lambton, Newcastle. This included a recent visit to the supermarket where I saw the Cottee’s cordial on special. Now I’m sipping the 2025 zero-sugar vintage, which I’m sure wasn’t around in the 1970s. And while I try hard to avoid sugary sweets, sitting on the table to support my post-surgery recovery and nostalgia fix later tonight is a packet of Pascall Jubes – my mum’s favourite sweet treat. 

Sipping this memory-lane cordial takes me back to the small, humble kitchen in my childhood home. My mum wasn’t a bad cook – but neither was she adventurous. She had her go to regulars – mostly centred on meat and three veg. As I sit on the kitchen bench alongside my mum, my lime drink is accompanied by a bowl of the legendary Toobs. 

I can see my mum doing some meal prep. She’s taking a card from the Women’s Weekly recipe box – a cuisine lottery found on the bench of many Australian seventies’ kitchens. Tonight, my mum is cooking her “go-to” dish – braised steak with mash and vegetables. I’ve tried over the years to re-create the dish, but I have never matched my mum’s gravy. Undoubtedly the meat will be over-braised, as all meat was over-cooked when I was a kid in my family home. As an adult, I still found myself trying to explain to my Dad how minute steak got its name!

Talking green, Arli made himself a bowl of green jelly last week. That’s another “grandma dish” – and it could be washed down with a glass of Coola lime. Looking back, I probably had more of these “two greens” than green vegetables as a kid. I often smile to myself when now I sit back and enjoy a bowl of home-baked kale chips. I don’t think my parents ever tasted kale! 

So, in my mind, as I take a quick nostalgic tour of the family kitchen – what else do I see?

• Next to the floral kettle and my Dad’s gourmet International Roast is the well-used Breville toastie. What was your favourite filling? Baked beans was my top choice. 
• The pantry has all the important 70s staples like Corn Flakes, Rice Bubbles, Wheat Bix, Vegemite and Arnott’s biscuits. My favourite – chocolate creams! They, along with a vegemite sandwich and a green apple got me through 13 years of high school.
• There’s also Jatz – which would go with the Kraft cheese in a box [that didn’t need refrigeration.] It would become “posh” with a green pickled onion on top!
• When my mum went fancy – it was getting out the “special” glass bowls for prawn cocktails or a platter of creamy chicken filled vol au vents. And up in the top shelf – out of my reach – the Red Tulip after-dinner mints.
• Next to the Cottee’s cordial in the pantry was my Dad’s lemon squash mix and who can forget Tang!
• And then there’s more snacks – including the “healthy” space food sticks, Smith’s chips, Nobby’s peanuts and for my grandparents’ visit, a bag of Fantales.
• Opening the freezer there’s Neapolitan ice cream, a box of Streets’ Heart ice-creams, a tub of dairy whip [who knows what was in that], the legendary Sunny Boys, my parents’ weekend go-to, frozen curry prawns and rice, and my Sunday night special – Birds’ Eye fish fingers. 

Ok – pause – enough from memory lane for now. I don’t think I can handle a second glass of Cottee’s Coola. Wow, it’s sweet! And I remember as kid when I would break the mix rules and put in more cordial and less water!

Tonight – as I recuperate from surgery – my wife has a number of great home-cooked, plant-based dishes in the fridge for me to choose from. As I look back to the seventies, plant-based was certainly light in my family’s diet, and as I read the food list above I can hear Megan saying, “it’s no wonder you grew up to have gut issues”. 

Yes – thankfully for my kids’ health, times have changed – but as I think about my dear mum tonight – I raise a glass of lime cordial, deeply appreciative for so many ordinary, simple, but wonderful childhood memories!