Licking the Bowl

When I was a little girl I thought the best thing about my mother baking was being allowed to lick the bowl.

'Licking the bowl' did not literally mean applying my tongue to the bowl, although I'm sure I would have given the opportunity. It meant eating up whatever was left over once the cake or biscuits went in the oven, whether on bowl, spoon or beaters.

When the electric mixer was on, my brother and I were sure to hang around waiting for Mum to say, "who'd like one of the beaters". The reply was always "Me!!!". Then would follow the argument about which one of us got the most batter on their beater.

While the world has changed in many ways since I was a little kid, wanting to 'lick the bowl' is one of the things that appears to have stayed the same.