By Carol Rumens
Recipes for Marriage
In the days when we made our own yoghurt,
Perpetual motion seemed within our power.
The recipe was simple, but it worked.
We stirred a few live drops, the ‘natural’ sort,
With scalded milk cooled in a glazed white jar,
In the days when we made our own yoghurt,
And set the oven low, a tick past nought.
Slowly it thickened, grew just nicely sour;
The recipe was simple, but it worked.
A fresh yeast odour always filled our flat.
One magic spoonful spawned a litre more,
In the days when we made our own yoghurt.
Yaorti me Meli was our just desert
At breakfast: homey made the desert flower!
The recipe was simple, and it worked.
Somehow, the bacillus died, the milk ran out,
There was less time… We use the local store
These days, and buy our Greek, or fat-free yoghurt.
Friends still say we’re the recipe that worked.