Growing up with five brothers, Maria Pali took on the role of keeping the baking tins full and the kitchen soon became her happy place.
Hence she had plenty of reasons to smile at the Arvida Oakwood’s Christmas Market after whipping up about 20 different baking treats alongside chutneys, butters, sauces and jams, all sold under her label ‘Auntys’.
The name, she explains, comes from a niece who is a “replica” of herself and has always called her simply, Aunty. While her baking – and cooking – has gained a reputation among friends and family, especially her brothers decades after they left home.
“Every time my brothers come to see me, they always go and open my fridge to see what I’ve got.
“It’s therapeutic,” she says of her baking and cooking. “If I get stressed, all this food will come out of the kitchen with nowhere to go.”
Though her baking was on the tables at the market, what she really loves to make is curries. Her passion for Indian curries comes from her grandparents who lived in India and passed their skills onto her. Now when she is cooking, she says it’s hard to beat a hot vindaloo.
Her food creations were among an eclectic mix of crafts, plants and food on offer at the annual Christmas market in the retirement village.
