With all the sugars and sauces of the world, the fruits of oven and pan turn an average day into one with boundless energy.

As blankets of grey sky become the norm and most public holidays have been enjoyed, arriving at the hump time of the year can be met with a chorus of groans. 

Tax time, bills, work colleagues who tuck business shirts into their jeans and rain drenching fields during Saturday junior sport are some of those irritating trials to be endured.

It’s all enough to bury heads in pillows, blare Back in Black from the alarm clock, and launch said pest of perfect slumber out of a cannon.

But mid-year is always longest just before a sponge.

Sitting down in my work kitchen, the Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea spread was enough to leave awed a burly road works crew, a horde of ravenous year 12 students and an entire branch of Country Women’s Association knitters.

Criss-crossing lines of jam upon iced cakes. Tiny muffins bearing sticks of chocolate beside spiralled, whipped cream.

Scones with raspberry jam, topped off with extreme dollops of white chocolate ganache.

Trays of lamingtons, biscuits, sandwiches and chocolate.

Then there was the passionfruit sponge.

The filling light and soft and comforting.

The layers of sweet, sharp icing.

A tad cranky from sleep deprivation, I was filled with an immediate, satisfying quiet with each frenetic shovel.

Sometimes all that is needed is a sugary pick up.

And an awe-striking morning tea is the most perfect excuse.  

Chris O’Leary