Friday, July 16, 2010

365 Days, Day 39


There are only three things women need in life: food, water, and compliments. (Chris Rock)


My weaknesses have always been food and men - in that order. (Dolly Parton)


Ariel created a delicious little prawn salad for our supper tonight. She is quite the little chef: very good at making sushi and a mean prawn salad, amongst other things.

Memories of events are often fuelled by the food that was eaten. In our family our home made lasagne has become part of the Christmas lunch tradition. It is our interpretation of Nona’s Italian version. We have a really good team: Kyle, Ariel and I. We make the pasta dough and thread it painstakingly through the pasta machine until it is paper thin. The sugo is made and simmers away fro a few hours. The there is the pre-made meat loaf, which Tom often cooks the night before we embark on the lasagne marathon. It takes the whole day to make our dishes of lasagne, but it is worth the effort: partly because of the team work and the process of working together. Last Christmas was the first one in years where our team didn’t make it together; however Kyle took on new helpers to carry on the lasagne-at-Christmas-lunch tradition. It was hard being away at Christmas. It sometimes seems I am living in a surreal existence, away from my history.


Kyle was my chef for a few years. I said one day that I wished I had a chef to cook for me. He said, “I’ll be your chef if you pay me.” So I taught him to cook and he was our fantastic chef. His signature dish is a chicken breast wrapped in bacon with a surprise inside. What a wonderful boy... I miss him and Roarke so very much.

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Weekends having a bit-of-a-braai outside under the trees is another tradition I sorely miss. We’ve had a couple of braais here, but it’s not the same without the company.


Murder dinners with Nicki and Steve, Karen, Mandy and Wayne, Ros and Grant and Graham spring to mind. Many hours of preparation of menu to correlate with the theme of the murder evening. Food, laughter, exotic costumes in the company of special friends is engrained in my memory box. I think when I visit again another murder dinner is will have to be organised.


For dessert: I remember the taste, smell and delightful feeling of licking the bowl of my mom’s Christmas cake mixture! And her mince pies are the best in the whole world! And the Cordon Bleu cooking lessons we did together, and her LMP! And her sponge cake with lemon icing… Ahh, so that’s where Ariel gets her culinary skills from.


Here's to all the fantastic meals I've shared with friends and family!

3 comments:

  1. Bless you, such special memories, and how about the pizza oven!!

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  2. I have thought of loads of other food memories since I wrote this! Like the get-togethers under your tree and on the patio outside your office- where there was much singing (esp Tom and Karen with their "a-men" song accompanied by loud clapping) haha
    Like the only time I have been to Mandy's house for her mad-hatter-like Birthday tea in her garden.
    All of the wonderful meals at Karen's!!
    Oh don't get me started - I could write a whole book on this theme!
    Love ya
    x

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  3. and the memorable occasion at die Strandlooper

    ReplyDelete