There’s a whole lot of stuff that gran’s generation knew how to do that we have forgotten. For some of them I don’t have much use – how to turn animal fat into soap, for instance. Or crocheting covers for clothes hangers. But when it comes to food, boy did they get it right. Gran knew that beef ‘drippings’ kept [...]
It’s not everyday that one gets to experiment with a recipe that’s over 200 years old. Last Saturday was such an occasion. Early morning saw me nursing my first cup of coffee on the front stoep. My neighbourhood’s resident guinea fowl came calling; territorial squirrels chased each other along the telephone line running from the street to my house; and [...]
Braai Day was a damp squib at M&M. Grey clouds and chilly winds don’t exactly make me want to reach for the charcoal. A fire was made to be sure – in my teeny Victorian fireplace in the lounge. By the second glass of red, I was no longer minding so much about missing out. Summer is around the corner [...]
Baked sago pudding with apricot jam and a feather light meringue topping… Hmmm. This is the stuff of my childhood – when Sunday lunch on gran’s farm was by far the biggest treat of the week. Out would come the snow-white crocheted tablecloth, big enough for a table that would seat grandma, grandpa, 9 kids and their offspring. She must [...]
I’m a bit stunned that a quarter of the year is gone and Easter is mere days away. My response to this freakishly quick passage of time is the same as my response to the scale on the infrequent occasions I bother to get on it – how the heck did it happen? But Easter it is and something Easter-themed [...]
Church fêtes were a big deal back when I was a kid. Pretty much the biggest deal other than the annual Boswell Wilkie circus visit to town. You must understand that the era I’m referring to predates DStv, computer games, malls of any kind except in the ‘big city’ and whatever the heck else kids these days do for fun. [...]