I made tomato bredie* for supper the other night, this was something that my Ouma** and then my mom made for us and this was my first attempt.
My Ouma** and my mom are both very good cooks so the bar has been set very high, but thankfully I pulled it off quite well, if I may say so myself. I think if my Ouma** was here I would have made her very proud!
Every time I opened the lid of the pot and looked at the food inside, it made me ache from missing my Ouma** so much but it also took me down memory lane. I got to think and re-live all of the wonderful memories that we had made together.
When I was very young my Ouma** would look after me during the day, while my mom worked. Every morning she would make me jungle oats for breakfast, we would sit at the table and she would “make a river” in my jungle oats by pouring a dam in the middle and then milk along the sides to make the river. This is something that I still do to this day!
I would sit for hours and watch my Ouma** sew, she used to make these most amazing rag dolls. I loved watching this fabric being transformed to a beautiful doll. She was so particular when she was finishing them off, everything had to be perfect.
When I think back, she was such an amazing woman that had so many talents. Not only could she sew the most beautiful things, she was an amazing cook everything and anything that came out of her kitchen was delicious and was always loved by everyone, she was also a very good gardener I will always have a picture in my mind of her digging in the garden!
The last couple of years of her life she lived in a retirement village and she would make a pot of stew and share it out among the old people, she would bake for them and she would go and tend their garden!
She used to visit us and stay over, we would stay up for till late playing cards. Every time I won a game she would say “okay, one more game and the next one the winner takes it all!” I would win again and she would once again say “one more game and the winner takes it all” I loved that time that we spend together.
We would sit and talk for hours on end, Ouma** would always say to me “You might think that I am speaking junk at the moment but one day you will look back and say, My Ouma** was right” There have been so many days that I have thought “my Ouma was right” and “If only”
If only I had spent more time with her learning how to sew, if only I had spent more time with her learning every meal that she made or every cake that she baked.
She really was a remarkable woman that will never be forgotten but is missed oh so much.
Till next time,
L
* Tomato Bredie is an afrikaans word for Tomato Stew
** Ouma is an afrikaans word for Granny
