It’s winter and the kids are on holiday and that means just one thing there will be many hungry mouths to feed, all day and every day.
I enjoy making and eating bredies.
A delicious stew is a winner in my house any day, en jy kan jou klaar maak, that pot will be empty before the night is over.
I am taken back to winter days in my Ouma’s kitchen when she was still alive and cooking up a storm.
The kitchen was in the front of her house and when you walked up to the door, delicious aromas would be greeting you as they wafted through the kitchen window.
She would be wearing an overall or apron, a wet cloth in her hands, a dry cloth over her shoulder, and another one washed and hanging over the oven’s handle to dry.
Her lekker food and a warm hug was all you needed on cold days, especially when you were soaked from the rainstorm that vanged you on your way home from school.
I think she made the best snyboontjies in the world.
She would sit the entire day cutting up green beans with her bakkie in front of her.
She would chop the sides of the boontjie off, and then slice them with surgical precision with a razor blade.
It was mesmerising to watch her and she eventually taught me how to do it too.
I am not the most patient person, and it took forever to master the quick efficient method of cutting boontjies.
My ouma didn’t write down her recipes, so there was no smart cookbook to inherit, but we spent enough time on her apron strings in the kitchen to pick up plenty.