Yuppiechef Challenge

Yuppiechef have challenged us to recall our earliest cooking memory. I did a similar post here but, I have a lovely memory to share.

My relationship with food goes back for as long as I can remember, and most of my memories of food have to do with my Grandmother. My Grandmother was an awesome woman – I hope I am only half the woman she was. She left my Grandfather in Rhodesia with three young boys and came to South Africa, the country of her birth. She re-married and after a few years with husband number 2, started life as a single mother to 4 boys. My father is an amazing man and this is testament to the way he was raised.

My Grandmother baked the best crunchies. She had a pantry in her house and in the pantry were always treats. Not only crunchies, but pickled onions. From a young age I loved these pickled onions. But, what I loved most was the Jewish High Holy Days and cooking and baking with my Grandmother.

The one dish that was always made for these celebrations was my Aunty Tilly’s ice cream. It is a family recipe, and it was given to me to make sure the family celebrations always had this ice cream to end the meal with. My Uncle Robert ‘orders’ his to be alcohol free and so I used to split the ingredients in half to make sure he could enjoy this dessert.

In 2001 I moved to Gordons Bay and took the recipe with me. I knew that the recipe had to remain part of the family tradition and this was the inspiration behind Lavender & Lime, my first recipe book. Read here to see what has been said about this family tradition, my earliest cooking memory.

Tandy

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