On the 19th February I drove up to Paulpietersburg. It was my granny's 80th birthday party that weekend, and I decided to stay for the entire following week. I learnt so much from my granny, and my grandpa was just too funny that week. I should post a video of him pulling faces! You'd fall off your chair it's so funny. For those that don't know, my gran is on the verge of losing her sight completely. My grandpa has difficulty with his hearing, and after 2 hip replacements he struggles to walk and uses two crutches to aid him. However, these two still make the most of life. Every morning my grandpa reads the Bible to my gran, and they pray together. Despite my grandmother's impaired vision, she still works in the kitchen, from baking bread to making jam, and she looks after my grandpa with love and care. She is my hero.
During my week long visit, the first thing my granny taught me to make was fig jam. It's quite a process, but the final result is extremely rewarding! A feeling of pride comes with it. At the end I took a piece of bread and scraped out the jam left over in the pot. DELICIOUS!!!
Then my granny taught me how to make pea soup and dumplings, apple mousse and chocolate coated rice crispie balls. I am so honoured to have learnt how to make these things. I feel like an Italian... you know when the granny passes the family recipes down to the next generation! Except, I'm German and my granny's cooking is much better! I was going to share the recipes on the blog but I think I'll rather keep it a family secret.
Another thing that I'll never forget is sitting on the couch with my grandmother and looking at a globe of the world. With the little sight that she has, she admired the world and asked me what the names of the countries were. It touched my heart. Once, she said, "It's so amazing how the sun stands still and the world spins around it, but we don't fall over".
I love my grandparents, and I am privileged to still have them in my life.
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| Relaxing |
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| My gran checking the jam |
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| Fig jam |
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| Peeling apples to make apple mousse |
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| My granny's hand much bigger than mine |
