Tabla de contenidos para Issue 6 2022 en Koe'sister

We thank our contributors for their recipes and stories that made this magazine possible. REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Fernel Abrahams, Charise Beukes, Brenda Bontle da Silva, Pamela Court, Lieneke Dennis, Shihaam Domingo, Leanne Feris, Loretta Feris, Zelda Fisher Lategan, Sameerah Frost, Nur Heitz, Zahra Hendricks, Christina Human, Cariema Isaacs, Ingrid Irma Jones, Ivy Kinnear, Bonita Maboeta, Phumlani Malinga, Ruby Marks, Sharmiela Moosa Garnie, Zerina Parker, Mariam Peters, Verushka Ramasani, Surita Riffel, Asanda Saule Ngoasheng, Carmen Siologas, Adele Smith, Phoebe Sobotker, Fahiem Stellenboom, Verna Stuurman, Martie Swanepoel, Reinette Swartz, Fatima Sydow, Lyrice Trussel, Neil-Allan Walsh, Michael Weeder and Wendy Williams GUEST CONTRIBUTORS: Fayruza Abrahams, Stella Andronikou, Bridgette Backman, Astrid Barreiro, Antoinette Beck-Kaltenrieder, Leonie Begbie Cloete, Zakariyah Benjamin, Marianne Burke, Anthea Cameron-Ayuningam, Noelene Christians, Pam Cloete Saal, Lenore Combrink, Faith J Daniels, Ernestine Dean,…

This is my favourite time of the year, when the temperature starts to drop, especially after this year’s sizzling hot summer. (Hands up everyone who had bought a fan this summer.) Yup, winter is coming. Since I work from home, this means that I can finally start wearing sagte broeke (what my brother Conrad used to call loungewear pants when he was little) and fun accessories like scarves and hats. And just think of the food! Because we know there will be pickled fish and hot-cross buns at Easter, as well as boeka eats during Ramadan and all the festive treats of Eid. Cooler weather also means that I can finish the fabulous cardi I’ve been crocheting without having to wipe the sweat from my brow (literally!) every five seconds…

I once made delicious butter chicken for a group of friends and forgot to make rice – by accident. (You can imagine my horror!) Don’t judge. It happens. Even the most experienced of us sometime slip up, and that’s okay. Cooking has always been about experimenting with flavours and different ingredients for me. Most importantly, it’s about cutting yourself some slack when you get it wrong. As a professional cook, though, my aim is not to get it wrong and so I’ve learned over the years how to switch things up. You may not always have the correct ingredients in the kitchen, or you may over-spice or under-season a dish, or even leave out a crucial ingredient altogether. When this happens, it’s easy to think there is no way out.…

My children taught me to love unconditionally. How to be afraid but to still let go. How to listen and when to speak, or not. They taught me how to be brave, even in the scariest, darkest moments. They taught me the importance of forgiveness and kindness, and giving without expecting anything back. To always stand up for what you believe in. They taught me that love can mend the most broken soul. And they definitely taught me to laugh at myself! I cannot put into words how proud I am every single day to be my children’s mother. I gave birth to three of them, and Brandon is my bonus son (in-law) who I have watched growing into an amazing father to my grandkids Desti, Marcus and Nala, and…

APPELTERT Stephanie Pekeur Ek het netnou gou op die lyne geklim Worcester toe en Ma vertel hoe lekker sy lees aan die twee Koe’sisters wat ek vir haar gekoop het en watter resepte sy daaruit gaan maak. Net daar sê ek toe: “Ek gaan ophou lurk op die blad en Mammie se appeltertresep deel.” My ma vertel toe hoe sy destyds ‘n juffrou op Ceres gehelp met balletklasse. Sy het uit die Kaap gekom en het altyd iets gebring om te eet. Op ‘n dag bring sy ‘n appeltert. Mammie eet toe so lekker en vra die resep. Die juffrou skryf dit toe sommer op ‘n koevert neer. Dit was 1971 en my ma het steeds die koevert. Sy het nooit destyds die tert gemaak nie omdat sy by mense…

Making room at the table NWABISA MAYEMA Honestly, I have no business being here, and that pretty much sums up the golden thread that has woven itself through my experiences – being in places I have no business being in and doing things I have no business doing. I was born in Mdantsane to a single mum, a nurse. (Can we take a moment for all of the nurses? Total badasses!) I’m an only child who was so shy that I didn’t start talking for so long that my mother worried I might be deaf. Fast forward to age five when my mother snuck me into what we called a multiracial preschool. She told them that I was fluent in English but all she’d really done was to give me…

A judging panel blind-tasted 113 South African extra-virgin olive oils (EVOO) for the 2021 SA Olive Awards held last year. The highest-scoring oils out of the 30 gold-medal winners became the contenders for the Absa Top 10 Olive Oil Awards, which were announced in October as the best EVOO produced in South Africa. According to SA Olive Chairman, Nick Wilkinson, it’s important to choose quality over quantity and, of course, to buy local. Always look for the SA Olive Oil Commitment to Compliance (CTC) seal on the bottle. It confirms that the oil is 100% locally produced and is authentic extra-virgin olive oil. The CTC seal also guarantees that the labelling is correct and transparent with the year of harvest and best-before date clearly displayed to assure you of the…

If you have young nieces, nephews, sons or daughters in your life, do them a favour and give them the books in the Pumpkin series written by Bianca Flanders. In Pumpkin Finds Her Queen (Prinses Pampoenpit in Afrikaans) the protagonist, a little girl called Pumpkin Pie discovers that it’s precisely her wild, curly hair that she hates so much which makes her unique. The follow-up, Pumpkin Finds Her Kindness (Pampoenpit se groen gevoel in Afrikaans), explores how children can find their kindness when the big green monster of jealousy comes to visit. “Like most women, I struggled with body image and not looking like the people I saw in magazines. It took me a long time to learn to love the skin I’m in,” Bianca explained. “I also hated sport…

6 SEPTEMBER León Arrived safe and sound in León, Spain, now for some good food and rest, tomorrow it’s me and my 8 kg backpack, 320 km and 14 days! Buen Camino! 7 SEPTEMBER Oncina de la Valdoncina (a hamlet in Castile and León) As a thank you for all and everything that kept me sane during this Covid time, and because South Africa is still on the red list for travelling, I started this morning walking the Camino from León to Santiago, 320 km with 8 kg on my back. I have a small stone in my backpack from my garden with (the late journalist) Karima Brown’s name on that I will lay at Faro, the highest point of the Camino and a pilgrims’ tradition, will try and eat…

Canned & Pickled PICKLED CUCUMBERS Lieneke Dennis “I’ve harvested some beautiful Ashley cucumbers from my garden. I didn’t really know what to expect, because it was the first time I’ve grown cucumbers, but they’re delicious. I’ve eaten them fresh, in salads, flavoured my water with it, but I would love to preserve the last of the season. I have a vague idea of salt, pepper and vinegar. Please share how you ‘lê in’ your cucumbers. I hope your autumn gardens are off to a brilliant start!” Marinda Engelbrecht shared her recipe: • 1 ui, gesnipper • 1 k (250 ml) water • 5 k (1 liter) witasyn • 2 k (500 ml) suiker • 10 peperkorrels • 5 komkommers Kook alles behalwe die komkommer saam tot die suiker gesmelt het.…

You have the right to your own thoughts. Make sure that the thoughts that you think, speaks positively to you and build you, and do not break you down. You have the right to walk away from emotional vampires that suck the life from you, and fill you instead with a brown pile of negativity. You have the right to seek “asylum” with a friend for a while if your partner or family drives you mad. You have the right not to discriminate against yourself on the basis of your own judgments about your size or your looks. You have the right to love your body, completely and unconditionally. You have the right to cross the street if you see crazy coming your way! You have the right to not…

ONS DOEN DIT VAN OUTYDS AF Ismail Mahomed If one has to ask any modern Muslim woman in Cape Town why she makes pickled fish and serves it with hot cross buns during Easter she’ll probably reply, “maar hoe nou, vra djy soo ‘n dom vraag? Daar’s nie ‘n reason nie. Ons doen dit van outyds af!” Even though the pickled fish that she might be serving on her table is the quick fix Woolworth type there is no doubt that she would serve it with the absolute pride that she is holding on to a tradition that has been handed down to her by her mother, her mother-in-law and her grandmother – and even though she may not even know why she will probably hand down the tradition to…

‘Twas the nightmare before EasterWhen a sight of great traumatic stressFrom a Cape Flats childhood long agoChilled my very being.Yellow onions slithered over petrified snoekTainting its very essence so deeplyI shit thee notThat it mutated from what once it was.Acrid wafts of vinegarAssaulted my waking breathOnly then my gaze was forced asunderI had to face it.There in a Pyrex bowl of toxic yellow sludgeIt piled like an unprocessed landfill siteTo be force-fed as canonised Cape culturePickled fish!…