Number 63: Mom, as a Jewish Mama, spent a lot of time focussing on food. Our home was kosher and l remember at our first house, Livsof, outside the kitchen, in the garden, we would find cutlery that had been used incorrectly and that were therefore being koshered  by being buried in the soil for a few days.

The large double door fridge freezer was always full. My Dad was often late coming home from spending time with his patients in the hospital. My Mom would wait up and make him fresh food at 10pm. Never heated up food for her Hackey! If anyone was visiting from out of town they would know to expect a fabulous meal at Fanny and Hackey.

My cousin Cyril z”l  when he was in his late teens and early 20s used to park his car outside our home in Clifton, so that on the way back from the beach, he and his friends could pop in to his cousins’ aunty to have something to eat.

When Ilana, who lived in Johannesburg for many years, came to Cape Town as well as when Margo and her family visited from Toronto, there was always a freshly baked cheesecake waiting, as well as a  soft sponge cake and  fresh rye bread and dips.

When Ray had to contribute some recipes to a Sanlam Investments produced cookery book for a Diversity Project, he contributed a couple of my Mom’s recipes including her cheesecake recipe. Unfortunately since my parents have passed away, none of her kids have been able to replicate  her cheesecake. In fact, at some point, her adult children all thought that we had lost her  cheesecake recipe but Ray reminded us of her recipe in “his” cookbook.

I, too, have tried to emulate my Mom regarding having a full and tasty fridge for us, our kids and our family. But there is no comparison to the many Jewish dishes l remember eating at the home of my parents with  the noisy and often chaotic conversations that we had around the dining room table.