Roti and Curry

Today I cook roti and curry, Naik-style... beef curry with potatoes it will be... It has been a while since I wrote about food. Part of my culture, intrinsic to my upbringing, inherent in my soul. A love for food. I am addicted... the conviction of my family. A food market is like a jewelry store! Every little bit of fresh produce equivalent to the 'bling' of diamond. No place for food snobs either. It can be rustic, bold or dainty... I remember many hours of decorating Nanna's fancy's. Koesisters and Roti's a saviour in times of unemployment... a welcome income with a market interested in the same tastes as mine.

Comfort Food
What kind of comfort food
Do you like?
Over and over
The question mulls in my head
Almost like a mantra
That I religiously chant

The kind of comfort food
That you will eat
Two o'clock in the morning
Sitting down in the middle
Of the street
The kind you will
Seek desperately
Even if you have to
Ask for it in "Greek"

Ice cream is high
On my list of priorities
To get it I will easily forego
Buying some silly trinket
Or the family meat

With a good roti and curry*
You can easily entice me
But not as easily as with Mamma Bieba's**
Koeksister recipe
A really special treat

Comfort food
We introduce from generation to generation
Making the skill of its making
An inheritor’s treasure
And its special preparation
Part of our rituals
With love and no trepidation

I am sure you
Don't spend much time
Thinking about the question
"What kind of comfort food do I like?
So, next time you have
"That special treat"
With that favourite person
Spare a thought
For my comfort food
Treasuredly, to be shared with you

09/09/06, cooking Roti and curry** and Indian dish of fried flat bread with curry. Koeksisters is a donut that is popular in the Cape Malay community made with aniseed and sugared and rolled in coconut.

MEMORIES LOST AND FOUND
Why do we sometimes
Suppress the good memories
With the bad
Like the time we went
Hiking on Table Mountain
And I wet my hair
Under the waterfall at Breakfast Rock

Or like the time
When we went canoeing
On the Vlei
And I was so scared of falling in
And you eased my fear
With lots of jokes
And I laughed till the tears
Streamed down my face
And we found ourselves
Drifting gently
On the afternoon breeze

Or the time
When we were lying
On our backs outside in Bainskloof
Watching the stars in the sky
Catching the odd satellite
Breezing by
Sharing ideas of
Where we will be
When we grow up
After school and varsity

Maybe it is because
We are ashamed
That we stopped doing
Most of the things
That did not cost much
But gave us endless
Hours of joy and pleasure
Sharing love and friendship
With freedom unconditionally

Maybe it is because
Our lives moved on
With time we disconnected
We feel too guilty
For not being in touch
With those who at the time
Meant so much to us
That we had hoped
They will forever be there
To share with
And for us to show them
That we care

I will from now on
Remember and cherish
Those special moments
And try with time to recapture
The same exhilarating feelings
In those briefest moments experienced
Part of my remembrance it will be
Part of my realisation that
Suppressing the good memories
Was a cage I built around me

By Simone Noemdoe, 17 September 2006