My biggest Thanks on Thanksgiving!

As you all know I hosted a big Thanksgiving Lunch for Home and Living Magazine (featured in the October issue www.tastesafari.co.ke/my-own-bountiful-thanksgiving-feast-taste-safari-style/ ) and what a heartwarming, memorable day that was. It ended up being so much more meaningful that I had ever expected, so I will share my story with you this Thanksgiving. As I sat around the table listening to the thanks being given, I thought deep and hard as my turn came closer. I am thankful for so much. Many thoughts tumbled erratically through my mind, but one particular deeply personal experience fell heavy on my heart.

My mother who is the entire reason I have this incredible passion to cook, my mother, who is the reason behind the book, the website, the blog, in the last two years,bravely fought and BEAT cancer. In two stormy years, between hospital run, hundreds of tests and battling chemotherapy, she BEAT cancer. My dream of Taste Safari was put on hold and my life focus, as with the rest of my mother’s family, each and every one of us, fought alongside her. So today, I thank God for the strength he gave us all to fight that battle and I thank God that my mentor, my mum, is right here, with me today …still cooking incredible food.

We all knew mum was getting back to her life, when one day, as I popped in on my regular check in on her, I thought something was immediately different as I entered the house. There was a certain lightness and a sparkle in the air. I heard loud hoots of laughter and the sounds of a busy household and I followed the happy noises to find my mother, out of her bed, hopping about the kitchen. Her gleaming pots, full of magically scented curries, were bubbling away and there was a furore of activity in the kitchen. It was like the house had woken from a deep silent wintry slumber. She was cooking up a feast…this loveable lady that basically refused to let cancer take her away, dashing around her kitchen, stirring, chopping, smelling and tasting. Childhood smells drifted through the house and as I watched her quietly, tears swelling up in my eyes, I knew she was back.. In this last year since she had the all clear, mum pulled out old, ear torn diaries ( you know the kind that random companies give you at Christmas) where she has handwritten many old recipes, many from her own childhood and started to cook these secret recipe one by one. I’ve lived my childhood all over again since mum recovered and her cooking is better than ever as she sends me dishes to sample. Her strength to bring her home back to life, is what motivates me to look for a miracle in each and every day that I live, no matter how bad the day looks…

So today, I give thanks to her, for pulling through, because I still need her so much. I give thanks to ALL OF YOU for helping me keep my dream alive and for always making me want to write every single day and to get out there and cook and celebrate Kenya and all that life has to offer. I thank my darling husband ( for the patience that a big hulk of a man can muster, to listening to SO MUCH food talk all these years! ) and for always believing that Taste Safari is going to be a huge success.To my two beautiful monkeys who already know what a blog is all about at age 6 and 8 and are already creative geniuses in the kitchen. (And thankyou my angels for all the little breakfasts you make for me on a Sunday morning when I have my lie in! ) To my father, for his unwavering strength and for keeping us strong and always together, my siblings, their partners ( the best of the lot! ) for their encouragement, belief, ideas and for telling me that Taste Safari is awesome!! Thankyou thankyou, all so much. May your year be as blessed as mine.

Happy Thanksgiving to all you wonderful folk!