Sally Andrew > Quotes

“I felt the full breadth and depth of the ocean around the sphere of the Earth, back billions of years to the beginning of life, across all the passing lives and deaths, the endless waves of swimming joy and quiet losses of exquisite creatures with fins and fronds, tentacles and wings, colourful and transparent, tiny and huge, coming and going. There is nothing the ocean has not seen”
― Sally Andrew, The Fire Dogs of Climate Change: An Inspirational Call to Action

“Life (like love) is forgiving and hopeful and, like a bold flower pushing out from the narrow crevice in a rock, will take any gap we allow. However small or large.”
― Sally Andrew, The Fire Dogs of Climate Change: An Inspirational Call to Action

“Under Capitalism the most important thing is to squeeze out more and more money for a few people to spend. This means that most of the other people -- as well as the earth and the sea and all the creatures and plants and goggas -- have to pay the price.”
― Sally Andrew, The Fire Dogs of Climate Change: An Inspirational Call to Action

“If a man treats a woman so badly that she ends her own life, it’s like he has killed her twice: her heart and then her body.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“cooking and eating are two of the best reasons to be alive.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“Once you get him out of your house, you can celebrate with yogurt berry cake. Invite a friend over. Or just enjoy the cake alone. A cake can be trusted. It will never let you down.”
― Sally Andrew, The Milk Tart Murders

“I messed up," I said to the cake. "If he had a taste of you, he would have agreed to anything I asked." I licked a piece of rum-and-chocolate icing off my finger. "Anything".”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“I made some coffee and went and sat on the stoep to watch the day arrive. It happens all of a sudden in the Karoo. One minute the light is soft and full of the night's shadows, and then the sun is blasting everything awake”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“Helmina,' said Tannie Engels, 'you always keep the shiny side up. But you can't make gold from cow shit.'
'Ma...'
'It makes good compost,' I said. 'Cow dung”
― Sally Andrew, The Milk Tart Murders

“Cooking vetkoek with curried mince is an art which South African tannies have spent generations getting just right. As I sat there enjoying the food, I was grateful to them all, especially my own mother who taught me me how to do it. There in my kitchen, eating that vetkoek and mince, I had that feeling I'd expect you would have when you go to a church you have faith in. I said I didn't believe in anything, that my faith went out the window, but maybe that wasn't true. I believe in vetkoek and with curried mince, and all the tannies who made them. If the end of the world was coming, this was the meal I'd make.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“In the end what matters most is love and food. Without them you go hungry.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“Listen to any message that your Higher Power may be sending you.", Ricus said.
But all I heard was a bleating sheep.”
― Sally Andrew, The Milk Tart Murders

“Cooking vetkoek with curried mince is an art which South African tannies have spent generations getting just right. As I sat there enjoying the food, I was grateful to them all, especially my own mother who taught me me how to do it. There in my kitchen, eating that vetkoek and mince, I had that feeling I'd expect you would have when you go to a church you have faith in. I said I didn't believe in anything, that my faith went out the window, but maybe that wasn't true. I believe in vetkoek with curried mince, and all the tannies who made them. If the end of the world was coming, this was the meal I'd make.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“The cheese burger was the fuel I needed, but I didn't enjoy it much. It has been made too fast, with little love.”
― Sally Andrew, The Milk Tart Murders

“We went to the back door and turned off our torches and watched the rain fall in the darkness. Cool, soft rain. Jessie and I grinned at each other. At last. The ground sighed with relief as it fell. I took in a deep breath. "Ooh, that smell," I said. The first rain on the warm dry earth. Nothing like it. Then after the smell of the earth came the smell of the plants. It was like each plant gave something of itself to say thank you for the rain. All the smell mixed together to make a delicious air soup for us to breathe in. "Let's have a sandwich to celebrate," I said.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“Her voice was rough but it had some sweet flavour, like Christmas cake with stones in it.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“He liked me just the way I was. That's what he told me anyway, and I believed him. Maybe he had enjoyed another woman's cake, but cake is just cake, after all. Anyone can bake a cake if they had a good recipe.”
― Sally Andrew, The Milk Tart Murders

“For healing to take place, we need to face up to what we have done, as well as what has been done to us. We need to confess the whole truth.”
― Sally Andrew, Tannie Maria & the Satanic Mechanic

“But maybe life is like a river that can’t be stopped, always winding, towards or away from death and love. Back and forth. Still, even though life moves like that river, lots of people go their whole life without swimming. I thought I was one of those people.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“RECIPE FOR MURDER 1 stocky man who abuses his wife 1 small tender wife 1 medium-sized tough woman in love with the wife 1 double-barrelled shotgun 1 small Karoo town marinated in secrets 3 bottles of Klipdrift brandy 3 little ducks 1 bottle of pomegranate juice 1 handful of chilli peppers 1 mild gardener 1 fire poker 1 red-hot New Yorker 7 Seventh-day Adventists (prepared for The End of the World) 1 hard-boiled investigative journalist 1 soft amateur detective 2 cool policemen 1 lamb 1 handful of red herrings and suspects mixed together Pinch of greed Throw all the ingredients into a big pot and simmer slowly, stirring with a wooden spoon for a few years. Add the ducks, chillies and brandy towards the end and turn up the heat.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“You smell lovely," I told the appelkooskonfyt.
When I call it apricot ‘jam’ it sounds like something in a tin from the Spar, but when it’s konfyt, you know it’s made in a kitchen.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“My neighbour bought a friend. A man with a donkey. He didn't bring the donkey along because it dislikes children, as sometimes kicks them, which he thought may put a dampener on things. This was very considerate of him, as he is extremely attached to his donkey.”
― Sally Andrew, The Milk Tart Murders

“I've never grown roses myself - they are too much work for something you can't eat.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“It felt good to help a girl and her friend. Friends can be trusted. A hen hopped onto the stoep and made a comforting, throaty noise. I threw it a handful of crushed mielies and the other hens came running too. Friends and hens can be trusted.”
― Sally Andrew, The Milk Tart Murders

“I would need flour for the chocolate cake, of course. But also ingredients for chicken soup; a person cannot live of chocolate cake alone.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“I looked through the diet sheet she'd given me and shook my head. I'd never use these recipes in my column, they gave punishment instead of comfort. Punishment to those who enjoy food and have a little padding.”
― Sally Andrew, The Satanic Mechanic

“I clutched my tin of buttermilk beskuit. I wanted to give him something to help with the shock. But he needed something else even more than these broken rusks. Something we all needed: hope. We had to have hope.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“I made coffee and tea for Jessie and Hats and me, and we each took a marmalade rusk. Overeater Anonymous came from far away, probably America. They wouldn't understand about rusks. If you live in South Africa, you know that rusks are not stuffing your face - they are a way of life. It is just bad manners not to have one with your coffee.”
― Sally Andrew, The Milk Tart Murders

“I wanted to shout, but instead I did the dishes. In a way that was more noisy than usual.”
― Sally Andrew, Recipes for Love and Murder

“There was a poster advertising a film that was showing that evening. "Survival of the Fattest", it was called. It sounded like my kind of film. It isn't healthy to be skinny. Especially in the dry Karoo.”
― Sally Andrew, The Milk Tart Murders