We called our grandma Phe Phe, in Karen. Whenever someone came to our place and looked for her we said, Phe Phe was in the kitchen. She would be there and nowhere else in the house, cooking all day. The visitors went straight to the kitchen where Phe Phe received her guests. While they talked, about the Mother’s Union activities or family matters, they had very sweet coffee and if it was lunch or dinner time, the guest would have a pot-luck meal and packed something of Phe Phe’s home-made food.
It is a wonderful thing to think about Phe Phe now, 3 years after she left for the Heavenly Home. A widower with six children and with many grandchildren, undoubtedly, she had a very hard life. Her husband left no valuable properties, as he himself did not have much. However, like any mother, Phe Phe tried to give the best for her children and the grandchildren throughout her life.
Phe Phe was always protective, expressive and was there for us in our happy and sad times. She laughed, cried, exalted and discouraged with us in our highs and lows, with all her heart and soul. As she always loved to stay in the kitchen, that was the place where she spent her day and only when she went to bed she came out from the kitchen. We all couldn’t understand her well why she loved her kitchen so much, cooked all day and washed the dishes until her hands got wrinkly skin.
I am now 30, married but no children yet. I tend to spend my free time in my little kitchen. Although I don’t need to cook for the whole day like Phe Phe, I kind of love to stay in the kitchen; thinking about my family, praying for them, writing or reading and sometimes crying and smiling. I started to understand Phe Phe more why she was in the kitchen the whole day.
It is a place to rest while cooking, a meeting place with friends, a quiet place for prayer, and a reserved place to cry while you cook for your loved ones with your love recipes. Phe Phe sold home-made food such as potato chips, curry powder, balachaung, mango pickle which all were loved and craved for by many people. Some people thought Phe Phe put extra material or chemical in her food to made such tasty food but Phe Phe didn’t put anything unnatural. I now realise that she simply made her food with pure and clean heart and finally covered with her love and interest for her customers. She did her best and God did the rest.
It is a wonderful thing to think about Phe Phe now, 3 years after she left for the Heavenly Home. A widower with six children and with many grandchildren, undoubtedly, she had a very hard life. Her husband left no valuable properties, as he himself did not have much. However, like any mother, Phe Phe tried to give the best for her children and the grandchildren throughout her life.
Phe Phe was always protective, expressive and was there for us in our happy and sad times. She laughed, cried, exalted and discouraged with us in our highs and lows, with all her heart and soul. As she always loved to stay in the kitchen, that was the place where she spent her day and only when she went to bed she came out from the kitchen. We all couldn’t understand her well why she loved her kitchen so much, cooked all day and washed the dishes until her hands got wrinkly skin.
I am now 30, married but no children yet. I tend to spend my free time in my little kitchen. Although I don’t need to cook for the whole day like Phe Phe, I kind of love to stay in the kitchen; thinking about my family, praying for them, writing or reading and sometimes crying and smiling. I started to understand Phe Phe more why she was in the kitchen the whole day.
It is a place to rest while cooking, a meeting place with friends, a quiet place for prayer, and a reserved place to cry while you cook for your loved ones with your love recipes. Phe Phe sold home-made food such as potato chips, curry powder, balachaung, mango pickle which all were loved and craved for by many people. Some people thought Phe Phe put extra material or chemical in her food to made such tasty food but Phe Phe didn’t put anything unnatural. I now realise that she simply made her food with pure and clean heart and finally covered with her love and interest for her customers. She did her best and God did the rest.
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