In all our children’s homes, like in ours, pizza is made most Saturday evenings. Thinking back about this tradition, for me this goes to the time my oldest sister K. was still in high school. She introduced us to pizza, starting with one of those boxed kits which included a flour mix, tomato sauce, some Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. The effect was disappointing by today’s standards for sure. Back then we thought it was awesome. Even my dad got to enjoy it if you could make it to fit his taste. I have been making pizza on Saturday evenings for close to 50 years. But there was another ritual that actually got me thinking of this and that was assisting my mom in making Groentesoep met Balletjes.
This was a Saturday after supper task. Someone assigned to shoe polishing and if I escaped that, I would stand beside mom and watch her take a pound or so of ground beef, spice it up, add some bread crumbs and egg and roll the little balletjes by hand for Sunday lunch’s vegetable soup or Groentesoep met Balletijes. It would be mom rolling, me waiting for a bit of the spicey meat and beside me the cat, Snoesapoes, who also got a bit of a treat as well. On many a Saturday we still make a big pot of soup for Sunday and occasionally even Groentesoep met Balletjes.