{"id":27061,"date":"2023-06-27T08:20:13","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T06:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/ballito-umhlanga\/?p=27061"},"modified":"2023-06-27T08:20:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T06:20:13","slug":"gather-celebrate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getitmagazine.co.za\/ballito-umhlanga\/blog\/2023\/06\/27\/gather-celebrate\/","title":{"rendered":"Gather & celebrate"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a passionate cook, talented food stylist, fantastic designer and skilled photographers get together, magic happens. In this case, the magic presents itself in the form of a beautiful and inspiring new hardcover recipe book, called Gather.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"Filled to the brim with pages upon pages of mouth-watering meals and delectable, celebratory dishes, Gather is not just an ordinary recipe book. It is a gorgeous labour of love, carefully curated by a team of St Anne\u2019s College old girls, all of whom live on the North Coast.<\/p>\n

Their aim? To inspire both the experienced and the home cook by sharing easy-to-follow, exciting recipes and raise funds for bursaries that will allow other girls to join the St Anne\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

Spearheaded by Ballito mother, passionate foodie and caterer, Theresa Rattray, Gather comprises 62 recipes – all of which were submitted by old girls and tried and tested by Theresa herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood is my love language. I love feeding people and I love feeding myself,\u201d she laughs. \u201cI came up with the idea of doing the cookbook while chatting to a friend at an old girls’ reunion. I have done a St Anne\u2019s recipe book before, about 10 years ago, but I did that one on my own, even funding it myself. This time I wanted to do it properly with the right team to make it really special,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

After approaching the St Anne\u2019s Old Girls Guild, who agreed to support and fund the project, Theresa set about putting together her ‘dream team’.
\nEach bringing their own incredible skill sets and expertise to the project, Theresa managed to commission three other old girls to help her create the recipe book – Emily Allan (who works alongside her photographer husband Chris), successful food stylist and one half of the ‘Delish Sisters’ duo, Becs Woodcock and designer Annabelle Armstrong.<\/p>\n

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A fun, behind-the-scenes moment captured during \u2018shoot week\u2019 with Becs Woodcock, Theresa Rattray and Philly Hill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Passionate about food her entire life, Theresa (a former farm girl from Mooi River and mother of four girls), has been a caterer, cooking teacher and caf\u00e9 owner. Nothing brings her more joy than having her family around the table, cooking and eating together.
\n\u201cWe decided to centre the theme of the recipes in the book around celebrations and ‘celebratory food’ – basically what people enjoy eating when they gather with family and friends around a table. We sent out emails to all the old girls and got about 120 recipe submissions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theresa sifted through them and tested the recipes, before whittling it down to the final 62 that would make it into the book. \u201cI had to cook every single recipe that is in the book twice – once to test it and then again when we photographed the dishes.\u201d
\nTheresa and the gang set aside a week in January to do the cooking, styling and shooting and her home at Umhlali Country Club was transformed into a ‘studio’.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt ended up being the hottest week of the year and my aircon broke down,\u201d she laughs. \u201cIt took us six days to shoot all 62 recipes. I cooked, Becs styled and Emily and Chris took the photographs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although it was hard work, Theresa says, it was loads of fun. \u201cAnd we ate like kings for the entire week! Of course, we had a few mishaps here and there – like the braided cinnamon bread that came out looking like a monster and had to be redone a few times – but it worked because we all respected each other’s skill sets and didn’t intervene with one another’s roles.\u201d<\/p>\n