"One day your bread and butter, may have to be made by making someone's bread and butter"......Whoever thought that statement would one day be prophetic?
Those words were spoken by my beloved grandmother, Amanda B. Wilburn-Hamner. Family and friends referred to her as "Mandy B", but we were blessed to affectionately call her "Mama". I am so very grateful she took the time to "train me" and pass down her self taught culinary skills, to her only granddaughter and namesake. , I am Amanda Tracy Hamner Whitfield, Owner and Cake Designer of "Mandy's".
"Mama" came to live with us in 1974, to assist her only son, Rev Myron Hamner, Sr. with raising me and my younger brother when God called our mother, Earnestine Jones Hamner, home to take her eternal rest. With two "Amanda's" in the house, to eliminate confusion, I became "Tracy" to friends, but remained "Lil Mandy" to close family. What a nickname to live up to!!!!!" Mandy B" was known for her palette pleasing meals and desserts throughout the Tuscaloosa area. You could literally taste "the love" in everything she prepared! At the age of 11, she starting "training me" in the kitchen. And who knew it would one day be my calling -for I have the same love of baking that she possessed; and have been actively perfecting my "craft" for the past 40 plus years! Although "Mama" too is resting with Jesus, her recipes and philosophies live on through me.....
Proverbs 22:6............."Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it".
Thank you Mama, for your love and teachings...............missing and loving you always.
Tracy
