Modijo
Modijo {Muh-dee-joh} means ‘Eat too Much’ in colloquial Tswana.
I love to eat just as much as I love to feed.
It was the nickname given to me when I was a baby by my nanny, Betty, who raised me in South Africa, with my mom!
I learned how to sit by her placing me in a biscuit tin - just to give you a general idea of when and how my passion for baking started (and my deep appreciation and addiction to a good biscuit!). On a Friday, we used to make sugar biscuits in her sink (because no bowl was big enough). During the week, we’d make enough vetkoek for the neighbourhood. Cooking and baking has always been a comforting ritual for me. And now I am here to share my food with the world!
She taught me to love life’s simple pleasures. She taught me that feeding is a love language - and I have not known another love language since.
She was the person who made the kitchen feel like home. We were inseparable - wherever Betty was, I was next to her, or swaddled on her back. To her, my name was not Kim, it was “MAH-DEE-JOH!!” said with a cackle and a grin that I would give the world to hear and see again
Betty died when I was 11 years old of a brain aneurysm. When I decided to make my bakery-dream a reality, it seemed only right to name it Modijo, as an ode to Betty, and to keep her with me.
Opening Modijo has been a lifelong dream. Pushed further and further down the line to wait for the perfect moment or to win the lottery and enroll in culinary school. I have realised neither of those things will likely ever happen, so, here I am. Giving it my best shot!
Hi,
i’m kim.
My aim of this whole project (which is now an actual business) was to celebrate my passion and myself in all its unadulterated, flawed, unhinged glory.
So, here is an entirely true and unfiltered snapshot of me:
I am a deeply passionate person, but I also get bored far too easily for a grown up. I thrive on challenge. I rely on my own routine for sanity, but I do not live a routined life. I have severe ADHD. I hyperfixate, produce things incredibly quickly and then I become an A-grade granny to recharge. Then I find the next thing, and do it all over again.
I am a germophobe, but I am also somebody who lives quite happily in organised chaos. I always forget to close cupboards. An object placed on the floor is acknowledged and then instead of picking it up and putting it away, my brain remembers that that is where that particular thing is now kept, and so it stays. One sock in one room, one in the other - my brain will remember that. Both socks together in the sock drawer = “Chris! Have you seen my socks?”
I digress. But I am working on this while I am working on a project for an interview, so I will come back to this soon!
Kim Hutton
Previously known as Kim Burrell
For your amusement, I asked my friends and family to describe me in the kitchen.
“You like making food that is healthy but never sacrifices on flavour and know how to keep things balanced.”
“I’d say your cooking also reflects your personality - bold, unexpected, delightful, comforting, grounded but still whimsical.”
“Organised chaos”
“Butter isn’t the problem.”
“Turning ‘there’s nothing in the fridge’ into dinner”
“Louder than the kitchenaid”
“Nobody leaves your house hungry.”
“Kim loves to save time but will NOT rush perfection or flavour. Even if it means eating at midnight. “
“Complete tyrant, chaos incarnate…. But worth it.”