I wrote this a year ago in January 2020 days after we moved. I wanted to be intentional about documenting the journey, and observing myself – the things that I did for comfort and what helped. Pepper soup helped. A lot! Even before we arrive, I know I’ll have pepper soup in the first few...
Updated – 30th May, 2019 – Name found – its the cocoa plum (amongst other names) …still searching. And still, when in doubt, observe. When you don’t know the what or why or how, focus on what you can see, hear, smell, touch, feel, taste, focus on observing. I know one name of this peppersoup...
Updated 29th May 2019, with the botanical names for Omilo/ Umilo I am an explorer. The thrill of discovery is blood to my bones such that rifling – if you can call electronically paging through pdfs that – through documents about the organoplectic nature of xyz are adventure hunts for me. One of the things...
Okwu-oji is a spiced peanut paste served with garden eggs. One day at work, one colleague, P brings a rather large tub of Okwu-oji for another colleague, O. O is sure he’ll never see the bottom of the tub and so was glad to gift me some (that huge tub emptied out sooner than we...
I’m trying to eat more than carrot cake, delicious as my version of it is – adapted from food52 and topped with the same lemony cream cheese frosting as goes on my red velvet cake. The last time I made some Carrot cake, on Boxing Day. If you didn’t know the origins of Boxing day...
Kuka, the green powder ground from dried baobab leaves reminds me of Japanese Matcha. Bright and earthy, it commonly features as an ingredient in Dan Wake where it is combined with bean flour and shaped into dumplings. Served with a pepper sauce, I can imagine the texture of chewy cut by the spice, so monotony...
There are many lessons a girl learns from her mother – how to use prawn heads is arguably one of the best of them. You might scoff and say ‘really’? And I might smile back gently and say ‘Yes, really’. See flavour is not to be underrated, and if like me, you’d rather derive yours naturally,...
All I can think of in this weather is my bed. Sleeping in it. Morning, noon and night. Waking up to cuddles and soup. Forget pots of tea and freshly-baked cookies. Love and soup are errthang. Err single thang. Sigh. There’s something about rainy season that brings out the romantic in me. But I’m going...
Winter and spring flee cooler climes, bringing warmth in their stead and we, here in Nigeria embrace the cool wetness of our rainy season. We celebrate corn, ube and days tucked in bed. We welcome steaming bowls of pepper soup, of fish, chicken and the like. Fish pepper soup, for life on the coast. Fresh...