I go through phases where I ponder the meaning of life. What and why we’re here. If human beings are really human. Just how much meanness there is and the like. Then I walk in the door of the Philly Homebrew Outlet on 1447 N American Street, right on the corner with a United States...
We arrive in Philly, not by pre-destination but by looking at a map at almost midnight Monday. The plan was to go to DC, but the train fares shocked me into a new decision. I wasn’t about to spend a thousand dollars on a two day trip…just for train fares. I did say I...
I used to love New York but that’s waning. I used to think New York city was infallible – can you use that with a place? The ability to stay above failure, rise about mistakes, never be wrong? I believed once that everything, absolutely everything I needed I could find in Manhattan. Like wine-making supplies....
Pita. Pita Bread. A delightful flatbread, the best of which is barely sweet, soft and with good ‘pocket’. The best pita bread I’ve had in my life has been from a Lebanese restaurant called Jedoudna in Dubai. I love Jedoudna because they bake their pitas to order. What does that deliver to you? Me? The freshest bread...
Sweet, Sour & Earthy, tamarind is common across India, Thailand, West Africa and other parts of the world in various forms. Taking its English name from the Arabic, tamar-hindi, meaning “Indian date,” tamarind is typically used in equatorial cuisines, such as Indian, Mexican, and Thai. Also known as imli, tamarind is used as a souring...
I love travelling yet there are many aspects that I would gladly do without – the entire visa application process (I just emerged from a traumatic experience) which is tedious and can go awry, packing, traffic to the airport, checking in…almost everything up to the minute I sit in my (often economy) seat. All’s well...
I’m amazed when they both know what it is. They aren’t familiar with African Cherry but when I mention star apple they say yes. They can’t remember agbalumo but the White American gentleman says Udara as does the South American. The dried one has them stunned. ‘I know it …but I’ve never seen it dried’....
I can’t count the number of times I’ve begged family and friends not to keep bread in the fridge. I can tell you that the resistance I’ve faced is something else. I don’t know when I learnt about bread and the best storage mechanism. Did you know that bread is best stored at room temperature?...
Itu Bridge. The famous Itu Bridge on the way to and from Calabar in the South of Nigeria and seafood – fresh, dried, bought, sold. Seafood of the south. Of Nigeria, where nsam, ngolo, crabs and ‘water snails’, crabs are everyday things. I’ve lived in Warri and Port-Harcourt where periwinkles stud everything from Egusi to...