Abiola’s Basmati Jollof Rice

I’m a dab hand at Jollof – she laughs in red and spice. Well, I’ve finally gotten things down to at least consistent, delicious results. That’s with long grain rice though, not basmati.  Learning to make basmati Jollof has been a lifelong dream, from the days of Holland when @olayide_williams and I would order stunning basmati Jollof from Bose, 80 euros for a huge tub that we’d work our way through in days However, my basmati game was so weak – the rice always ended up mushy or broken, I never got the right kind of taste….till last week when a friend, A...

On Orange Pekoe Tea

The first time I saw orange pekoe tea on a diner menu, in Canada, I was so excited. I hadn’t had good orange tea since The Netherlands – my favorite was Orange Jaipur tea, which soothed both palate and belly, a love for history, and a desire to visit Jaipur, India. I imagined that the flavor of the orange pekoe tea would be reminiscent of fresh, bright citrus. I would add just a touch of milk, sweeten lightly with white sugar and I’d be on my merry way, reclaiming memories of leisurely mornings right before the day got hectic. All...

Water, with Intention

For my 5th post of the year :), I’m still thinking about water – how essential it is but also its symbolism. First, in trying to use the correct word, I discovered that there are 2 words related to symbols – Symbolism and Symbology. I think if I’ve ever used them, I might have used them interchangeably. The Content Authority Blog shares this: Symbolism and symbology are two words that are often confused with one another, but they have distinct meanings. Symbolism refers to the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities, whereas symbology refers to the study of...

Drinking Water in a New Country

January 2020 | Mississauga, Land of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation This post is from my 2020 journal, documenting thoughts, questions, and observations moving and settling into a new country. Water. Why is water important? Health, wellness, a means to refresh your body which impacts the rest of you. So imagine moving countries, and not being able to do something you’ve taken for granted – drinking water with ease, without thinking much about it. There are many things we have to relearn, many ways we have to restart, begin from nothing when we move countries. People often think...

A Feast of Mingau

First published in 2019. Intro photo changed in 2023 to update the name of Amolili (Nigerian Date Syrup) to Amoriri (Nigerian Black Plum Syrup) It’s difficult to think of cassava as a recent import to Nigeria because much of its classic cuisine is based on the tuber in different forms. From snacks of boiled cassava with coconut – popular street food; kpokpogari – coarse, hard biscuits of cassava fibre from which all the starch has been pressed,  ‘soaked gari’ – a fine to coarse meal soaked as cereal with milk; to sides like ‘eba’, hot sticky dough similar to mashed potatoes...

Chicken in Onion Sauce

March 2023 I wrote this post in 2020, fresh to Canada, in an Air BnB. I knew I’d forget what the early days felt like so I kept a journal – about thoughts, feelings and importantly, eats! This is an attempt to write for myself :). So I went into my drafts of 500 odd posts looking for one I liked enough to share. Which is why I don’t have a photo because I haven’t cooked this in ages, but I might soon. So, I call on you and all your visual powers to imagine the looks and taste. ——————————–...

Three (3) Citrus Fruits in my Kitchen this Season

It’s raining, its sunny, it’s freezing, it’s snowing, it’s citrus season, baby! Talk about my favourite season because it’s also agbalumo season, and though I’m far from home, away from the source of that joy, I can bask in the joy here – of juice oranges and ugli, sanguinello and kumquats, tangerines, tangelos, mandarins and more. Meyers, lime, lemons, and everything in between. Today, there are 3 kinds of citrus in my kitchen: Bergamot, Calamansi and Ugli fruit! Here it goes – 1. Bergamot Botanical name – Citrus bergamia, also Citrus aurantium subsp. Bergamia – a cross between sour orange...

Coming in October | Coast to Coast – From West Africa to the World

Hi friends, Its been ages. Life and work have been full, and fulfilling. I’ve been cooking, reading, sleeping, no developing as many recipes as I used to but yeah, such is life. I’m excited to share some info about a series of events in New York this October. In partnership with the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) and Ace hotel in Brooklyn, I’ll present a series of short ingredient-focused films I made earlier on in the year. They explore rice, beans, palm oil, okro and sugar cane – painful histories, stories of resilience, gifted and talented kitchen crafters. This...