This is the season of waking up to storms – skies thick with grey and streaked with silver. Thunder, lightening, all are part of the rainy season. I need to equip myself well – ditch blue flannel blankets for tartan ones. Find good books to bury my head in, not necessarily buy but dig up and out from bookshelves and hidden drawers. Make cups of tea, from mint to spiced ones. And delight in fruits and vegetables of the season. Even ones past, and leaving, and those to come. Last weekend, my friend, N visited from Port Harcourt. She came...
The End. Of Mango Season
The season’s coming to an end. At least for the variety of mangoes I hold dear. They are going fast out of season. The mangoes are smaller, softer. Fewer trays are out. Stacked high before, they are now plateaus. I’m holding on hard. Its slipping away fast. I’m doing everything I can to keep it here forever. Eat one before I sleep, the taste lingering on my hands and pillow. Make fruit purees, strain and jar them. Make ice cream. Sigh. Though no way is this a valid way of lengthening time and love for I know the ice cream...
Five (5) Savoury Fruit Salads
Normally fruit – sweet and fresh are confined to desserts…but I like to go savoury with them sometimes. One of the first explorations was a mango salsa and I haven’t looked back since. While I won’t venture out yet to make a Banana salad…though now I think of it, I will…here are a few I’ve made recently. Though they end up looking and tasting different, there are a few guidelines for me, from flavour to textural considerations. Chili Some heat, to counter and balance the sweet. Could be fresh, could be dried. It would depend on personal preference…I like fresh chilies with...
Sunday Lunch – Scent Leaf Soup
One of the things I love the most about scent leaves is the fragrance and aroma when bruised – fresh, clean and citrusy. I’m from Edo state where Egusi is king. I’ve heard that there’s a soup, black soup is its name but I’ve never had it babe. One week day I came home from work. I had cooked beef and stock, an abundance of scent leaves which were beginning to age and not so gracefully, freshly washed bitter leaf and water leaf, about to go to sleep in pots outside, dry fish and energy. It was ‘soup night’ and...
Friday Cocktails: Nostalgic for Green Sands Shandy
If you were born in 19 whatever, you mightn’t have the foggiest idea about Green Sands Shandy. My Lord, it was the height of refreshment. Do you remember it? In its green bottle? It is what we drank when we graduated from Maltina and Chapman. And today and forever, it is the measure of the kind of alcohol I like to drink – weak, sparkling and refreshing. Judge me please :). The first time I thought about it after so long was in 2010, on a trip to Barcelona. We’d taken a cable car across the city and ended up...
Tres Horrible/ Lagos Polo Club Suya
So when I was done exploring the suya at Glover court, I decided to try out the suya at the Lagos Polo Court. And so it was that one evening, in a taxi home from work, I veered off Awolowo road, glad to be rid of the thick traffic that had built up thanks to the scarcity of petrol which had cars queuing up and spilling out of the gas stations. We arrived at white gates, crested with crossing polo sticks. From there, I got a view of sand, grass, ‘stables’ and buildings. I made to enter the ‘compund’ but...
Mango & Passion Fruit Swirls in Vanilla Ice Cream
Flavour prints and profiles and stamps. Ice Cream for breakfast. Anyone? I have no issues exploring them over and over and over again. Each new canvas throws up nuances, subtle differences till we ‘appropriate’ all the deliciousness. This is the case with myself, mangoes and passion fruit. My daughter had been bugging me to make meringues for a while – a whole lot of egg whites whipped to stiff peaks and sugar folded in. And when life forces you to make meringues, ice cream – a way to use up leftover yolks should never be far off. As well as...
Snail & Yam Hash
And just from the sound of it, you know this is a hit. Right? Snails, chopped up in the blender, pan fried with boiled (fresh or leftover) yam chunks turned golden from sauteeing. Add a pepper sauce ’cause snails and ‘pepper’ go great and vegetables… and let the one pot do its wonders. For some sauce, add some stew…how ever much you like but not so it’s swimming… Push it all to one side and add the tiniest bit of butter you can without your conscience taking you to task. Crack an egg and salt very lightly. Let barely set before...
The Legend of Blue Willow
The first time I saw the plates after decades was at a furniture showroom, off Rumuola road, Port Harcourt. The year was 2012. I lost no time in purchasing two sets for a princely sum of…I can’t remember. The traditional willow design always features a large beautiful Chinese home with willow tree, small bridge with 3 figures, a humble servants house at the foot of the bridge, a small Chinese boat & of course the famous love birds above the willow tree. The romantic lore of the design could have added to it’s popularity over the years; eBay The plates held...