February 1, 2011November 9, 2024

A Week In The Life of (Momofuku’s) Ramen

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by in Recipes, Travel & Exploration

aka The Noodle Diaries When my phone rang, I jumped out of bed. It was 4am and my colleague P was on the phone. ‘We’re downstairs’. ‘OK, I’ll be down soon’. I didn’t hear my alarm clock go off. Did it? Anyway, it was too late to process all that right now. I dived under the shower, brushing my teeth as I went along. In 3 minutes, or 5 I was ready to catch the shut-eye to London. In the car, my colleagues didn’t sense at all that my boast of the day before that I would be up, legs...

January 22, 2011November 9, 2024

Bucket List #12: Go to Berlin

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by in Travel & Exploration

Vague.  Undefined. Free. At liberty to do anything on arrival. All I wanted to do was go to Berlin and I did. It was a last minute trip – new Nigerian legislation called for all citizens, home and abroad to have the new electronic passport. For me, this was critical with business trips planned which would require visas, I knew I had to act fast. The Nigerian embassy in the Netherlands couldn’t issue the passports, don’t ask why, please! The alternative – Paris or Berlin. One phone call later, Berlin was the only option, as there were issues in the...

January 14, 2011November 9, 2024

New Year’s Cookfest with the Daring Cooks: Confit & Cassoulet

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by in Events, Recipes, Techniques

Nothing prepared me for the deliciousness that would confront me when my cassoulet was done. From the very beginning, I celebrated only part of the challenge – the confit. And the cassoulet aka bean bake? I crossed right off my list because I knew, I just knew from the ingredients list that it couldn’t possibly turn out into something even remotely edible. For me, this was one instance when I didn’t sway to all things ‘French’. I decided that I would be a part-timer on this occassion.

January 11, 2011November 9, 2024

Pan Micha from Panama, Une Miche from France

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by in Events, Travel & Exploration

A bridge A connection Worlds. Hopes. Dreams, woven Destinies united Over water Across land Cultures, cuisines, language & skin United in humanity Separated by oceans and seas Mountains and valleys The Brief Welcome to the 2011 Culinary Tour, organised by Joan of Foodalogue. Traditional: make one of the country’s national or traditional dishes. Contemporary: take a traditional recipe and contemporize  it. Or, using the flavors and techniques of the country we are visiting, create your own recipe. Today we begin in Panama, a country famous for its canal, its bridge linking North and South America.

January 6, 2011November 9, 2024

Nigerian Small Chops: Puff-Puff & Fish

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by in Nigerian Cuisine, Recipes, Travel & Exploration

Welcome to 2011: “Sometimes it’s easier to act your self into a new way of thinking, than it is to think your self into a new way of acting.” {Jo Berry, author}. Small chops in Nigeria are all the rage – tiny, tasty bites of jazzed-up traditional recipes, served at parties of every sort. Think of them as the ‘tropical’ version of Hors D’Oeuvres: Dundun – fried yam, cooked in a mixture of hot oil and sprinklings of water, Mosa – mashed plantain fritters, Chinese style spring rolls, king prawns, puff-puff and fish, peppered snails and many more dishes. The...