I’ve been exploring making jellies with Nigerian fruits, flowers and nuts. My first attempt – a tiger nut pudding was beautiful, if soft set. It triggered a desire to make a panna cotta of tiger nuts, helped along by gelatine. Then came the agbalumo jelly which while great had a funny texture thanks to agar-agar....
The truth is, sometimes in spite of your best intentions, of your efforts, you will fail. Sometimes it’ll happen quietly. No one will see, no one will hear. It’ll be you and only you who know the depths of the letdown. Sometimes, you’ll do it spectacularly and the world will see and decide whether to...
Bacon jam. Because of left-over bacon, from our Christmas bacon-bird, which led me on a path that has seen bread pudding and finally has ended up here – as Bacon Jam. Most of the versions I read about had maple syrup in the mix so mine progressed to Maple Bacon Jam. And finally, because I’ve...
Some realizations hit you in the still of the night – those grey hairs don’t just mean you’re getting old, they mean you have earned the right. To stand up for yourself. To say no. To be happy how you choose to be. Some realizations take you by surprise, my 9-year old is writing with a ball...
A home full of guests was how we planned this holiday - friends from Houston would pot sunshine and Texas steaks, stuffing them in bulging blue Samsonite cases, while friends from Nigeria would come armed with Kilishi (Nigerian beef jerky) and peppered plantain chips; we, in the Netherlands would provide the snow, sleighs and bells.
Hints of the familiar, amidst a crowd of unfamiliar. That’s everyday life. The constants change daily and the strange becomes ‘worn in’. Like rain in the summer. And cardamom in desserts. I find my mind split in two – half loves cardamom in all Indian recipes, even those that don’t call for it and the...
Progress…at last, she says smiling at her ability to walk up the stairs to her third floor office without total collapse and shortage of breath.
When life gives you a gift of plums in this age of ‘stone fruit’ (shall I say the season), what do you do?