My Laine Blogger Award

I just received the sweetest thing ever on blogger land.

The lovely Goldabidz of Lifebeyondpinkstripes awarded me a Laine Blogger Award and I am Wombly chuffed.

What can I say? *Wombleblush. Thank you very much for choosing me as one of your 5 bloggers. I appreciate it more than my wombly fingers can ever express through my keyboard *hugs.

Please pay a visit to her blog as she has some amazing DIY ideas. I particularly have a crush on this one

About the rules of this award, I need to do the following:

1. Link back to the blogger who awarded you.

2. Blog about the award.

3. Give the award to 5 other bloggers and let them know.

Okkkie then, let the tagging begin.....

Umari Ayim of  http://stories.umariayim.com/
Chef Fregz of  http://theskinnychefthatcould.wordpress.com/
Yewizzy of http://www.shelovesthefinerthings.com/

Eyes off my fishhh!!!!

'Give a man a fish, and you have fed him once.
 Teach him how to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime." - Chinese Axiom


I don't like when people 'eye' my fish. You know.......looking at my fish, sizing it up, doing the maths in their heads and working out how to get it. Yes, that one. Giving my fish the 'eye' and hoping it will fall for their seductive call, jump off my plate and land on theirs. PAH!

Is this a rant? No my darlings. Wombles don't rant. Why should we? Rather, this is an expression of my recent observations and to put things in perspective, please come with me ........

I recently advertised scholarship opportunities on behalf of a University. What University? Mine? Does it really matter darling? Do we really care? University or not, what matters is I am a Womble, you are reading this, the world goes round and boy is it cold or what!

Anyway, I advertised and in minutes my inbox was flooded with people sending me their resumes. Please note, it was a University advert and I did not give too much detail as I wanted only interested parties to 'apply within'.

I spent the greater part of that night asking all my respondents what exactly they sent in their resumes for. Behold some of the replies - 'I don't know. my friend said you are recruiting. Please help!!!'......Err, ok........(nervous gulp)

After shortlisting my candidates (I wish. Lol), I went on to ask the golden question - What course are you looking to study? I wasn't expecting the vague replies I got back - 'Anything in Science'....... 0.O

Days later, we were finally on the same page and I sent links of all the opportunities available with this message 'Please have a look for which of these you wish to apply for and let me know'......How long ago was that? 2 weeks. How many replies have I gotten back? - None, Nil, Nada, Zitch.

Now let's analyse this in Womblespeak. Everyday, we have people moaning about how they don't have any fish. The ocean is empty and anyone who has a fish must have some dodgy uncle who is friends with the captain of the only fishing trawler that operates in the ocean on the other side of wombleville where mere mortals wombles can never reach. Here I was, offering to teach these people how to fish and the moment I made it known that they need to buy their own equipment, they lost interest.

We complain about the world and how nothing works and how there are no jobs, no opportunities and the lines of segregation keep getting thicker. Ok. Accepted. But do we realise that nothing works unless we work it? The moment we snap out of the illusion that the world owes us something, the better. The world was here first. If anything, we owe it. For all the trees we have used and will use in our lifetime - in the loo, for books, for furniture....the list is endless. For all the food we have eaten and will eat in our life time - the earth provided the basis of all these. For all the electricity we use and will use in our life time - the earth powers this in one form or the other. For all the times we fail to recycle, throw our rubbish on the floor while we are out and about, shop for things we don't really need that end up in landfill........

I love having my fish. I worked hard to catch it and it will remain on my plate, thank you. I do not regard this as selfish and that is why I'ld rather teach you to fish than give you mine to be fed for a day....Question is, are we willing to learn?

With Love,
Lady Womble xx

My fineeeeee fish! (Web Image)

Chinedu's Prawn and Veggie stew.

So, I owe Chinedu an apology.

Being one of my readers, he tried this recipe on my blog and sent me the pictures with the message, ' I did it. Was really nice. Thanks to you'.

Why am I apologising? He sent them in 7 days ago people!!! 7 days! *coversfaceinabsoluteshame.

I downloaded the pictures and my computer saved them in a read-only format so I couldn't rotate them. It's taken me this long to get to another computer to sort out the problem......needless to say, I promise there will be no repeat performance.

CC: Pidgin 101

I have noticed most people who should know how to speak pidgin don't.

Ah, PIDGIN - I remember growing up without being exposed to the ways of this language but all that changed when I spent a year serving my nation.

I LOVE PIDGIN. I acknowledge that mixed reactions exist in relation to it but as for me, I have noting but 'luuuuuuurv'.

Pidgin is to Nigeria what English is to America. Nigeria currently has over 250 ethnic groups, each with it's distinct language, accent and ways of living. Although English is our lingua franca, not everyone has the luxury of attending school and learning about proper english grammar. Here's where pidgin comes to the rescue (playing spiderman's theme song).

Pidgin is a form of English laced with local dialects and variations are spoken globally. Despite its common use; Pidgin is yet to be officially recognised *sadface

Each ethnic group in Nigeria can communicate in this language. Like English, you can guess where a person is from or where they were raised based on their version of Pidgin and the accent they choose to speak it with. Pidgin can therefore determine whether you are viewed as an outsider or one who can be trusted.

For instance;

English - You are coming right?

Let us consider the major ethnic groups -

Yoruba (pidgin) - You go come, abi?

Igbo (pidgin) - Nna, you go come?

Hausa (pidgin) - You go come ba?

My personal favourite is the Pidgin that's spoken in the oil-rich South-South region . It isn't easy to decode and like the people, it is sharp and just plain beautiful:

Bros, shey you dey SHOW????

( I love it!!! Seriously, how does 'come' translate to 'show') *hehehe

Our govenment says pidgin is hampering their progress in education.

I say - One chance.

Here's me leaving you lovelies with some basic pidgin phrases. Hopefully, if you love Naija tunes, this will help you figure things out and you won't be clueless on your trip home for Christmas ;)

How far - How are you

I dey, how body - I am fine thanks. You?

(pronounce 'I dey' as 'Ah day'. meaning - I am fine)

No vex - Do not take offence

Abeg - Please

(Abeg, no vex - Please, do not take offence. The 'A' in 'Abeg' is pronounced 'Ah')

Papa - Father

Mama - Mother

Pikin - Child

Babe - Lady

Fit - denoting ability; can

Maga - Gullible person, one who is taken advantage of and is unaware

Chop - Eat or Spend ( depending on contextual use. If referring to 'Spend', usually in a wasteful or excessive manner)

Examples:

She wan chop my money - She wants to spend my money (excessively)/ 'bleed me dry'

I wan chop - I want to eat.

*the object is usually the clue to what the word means in a given context.

CC: Egg Prawn Rice

Growing up, Rice and Chicken was a staple Christmas dish......we always cooked it to supplement the main course - POUNDED YAM! Lol. Loads of people find it funny when I say we always made pounded yam on Christmas day in addition to rice. Still yet to discover what the joke is *hehehe

Today I decided to make something different and hopefully inspire someone to be creative this year. I went to a Carribean restaurant at the start of curry week and got inspired to make what I ordered at home. Although I did not get the recipe from the chef (understandably), here goes -


Because I was going to post this,  I decided to measure out my ingredients so it's easy for everyone to follow.

You will need:

- 250g of long grain rice

- 80g of frozen peas

- 2 tablespoons of oil

- 1 onion (diced)

- 1/2 of a red pepper (diced)

- 100g of prawns ( if using small ones, you can double the quantity)

- 1 egg

Wash your rice and boil in salted water for 10 minutes. Add your peas and cook for 5 more minutes. Drain and remove from heat.

I placed chopsticks on my plate. We will see why in a bit :)

Put your oil in a heated wok or similar

Add your onions and stir fry for 2 minutes

Add your prawns and stir fry for 2 minutes or until they turn pink

Add your red pepper and stir fry for 2 mins

Push to one side of your pan

Add a pinch of salt to your egg and whisk with your chopsticks

Pour your whisked egg to the empty side of the pan and scramble with your chopsticks

Mix all contents of the pan together

Add your boiled rice and peas. Stir fry over low heat till thoroughly mixed

 

Dinner is served! I can have this on it's own or with a sauce

And there you have it, easy, quick and healthy.

This took me hours to finish because I was listening to some Naija tunes whilst at it :( .... I couldn't help dancing and ended up taking FOREVER to dice my veggies!

CHRISTmas countdown

I love Christmas season.

For one, I love the reason for the celebrations, the holidays and the opportunity it gives to catch up with friends and family.

Infact, Christmas is the only time I can forgive the weather. First, there's fall when nature takes on so many colours - from green to yellow to berry to red to rust to copper to gold to brown.......you get the picture.

Then there's winter where everything is covered in snow and it feels like the world is taking a shower - a very cold one too!

Ah yes, I love Christmas. Lights go up, trees come out, animals (and some humans) hibernate while businesses devise strategies to empty my pockets (without much luck).

With Christmas comes dinners, office parties and family holidays. As such, I will be spending the next couple of months taking you through how I am gearing up for Christmas. I love the season but it can be quite expensive. Hopefully, we will all learn a thing or two to help us have a truly merry Christmas.

Welcome to my Christmas Countdown (CC) series

Womble Love xx

....Yayy!!!

It's officially 2 months to Christmas and I am starting my countdown.

Ukrainian Borscht soup - I already mixed in my sour cream. Love it!

Au'some Nuggets

I am sure by now, we all know I am a foodie of sorts. So little surprise that most of what I talk about revolves about 'belly pleasing goodies'.

I stumbled on this by mistake. My boss (I blogged about here) brought this into work because his daughter did not like some of the flavours as it was a mixed pack.

We all tried it and all I can say is being the youngest, it naturally ended up with it me :D

 

The box contained 48 individual packs filled with small chewy nuggets. I have to warn that these are quite small and should be considered when giving to children.

I won't call this snack completely healthy but it is a good alternative to regular sweets and can serve as a decent treat. It also boasts of less sugar and fat than most fruit packs.

The best thing I like about this fruit snack is how easy it is to fit in a lunchbox. It will definately work for kids and adults alike.

I must mention that, although the brand is American, this particular product is made in China.

.....singing off key....

Yes, that was my experience with my tummy!


I got invited to a friend's birthday and as ususal I didn't eat anything. It's not like I wasn't tempted by all the food there. Trust me, the variety was astounding! ... I was so distracted by all the food on offer that I didn't get to take pictures even though I brought my camera along *ahem!

Where was I?

Yes, I was about to tell you how much of a fussy eater I am. I grew up in a home where my mum always cooked. I just never had a reason to eat out and till date, I find it hard to do so. I am getting over it though as I can now eat at restaurants et al (one of the benefits of boarding shool - story for another day).

On this particular day, as was my norm, I did not eat anything - just because I couldn't eat. My friend noticed and got upset insisting I eat something as there was so much food and she wanted me to try some of it. And so, I gave in......now I think of it, I should never have budged. I can however console myself as a life lesson has been learnt.

I wrapped up a meat-pie (see here) and decided to have that for dinner when I got home. I am eternally grateful for that decision because I got home, had said dinner and minutes later, I felt funny. I brushed it aside thinking 'Ah, you are still getting over your illness'. Anyway, I headed off to bed and the next thing I remember was - I am awake. I looked out of the window and noticed it was still dark outside. I checked the time and it said 2:51am? So what woke me up?

That was when I heard it and my heart sank. My heart sank because it was painful to hear, bear and uncomfortable. My tummy was singing. And the worse part of it was that all the notes were OFF KEY!!!!!.........I don't want to imagine what would have happened if I had eaten at the party, miles away from home *shudders.

Needless to say, sentiments aside, it's not happening again. One sleepless night is enough for me *yawn......and just so you know, my tummy did not stop being upset till well after 9am! *shuddersagain

Web Image

Pakoras and Mango dip

Here's what I am having for dinner.......and this time, my favourite dessert tagged along - CHEESECAKE!