Sushi Night

Today i had a massive sushi craving. I stopped over at Safeway on my home and got:

• Sushi brown rice
• Soy sauce
• Cucumber
• Tilapia Fillets
• Avocados
• Asparagus
• Nori
• Rice Vinegar

After preparation, and consumption. I am happy and thankful.

Quilted bags + Tufted Sofa

I have found a new love for quilted bags and tufted furniture. I see them everywhere now. From Kate Spade to Marc Jacobs, and Havilah! Everyone seems to have embraced this Chanel aesthetic.  

I just ordered the Chantal in black soft calfskin leather from Havilah, at a decent price. I am beyond excited and cannot wait to see it.  I got the purse to wear to a friend’s wedding this summer. I wanted something chic, large enough to hold all my “ngwo-ngwo” , dressy enough to wear to service, and versatile so I can wear it everywhere. You will hear about it as soon as it comes.

I am currently craving:

This  Sofa. I keep dreaming about it and imagining it in my living room with printed accent chairs, and lots of colorful throw pillow. Talk about “Better soup na money kill am!”

These shoes. Heaven knows I have always wanted sparkly shoes. *deep sigh* need to get back to work!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Love List

Happy valentines day to you and yours! i hope you are celebrating in some fun way today. Hubby is not around, so i will curl up under the comforter, watch a good movie, and enjoy remains of our Barkenale soup.

Today i am loving:

• This Song.
• This Book "There was a country" by Chinua Achebe. Just finished this book. It is a must read for every Nigerian.

• Sushi Hana's Bruce Roll, which i had for lunch.
• Jcrew's 30% off final sale items sale!!!!!
• This Kate Spade Bib Necklace. The retail value is $148, but my girl Havilah is selling them for $120!!

• This 100% Italian uber chic leather bag which everyone should totally own.

• Vlisco which is inspiring my outfit selection for my friend's wedding in March. Love their Barack Obama collection

The best healthy soup you ever had.

It is 8:52PM in Baltimore, cold, raining outside, and just the perfect time for this Barkenale (barley + chicken + kale) soup. This soup boasts of wholegrain (barley), leafy greens, protein, and is very colorful.  Try it and please let me know how you like it.

Ingredients:

1. 11/2 cup pearl barley
2. 3 large carrots (cleaned and chopped)
3. 3 large parsnips (cleaned and chopped)
4. one bunch celery (cleaned and chopped)
5. 1/2 onion (chopped)
6. garlic
7. black peper
8. salt
9. ginger
10. fresh rosemary
11. fresh sage
12. fresh thyme
13. Salmon (cubed)
14. Boneless Chicken (cubed)
15. Oil
16. 12 cups of water
17. 1 cube maggi
18. Some Kale (washed and chopped)

Method

1. Season the salmon with salt or old bay and put in the oven for about 15mins or until it is golden
2. In a pot, sauté the onions and celery for 5mins
3. Add the chicken and all the seasoning/spices
4. Add the barley
5. Add water
6. Cook for about 20 mins or until the barley is chewable
7. Add carrots, parsnips, and kale
8. leave soup to cook for 5 mins
9. Turn off heat
10. Serve with cubes of salmon atop.

For the bread, just slice wholewheat french bread and coat with a mixture of olive oil + salt + pasta seasoning, and pop in the oven for about 5 mins.

ENJOY!!!

This Weekend

The ultimate  Naija combo

 Roast chicken stuffed with orange + celery + onions + garlic + bay leaves = yumville

Peruvian Style Black Beans + Brown Rice

Fried Rice + Plantain (plantain photo not included)

Happy New year + Going Dutch

Happy new year to you and yours. I wish you the best this year has to offer, and as we (RCCG people in the US) believe, this year will be our year of signs and wonders.

 Christmas and New Year festivities moved along nicely. It felt good to stay home and relax with family.  With the New Year upon us, a lot of friends have started sending out birthday invitations.

  It is always an honor to be invited for a celebration – be it a birthday, proposal, wedding, anniversary, shower… you get my drift.  The one thing that bothers me is when the inviter/celebrant expects the invitees/guests to pay for their dinner.   It is even worse when it is not spelt out in the invitation. In such cases after dinner, when the bill comes, the guests are left bewildered. Some end up embarrassed because they attended with a gift for the celebrant, cashless, and/or without their credit cards.

The act of going Dutch to mark your celebration is tasteless. Would you invite friends to your “house party” and ask them to pay $1 for a scoop of rice?  Or pay a $5 gate fee for access to food and drinks?  Better still would you make your friends donate to fund your “bash”?  That is what you are doing when you “organize dinner” at a restaurant and have your friends buy their dinner and contribute towards yours!

I understand it’s your birthday, you want to mark it spending time with your friends, but unfortunately you cannot afford to buy them all an expensive dinner.   Consider:

1. A movie in your house where you serve unlimited store-bought chips, salsa, popcorn, water and cupcakes.
2. Inviting few of your friends to an inexpensive restaurant that you can afford e.g. the $13 all-you-can-eat buffets.
3. Catered dinner in a reserved room at a restaurant - You can get a really good deal this way.
4. Store-bought Dessert, Tea and Games in your house.
5. The typical Naija “get-together”  in your Mum’s basement with Jollof rice, dodo, meat, soda, water, puff-puff and lots of laughter.

I once shared this concern with friend of mine who went to high school in the US. She responded saying that this method of going Dutch was the “American Way” and that I will become desensitized to it after a while.  11yrs + in the US, it still bothers me, and the perpetrators come across as cheap in my books.

A group of friends coming together to “treat/celebrate” their celebrant friend is a different case altogether.  I have no problem with that. Infact I engage in it often.  A group of friends hanging out and going dutch is bonding. It is acceptable. Everyone should do that.   But the celebrant sending an invitation and expecting guests to sponsor the “bash” is unacceptable in my opinion!

 
How do you feel about this? Please share.