SWEET APOLOGIES

I am sorry i haven't put up the dessert pictures. Techincal difficulties are to blame. will get it sorted ASAP!

FOOD! YOU MURDERER!!

I was moseying happily through the mall with my mom when I inadvertently nearly killed her thanks to the subject of food, my true love. How? Allow me to begin at the beginning.

 I hadn’t eaten anything yet that day and it was almost 3pm so naturally I was tired. As you may or may not know, I am a food fiend! I just love grub, but, that doesn’t mean that I eat all the time. It’s a bit ironic that I love food so much but eat very little of it. I’m not one of those people who get up in the morning, showers, gets ready and has breakfast. I skip the eating part.

 Honestly, I don’t think I’ve eaten a breakfast “BREAKFAST” in years. I just don’t and if I’m busy during the day, I may not bother to get up and eat something till maybe 2 or 3pm or later. Of Corse I drink water and keep my fluids up. The thing is: When I am not thinking about food, I am literally NOT thinking about  it in any way, shape or form, I hardly feel hungry as such.

So, how does all this have to do with me trying to murder my number one hero?

 Well, being the Africans that we are, taking care of people around us is important, we are very hospitable and being Nigerian, hospitality is paramount, especially offering greeting people with food the minute they arrive at your doorstep and so on.

Mom commented on how I was looking so tired and I said I hadn’t eaten anything yet and wasn’t even hungry “HUNGRY”. Naturally, she chided me for not getting something to eat to which I said, I am not really in a food eating mood. I confessed that I feel bad sometimes when a friend visits and it takes me more than the record time of oh, 2 seconds to shove some food in their face!

I’m used to friends who come in make themselves at home; the fridge is your oyster so to speak, take whatever.

Then she hinted that I had better not do that with my husband, and there it was! The bait, I fell for it hook, line and sinker. My flippant response was:

 “well, my husband must know that I am his wife, not a cook”

 And that, my friends, is how I nearly killed my hero. The shock on her face was followed by eerie silence. I thought she was going to keel over or drop right there!  I cursed the day I didn’t go for the free CPR lessons!

I don't understand how food, my great love, got me in this mess. You see, in our culture, as a wife and woman, no matter what, you have to serve your husband diligently and with respect, which I believe in. I don’t think most African men are necessarily helpers in the domestic sense but they do work hard so we should do our best for them.

Obviously, my point of view showed that I plan to “starve my darling, hardworking husband to death some day”

I respect our customs and traditions and I am not looking to flout them, I am not on a mission to disregard the way things had been done before my time.

Trying to explain didn’t help. I think I dug my grave further by saying

“if I was a housewife who didn’t have hectic hours then yeah, sure, why not? But if I was working and all, then sorry, I can’t do that….. all the time, wife doesn’t equal domestic help”

This time, I invoked a look of pity and maybe a hint of shame. One of those “where did I go wrong with this child” sort of looks. The disparity in our generations cannot be over emphasised and both sides can’t come to terms with either’s definition of the status quo.

You can trust that things got awkward for a few moments after that. File this under SNAFU

From my world with love,

R.J.  

LIFE'S HARD DECISIONS

In this life, there are many decisions that we must make in order to move forward. For instance, should I get married to this person, or should I move to another country, should I go to university and study this or that, should I take my umbrella today? All these questions are important in order to do some things and move to the next stage. But for me, one question plagues my mind always, and that is :

“does that restaurant have a robust dessert menu”?

That is one question that ranks high on my list. I actually pick restaurants based on the dessert menu. I do my homework, I check online before heading out. I don’t care if they can make a rabbit into a duck with some magic sauce….yawn*  not impressed till I see the dessert.

It’s a terrible habit that I’m trying to break because sometimes I miss out on great cuisine.  I visited a restaurant with loved ones the other day and I was in dessert heaven. Pictures coming soon

From my world with love,

R.J.

SNAFU

The word SNAFU is an acronym for  “situation normal: all fouled up". It’s a well-known military slang. It indicates that something has gone wrong but that’s just the normal way it should be, so wrong is right, if that makes sense. I just love using it when describing a stitch up or a messed up situation because it sounds as interesting and as jumbled as the situation I could be trying to describe even if its not normal.

The other day, I was speaking to a loved one when I made a comment that didnt quite hit the mark. To be honest, it wasn’t anything serious but during a conversation, the moment you say the wrong or awkward thing, it’s a bit hard to bring the other person back around to when they were enjoying it. I’ll confess that “sometimes” I’m a champion at creating awkward instances because I have a skewed sense of humour and I just can’t resist giving in to it even though there is the off chance the next person might not get it. Get it?  

So for me, it was just another day at the office; saying something that comes out awkward but wasn’t intended to be. Situation normal: all f*cked up!

from my world with love

R.J

LOOKING UP!

Tonight, i was walking through the city and as i waited at a pedestrian crossing, I looked up. for the first time on that intersection, i took a moment to look up and i saw a beautiful set of white and blue lights that had been nicely arranged across the tram lines, like a cobweb of sorts hovering over the entire intersection. I feel bad that i didnt have a camera on me.

The truth is, the lights arent the most beautiful thing i had ever seen, the point is that i had never for once taken a second to look up and see what was there. I, along with most other people are just looking straight ahead, tryin to get to our destination. there were buildings that i could have sworn didnt look quite like that until i took a second look. It's interesting how many things we miss when we dont take a moment to appreciate what's around us.

 So next time when you are walking along in a city or where ever, take a second look, just make sure you're nowhere near where you could get hit by a car or horse and carriage or a bus or bicycle! yes tha can actually happen, i have been hit by a bicycle once, when i lived in East Africa.......however, that is a whole other story for another day



from my world with love
R.J

ISN'T SHE LOVELY!

Today is my sister's birthday and she is turning 21! The big 2 1 ! So weird how time flies; It feels just like yesterday when she was in high school and was feeling too cool for school! lol. But in all honesty my sister is one of my favourite people in the whole world; we joke and laugh and usually find the same things hilarious and for some weird reason we could laugh for longer than normal over the same ol thing.

She has grown up to be a very admirable young woman with an amazing pure heart and lovely attitude to match. Always optimistic and open to try and make an effort. I wish I could be more like that, but ah whatever, I’m already too old and set in my ways, too bad.

We had such a blast living together and I remember making fun of her for being such an environmentalist and nature lover. I may or may not have almost reported her to green peace for not recycling that one time! Aaaaah those were the fun times. Anyhow happy birthday girl and I wish you good health, long life, prosperity and may God be with you always. I love you

 From my world with love,

R.J

Ps: if you ever read this, reply your text messages lazy-o

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

As you may already know, I am a decor lover. And not just the uber expensive and out of reach beautiful items, but very inspiring use of everyday items. Here are some of the cool stuff Ive come across while trolling the internet.

the hair dryer chandelier; i was pleasantly surprised when i saw this,how genious and unique, yet inexpensive(to make, i suppose) all at the same time!

this  lamp shade made of sunglasses reminds me of something James Bond would have in his lair! so smooth and baddass.  it probably morphs into a machine gun or a bulletproot glass shield or something! lol, all in my mind

And then there were the bottles! i am pretty sure there all sorts of DIYs on youtube on how to make these cool fixtures but for now, I am just happy to stare and appreciate

 These wine bottles are especially cool because it looks like fireflies. i guess the cables are run through the bottle and under the table to a power source.

and lastly, the cutlery fixture! its so cool, they are all sterling silver. I cant imagine how many sets of cutlery this would have taken

From my world with love!

R.J