A New (Foodie) Revolution

Presenting, The Foodie Diary IGTV Series!

Follow me on my journey towards ticking out several #PlacesToEat on my to-do list. 

PS: Each episode will feature a snippet of a #SongAboutFood (or simply put - a song that has food in its title) for obvious reasons. *wink*

Go follow @thewittyingenious and watch the first episode. 

You're welcome *grins*

The Foodie Diary - 29th October 2020

Dear Nigerian Youth,

It's been one hell of a month hasn't it? No need to recall the heart wrenching happenings, most especially on the 20th of October, because I believe you, like myself, have had more than enough of that. Plus, the only way forward is well, forward.

So you know what to do come 2023 people! #EndBadGovernance ️ #VoteWisely 

With that being said, as you may already know, asides from listening to music, I turn to food therapy to relieve myself of stress.

No thanks to the buzzkill that is COVID-19, my girls and I haven't been out for brunch in forever. So a few days ago, I said, 'F%$k it! Let's do this bishes!' 

Well, not exactly those words but you get my drift. 

I recently discovered this brunch restaurant called Cafeteria. Apparently, I'm a LASTMA cause my friends had been there a few times on separate occasions.
I'm a sucker for having breakfast at anytime of the day (oh, how I love me some Denny's) so this option was perrrrfect for me.

Yep. This was definitely us.

As usual, I had gone through the menu on their Instagram page and decided on what I'd order before we even got there.

After bouncing back and forth on the menu for hours on end, I finally opted for the Prawn Pesto Melt and washed it down with some Caramel Vanilla Milk Tea.

All that yummy goodness on one table.

And the best part of this brunch was we didn't pay a dime. Sigh. Relassed and taken kiaruf. 

Mission accomplished.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Hey. How are you?

Really...how are you?

Me? I'm good, I guess. Even though it's been a roller coaster of emotions these past few months. Some of my loved ones have lost loved ones due to the virus and it hit hard. But pushing through it all is all we can and all we will do.

Lass lass, we go dey alright.

I even had a COVID-19 scare and got tested a few days ago. But like I said, I dey alright. All thanks to God.

Enough with the disheartening intro. On to more uplifting things in my dictionary. Yep. Food baby!

As is the usual norm, your girl was craving something she couldn't afford and it was all she could think of eating for the loooongest time since the lock down started. What was that, you ask? One of her many edible weaknesses - a Toasties sandwich. 

So today, she decided to try her luck, soliloquize on her WhatsApp status, and hope for the best. 

Faith *nods*

And a light of hope shone on her in the form of a former course mate whom she hasn't even seen since they graduated in 2011! 

Brothers and sisters, never underestimate who God can use to bless you oh! Yes, this is a testimony. I'm extra like that.

Fast forward to 6 hours later...(because apparently, delivery service providers in 9ja still get stuck in traffic even though they use motorcycles. Wonderment.)

Behold, the Egg and Steak Toastie, coated with feta cheese, tatashe, tomatoes, caramelized onions 

and pesto.

I ordered a side of fried plantains for that extra touch.

Fam, you'd never understand until you take a bite 🤤

Satisfaction Guaranteed.

The Foodie Diary - February 2020

I know, I know. Your girl's been MIA for far too long.
Pardon me jare. Na so life be. Urgh...'adulting' is such a scam fam.

Anyhu (or like the Irish will say, 'Anyroadup'), this is yet another page in my Foodie Diary and this time, we are going Western. Nope, not cowboy-western. I'm talking about the western part of my motherland, Nigeria - Yorubaland.

Background story: I ate amala (otherwise known as cassava flour) for the first time in boarding school. It was the first school night and that was an option in the menu for dinner, along with eba (which never changed during my six years in high school by the way). So I thought to myself, let me give this black dish a try.
And boy, oh boy did I hate it. It tasted as ugly as it looked. Tueh.

Many years later, 19 years to be exact, several friends and acquaintances have tried their best to make me give the taste-test another go, seeing as I am quite adventurous when it comes to food and including the fact that judging the taste of food made in a boarding house was denying the dish the right to an objective jury.

So I decided I was going to take my chance on it again, and what better place than to eat it in the Land of Amala itself - Ibadan.
A colleague-turned-friend of mine was getting married in that city on the 15th of February, and I ordered it with some ewedu soup at the wedding reception.

My verdict? Fast-forward to a few weeks later. I'm back in Lagos and another colleague-turned-friend who had just bought herself a new car asked me what I wanted for lunch to celebrate. Yep. I asked for amala. After 19 whole years, I finally caved.

On our road trip back to Lagos on the 16th of February, we stopped by the roadside to buy some foodstuff for our beloved ones at home (because God forbid, you travel out of town and not come back with a bag of goodies). In other news, the bananas we bought were huuuge...and flippin' cheap!

Anyroadup (blame it on the Irish novel I am currently engrossed in), one of my colleagues kept calling out to some traders asking for dodo ikire.  I was curious cause I had never heard of it before. And then I saw what it looked like, and of course I became even more curious.

Side note: Spot the Irish novel I was talking about. Since February, I know. I'm not a slow reader...just been a lazy one of recent.

Apparently, it's overripe plantain fried with palm oil, salt and pepper. Hmm, interesting. And it didn't taste bad either!

So basically, this was my Ibadan food experience- 'The Weekend Of Black Colored Food Tasting' or something of the sort (this was the best I could come up with. Forgive me)

P.S: I know you're wondering what's become of my 21 Day Cleanse. Imma get back to you on that preeeettttty soon.

The Foodie Diary - May - August 2019

My plan was to post this on the 31st of August so at least there would've been something new on the blog for that month. But then my table got swamped with lotsa work and you know, 'adulting' happens sometimes.
Anyhu, we move!

Alrighty! I'll be kicking this month off with another round of pretty much the best section of the blog. Yep. Y'all 'guessed' right...it's the Foodie Diary! Ayyyy! *doing the Milly rock*

In the past three months, I have consumed quite a number of yummy meals and here they all are on a virtual platter. Bon appetit!

24th - 31st May

24:05:2019 - Chocolat Royale

This was pay day, aka 'Treat yo'self day' because #YOLO

25:05:2019 - Bread Lounge

A random Saturday brunch out with the girls.

This frozen chocolate latte was the ish. Just the RIGHT amount of coffee and chocolate.

25:05:19 - The Warehouse Kitchen

At my colleague-turned-friend's send forth.

The shrimp pasta tasted so good, I was legit traumatized when it finished. *sniff*

21st - 27th June

21:06:19 - Chocolat Royale

One of the few days my (again) colleagues-turned-friends and I hung out after work. Reason being it was an all-expense paid dinner courtesy of Bode B. *big grin*

Tutsie's dish...

Bode B's...

BluBlu's (The Pasta Queen of course)...

And yours truly :)

Downed mine down with this oh-so-filling mango smoothie.

You can never go wrong with a mango drink IMO.

26:06:19 - Sooyah Bistro

Ain't nobody going to tell me nothing about not going back to get me more of this suya burger.

I had no idea how I ate it all without taking even one picture of it. It was THAT good guys.

27:06:2019 - Roma

Background story:

So I helped a very good friend of mine design a logo for his start-up. And when he got his first client he offered to take me out as a 'thank you' gesture. 

This was my first time here, thanks to him, cause I never even knew it existed.

We shared this platter but I'm pretty sure I ate much more than he did (obvs).

One of THE best platters I have had in a long time. And don't get me started on those chicken nuggets.

6th - 11th July

06:07:19 - Soso's Residence

BluBlu and I went visiting our 'sister', SoSo.

Girl served us some good ol' banga soup and eba. *licks fingers*

11:07:19 - Smokey Bones

I passed an exam in one sitting and this was a celebratory meal courtesy of my friend.

Yet another free meal. Who no like AWOOF? *hehe*

This comprised of pork ribs, potato salad, plantain and a cup cake of some sort (for some weird reason I can't remember what it's called) and a bottle of fresh juice, all for a very affordable price. 

Quite impressive for a restaurant located on the island.

14th - 28th Aug

Most of you guys will know by now that my birthday was last month. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary that day, so I decided to take some days off the following week to give myself a well deserved treat. And when I say treat, you know food HAS to be involved.

14:08:19 - ColdStone Creamery

I have been meaning to try this Freak Shake for over a year, and I just had to include it on my 

'To Eat' list.

People kept staring at me at the restaurant cause it was so huge! 

Fun fact: One of the perks of being a skinny foodie is that you get to eat humongous amounts of food in public without feeling any ounce of guilt.

Yep. Score!

15:08:19 - Bread Lounge

One of the treats I gave myself was a massage and facial session at Indy Spa. 

And then this meal was bought right afterwards. #Bliss 

16:08:19 - The Warehouse Kitchen

We planned yet another send forth for yet another colleague-turned-friend of mine that same week.

Puuurfect timing.

BluBlu channeling her inner Salt Bae.

21:08:19 - Michelle's Cafe

Faaam! This burrito blew my taste buds away! It was so heavenly! *weeps tears of joy*

I actually had to check out the chef's page on Instagram and duff my hat to her on there.

23:08:19 - Breakfast King

Like a friend of mine called it - 'Pap that went to London'

For just 500 naira. PERE! 

This has more often than not been my go-to breakfast at work since then.

Worth every 'penny'.

 28:08:19 - Sosa's Patisserie

I present to you, the best chocolate chip banana bread in the Lagos Metropolis. 

FYI, this was baked by my 'sister' who made that bangin' banga soup. And nope, this is not a sponsored nor a bias review guys. True story.

 Just take a look at all that yumminess... 

*drools*

NB: A freelance photographer, Adeniyi, approached me at a wedding in May and asked me to have a photo shoot session at Elegushi beach so he could add the pictures to his portfolio. Luckily for me, it was done a week before my birthday! So you could say it was pretty much a birthday photo shoot...for FREEEE! *big grin*

Here's a sneak peek :)

You can check out more of his work on Instagram - @deniiyi

Blogiversary: Season 3 Finale

Oh wow. I have been at this for three years? Feels good to know I still have a tenacious bone in my body to have kept up with this 'project'. Again, all thanks to the sis for literally forcing me to begin.

Yes, I do agree that I have been in a bit of a writer's block type of situation for a couple of weeks now  (three months to be precise).

Urgh. Who am I kidding? Let me start off the year with honesty. I have been too LAZY to post for three months cause I was feeling like a bum for no exact reason. So I have got three months worth of content to post on here between today and the end of the month. Sigh.

I will kick that off with my 're-trip' to Dubai during the Christmas holidays. (A 're-trip' because the first time was NOT a vacation that I hoped nor planned for. Story for a whole other day, my friends.)

Seeing as I still do feel like a bum, I'll let the visuals do the talking...or in this case, the typing.

And of course, we start off with...FOOD. :)

Breakfast...Every. Single. Day.

Meet Sir Benedict. *licks lips*

On Christmas Day...

First serving...

Second serving...

And of course, dessert.

To cap it up, here's my first (and last) attempt at eating sushi. *tueh*

Yaaaay! Santa! :D

#ChristmasLunchAtTheMarriot

And the view from the top of the hotel?

Clear skies and elegant buildings.

Simply beautiful.

Refuel meal...cause the waka wey we waka ehn...

                                                                                                                                                                   

 

                                                                    

   I just HAD to get me some! 

#MidnightSnack 

On to the 'adventures' *rubs palms together*

First off, Dubai Parks and Resorts.

LEG(G)O!!! 

So darn creative! #TheLEGODubaiFountain

And a little souvenir :)

Next stop! #Motiongate

(Disclaimer: That wasn't me singing in the background. I promise)

OMG. This ride??? Let's just say I almost peed my pants. 

*sigh* I could live here FOREVER.

This was soooo much fun! I felt like such a kid! #KungFuPanda

The World's LARGEST indoor theme park??? Yes please! 

#IMGWorldsOfAdventure

Pictures cannot do justice to what we experienced in there. 

But this video should...

Yeup...we did THAT! #Thor

But of COURSE! #SplishSplash! :D

Unfortunately, we couldn't (or rather wouldn't) take pictures with our phones because even though they are water resistant, we still have trust issues. 

Dear Samsung and Apple, it's not you. It's us. Trust me.

Tourist mode...

The Infamous Ibn Battuta Mall 

All shades of magnificent #IBM

The Dubai tourist ritual. Cause you can't visit the Dubai Mall and not take a picture (or better still a video) of this work of art. 

#TheDubaiMallWaterfall

#TheDubaiCreekBoatCruise

All of the LIGHTS! #BurjKhalifa #CountdownToNewYear'sEve

Just relaaaax...

...and chill

Been a minute! 

 Happy feet :) 

#iLoveMeSomeWhiteNailPolish

The #ThreeMusketeers #TravelBuddies

In other newssss...

Who do we have here?! 

#FAMBAM! *wide grin*

#TheSister #TheBrotherInLaw and #TheNiblings came thruuuuu!!!!

That's pretty much it folks!

Next post coming up in...(to be honest, I have NO clue)