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.

Indoor Activity

Ah, the COVID-19-pandemic-social distance-bandwagon. As you might already know, the lock down here in Nigeria has been extended for two more weeks and people, my sister inclusive, are going bonkers. I, on the other hand, am thriviiiing! Oh, the joys of being an introvert. Sigh.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy hanging out with my handful of friends a whole lot. But I enjoy staying indoors even more. The stress of looking for what to wear, ordering a cab and having to direct the driver to my location AND destination when Google maps decides to go gaga, which is more often than not, and then the icing on the cake, getting stuck in traffic. Nope.

Back to the lock down. After a few days of lying in bed and being a bum all day, abi all week (mehn I've lost track of what day each day is), I thought to myself, coupled with working from home, why not use this opportunity to get fit like you've been meaning to do since forever. (Remember my 21 days cleanse? Yep, the diet bit didn't happen, and although I have a few solid reasons why, giving excuses just won't cut it.)

Fast forward to three weeks later, I have been sweating it out in the morning four times a week (jogging inclusive, before some dumb dumbs decided to ruin that for me), used the cash I would have probably spent a couple of times on Uber, work lunches or at the salon to stock up on veggies, high-fibre and high-protein meal options, fruits, and most of all (which is a huge deal for me because white bread, pastries and I are pretty much soulmates), I am staying as far away as possible from refined and high-carb foods. Plus I have been drinking so much water I feel like an elephant, coupled with the fact that my bladder is the size of a peanut.

 

That's right. Your girl don vex!
App: Fitify

But boy, was it a struggle to find healthy food sources. Markets are obviously closed and the usual food service vendors are either expensive (the lock down comes with inflation of course) or aren't delivering meals to my area. Good thing I'm a Google pro cause I found a couple of Nigerian food market websites that sell just what I needed - shout out to Deeski, Supermart and Organichaive. I even hooked a few people up cause that's how I roll *wink* Plus, a friend @ujusdelight who bakes one of the yummiest loaves of banana bread I have ever had, was kind enough to help me buy a huge bunch of bananas and send them over. Bless her heart.
Hmm, it's ironic how some businesses are actually making more sales this period. One man's poison is certainly another man's meat.

When life hands you lemons, you sometimes realize how good you are at making lemonade. I mean, lazy-ass-foodie-me actually getting up in the morning to work out for nothing less than 30 minutes AND sticking to an actual diet?  Shocker!
Point to note, eating right and being active isn't just about losing weight. It's about GETTING and STAYING healthy. So please, don't ask me what weight I am trying to lose. Even though yes, I am gunning for a few abs. A girl needs to upgrade biko.

As much as I love my indoor-me-time, I certainly look forward to all this coming to an end. And I can't wait to see the positive impact it will make. Perhaps working from home will be a thing? Seeing as I am still as efficient as hell working from my couch and not at my desk. *shrug*

Until then, I'll be here, braless...and sipping on my lemonade.

This too shall pass mate. CheerZ.

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.

21 Days...Or More

Sometimes, we just need a cleanse.
A cleanse from social media.
A cleanse from unhealthy food.
A cleanse from well, people. Or that particular person.

Sometimes, we just need a break from all three.

Hearing about Kobe Bryant and his daughter's death last night just gave me yet another reason to go offline for a while.
I try my hardest to steer clear from bad news as much as possible, but social media harbours a lot of depressing news it chokes me.
I long for the days when I couldn't be bothered about FOMO. And the more I long for those days, the more I find myself drawing closer to that decision of pressing the brakes on my social media accounts.
One of the few reasons I am yet to do that is the irking reactions I will get from people.
'Are you okay?'
'Who are you running from?'
'Na wa oh! Someone can't reach you again?'

But I have decided my answers to these three 'pertinent' questions, which I will respond to like clockwork every single time *smirk*
'Sure, why not? I am just off social media, not dying from cancer, sweetie.'
'My imaginary stalker ex ex ex ex boyfriend. Duh.'
'Errr, hunny, you can text AND call, no?'

Nah. I won't be THAT mean, 'cause I know more than half of these folks actually do care.
But yeah, you get my drift.

Taking a break from food is loooong overdue. I mean, y'all know how much Kiki loves her food.
But I need this. Not just for now, but to make it a lifestyle. Your girl's gotta get her abs on!
So, coupled with my diet plan, I will hit the gym twice a week - Tuesdays and Thursdays to be precise, and jog every Saturday (so help me God).

And then the most important of all, The Human Cleanse. No long story here, seeing as we've all probably been in this situation before.
Like, you know when you know you are getting  a tad bit too attached to someone (whom you really shouldn't) and you need to take a step or two back? And it's not cause the person isn't good per say, but cause you need your headspace to be in the right place to make things work effortlessly between you guys.
Yep.
Call this more like a mental cleanse. I am a loner. Being on my lonesome is when I thrive the most.
I need to remind myself that I still have that 'amazing' trait. That I can handle not talking to this person every single day and maintain that 'mental balance', for lack of a better term.
And to answer your 'question', nope, it's not a romantic relationship. Baby girl is still singu to stupor...for now *wink*

That being said, expect my 'Cleanse Report' in 21 days people. Wish me luck.

PS: Happy 4th Blogiversary to me *blows out candle*
And Happy 63rd Birthday Mamma Mia! *blows kiss*

A Dozen Reasons To Remember You

I am pretty giddy about this write up because it 'delves' into an integral part of my childhood memories that featured an INTEGRAL human in my life. My dad :)

I can't count how many times I have gushed to a few of my friends about some things my dad used to do and say, and they would be like, 'Your dad was so tush. So what happened to you?'
*rolls eyes* Na dem sabi. Lol.
But then, I totally agree. (not with the fact that I am razz oh. Well, I am kinda razz.) We actually had and still have a nickname for my dad, which is 'Oyibo-Wey-Miss-Road'.
It's funny because he literally grew up in his home town, the village even, and yet, he displayed so many mannerisms that made people think he was one of who we now call the 'I-Just-Got-Back' folk. And the most endearing thing was that it was not a façade in ANY way, which is one of the many reasons people were fond of him.

I often say this - I praise my dad this much not because I am biased, but because he was a genuinely lovely man, a very rare type if I may add. And yes, I do miss him every single day...I've even got tears in my eyes as I type this. But nope, this isn't a sappy write up so let me get on with it.

Alrighty. Here's a little background story on how I decided on this post. A new friend of mine and I were having one of our oddly stimulating yet silly conversations about why I like Nesquik, and food in general of course. Then a light bulb came on in my head - and here we are.

So here's a dozen things that remind me of my pop :)

1. Nesquik Chocolate Drink
Dad used to buy this as a random treat. My siblings and I always looked forward to it, and of course we scooped more than we were supposed to. Oh, the thick yumminess! *licks lips*

2. Old Spice After Shave
Ah, the fragrance of Old Spice after shave that lingered everywhere he went. I can still picture how he used to stand in front of the bathroom mirror and dab it on his chin and neck.

3. Lindt Mini Chocolates
I remember how often my dad used to come back from his trips to Europe with boxes of Lindt mini chocolates. Luckily for me, a few months ago, a colleague-turned-friend of mine was travelling to Switzerland on an official trip, and the only thing I asked for was a box of chocolates - Lindt to be precise.

4. Fubu. Fila. New Balance. 
Dad was a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers typa guy, with the occasional baseball cap. So you can imagine how many sneakers he had lined up in his bedroom. But the thing is, they were more often than not either Fubu, Fila (remember them?) or New Balance brands. Perhaps there were others but I honestly can't recall seeing them. I would have loved to ask him why, just out of curiosity.

5. Lion Chocolate Bar

My dad was a pro at indulging our sweet tooth, and buying us Lion chocolate bars was one of his many ways of doing that. Yep. Mum gave up trying to stop him eventually.

6. Polaroids
He loved capturing every moment in pictures. I can't count how many polaroid cameras dad had talk less of how many pictures of us he took with them. And I am mighty glad he did, because I get to relive those memories over and over again.

7. Postcards
Because of the nature of his job, which was with the United Nations, he travelled a whole lot. And when he did he always, and I mean ALWAYS sent each of us postcards from wherever he was at the time. Not to forget the fact that his handwriting was so pretty.
NB: I desperately need to rummage through a truck load of my possessions to find some of the postcards he sent me over a decade ago. It's only ideal that I post a picture of one or two of them on here, no?

8. Casio watches
I was a sucker for male watches in secondary school. Reason why I often borrowed a few of my male friends' just cause I liked how the watches hung over my wrist due to the obvious fact that they were too big for me.
So when my dad passed, I claimed one of his old Casio watches as mine and wore it for the longest time, even though the battery was dead and gone. 

9. Pringles
My siblings and I had favorite colors when we were little and dad used to buy pretty much everything for us in those colors, including Pringles!
The first time we ever tasted them, we each got one large sized pack.
My sister loved the color red so he bought her the original flavor. My eldest brother was a fan of blue and that was the salt and vinegar flavor. My immediate elder brother's favourite colour was green, which was the onion flavor, while mine was yellow so I got the cheese flavor.
I remember the slogan written on the seal, 'Once you pop, you can't stop!' That was literally what happened to all of us, even though we tried our best not to finish it all in one day. Epic fail.

10. Olympics and World Cup
We had a "ritual" when we all sat in front of the TV and watched the games with my dad. 

He often explained the technicalities of each sport, who was the current champion and tales of when he used to play tennis back in the day.

There he is, the dude seated on the extreme right :)

Once, he was in Australia in the year 2000 during the Olympic games in Sydney, and he got us all 'Sydney 2000' branded t-shirts.

Our favorite moment was when he got up to sing the anthem along with the American team (He studied in Michigan State University for his master's degree, just incase you are wondering. Lol.) and how energetic he got whenever Nigeria was competing. My mum on the other hand used to "cry" anytime a goal keeper of the losing team didn't catch the ball because she always felt sorry for him.

My most memorable World Cup was France 1998, the season when I had a massive crush on Batistuta. Lmao. Good ol' times!

11. Coins and Stamps
Yep. Dad was a coin  and stamp collector, or in other words, a numismatist and philatelist. He travelled a lot so you can guess how this hobby came about. The big sis has since carried the torch and has all his collections in her 'custody', which surprisingly led to her being featured in the November Forbes Africa Collectors' Edition. I know! Pretty cool, huh?

12. Heineken
My dad's M.O. was to sneak up on us anytime he came back from one of his trips. Of course mum was in on this ALL the time and we NEVER got tired of it...or even suspected it.
But there was this one time we got back from school and found cans of Heineken in the fridge, and that was a giveaway that dad was going to be home anytime soon.
Of course my uncle and aunt that lived with us then tried to derail our discovery but ko le werk!

Funny enough, we were still uber excited and squealed as usual when we saw him at the front door with his arms opened wide to give each of us a bear hug. And not to forget, the truckload of goodies waiting for us in all his luggages *big grin*

On that note, thank you for allowing me to take you a little bit down memory lane. I feel pretty happy that I did. The perfect post to end the year  :)

Until next time mi amigos, feliz navidad y prospero ano nuevo! (Google is your friend)

Sidetrack: Chei God, it would be nice if you gave me a Spanish or Italian 'boyfriend-cum-husband' as my Christmas present oh! Just saying sha...

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