Manchester United!! #20 Times #Champions #EPL

I'm not a football fan per se, i can stand to watch it and enjoy the thrills for a bit though but not the whole 90mins +. I got introduced to Manchester United by my 1st bf and i have stuck with the team ever since. We won the English Premier League and i can proudly say i watched most of the match..lol. It feels good to belong to a team that is used to winning i must say, so i can rock my jersey (courtesy my S/O) proudly! : D. I'm also happy for Van Persie who just moved from Arsenal to Man U and is gonna get to finally lift the cup and i hear will get a Guard of Honor (whatever that is) from his former teammates. I know football and loyalty have a lot in common and people have been given the guy pain over changing teams so i'm glad for him! i'm not a fan of Arsenal from the jist i hear about them selling their players,not buying new players, etc. I shall not start a debate on that sha, anyways i don't blame the guy for moving to the winning team. UP Man U!!! loool. Toodles!XooX

The 3six5ng Wordpress Blog

Hey guys. Here's the link to my the3six5ng post. http://the3six5ng.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/march-11-2013-tamiko-adyms/ I'll do an update of how the rest my day went after i put up the post. Also feel free to Sign up and put up a post or just read and enjoy the posts there. Here's the link to the main site, http://the3six5ng.wordpress.com/

you can check the 'About' part under the Menu section for more details. The blog is trying to capture 365 perspectives of 365 different and divers Nigerians.so enjoy!! Toodles!XooX

Yogurberry!! (Frozen Yoghurt)

My new Yogurt spot in Abuja. Frozen youghurt with toppings. It is located on the same street as Jevenik Resturant. Bangui Street off Adetokunbo Ademola.Try the Oreo Toppings!i had the blueberry and vanilla flavours with Oreo and apple toppings,yummy & loved it.Toodles!XooX

My Dairy saved me Money!!

Today started on a pretty good note. I was in a much better mood than yesterday when it seemed all possible forces were working against me *sigh. My friend Ishaya Bako won the 2013 AMAA award for Best Documentary 'Fuelling Poverty' (you can check it out on YouTube) and he had a lil get together to celebrate this. I'm extremely proud of him and i tell him every chance i get. My mood improved during the party as i did not want to carry a long face and my Significant Other was making it a task to cheer me up (i love my man so much!!). Anyways, back to today, so i woke up in a chipper mood, got things done and i was ready for work before time, i had breakfast and decided, since i had time to spare, to do some pending money transfers. I was supposed to send N50,000 to someone as payment for the purchase of some items. I love to multitask!. makes me feel like a superwoman, and i had done enough online transfers to count this as just another one. I put the phone on speaker and spoke to my colleague while i went ahead to initiate the transfer on my phone, i was done in a matter of minutes (i am one of those people that maximizes all of the functions my Blackberry phone has to offer, E-mail,Twitter,Facebook,Foursquare,Whatsapp,etc.). I get an alert on my phone about the transfer and WAIT! WTF!! do mine eyes deceive me!!! THAT IS NOT THE PERSON I TRANSFERRED MONEY TO O!!MO GBE!!! God please let this sms be an error. My mind is screaming as i try not to panic and hurriedly open my online banking site, deep down i knew i had clicked on the wrong beneficiary details. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!!!OH GOD!! Just when my day was going so good. The page opens and i enter full panic mode as it confirms to me what i just saw in the text, i had sent the money to the wrong person and that wasn't even the main cause of my panic, it was the unfamiliar name and acct no. that drove me nuts! Lemme slow down here and do a lil explaining, i hate Nigerian Banks! the queues,customer service, etc. I avoid it as much as humanly possible, i only go when i absolutely have to make deposits or online banking is down and i have an urgent transfer to make. That said, i tell whoever i want to send money to to provide a GTbank account 'cos its easier than NEFT Transfers which is to other accounts and requires more info. Okay, so thanx to all these past transfers i have done, i have unfamiliar names and accounts in my stored beneficiary details and because i wasn't paying attention, i did not know that i had selected the beneficiary just above the person i wanted to send money too and i did the same breeze-through while typing in my token details. I started thinking of the next course of action to get my money back. I called GTBank connect (prompt response btw) and after verifying my identity, the lady told me i could not get my money back except the beneficiary sends it back to my account because online transfers are instant. The most she could do was send a mail to the persons branch informing them of the mistake and to contact the person or something like that...i just phased out and started thinking of another way out after she sed they could not reverse the money. I started cracking my head for who had sent me the Acct no. after calling a no. of people about the no. to no good news. I called my significant other to tell him, he could hear the panic in my voice and that i was at the verge of tears. He told me not to panic, that it'll be fine and he'd try to make some calls. I believed him and calmed down and prayed to God that my money would not enter voicemail as no be chicken change. After i calmed down i was able to think, i opened my online banking site and opened my transaction log, i was able to trace the acct name and no., the day i sent money to that account and how much i sent. This was where i was grateful to God that i keep a physical diary.

I have had a diary for as long as i can remember, i had those fancy organizers in JSS1 before graduating to diaries in JSS3/SS1. My organizers used to be very detailed when i was much younger but after an episode where the got into the wrong hands, i switched to coding them but even then i would forget the meaning of the code when i wanted to read it. I finally learnt to keep them brief, in tiny writing and pieces of info only i would understand except the parts i wanted to be understood if anyone got their hands on it. I fished out my diary and Jotter of To-do lists and traced the dates i made the payment with the my diary log and to-do list and i was able to trace the person i owed that amount and where i ticked off that i had made the payment on my to-do list. I hurriedly called her and she confirmed she was the one that gave me the account no. I explained the situation to her and she quickly called the guy before he will spend my money thinking its awoof. I was happy to get my money back. Thank God. I am learning to cast my cares on God, Do my best and leave the rest to him, as worrying will not help or add a single moment to my life. It is well.

Toodles!XooX

Revenge of the Rats

I have rats in my compound (if you live in Nigeria, you know rats are not out of the norm), I wonder what the eerie Cats are doing that they have not gotten rid of all of them o!anyways i hate rats! and bugs and all related species. I am not a fan of rat poison and traps tho sadly so i secure my foodstuff, keep my house door closed and leave the cats to rest. Well the rats have had enough of me starving them!! Their revenge? they decided to cart away my sponge into the ceiling and chewed on kicked my electric bulb down on it's way back to the ceiling. i had quite a laugh about the sponge though. I guess it's time to employ stricter measures against them. This is War!!!!! Fumigation time!
Toodles!XooX

Wedding Palava

With all the venom in me I’m writing this, as I am very burnt. Some inexperienced fools made my very close friend’s wedding more or less a flop, to be precise the guests were hot and hungry!

I know people say nothing really matters except the two people getting married but that is a big lie! Except it’s only the bride and groom present with the minister, then by all means it’s all about you. Otherwise, my dear friend, it’s about your guests if you want a successful wedding ceremony. So here are a few key things (which I have observed over the course of all the weddings I have attended/participated in) to make sure are properly sorted out to keep your guests

First things first YOUR GUESTS MUST EAT ON TIME AND MUST NOT BE HOT AND SWEATING.

Planning ahead is the Secret to a successful wedding ceremony. It will keep you from turning into a Bridezilla (Crazy bride) and your guests will have a swell time. Research as much as possible. It really helps. You can ball on a budget. Patience is also very important.

• Budget: Don't overspend,with adequate planning and budgeting, you can v a fun and fab wedding ceremony, honeymoon and marriage thereafter instead of going bankrupt for a 1/2-day ceremony. Also put this in consideration when picking your 'aso-ebi' (family/friends attire) and bridal trains outfits, they will be paying for such items so be easy on theeir pockets as well.
• Coordination: Make sure the important people (Flower girl,groomsmen,bridesmaid,best man,etc) participating in the ceremony are well coordinated and know where and how to meet you on the wedding day. You may choose to have them sleep at your house and transport them to the wedding venue, if otherwise let each person be properly informed so they can plan accordingly.

• Hall: size and temperature has to be put in consideration when picking a hall, it must either have many windows and proper cross-ventilation or enough high powered air-conditioners to cater to your guests and have enough spacing between tables. Test their equipment, don’t just take their word for it.
• Catering/Food: is the most important of all!! The food must have taste at the very least! (Tasteless food is just as bad as no food), it must be properly portioned and come as quickly as possible to meet seated guests. If the caterer is serving small portions of food, a small plate should be used so the guests don’t look at the food as small when looking at it on a huge plate. Depending on the seating arrangements (no. of people you plan for to attend your wedding), you should have a proportional no. of people serving food and it also helps to delegate at least 2-4 trustworthy and mature people from both sides of the family to oversee the catering and direct the servers (before your nicely dressed guests end up doing the serving and washing plates instead of enjoying the ceremony which was the case at this wedding I just got back from). Another way to tackle the food issue is by making small chops (snacks) available on each table, especially those that can be eaten @room temperature such as spring rolls, samosa, meat balls, puff-puff, etc. This will keep guests busy and not too hungry while the bride and groom take pictures and prepare to dance in. Drinks especially water should be made available to all guests and should be chilled.
• MC: This as just as important as the first two, a boring coordinator or MC will kill the crowd’s morale and make your guests leave earlier than planned. Get an MC that can relate to the tribe of both the bride and groom (I once attended a wedding where they spoke Yoruba throughout and the groom and his people were from another tribe and did not understand a word!! not cool!). He/She must be able to carry the guest along and crack cool jokes and basically keep everyone or as many people as possible involved in the event and entertained.
• Seating Arrangement: I cannot emphasize enough how important this is!! You may say it doesn’t work for Nigerian weddings but the truth is you can make it work, just find a way to categorize your guests into groups (colleagues @work, classmates from university, friends of the parents, etc) that they will love to slip into and make the table signs as visible as possible. This will allow conversation to flow during the event, and although some may argue that it will stop the guests from mingling and meeting new people, it should be taken into consideration that some of these people may have been out of touch prior to that day. The most important categories that seats should be reserved for and close to the stage I may add, in my opinion are Bridesmaid & Groomsmen, Bride & Groom’s Family, after these, others can be mingled as the couple wish. Important guests should also be accounted for when preparing seating charts. You can place a long sign with a bold card indicating the different categories, so guests can sight them from afar and fin their places quickly. Ushers can also be given the list of categories so they can help guests to their appropriate table.
• Music/Dancing: I love musc!! Everyone who knows me knows that. lol. That said, you have to do your best to carry all your guests (both young and old) along. For instance I am a Yoruba gal, I intend to play some old school Yoruba and English jamz for the benefit of the parents and elderly people there so they will be motivated to come out and dance with the couple, enjoy themselves and spray money (:D). Up next is me and the youths, we can rock our azonto jamz and go back in time with some naija and international jamz. I intend to have both a band and DJ, you can’t just beat bands @a Yoruba wedding,the beating of the drums, improvised hailing of the couple and their parent, etc. You can make a playlist of songs you want played and the DJ and band can take it from there. You can also spice up the event by choreographing a song with friends for your guests. The guests should have a sensible amount of time to dance with the couple.Some important songs you have to pic are (else you end up dancing to songs you don’t like or know):

        I.            BRIDAL ENTRANCE »

Wedding songs to escort the bride down the aisle

      II.            WEDDING RECESSIONAL »

Music to play as you walk back up the aisle after you take your vows

    III.            BRIDE’S PARENTS ENTRANCE DANCE SONGS » (optional)

Wedding songs to escort the PARENTS and their friends to their seats

    IV.            GROOM’S PARENTS ENTRANCE DANCE SONGS » (optional)

Wedding songs to escort the PARENTS and their friends to their seats

      V.            COUPLE & TRAIN ENTRANCE DANCE SONGS »

Music to play as the couple, bridal train & friends dance into the reception arena

    VI.            CAKE CUTTING SONGS » (optional)

Fun songs to cut your wedding cake to

  VII.            FIRST DANCE SONGS »

Wedding songs to commemorate your first dance as husband and wife

VIII.            FATHER DAUGHTER SONGS »

Popular Father-Daughter wedding dance songs or fun songs to mime to

    IX.            MOTHER DAUGHTER SONGS » (optional)

Chosen fun songs that both of them can dance or mime to

      X.            MOTHER SON SONGS »

Popular Mother-Son wedding dance songs fun songs to mime to

    XI.            FATHER SON SONGS » (optional)

Chosen fun songs that both of them can dance or mime to

  XII.            BOUQUET TOSS SONGS »

These songs will cue the bridesmaids that it's time to vie for the bouquet

XIII.            LAST DANCE SONGS »

End your wedding night with one of these memorable songs

• Order of Photographs: i absolutely love pictures!! Please invest in an experienced/creative ‘wedding’ photographer and try as much as possible to follow the order of photographs you make asides the other random pictures that will be taken before, during and after the ceremony, depending on how you categorize your guests. All guests love to be captured with you after making out time to be there for you and it can be annoying when you don’t get to take pictures with the couple. Delegate a mature person to coordinate the guests to take pics turn by turn as it is most times tricky for the photographer to handle. You can make some printouts of poses you will like to have with your bridesmaid and groomsmen and the photographer can also give his own poses. Its best to leave the pictures with your bridesmaids and groomsmen for last as a lot of different poses may be explored. Run through the order of photographs with the other guest and while they go in you can take your couple poses and with the bridal train. Also bear in mind not to waste too much time and end up keeping your guests waiting. Remember Pictures and Videos are the only physical memories that you will have after that day for future reference.
• Souvenirs: This can be a tricky part because you will be on the high table and can’t oversee that all your guests take home at least one gift. I believe the best way to handle this is to package together the souvenirs meant for every single guest and delegate a trustworthy family member to ensure that all guests get a package. It’s best to start from the seats that are completely filled and flow to the seats that are not filled. Souvenirs are a sort of thank you gift from the couple so it’s always nice when each guest gets something to take home. In my opinion, the best time to share them is after serving food to guests as that’s when majority of the guests will be seated.
• Makeup: It’s your day. You have to look your best, use an experienced/expert ‘wedding’ make-up artist who must have done a trial of the look you desire prior to your wedding day to ensure that you are satisfied with the person’s handwork and you don’t end up looking like a clown, dripping and smeared in makeup. You can also do your makeup yourself (I intend to this) by practicing the look you want daily and months before the wedding to perfect your desired look. If you are doing your makeup yourself you should do a lot of research on products best suited to your skin and for a wedding day. There’s a wealth of information on YouTube and other sites. Dive in, explore and experiment.
• Colors: This may seem trivial but the truth is most couple’s omit this. Be sure to inform your guests in their invites of your colors for the day. Let them know which is your main color and the compliment so they don’t look odd amidst other guests at the ceremony. Some people put 3colors on their invite and you are confused which color to wear for the event.
• Cake: I hate those tiny box cakes!! Especially when I see the couple cutting a massive cake on the stage. Why tease me with this tiny piece in my mouth and that massive one only my eyes can behold?! What do couple do with all that cake after the ceremony? As for me I’m going to have sensibly sized cupcakes served to my guests and they’ll also have the same in a box to take home and I’ll have a three tier cake, one for me and my husband to take home, one for his family and the other for my family. Shikena! No waste and you save money. And if I find a nice looking dummy cake I can put that beside my 3-tier cake for the sake of pics. I once saw a wedding where they had like 21 cakes on the stand!!! (the groom’s mum is a baker but regardless!) and the guests still got the tiny box cakes.

• Video: Wedding videos have been said to revive the love in some marriages when the couple watch it years later and re-live their day. Please invest in a good wedding videographer to capture your wedding and you won’t regret it. You can also do a pre-wedding themed video just for the sake of it. I hope to do this if my fiancé agrees. I want to do our version of Tiwa Savage’s ‘Ife wa gbona’ vid (old skool tins).
• Wedding Rehearsals: Rehearse whatever is routine for that day with the parties involved, so everyone knows their part and no one is lost/confused on that day.
• Backup Plan: Have a backup plan for everything in case of the unexpected! 
• Time: The MC should be mindful of time during the ceremony so you don’t keep the guests for too long. You can continue having fun with those that wish to stay behind after the closing prayers have been said.

Here are some links that you may also want to explore

1. http://info.betransported.com/blog/bid/184880/6-Wedding-Tips-to-Ensure-a-Stress-Free-Wedding-Day
2. http://www.simplybridal.com/pages/typical-wedding-disasters-article
3. http://www.weddingbycolor.com/thirty3thirty/page/2

I hope this helps you in planning your wedding and please know that all the above are my opinions (Nigerian) and don’t have to be followed word for word. You can adapt them and put your own twist on the above. It’s your day afterall. Wish you all the best and a successful wedding ceremony.
Toodles!XooX

My Mother(Mother's Day)

I remember a poem that we were taught in Primary school: 

My Mother

Who sat and watched my infant head

When sleeping on my cradle bed,

And tears of sweet affection shed?

My Mother.

When pain and sickness made me cry,

Who gazed upon my heavy eye,

And wept for fear that I should die?

My Mother.

Who taught my infant lips to pray

And love God’s holy book and day,

And walk in wisdom’s pleasant way?

My Mother.

And can I ever cease to be

Affectionate and kind to thee,

Who wast so very kind to me,

My Mother?

Ah, no! the thought I cannot bear,

And if God please my life to spare

I hope I shall reward they care,

My Mother.

When thou art feeble, old and grey,

My healthy arm shall be thy stay,

And I will soothe thy pains away,

My Mother.

Mum & Dad waaaaayyyy back!

At the end of the poem i remember i would be in a daze for a short moment before the teacher's loud voice would snap me out of it with 'AGAIN!' and the whole class would recite the poem again. How i can recall this memory after so long is beyond me. I was dazed by the words of the song, and how it reflected a mother's love for her child. I have grown to become very  very close to my mother (my twin), we used to be almost enemies at a point in my life, but she put in the effort an energy needed to transform that and i accepted her with arms wide open. We talk about almost everything, she supports me with her prayers, advice and whatever else i need to move ahead in life. I am grateful that God kept her alive and i know it's for my sake. Words are not enough to express the love i feel towards her and my appreciation for the role she has played in holding our family together. I pray God continues to renew her strength and patience and may she live to see very many more years on earth and enjoy the fruits of her labor. I hope and pray that i can always make her smile and happy with the little i have been blessed with. i called her today, and after a long convo about my trip i thanked her from the botttom of my heart and prayed for her,and i told her i love her. At the end we are all human and the feeling/knowledge that you are loved, lights up one's soul. I could hear it in her voice. The call was all she wanted. Iya ni wura iye biye ti a ko le fo wo ra (A mother is invaluable gold that money cannot buy). I listen to Asa's 'mama mi' (i think that's the title) track and these words jump @ me 'E ba mi kira fun mama mi..." (help me and hail/praise my mother). Let us shower our mothers (and fathers) love, while they are still alive and can bask in it, with whatever we have, no matter how little, 'cos it is always appreciated.

Mummy OOOOoooooo e pe laye, e jeun omo. Amin Ase (Mummy, may you live long and eat the fruits of your labor over your children. So shall it be)
Toodles!XooX

Healthy Living/Amateur Cooking II

Moi-moi elewe

Love Nigerian food?!
Wanna learn about them and how to make them?!!
Then totally check out the link below for the top 20 sites and blogs on how to make Nigerian food. I have gone to quite a number of them and tried out their recipes and got great results!! I'm sure u'll enjoy them.

http://www.femmelounge.org/womenwhocook-20-nigerian-food-bloggers-we-love/

Toodles!!Xoox

HEALTHY LIVING/AMATEUR COOKING I

Fruit Journey – I did 36days of eating at least 1 fruit daily in order to make a habit of eating fruits and I’ll put below of all the varieties of fruits I explored and a log of the fruits I have been eating daily.

Orange, Apple, Pear, Avacado, Watermelon, Pineapple, Grape, PawPaw, Banana, Soursop, Tangerine, Lemon, Lime, Grape, Mango, Guava, Cucumber, Coconut, African Cherry (Agbalumo), Tomato, Plum, Nectarine

BENEFITS

Cleaner complexion, easy bowel movement, reduced tummy, fast growth of hair and nails, strength

 Daily Log

Day 1/2 (Tuesday, Jan 14)-Bananas Day 3-Apple, Pear, Grape, Pineapple, watermelon, pawpaw Day 4/5-Watermelon, Pineapple Day 6-PawPaw, Pineapple, watermelon Day 7 (Monday)-Watemelon, Pineapple, PawPaw, tomatoes Day 8-Watemelon, Pineapple, PawPaw, Orange, Grape Day 9-Grapes, Pineapple Day 10-Grapes, Pineapple, Cucumber, Orange Day 11-Banana Day 12-Banana Day 13-Avocado, Banana Day 14 (Monday)-Soursop Day 15-Watermelon Day 16-Cucumber Day 17-Mango, Watermelon Day 18-Watermelon Day 19

Tomatoes Day 20-Watermelon, pawpaw, pineapple Day 21 (Monday)-Watermelon, pawpaw, pineapple Day 22-Apple, Watermelon, pawpaw, pineapple Day 23-Watermelon, pawpaw, pineapple Day 24-Pineapple Day 25-African cherry (agbalumo) Day 26-Apple Day 27 (Monday)-Apple Day 28-Apple, banana, orange Day 29-Orange Day 30-Banana Day 31-Banana Day 32-Banana, Pineapple, Watermelon Day 33-Watermelon, Apple, English pear Day 34 (Monday)-Mango, Pineapple, Watermelon, Apple, English pear Day 35-Pineapple, Watermelon, Apple, English pear Day 36-Mango.

My cooking skills – I consider myself an amateur at cooking, not because I can’t cook or something but because I keep learning daily and one can only learn when you do not consider yourself an expert but keep an open mind. I love cooking, contrary to popular belief. I’m just more motivated to cook when I’m not making the food for just myself.

I started my healthy living lifestyle January 2013 and I have to see it has been a good ride so far!! God has been faithful in helping me keep to my resolution of living healthy. I made the decision to revamp my lifestyle at the beginning of the year but I did not put this into action until Jan 14, 2013. These are the things my healthy living lifestyle entails:

• Reading the word daily with my significant other (my bf)

• Cooking More and learning more recipes

• Eating majorly what I cook 

• Eating Fruits Daily

• Eating more vegetables and less carbs

• Washing my face every night (this may be funny to some, but I’ve actually struggled keeping up with this for many years, hopefully once it becomes a habit, I can elevate it to showering before bed)

• Light makeup daily (line my eyes and brows, gloss and powder…I dress like a tomboy too often, so I’m trying to tone that down)

• Getting Early to work

• Staying in touch with my family members and friends

• Keeping a positive attitude

• Speaking less (guard what I say) and 

• Budget my spending

The areas I will be focusing on here is my Cooking and learning new recipes and Eating fruits daily. I may make reference to the other areas occasionally though. I’m going to label all posts regarding the above ‘Amateur Cooking/Healthy Living’ .It’s been 32 days today since I started and I have to say it has been sheer bliss!! 

Here are some tips to how I have made it this far:

1. Involve God in your plan

2. Involve your Significant other in your plan

3. Make no excuses 

4. Make a food timetable

5. Document your progress

6. Don’t Procrastinate

7. Work with what you have (Tools and foodstuff)

8. Work within your budget

9. Plan ahead

10. Join Cooking groups that upload recipes and pictures (For motivation)

11. It’s OK to make mistakes or not know what you are doing at first

12. Google is your friend (Google a recipe, list the ingredients, buy and follow the recipe)

13. Practice makes perfect

14. Improvise

The above have worked for me greatly. We had a small seminar at work titled ‘Trying something new for 30 days’. We watched one of the talks from TedTalks (You can check it out on www.Ted.com) and this was just after my decision to begin a healthy lifestyle. After the seminar, we were told to list the new things we would like to try and I mentioned my ‘Eating fruits daily’ resolution. I have to confess that saying it out has prodded me even longer to keep to my resolution. We were told it takes about 25 to 30 days to create or make a habit. I’l let you know the outcome of mine when I reach the number of days above and if the things I have been trying have become second nature for me. I love cooking and thank God for my significant other’s appetite and love, he allows me cook and experiment on him with my meals (lol). I’mm going to put below a list of the dishes I have made so far, my inventions, the recipes I have used/my modifications to them and loads of pictures for your viewing and entertainment. Enjoy.

Here is a list of dishes I have made from the Month of January till date:

Soups/Stews/Sauces

1. Ogbono

2. Edikaikong, 

3. Ewedu, 

4. Efo-riro, 

5. Tomato/Pepper/Onion blend Stew (Ayamase)

6. Okro (ila alasepo)

7. Parampara sauce (I invented)

8. Egusi (my baby’s fave)

9. Garden egg sauce

10.Mutton Sauce
11.Yoruba stew

Solids,etc (Accompany the Soups/Sauces/Stew)

1. Amala (Cassava flour)

2. Eba (Garri/Cassava grits)

3. Plantain flour

4. Yam flour  

5. Wheat

6. Semovita

Meat/Seafood/

1. Turkey

2. Goat meat

3. Cow beef

4. Chicken 

5. Shrimp

6. Sausages

Spices  

I have found a new love for nutmeg since one of my friends mentioned that she uses it in cooking and I tried it out.

Others

1. Quaker Oats

2. White Rice

3. Pap (Cornstarch)

4. Jollof Sardine Spaghetti 

5. Yam porridge (Asaro)

6. Yam/plantain/spinach combo porridge,

7. Indomie (noodles) with sausage/corned beef

8. Fried rice
9. Jollof rice
10. Yam
11.Plantain

*Eggs and corned beef with bread (made by the ultimate boo of life-my bf)

I will be putting up the recipes for the above in separate posts so this post does not become way too bulky. Here’s a link to a video that also inspired me to keep an eye on the nutritional content of my meals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmtLCnZe198 .

The aim of my post is to motivate people who have been wanting to jump on the Healthy living lifestyle wagon and have been stalling, to also provide recipes for whoever may be interested in cooking these meals to try them out and experiment and also to keep tab on my progress and make reference to this posts in the future if required. 

Welcome to my kitchen (my bf’s kitchen actually-I prefer to cook at his place than at mine, he's my guinea pig.lol.jk)

Here’s are the major things I have and will be making use of for my cooking:

1. A table gas cooker with only one burner working

2. My beloved apron (from my bf)

3. Small Fridge

Websites/Blogs/Facebook Groups/YouTube Channels, Etc. That I Frequent For Recipes

This is how I google, I type ‘how to make ….’ In the search bar, u can fill the dotted lines with whatever you wanna prepare. I check out like 3-4 of the answers and decide which recipe to go with.There’s so much free resource available to us on the internet!we just need to tap into it

ü  So you think you can cook (FB Page)- https://www.facebook.com/groups/5992014410/?fref=ts

ü  www.allnigerianfoods.com

ü  www.bulkbananas.com

ü  www.schoolofthought.hubpages.com

ü  www.recipesng.blogspot.com

Toodles!XooX

Family Wedding (SEPT 7, 2012)

Moi (i did someting different with my aso-oke on my dress)

I had a great break people!! It had been a long time i had taken a break off work for family related purposes. My uncle (real uncle o, not Yoruba version of uncle..lol) was getting married. Let me start by describing my mother's family to you can have a clue of just how large it is. My Grandad married about 6 wives that i know and has about 20 kids alive, some have passed. So technically i have 20 Uncles and Aunties and 17 of them are married with kids so imagine the number of cousins i have, its hard to keep up even.*whew especially with the ones abroad (about 5 of them) and the ones outside Abuja and Lagos. That's on my Grandad's side. My Grandma on the other hand had also married someone before marrying my Grandad and has 2 kids alive with him thats 2 more aunties and so in total i have 2 Grandads and 6 Grandmas and 22 uncles and aunties.

The wedding was held at Akure, i got to see my numerous uncles and aunts as indicated above. We stayed at my aunt's place instead of Ado-Ekiti, where my mum is originally from and where my Grandad's mansion is located, since it was closer to the wedding venue and my mum said the mansion will probably be filled with her siblings and the wedding guests. The wedding was great!! Loads of culture, the proposal letter asking for the bride’s hand in marriage was read, the groom (my uncle) prostrated for her parents, and many other things like that. Oh and my aunts and uncles kept asking me when it would be my turn and praying for me that i would find a good suitor. I had alotta fun bonding with my cousins and all that and it was well spent family time, it had been a while since my whole family had been in one place at a time, thanks to school and work. You can check out my Pinterest page for more wedding typa pics http://pinterest.com/jemimahnaa/weddings/

The Groom and Friends prostrating for the bride's parents for her hand in marriage

Spraying the Bride money as she dances forward

The Alagaiduro (Chairperson of the event) praising the bride as she dances forward in response 

The Grooms Family praying for the Bride (Her family prays for her too)

She searches for who the cap fits,finds her husband and places it on his head9

My outfit made outta ma mum's old wrapper, i love it and she does too :D

They made me carry the engagement/proposal package to the parents (not funny in my super high heels)

My iyan elewe (pounded yam in plantain leaves) and efo-riro (vegetable soup) with fish 

White wedding (This couple like dance sha)

Flash! Spot my nails and Ear Jewelry

My brothers and I

Me and one of my lil cuzns azonto-ing to the music playing

Some cousins & I<<<<<<<<<-------->>>>>>>Blue Shoes (Not Planned)

Rest Time

Wedding No. 2 @Ido

The next wedding was a traditional wedding we went for before returning to Abuja, was that of my step-cousin, my mum’s step-sister’s daughter. Her wedding was not fun at all, it was a proper ‘Deeper Life’ traditional wedding. Their attire was extremely drab, an unceremonial beige colored material. She didn’t use any jewelry or even rub powder on her face (hian). I am not against their religion and all but I don’t get why you cannot look good and stand out from the crowd on the occasion of your wedding. They could have as well been guests at the wedding and not the ones getting married, if a separate seat had not been assigned to her and her parents. I fervently prayed for the ceremony to end as the glares I was getting were like that of hot knife through butter. I had no clue it was a ‘deeper life’ wedding, so my outfit was that befitting a wedding or rather the kinda weddings I’m used to where everyone is beautifully dressed. I wore an english bodycon white and black gown with turquoise heels, jewelry and make up and I felt complete as I styled my big curly hairdo (Won ma take! I thought to myself in Jenifa’s voice), little did I know that I was overdressed for this particular occasion. Not just me thankfully, my whole family actually…lol, though I stood out the most ‘cos I was wearing an English attire. As I sat in their midst, with my siblings beside me, praying this day would be over ASAP, my brother whispered in my ear that my uncle was calling me. If I could enter the ground I swear I would have, I had to walk right in front of all these people with their eyes on me to meet him, thankfully I didn’t trip or fall *whew (they woulda had a good laugh if I did I’m sure). I bent my knees as low as possible to greet him ‘cos that ground was rough and untarred and I wasn’t ready to stain my beautiful knees. He asked after my wellbeing in Yoruba and said it’s been a very long time since he had seen or heard from me, and that I was a big girl now o so hopefully it was my turn next. He said I should keep in touch and told me I could return to my seat. I could not believe my ears!! O.O This man had made me pass through these people I was trying to hide from just to tell me THAT!! He seriously couldn’t wait for the ceremony to be over.  I thanked him, secretly rolled my eyes and made my way back to my seat. The whole thing dragged for a long time, or maybe I thought so because it was soooooo boring. Once it ended, I took some pics with the couple, greeted the necessary people and swiftly collected the car keys from my dad and sat in the car *whew warraday! My folks who had gotten a good nap (*rme) during the ceremony greeted everyone, ate and wasted as much time as possible. Meanwhile my siblings had come to join me in the car to wait for them. They finally finished and we took some family pics with me having a small argument with the dull photographer who made us practically stare at the sun while using slow motion to take the pics *mschew.I was even more upset ‘cos we were going back to Akure and my parents still wanted to stop by in Ado to greet some friends.

My folk's Secondary school (Christ School Ado-Ekiti)

We finally started the trip back, we greeted their friends and some family and were on our way back to Akure around 8pm when other motorists told us to turn back ‘cos they were robbing @d front.

 My heart practically leapt into my mouth and trust my dad na, he did some James Bond U-turn and sped off in the other direction. The man gats fear na, as na him whole family he carry for motor. Long story short, we ended up spending the night in Ado.  I was thoroughly upset because that meant we would be on the road throughout the next day since we were supposed to go to Abuja. The next day came and when we got to Akure, my folks decided we were no longer going to Abuja and would spend an extra day in Abuja. They had forgotten the leave I took from work was exhausted and I had to resume at work the next day. I eventually had to take a public transport to Abuja when we got to Akure and I think that is the most stressful trip of my life so far!! The driver was super rough and he ended up spoiling something in the car just as we got into Abuja, which we spent almost 3hours fixing before getting back on the road to reach our destination. Thank God we got there safely.

My cutest dimpled find on the trip(Demi-Pie pie)

 I got home around 1am and boy was i glad to b home.I took a shower and hit the bed! What a trip!! All in all though I had a nice time. Toodles!XooX