My Favourite Things – Nigeria and Beyond

One man’s goodbye is another one’s hello. This month, my favorite things span two continents, thousands of miles apart,  but places I’ve called home, back to back. I pay tribute… to the discoveries I made in the last hours of our stay in the Netherlands and share some of the things I love about Nigeria.

The Bankastraat

The thought of a favorite street in the world had never really crossed my mind till I happened upon the quaint, gorgeousness that is the Bankastraat, in the heart of The Hague. Of course I’ve admired Paris’s Champs Elysee numerous times, enamored by the street cafes, its chairs peppered with tourists staring out on the world. I was enamored with Barcelona’s avinguda Diagonal, glistening with glass windows and lined with trees. But when I first walked down the Bankastraat, minutes from my office ( a street whose existence I was completely oblivious to) and led by M of My Kitchen Diaries, I fell in love.

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An Ode to Burrata

If fresh buffallo mozarella and provolone cheese jostle for the gold medal of Italian pasta filata (spun paste), then burrata stands without question in platinum position. And worthy of an ode.

Burrata, burrata
Where art thou, oh burrata
On aisles and cold shelves
In Italia and beyond
You – burrata are found in the best
company of cheeses money can buy
 
Blessed are ye, oh cheesemakers of Puglia
And blessed are the fruits of your vats
Mozzarella di buffalo, Provolone
and cheese above all cheeses -
Burrata.
 
Cheese like ‘Pregnant bellies’
Tummies full of ritagli (scraps) and panna (cream)
Your name is like butter to my ears – soft and warm
Your skin -  smooth and stretchy like ‘white’ velvet
You are fresh and sweet with the essence of youth
Tangy and the creamy and best eaten within two days
 
Burrata, dear burrata
Soulful cheese to all
Caseophile or not

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Welcome to Nigeria with Maltina

We’re home – back on Nigerian soil. In the heat (and even with my nasal congestion), we’re in our land. It makes me smile…in disbelief almost. I can’t believe its been so long. My son says ‘Mama, we’re brown people, there are brown people here’. He’s only 4 years old so arguments about being ‘black’ are lost, in his favor. The world’s colour palette says brown…and so we are.

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Daring Cooks Go South Indian With A Feast

If you are acquainted with Indian food, like I thought I was then consider this question I pose to you today: Is Indian food countriversal (like universal but for countries)? Is it?

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Well I certainly thought it was. Sipping on a mug of steaming ginger tea and chatting with friend and neighbor I reeled off all the Indian dishes I loved so – Tikka Masala, Tandoori Chicken and on and on I went. Dishes that my old friends and neighbours had lovingly prepared for me time and time again.  

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My Favourite Things – End of Summer Edition

Repurposing Kitchen Utensils

I love multitasking….and I heart gadgets and utensils than fit that bill. A garlic press shines new light on mincing ginger, a pasta roller that doubles as a pizza base roller, creating consistently thin Italian-style pizza bases – so what if you end up with pizza lenghts as opposed to rounds? Deliciousness cannot be constrained by geometry!

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The Best of Summer: Strawberry & Lemon Sorbet

There are some recipes that stop you in your tracks and require few words. This is one of them – a ‘genius recipe’ in the new column by Kristen Miglore, senior editor at food52.com where weekly, great recipes are unearthed from the worlds cookbooks.DSC_1546This recipe thrilled me to no end because

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Simple Desserts: Lemon Possets

Strike a pose and fancy yourself English. Do you? Do you? Then say posset.

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When Macbeth asked for a posset to be prepared for him before going to bed he referred to a curdled milk drink, popular in his time. It was considered a specific remedy for some minor illnesses, such as a cold, and a general remedy for others, as even today people drink hot milk to help them get to sleep.

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Daring Cooks Fresh Pasta Challenge

I couldn’t believe when he gave me the machine…..8 years ago. I had wanted to make my own pasta forever and getting one of the silver, rolling thingies was top of my list in Nigeria, in 2003. So when a friend moving abroad offered me his brand new, unused machine, I snapped it up!

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My Favourite Things – ‘Dutch’ Special

Holland, my sweet Holland

Soon I shall see you no more

How is it that time so quickly goes by?

And now I return

To Nigeria, my beloved Homeland

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Happy 4th of July/Celebrate with a Root Beer Float

I can’t recall when exactly I learnt or heard of root beer but as I stood by the table, ready to pay for a drink and burger at the annual 4th of July ceremony for ‘Americans in the Hague & environs’, something clicked and I reached for a can, not without asking the guy on the other side if root beer tasted like ‘ginger beer’.  To which his response was ‘no’.

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