Sunday Reads

• Would you keep a journal of all your failures?
• Why is Cape Town so cliquey?
• Please read this post on church planting and then listen to This America’s Life podcast on the same.
• I’d also love to know my family history but what if it yields such a negative story?
• How did you know your person is the one?
• Each of us has elements of being a people pleaser.
• …. because I love talking about #2’s
• This list talks of the world but glaringly omits Africa.
• I love these book club recommendations and the fact that I have read so many of them already. Nice!!

Recipes

• Quick weeknight dinners coz we all need those at some point or another.
• I love potato salad but I hate the creaminess of mayo and that’s absent in this recipe.
• Another yummy pasta recipe.
• .. and another set of recipes.
• Blueberry ice cream for the soul.

caucacity 

Something done with the audacity of white privilege.

An act showing little compassion towards people of color.

 

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Sunday Reads

• On being young, overeducated and struggling to find employment.
• How do you pick yourself up after failure?
• Faith in the workplace.
• For those looking to get married, here is an ebook you can enjoy as you prepare yourself.
• Lost and found in Tokyo.
• How you can help refugees in your town.
• A Tour of Johannesburg Food Trucks

• This DIY Bath tray seems so easy to make, sigh!
• Podcast recommendations.

Recipes

• Raspberry, white chocolate ice cream pops
• Tamarind and Ginger Glaze Chicken Wings.
• Stuffed tomatoes.
• Cooking with breadcrumbs.
• Toasted Oats ‘n’ Spice Make Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream

Sunday Reads

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Rachel in white Patricia in black Mira in yellow Rochelle in Red are playing …Hapiness . Good Peoples good loving music in life feel makes me happy ( by the Foreign Exchange group ) #nichollekobi

A post shared by Nicholle Kobi (@nichollekobi) on Apr 14, 2018 at 2:31pm PDT

• This advise for young college graduates still resonates.
• … this too.
• Some questions to ask as you interview.
• God calls us to be faithful not successful.
• I have thought of starting a podcast with a pal *sigh*
• Things to do around my new hood.

Recipes

• This is so odd of me but I really want to have a party with a cheese plate 🙂
• Artichoke & Quinoa Vegetarian Enchiladas
• Quick Vegan Enchiladas with Sweet Potato Sauce
• A fail proof way to make sorbet.
• Love this chocolate cake recipe.
• A pasta salad with roasted carrots and sunflower seed dressing
• This coffee recipe sounds yum 🙂
• Vegan Panna Cotta recipes

Sunday Reads

• Food is a way of travelling for instance to Laos.
• I love this cute love story of how they met ❤
• I am doing a Whole 30 in June with a pal. Looking forward. Some meal inspirations here and here.
• Some ways to teach your kids about money.
• We are all guilty of e-bailing at some point or another.
• Maybe a bad feminist call but this article about female priests in the Catholic church pissed me off some.
•  I rather enjoyed this article about whether you are your moms favourite kid.
• Clean daily to help you stay on top of your household needs.

Recipes

• I am making this dhal for next week’s dinner, yum, with some chapati.
• Stuffed peppers.
• 15 taco recipes.
• Yummy froyo recipees

Happy Mothers Day / Sunday Reads

Source

• What is the motherhood penalty?
• Kid-centric podcasts.
• I like the idea of going through life with a pre-mortem analysis.
• Praying in the Holy Spirit.

Recipes

• Yummy chocolate cake.
• Cauliflower rice
• More chickpea recipes.
• Suggestions for a picnic.

Sunday Reads

• Faith in action – I love how practical this is.
• Do male and female development economists write about different things? Apparently so.
• I loved the bit of the White House Correspondents Dinner I watched.
• A winery in Joburg.
• Please read Kintu, you will love it!
• Getting kids off devices
• Are you looking for new blog recommendations?

Recipes (Comfort food style)

• I am definitely making these enchilladas, probably this veg option but yum!!
• Veggie lasagna
• Honey-garlic chicken.
• Another one-pan lemon chicken.
• I am intrigued by this tea recipe but also disgusted.
• Broccoli recipes to try.
• Cake recipes to try

Belated Sunday Reads

Where are you going. You cannot leave with so many pieces of me still inside you. How will I ever put myself back together again.

Nikita Gill

• Breaking up with your phone.
• The loneliness of motherhood.
• Podcast recommendations for kiddos.
• On raising a boy.
• Women and their self selection into low-status and/or low-paying jobs.
• Mhhhh, the true state of media in Kenya.
• I can’t imagine purging any books but this is how you could go about it.
• Hospitality and church planting go together.
• Women and active ministry.
• Black Panther will inspire a lot of hair styles.
• Do you Airbnb during your travels?
• Are you part of a momarazzi crew?

Recipes

• I love the idea of baking only two doughnuts.
• Have your way with vegetarian quinoa recipes.
• Lemon, garlic and shrimp, yummmy!!

(Belated) Sunday Reads

• Learning to pray – we all need some tips at time.
• Such a weird YouTube phenomenon: watching people eat food.
• I really enjoyed this read about sexual purity being less about waiting than actually being pure because of who God is in our lives.
• Questions we ask new moms but not new dads.
• I love this lady’s style – it is so me.
• Eeeuw, commuting in Tokyo is gross.
• Great short story recommendations.
• What the different clothes at the Premier of Black Panther mean.
• Deface: losing a friend on Facebook.
• Contact Shame: When you watch or see something so embarrassing that you feel embarrassed; feels like you had something to do with it.

Recipes

• Lemon, Blackberry, and Poppy Seed Ice Cream
• A spicy pasta dish 
• Yummy chocolate cake

Sunday Reads

“To all the little girls out there,
we will set fire to this world
that steals your childhoods
and stops you from being
everything you want to be,
and build you a better one from the ashes,
the kind of world that treasures you
for all your powerful capabilities.”

– Nikita Gill, Women’s March 2018

• Improving your productivity when you work from home.
• Books on female friendship – I immediately got Sula, Toni Morrison.
• What some people will do to get married to the person of their choice.
• Helping your children to read the Bible.
• I would like a friend that keeps me accountable.
• I have been having Presidential Dinners.
• Tough circumstances but very important lessons for Christians in the Marketplace.
• Chimamanda on motherhood.
• I love me some “This is Us“

Recipes

• Wanna try this butternut, beans and enchiladas
• I think I am on a Mexican tip
• Another yummy mushroom recipe
• Healthy vegetarian recipes.
• 20-minute vegetarian curry.
• If you like to make burgers at home.

Sunday Reads

• This Nobel winner started a fund to help women deal the fact that they are disproportionately more likely to take care of children after hours.
• Imagine being old and dying all alone? Well me neither.
• Would you buy groceries that are still OK but past their best before date?
• Bible reading plans if you would like to get through it in one year.

Recipes

• Yummy chickpeas, broccoli and coconut.
• A week of chicken meals.

Sunday Reads

This definition of her: to go from her father to her husband, to be pretty, docile – a man made tragedy. Her soul was made of larger, more powerful things, things that create or desecrate armies and galaxies. This is why when she loves she changes kingdoms, and when she hates she destroys legacies.  Nikita Gill, Jasmine, A Princess That Belonged To Herself First

• If you are looking for New Years Resolutions.
• An alternative to making resolutions: one, two  and three.
• Getting the most out of meetings.
• Some opportunities and threats for the local Church.
• Gender roles and the Church.
• Some great reads from 2017.
• On bringing up your kids counter to culture.
• Some great comments on friendship.

Recipes

• Another chicken recipe, yum!
• I wanna try and make this sweet potato sage lasagna.
• This fish recipe is to die for.

Sunday Reads

• Podcasts for the economist / development practitioner on holiday.
• Game of Thrones meets poetry
• On waiting eagerly and patiently.
• On building your instincts.
• Trusting God through financial difficulty
• Loss in motherhood will always defeat me.
• The hashtag #MeTooPhD had me shaken.

Recipes

• Styling a charcuterie and cheese board.
• Butternut humus sounds like a good idea.
• Did someone say seafood and  rice in a pilaf?

 

Sunday Reads

Fill your life with women that empower you, that help you believe in your magic and aid them to believe in their own exceptional power and their incredible magic too. Women that believe in each other can survive anything. Women who believe in each other create armies that will win kingdoms and wars. Nikita Gill

• Is the choice to just lean out or in?
• The world of women at work is still so complicated.
• So before you quit that job …
• Take an inventory of your soft skills.
• Because white women have to be innocent.
• Racial harmony in the Church
• I recently read Beneath the Lions Gaze and loved it but it made me think of Ethiopia’s history and how they got to where they currently are as a nation.
• This post beautifully characterised a difficult individual (Grace Mugabe).
• Beautiful book covers.
• I love the idea of the Not Yorker.
• But you gotta love Nigeria(ns)
• Kids do know an awful lot, no?
• I collect receipts like all the time.
• … as do our grandparents.

Recipes

• This chicken and cabbage recipe.
• 20 ways to reuse your leftover rice.
• This beet, citrus and olive salad.

Sunday Posts

• How hot lunches get delivered in Mumbai.
• White privilege and hypocrisy in South Africa.
• Be careful the products you buy.
• I actually felt sad at how many locals books are sold
• … and Ellen Pompeo on raising black daughters.
• Another poem for my daughter.
• Building resilience
• Practical advise for dealing with bullies.
• And standing up to be seen at work.
• Before you quit your job …
• Working out at home – some moves.
• Sin is not your friend.
• Dealing with sin
• Repenting from sin.
• Quick tips to overhaul your bathroom.
• So daddymoons are a thing?
• Motherhood-related pressure. One example and another.

“There’s a crescendo of voices saying, ‘If you don’t do X or Y, you’re doing it wrong,’” Monk says. The result is “a kind of over-preciousness about motherhood. It’s obsessive, and it’s amplified by the Internet and social media.” 

Recipes

• Rose earl grey tea latte
• Sweet potato recipes
• Making naan
• Reusing left over rice
• Cauliflower au gratin
• Butternut humus

Sunday Reads

• Uber’s performance on the African continent.
• Nairobi at dusk.
• Tiny hacks that elevate your room just so.
• Great book recommendations available here, here and here.
• ” … Yet there is no word for “single mothers” in Dari and Pashto, the languages spoken in Afghanistan. “Single moms are described only by the status of their husbands … so they’re either widowed or divorced. But their motherhood is not recognized.”
• Some of us recognise this kind of man.
• What a timely reminder that often our ministry will be unrecognised.
• Toast for dinner is always welcome.

 

Recipe-related Sunday Reads

• 10 ways with sweet potatoes. YUM!
• Because I love Earl Grey
• Yep, I am curious about the Michelin Review process.
• Egg recipes to start your day.
• Some more Indian recipes for your repertoire.
• Ashamed, but here I go suggesting other pasta recipes.
• …. oh well, in fact two pasta recipes.
• Which will obviously require some accompanying sauces.
• A one-pan chicken dish.

A Cooking Challenge for Self

I love to cook, however,I find that there are certain things that I just never cook or make from scratch. Or if I do, then I just never stray past the initial recipe.

So what are some things that I would love to cook that I don’t currently?

• Baking:
  • A tart/ pie (or these ones) from homemade pastry.
  • Bake and ice a cake beyond the typical pound loaf something like
  • Bread like this  or this or this.
• Roast a whole chicken.
• Make eggs Benedict including the sauce – I can poach an egg but a hollandaise and any other sauce? Nah. So this would be a cool start.
• Diversify the types of salad dressing I currently make for salads like this
• Oxtail stew.
• Make home made pasta and then cook it.

Are there things in the kitchen that you often shy away from attempting?

 

Dinner is Served

While I was on the plant based diet, I totally could not justify eating pasta so this week I have such a craving for pasta and want to cook some later in the week.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH WALNUT & SAGE PASTA

Serves  2

Ingredients

• 2 cups cubed butternut squash
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter (or vegan butter or more olive oil)
• 1 small shallot, sliced
• ¼ cup chopped sage leaves
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts
• ½ cup cooked chickpeas
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• big squeeze of lemon
• splash of balsamic vinegar
• 4-6 oz. spaghetti or linguine (& save some pasta water)
• a few handfuls of chopped spinach (or kale or chard)
• ½ cup chopped parsley
• grated pecorino cheese, optional, to taste
• salt & pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roast butternut squash cubes with a little olive oil, salt and pepper for about 20 minutes or until they’re soft and mostly cooked through. Remove from the oven and set aside.
2. Cook pasta in salty water until al dente and reserve at least 1 cup of the starchy pasta water.
3. Meanwhile, heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and butter, then add the shallot and cook until translucent. Add the chopped sage and cook for another 30 seconds, then add the walnuts, chickpeas, butternut squash cubes, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook until the chickpeas and squash brown a bit (but before the garlic burns).
4. Add a big squeeze of lemon and a good splash of balsamic and stir.
5. Add the cooked pasta and spinach. Use tongs to gently toss the pasta with everything in the pan allowing the greens to wilt. Add pasta water to help loosen it (I used about ¼ cup).
6. Add some grated pecorino at this step if you wish.
7. Remove from heat, then stir in the chopped parsley.
8. Taste and adjust seasonings and serve with extra grated cheese.

Notes

Make this vegan by skipping the butter (or use vegan butter) and omit cheese. Make this gluten free by using gluten free pasta.

Sunday Reads

• Love hacks to fix your marriage
• Ever watched something and then asked, what’s the point?
• I have read 14 of the 23 of these books by African women.
• In addition to this to-do list, I could totally start/ participate in a Cookbook Club.
• How Christian men can protect women against sexual predation.
• Yes to all kinds of body positive images.
• All these yummy Indian recipes.
• Some more pasta recipes.

“Silence is often a woman-flavoured thing. It is guilty of holding countless women’s names and voices hostage inside of its spine and its ribcage.” Nikita Gill 

 

Sunday Reads

• Just exactly how do you let family and friends know your wedding is off? Huh?
• One of my favourite places in Cape Town,  Zeitz Mocaa.
• Remembering the shooting in Las Vegas
• If we cry will they give Ngugi the Nobel Prize for literature?
• Is it still that elusive to be a mom and have it all professionally?
• A heartfelt reflection of the first year of marriage.
• Loved this primer on how engaged couples should talk about finances once they are married.
• I heard  Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ speak last month at Open Book Festival and this interview captures her (public) essence very well.
• Some great book recommendations from this long list.
• Interesting to read about a photojournalists work.
• Great stir fry recipes
• Because who doesn’t need any more lentil recipes?