Sunday Reads

• Yeah, I’d watch this show.
• Yaaaasssss!!! for Serena Williams.
• The danger of importing an idea without considering how it would apply to a local context. Here and Here.
• “Traveling through the neighborhoods of Cape Town is like peeling back the layers of an onion.”
• Racial underpinnings in conservation in Kenya.
• I enjoyed this piece on textural discrimination among black (hair) naturals.
• Race/ Diversity and the Church.
• Sometimes we limit God in our small thinking of Him and our calling.
• Petinah Gappah writes very well.
• Follow Jonathan Ball Publishers this month and get a free book in their give away.
• 5 Things to do when you have 10 minutes. Love this!!
• What a practical and wonderful gift to share with your parents.
• An example of a great teacher.
• Finally bit the bullet and got a pressure cooker.
• Practising a plant based diet this month (Aside: It is fine but I miss ice cream and yoghurt).

Recipes

• Yummy noodle sweet potato pasta.
• Herbed zucchini wraps.
• More on cooking with zucchini.
• I love this one-sheet chicken recipe.
• Some sweets to make in advance.
• 10 cake recipes for tea time.
• Non-dairy ice cream.

 

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Sunday Reads

• Speaking up for someone that can’t.
• God can bring us through tough times.
• Travelling while black and female.
• Laying aside insincerity.
• Creating a village to bring up a child.
• Cooking with zucchini: here and here 
• Salad dressing recipes.

A Recent Menu

So before I turned 30, I wanted to host a fancy dinner at my place and host a couple of friends. Being in a new city and making friends therefore provided the best backdrop for this as I decided to host a bunch of ladies that I have recently come to know whom I also thought would be a good fit to develop new friendships among themselves. The additional backstory is that I have so many cookery books and this gave me the chance to whip one out and base the days’ meal on it. I used Rachel Allen’s book, Entertaining at Home – easily my best recipe book.  So below is the prescribed menu:

Starters

Tomato, mozzarella and tapenade crostini

Mains

Bulgur wheat pilaf

Braised Moroccan chicken with basmati rice

Ribboned carrots with honey and parsley

Green salad

Dessert

Blackberry mousse

Chocolate cake

 

 

 

Sunday Reads

• After the Kenyan election, this was the article that made the most sense to me.​​
• As the India-Pakistan partition approaches its’ 70 year marks, I have listened to so many different documentaries and so I enjoyed this intersection with food.
• Books on race for white folks.
• So Algerians believe that black Africans are all diseased. Sigh, Yawn, Buff …
• A wide variety of articles on Bachelorette Rachel’s journey as the first black Bachelorette.
• God’s work of creation is amazing.
• Jesus was very patient with sexual sinners, but he was very hard on hypocrites. You can’t follow Jesus while pretending you don’t really need him.
• Men also need opportunities to share intimate friendships with each other.
• Yep, I am friends with my childhood best friends, are you?
• Very rarely do we see older ladies on blogs. Love this!!
• Beginning your wellness journey.
• Science answers we need: How long do we dunk an oreo for?
• Top 10 African Fiction, I am pretty sure this list will change by the end of the year so enjoy for now
• Because three year anniversaries ask for leather gifts.
• I agree that Home = Tea.

Recipes

• I WILL bake this cake
• … and maybe present it like this.
• Vegan pancakes.
• Cooking with coconut

Recent Pinterest Love

Delicious quinoa recipe, yum!!

Love the hairstyle but I wonder if it’s heavy … 

Love the white and black of this bathroom

10 things that make me smile

1. Discovering a lovely brand of tea.
2. Sleeping in on a Saturday morning during the BSF break.
3. A wonderful chat with my sisters and friends.
4. I read my first Bessie Head (Maru) this week and it was lovely.
5. Successfully parallel (flash) parking in one attempt.
6. Trying a recipe and immediately knowing you will do it again.
7. Enjoying Season 7 of My Kitchen Rules.
8. Seeing my nephew and niece as they start to interact as siblings.
9. Really enjoying the study of James. Quite challenging but very interesting.
10. Discovering a great podcast and then going back to download all 80 episodes  

Sunday Reads

Source

• The terrible plight of women MPs in Kenya during the campaign period.
• .. and my earlier post on this situation here.
• Interested in the decolonisation of education taking place at the African Leadership University in Mauritius? Please also look at the comments, very insightful.
• Africa cannot continue to globalise like this.
• ​Great investigative work on this piece relating how refugees have become a commodity in and of themselves.
• Loved this article about divorce statistics in Kenya.
• So Nigeria has 371 tribes? Wowza
• Second book in my to-read list on contemporary Uganda and what it means to b e Ugandan. The first is the memoir Flame and Song.
• Matrescence: The process of becoming a mother.
• ​Photos are worth a thousand words. More photography.
• Guys, our childhood songs HAD a problem. Stay Woke!
• I have been struggling with negative thoughts recently.
• Some relationship advice for you. And you.
• Oh being asked this question in the fast few months after being married. EEEK!!
• YES to the mental load that women work with. If anyone asked me for marital advice: I would say ask him, make him a real partner even with the housework.

Recipes

• Orange peel tea sangria.
• Thai tea ice cream.
• Cooking with chicken breasts.
• More grilled chicken recipes.

Sunday Reads

• Great job Zanzibar!! But how many people aged over 70?
• This is true, how we often judge women’s decisions.
• Are you a texter, or a talker? I am definitely a texter except for with family and certain close pals.
• This is a gorgeous home!!
• A bit of language but imagine if you had to sign language interpretation for Snoop Dogg.
• So MUCH goes into publishing a cookbook. Also, how if you cannot negotiate a good deal you could end up broke.
• Something about this letter correspondence broke me.
• I still believe that marriage is between one man and one woman.
• .. and more thoughts on open marriages here.
• This is true of what is driving many societies today.
• How to show your faith at the workplace.

Recipes

• Toasted Pumpkin Seed Dip with Fresh Herbs

Sunday Reads

• The gender pay gap.
• This wedding is so sentimental for me for similar reasons.
• I love Serena Williams even more after this interview.
• Tips to beat jet lag.
• Because land is still a contentious item for former colonies.
• … and the watershed ruling that is the Daniels v Scribante judgment.
• Five African writers recommend books.
• Be a GREAT FRIEND.
• Essential Indian spices for your pantry.

Recipes to try

• Chai spiced panna cotta.
• Making this for dinner this week.
• How to assemble your potato salad.

Sunday Reads

• So it seems feathered eyebrows are a thing.
• Now I feel homesick for Nairobi all over again!
• Security questions we don’t need, but need.
• Who is the main reader in black African literature/ books by black Africans?
• This supper club in London sounds so fun.
• Three reasons I will not find out a baby’s gender.
• I love this idea of a daughter interviewing her mom. MUST try it with my mom one day.
• Must read the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
• Invite someone single to dinner. Aye!
• Also, single and black in white evangelical spaces.
• So apparently non-stick pans might not be safe.
• What does your age reveal about you?

Recipes:

• Yummy sweet potatoes
• Black ice cream
• Cooking shrimp (prawns).

Sunday Reads

• BEST piece on the Dolezal woman!!
• I also loved this essay on how fallible our icons are, including sob Chimamanda.
• What separates great from average people?
• Sounds like an interesting podcast episode.
• A colleague is going through a break-up and this was a great read to share. This too.
• Feel fear but act anyway.
• I’d have a similar reaction when my boss walks in on me reading non-work stuff.
• This article put into context the French election happening today.
• Dying or being enslaved to get to Europe.
• Senegal remains on my to-visit list.
• 8 book recommendations for your father.

 Recipes:

• I love a good lassi.
• Placing vegetables in the centre of your meals.

Sunday Reads

• The aftermath of the Boko Haram war in Nigeria.
• Please watch the movie Get Out!
• Must watch this movie: Kalushi
• A history of Kenya’s democracy.
• The state of governance in Rwanda.
• Really cool project to document our African story.
• Parental notifications where children miss a class.
• Apparently I am in the right age to have a little one.
• This is an awesome business idea.
• So proud of these Kenyan female activists.
• Hail Angela Merkel.

Recipes

• I love dal makhni.
• Had one of these sans the egg white.
• Roasted potatoes with chickpeas.

Belated: (Women-related) Sunday Reads

• I have recently come across this writers work (Roxanne Gay) and so I enjoyed her profile.
• Another take on whether to take your husbands name or not.
• Loved this lady’s profile!
• Applying for a passport for a Kenyan child of dual nationalities.
• A woman transformed.
• How women “colluded” to vote in Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
• How many of these Super 100 African women do you know (without reading their profiles)? I know 27.
• On  feminism lite.
• Would you jump, or no? I wouldn’t
• Oh to have this type of friendship.
• Because language IS political.
• Made this for dinner this past week. Yum!!
• 15 ways to cook your veggies.

Sunday Reads

1. How to read more books this year. I am definitely taking it to heart by reducing my junk TV viewing and making sure I always have a book as I go about various chores.
2. A reading list on Kenya in case you are interested.
3. If a story moves you, act on it!
4. This article on insecurity made me stop and think. Really hard!
5. Somali nicknames are hilarious 🙂
6. So many white tears in this article. I see that they have only a given demographic of foreign spouses married to South Africans.
7. Also, this IS cultural expropriation.
8. More on how couples deal with finances.
9. I didn’t know there were Nigerian Jews in Johannesburg. Today’s fact!!
10. What does it mean to be a boy or girl? National Geographic asks 9/10 year old kids.
11. Stealing from one of the comments, “This is by far the best article I’ve read regarding LBGT and the gospel.”
12. Chocolate cake and another vegetarian pasta recipe.

Sunday Reads

1. Loving these sets of articles about women, women and ambition and the work place.
2. Thinking of doing this for someone I love.
3. Something about this video made me so homesick for Nairobi.
4. Some tips for all the new moms out there.
5. Love that this guy acknowledges what White Male Privilege has meant for him and his accomplishments.
6. Kenya goes to the polls in  August this year. A quick primer of some of the issues.
7. Some great African books to look forward to this year.
8. Somehow not a fan of all these baby products that work on selling fear to parents.
9. Some more Obama stuff.
10. We cannot run from God’s voice, where is He calling you to today?
11. An effective way to incorporate prayer into your life.
12. A yummy fish recipe.
13. Getting kids to [always] eat veggies.

Some of my (long) holiday reads ..

1. If you are not a Longreads fan already, here is a list of their best articles of 2016.
2. I am all about female friendships and stuff. I also love the authors idea of an article’s club.
3. My friends and I have these kinds of conversations all the time. Why can’t I ever record them???
4. Things people say after a miscarriage.
5. Black Power!
6. Kindness is the glue that holds couples together.
7. What to choose when considering a Bible Study to join. We all need tips on how to improve our prayer life. Yep. At least me!!
8. I guess con artistes are always looking to make a quick one so academia is also fair game.
9. Short-run solutions to youth unemployment in South Africa. Can young offenders reform successfully?
10. I love the aesthetics of this home!! This housing option seems quaint, but not for me.
11. Helping kids to make New Year resolutions. Some help for adults too. More help from podcasts.
12. Cool places to chill in Johannesburg. And in Uganda.
13. On identity and what makes us, us. 
14. I watched the movie Birth of a Nation and liked it.
15. Recipes: Cooking with soy sauce. Fragrant Chickpea Basmati Rice with Fresh Coriander.

Sunday Reads

1. Cooking with pears
2. I love apple cider vinegar, here are 16 reasons its good for you.
3. Fun places and spaces to visit around downtown Johannesburg.
4. When you look pregnant but you aren’t (NY Times).
5. On how we short-change girls.
6. On the insane pressure on moms relative to dads.

(Long) Sunday Reads

1. Great marriage lesson about talking honestly of our growing up experiences
2. Clothes, beauty and Africa (NY Times)
3. Uganda’s fastest and cheapest street food: Rolex. Do yourself a favour and google how the typical Ugandan pronounces it 🙂
4. …. and then a brief history of Vietnam’s street food, the Banh  mi.
5. School lunches in Japan.
6. So much good in this story.
7. Relationship goals. Yes!!
8. I love mussels and this seems so simple to make at home.
9. I sometimes feel this way about my accomplishments. Yeah!
10. I WANNA host an ice cream social too.
11. Because Lagos loves to party.
12. Bringing up kids in this day and age is not for the faint hearted.
13. Giving birth in Guinea is not child’s play.
14. We must watch Hidden Figures. Very important story to tell!!
15. Yummy (no egg) ice cream recipe.
16. This is my plan for September – need to get a proposal out.
17. I had a similar meal recently at a restaurant, YUMMY cauliflower.
18. Some more productivity hacks.
19. This letter. So true and poignant!

(Long-ish) Sunday Reads

1. Love the little eateries in Cape Town –Hallelujah. Truth Coffee.
2. Sometimes in a long-term relationship you can forget how to really have a good conversation. Here’s how to rekindle that.One. Two.
3. I wonder what a similar labour market analysis would reveal of the aged workers across Sub-Saharan Africa.
4. I love reading about productivity hacks.
5. Some apps to help with  productivity.
6. This article is spot on about how alcohol is fuelling a lot of women today.
7. One day when I am all grown, I will use my board and have a charcuterie and cheese platter.

Recipes

• Yum, how I love tomato sandwiches.
• Spiced shrimp and lemon ginger sauce.
• I can actually taste the salmon in this recipe.
• I am still in love with eggplants, here are a few more recipes to help with that craving.
• Some more yummy zucchini recipes.

 

Sunday Reads

1. Do this to improve your potluck hosting game.
2. Important subject matter (slavery in literature) and I definitely want to read the book, The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehad)
3. Interesting thoughts on appropriating food from another culture. Not unexpectedly, I am more chilled about it provided you show respect.
4. So much I didn’t know about one of Brazil’s most iconic landmark.
5. Green bean stir fry.

The life of an immigrant is a life of two places, two identities. And maybe that’s especially so for those who feel they have no choice but to leave their native land.