Sunday Reads

• The lies parents tell to keep peace and sanity around the house.
• May the Church of God continue to stand strong always.
• Just read a bit of the Word, regardless.
• This little baby made my day.
• These lessons can easily apply to any new job.
• Oh New York how much I love thee

Recipes

• Cilantro Lime Dressing
• More pasta recipes
• Must try this: Blueberry Ginger Sorbet
• Chicken breast recipes
• Chickpeas stew

On being Other

 

Only Black

Only Female

Only Foreigner

Youngest person

…. although I would change the fact that she had to transform into the mainstream to get a seat at the table. What if the mainstream changed to accommodate her and she did not morph into a gatekeeper for the new “other”.

 

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

• 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

• 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.

Ambition Over Time

Over the past couple of weeks, I have spoken to close female friends about the nature of ambition in women. In this time as well I have looked back at journals I wrote when I was in my late teens and possibly into my early twenties and that young voice was so clear about all the things that I had to achieve by a given age. It’s amazing that I did not envision life happening and how determined I was that my goals would happen when and as I planned. Years later, I somehow feel like I ticked off some of these things and yet so many others I did not. Does this mean I have sold myself out? Am I less ambitious now? What’s happening to me?

What do I know for a fact? I am still driven. I still love to excel and push myself. I enjoy making plans and looking to improve and exceed my own expectations.

• The most significant difference as I have gotten older is that I am now more pragmatic and better able to understand that life is what happens between the achievement targets.
• That comparison is the thief of joy and anytime I look at others’ accomplishments, I come off looking worse and feeling horrid about myself.
• That dreams and targets can change as I also grow and experience life. And that’s OK too.

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 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?

Sunday Reads

• The biases that women face in Economics.
• Motherhood makes women better workers.
• This podcast on how these communities in Tanzania deal with the taboo around first periods.
• Great empirical evaluation of the assertion that foreigners in SA take jobs from locals.
• Love this article on boundaries within marriage – for example I don’t share nail cutters with the hubs.
• I think, sorry I know, I love Gordon Ramsay.
• I have tried to get my sisters to call me llama llama.
• Yes, hospitality is broader than entertaining.
• My sister has us on a plant-based diet so I wanna try and make this cake or this one.
• I have the urge to make this for the hubs.
• This eggplant dip looks yum.
• Getting the most from your food processor.

Sunday Reads

I am in my favourite city, Joburg so enjoy …

• Something about his writing gives one all the feels. Also, the short list for the 2017 Caine Prize with links to the stories available here.
• South African universities forget that fewer foreign students means they cannot meet their budgetary requirements.Ha!
• Interesting article on how women under invest in the labour market to appear more attractive in the marriage market.
• Like this chick, looking forward to her memoir.
• I love this bridal party photo shoot.
• So unlike me but I really want to start a veggie garden. And here is a garden-DIY combo project.
• Emotional health is key.
• In time of suffering we cannot blame God  but we can trust Him.
• Navigating grandparent conflict at the birth of a new baby.
• Raising a feminist son – let him cry, that totally made me stop and think. Summarised here also.
• Also, how we talk to little boys matters.

How can we change this? We can start, says Dr. David, by letting boys experience their emotions, all of them, without judgment — or by offering them solutions. This means helping them learn the crucial lessons that “Emotions aren’t good or bad” and that “their emotions aren’t bigger than they are. They aren’t something to fear. (NYT)

Recipes:

• I love to cook with cardamom
• Home made ice cream and this sorbet
• More ice cream
• I always want to bake bread at home.
• Creamy spinach and chickpeas.

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

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.

On women and work

Source

• Women are under represented in politics because fewer of them decide to run.
• The many ways we silence women today.

Women at work

Hillary Clinton speaking to Humans of New York (HONY) on an issue that a lot of women have to contend with in the work place, how do you get people to get past your femininity and take you seriously?

“I was taking a law school admissions test in a big classroom at Harvard. My friend and I were some of the only women in the room. I was feeling nervous. I was a senior in college. I wasn’t sure how well I’d do. And while we’re waiting for the exam to start, a group of men began to yell things like: ‘You don’t need to be here.’ And ‘There’s plenty else you can do.’ It turned into a real ‘pile on.’ One of them even said: ‘If you take my spot, I’ll get drafted, and I’ll go to Vietnam, and I’ll die.’ And they weren’t kidding around. It was intense. It got very personal. But I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t afford to get distracted because I didn’t want to mess up the test. So I just kept looking down, hoping that the proctor would walk in the room. I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional. But I had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions. And that’s a hard path to walk. Because you need to protect yourself, you need to keep steady, but at the same time you don’t want to seem ‘walled off.’ And sometimes I think I come across more in the ‘walled off’ arena. And if I create that perception, then I take responsibility. I don’t view myself as cold or unemotional. And neither do my friends. And neither does my family. But if that sometimes is the perception I create, then I can’t blame people for thinking that.”

Sunday Reads

1. Baaagh! shaving season is upon us.
2. My oldest nephew is headed to teenage-hood. Freak out!!
3. But why is our leader like this?
4. Definitely baking this lemon and thyme cake this weekend.
5. I love the idea of helping women over 40 get back into work.
6. Marriage is often about managing details. FACT.
7. Recommended baby shower gifts.
8. The Real Housekids imitate the Real Housewives of Atlanta.Hopefully, they get round to imitating all the series of this show.
9. Funny mom emoji’s.
10. I liked Tsitsi Dangaremba and this was an interesting read.

Sunday Reads

1. This article captures how a good policy intended for women can conversely benefit men.
2. Tips to help one eat in moderation.
3. Again this article on how African women’s bodies are fetishised and no one really cares for us. They never loved us!
4. This place has been popping up quite often, should try and stop by before the cool kids monopolise it.
5. For anyone looking to study for a PhD. Some valuable advice.

Long Sunday Reads

1. Thoughtful cards that recognise the many paths to parenthood.
2. I would happily co-sign the petition to have all academic research freely distributed. (NY Times link)
3. The top researchers on RePec (Research Papers in Economics) from a ” Developing Country” are all male and predominantly pale.
4. Jeez, the ethics and externalities stemming from a privately owned city in India.
5. Decorating together as a couple.
6. Relationships aren’t always exciting or glamorous. And that’s fine. These 24 comics celebrate the more mundane bits of things #7, 12,16,17,19 and especially 22.
7. I’m already so iffy about eating eggs, not sure it was wise to read this egg on whether to wash eggs or not, whether to keep them in the fridge or not.
8. Daily life in a major Accra slum. Very riveting (but could be gross) read.
9. Imagine if your hotel owner knowingly spied on you while you visited their hotel?
10. Don’t let fear dictate how your life should be / the pressures that women face regarding marriage.
11. Data sources for researchers, many free and easily available.
12. No more boy only OR girl only books.
13. Wearable baby tech marketed to parents based on fear mongering.So shameful and morally horrid.
14. What will happen when African leaders take their election rigging online? I cannot even imagine!
15. I am sometimes guilty of not taking my job THIS seriously!!
16. Various recipes this week.

•  Thai Red Curry Risotto, without the chicken.
• A week of delicious vegan meals. Some really nice and simple meals here as well don’t be put off by the word vegan e.g vegan ice cream.
• Watermelon and Ginger cocktail (non-alcoholic). Also recently had watermelon and mint sorbet, just yum!! those two flavours work well.
• Breakfast ideas for a little little one.
• Mug cakes anyone?

“Ship before you are ready, because you will never be ready”

I love Seth Godin and look forward to his daily blogs. Below, a recent one that totally challenged my work ethic, copied word for word from his blog here.

Show your work

It’s tempting to sit in the corner and then, voila, to amaze us all with your perfect answer.

But of course, that’s not what ever works.

What works is evolving in public, with the team. Showing your work. Thinking out loud. Failing on the way to succeeding, imperfecting on your way to better than good enough.

Do people want to be stuck with the first version of the iPhone, the Ford, the Chanel dress? Do they want to read the first draft of that novel, see the rough cut of that film? Of course not.

Ship before you’re ready, because you will never be ready. Ready implies you know it’s going to work, and you can’t know that. You should ship when you’re prepared, when it’s time to show your work, but not a minute later.

The purpose isn’t to please the critics. The purpose is to make your work better.

Polish with your peers, your true fans, the market. Because when we polish together, we make better work.

I tend to wait until I have the perfect answer, or I have the perfect report/ proposal or I have prepared the perfect meal before I speak up and sometimes what is required is that you give a suggestion or you show that you are engaging with the material.

I will now ship before I am ready because unlike the common saying, I will never be ready!!

Sunday Reads (the how-to version)

1. I love this beautiful Joburg home – the art and the styling. Yum!
2. How do you stop dirty money flows?
3. How do you invest your windfall?
4. An experts summary of how to reduce sugar in your baking.
5. For anyone that needs tips on conception.
6. So many ethical issues regarding this Surrogate mother’s tale.
7. As the gap in education access and attainment continues to broaden, this is the reality for some kids.
8. How to crotchet a chunky knit blanket.
9. For all of us that need to learn to say no graciously.
10. How do you get health officials not to steal donor funds? You send an enforcer and you put in repercussions.
11. On the unpaid work that women often do.
12. Watch 100 Years of Black Men hairstyles in one minute.
13. On Cancer and other health scans and the depths that people will sink to.
14. A project that shows how fickle international borders really are.

 

Late Sunday reads

Funny thing but I found this lying in my drafts … please enjoy the old-ish links. Hope you are all having a lovely week and hopefully the next one starts on a positive note.

1. The economics behind standing in line. Who knew?
2. Things ARE looking up in the Development world.
3. Practical and very thoughtful approach to Development (please also look through the comments)
4. Quantifying the sacrifices given up at Lent
5. The next time you want to like sad news on social media (little hint: Don’t. Never. It’s not a good idea)
6. Please read this for the comments and the shade. Yoh! the shade
7. Double whammy! Black and a female economist!
8. Women and negotiation. Damned if you, damned if you don’t
9. Recipes to try this week: Chocolate cake, Cardamon crumb cake, Lentil and rice salad

Enjoy and please feel free to leave comments with interesting stuff you read this week.