1st guest post for Christmas ~ Valentia

Our very first guest post comes from the delightful Miss Valentia, I think it is befitting to label her a veteran blogger seeing that she has been doing it since December 2007 on her blog Valentia.  She is newly engaged (Congratulations hun 🙂 ), a lover of music (I am sure you are familiar with ValFM), a former Diasporan and a food enthusiast. She is always tweeting links to food websites and recipes, so I asked her to do a food inspired post.

She was kind enough to share with us a tantalizing pork recipe that I am already dying to try out. Here she is, chef extraordinaire….. Valentia 🙂

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Black Lantern Pork Ribs with a Valentia Inspired Twist

The bubbly and sunshiny @Nkirdizzle asked me to write a guest post about all things food related…and the things I’ve learnt about my various travels up and about this continent of ours.

Cooking is one of the joys of my life. I dislike regimented cooking (aka that home cooking where you have to ensure you have cooked sijui 3 different vegetables etc- type of cooking). I love experimenting with recipes I’ve read about or tried, or some of mummy’s tried and tested recipes. It usually involves some good music and a glass of something delicious (insert glass of white/rose wine, Baileys, herbal tea or smoothie) to get the process moving.

I spend my time (in unequal proportions) in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. They are all *home* for me for various reasons (family, work, love). As a foodie (albeit a learner) I have come to love foods from these countries and experiment with different ingredients in my kitchen.

One thing everyone knows about Uganda is that they love their pork. Goodness me..the first time I went, I was inundated  with different pork recipes left, right and centre. From the simple roast pork (or pork choma to us Kenyans), oven baked pork, marinated pork, stir fried pork with vegetables. The list is endless…

One of my favorite places to visit in Uganda is Black Lantern near the Bujagali Falls in Jinja. I fell in love with a delicious pork rib recipe that I simply had to re-create at home. So we asked the chef how they prepared their signature dish and proceeded to make it at home in Kampala the next weekend. I added my own twist to the recipe and it was all kinds of awesome (The original recipe didn’t have aromat, thyme or tomato puree).

Disclaimer:

When I marinate meats I tend to taste the marinade as I go along. I highly recommend this as you can then tweak the marinade to your specific taste. This may also explain why my measurements are vague…Happy cooking!

Ingredients:

• Pork ribs (now the quantity depends on you.  If you are a lover of pork then aim for four to five ribs per person)
• Apricot jam
• Tomato ketchup
• Honey
• Tomato puree
• Thyme
• Aromat
• Black pepper
• Barbecue  sauce
• Onions
• Ginger
• Garlic

Directions:

1. Chop the onions, garlic and ginger roughly.
2. Put the pork chops in a heavy pan and add the onions, ginger and garlic. Top up with water and boil for one hour.
3. Drain the pork ribs. You can retain the onions, garlic and ginger to add to the marinade if you wish.
4. To mix the marinade, mix the honey, tomato puree, thyme, apricot jam, ketchup, aromat, black pepper and barbecue sauce in a bowl. (I normally add the different ingredients bit by bit, tasting as I go along until I get it to the right consistency)

   

   The marinade

5. Coat the pork ribs with the marinade and arrange them on the baking tray (or simplify things for yourself and mix the marinade in the dish you are planning to bake the ribs in! #Win)
6. Cover the tray with foil and oven bake for one hour or until they are done to your liking. Alternatively, you can roast the ribs. If you choose to roast the ribs, slow roasting works best.

Marinated Pork

7. Serve with avocado, boiled or fried cassava slices, kachumbari, ugali, fries, salads or whatever other accompaniment you desire.

Now this is what the Black Lantern ribs look like…

Black Lantern Ribs

Tis the season to be merry and what-not…so give this pork recipe a try and yes, feel free to tweet me and let me know how good it tastes! Pork is not a waist friendly food…lakini as my beloved @a_kabari says “Eat drink & make merry for in January, we diet!”

 

ValFM:

• Dance for you- Beyonce
• Letter to my ex- Tanya Lacey
• Lights on- Katy B ft Ms. Dynamite
• Let’s go crazy- Prince

 

TGIFridays!!!

Thank God It’s Friday!!!!

I am excited about

3 day weekend woop woop

Today I Am Feeling

tired of spoon feeding people nkt!

My Funky Friday Theme Song Is

I have really been looking for this song, doesn’t it rock?? My December theme song 🙂

This Weekend I

have no idea what I will be up to..

I am craving

I dunno…

I wish

I had decisive goals, passion, ambition, something to work for… sigh

I hope

you guys come through, starting to worry about whether this thing will pan out..

Today’s Inspirational Quote Is

‘Don’t be afraid of the end, know that there’s a lot of good to come before it.’

Have A Fabulous Friday!!!

Hugs and kisses,

12 guest posts for Christmas

It’s 19 days to Christmas, and I am excited. I love this season, it’s fun and joyful and fattening 🙂

I woke up singing ‘We 3 Kings’ and to my utter dismay, I couldn’t remember some lines in the first verse 😦 I wont get into details about my confused lyrics.

It is that time of year again, where I make like Santa and award you with the gift of guest posts from 12 other bloggers this Christmas. The first run last year was awesome, you can read some great guest posts from here.

I can guarantee you that this year’s run will be even more amazing, so stay tuned for some fantastic blog posts.

 

Bisous,

 

TGIFridays!!!!!

Thank God It’s Friday!!!

I am excited about

my friend flying in today 🙂 The summer bunnies have started landing \o/.

Today I Am Feeling

no particular prevailing emotion, no expectations, no disappointments.

My Funky Friday Theme Song Is

I thought about this song last night, and it played on MTV this morning, I am psychic like that :p

This Weekend I

have no idea what I will be up to, but it better be good!

I am really craving

Pork spare ribs from Spurs, I cannot find a juicy enough picture, but I must have some soonest!

I wish

my friends were coming home this December 😦

I hope

the traffic today will not suck as bad as yesterdays!

Today’s Inspirational Quote Is

‘If it were easy, it would have been done before.’

Have A Fabulous Friday!!!

Kisses and cookies,

 

1st of the month

I am so ready for December, it is after all, the season to be jolly ain’t it? 🙂 My word, 2011 is practically finished!

November Highlights

This month started off with a big bang, crashed an awesome party of a new friend. She really went all out and I met so many people I had not seen in a minute.  Went for another party same night, did some fun things 😉

I went for Safaricom Sevens at Nyayo Stadium, we were all skeptical about it but I think it was a tremendous success.

I went for both days Saturday and Sunday, I enjoyed myself tremendously.

I bumped into someone I had unfinished business with. You know those people you meet that tickle your fancy, but you parted ways without exchanging contacts or anything, but you know you would bump into each other again? Yeah, well I met that guy this month. It was thoroughly entertaining, he is blunt, interesting and quite the charmer, but once again we never exchanged contacts, okay I refused to give him my number which I sort of regret but I know I will see him again so hey *shrugs*.

I got another chance to go quad biking in Lukenya, had fun but it was quite tedious.

I also got to meet someone after like 2 years, he is even more handsome than I remembered, and smells so good 🙂 Yes, I get cheap thrills.

So yeah November was nice and polite, got to spend some time with my cousin which was very cool.

I got a cassette adapter for my car and it has transformed my driving experience! I bump to my own music in traffic and i love it.

November Downsides

There was nothing really awful about November, and for that I give God the glory 🙂

November Discoveries

If you want something, go out and get it.

Cameras and camera phones are everywhere!!! Beware!

You keep flaking out on me 😦 I am done trying to make an effort, though I miss you terribly … To my very good friend who I have not seen in a while.

Dance, EDM, Progressive, Kwaito, House music is well on the way of overtaking my love for Hip Hop, Pop and R&B.

No need to waste time and energy on people who are not the least bit bothered to do the same for you.

What I Look Forward To In December

I heart Christmas! Kicking it with the family, stuffing your face in, what’s not there to love?? I have no idea what we plan on doing this Christmas, but apparently karaoke is in the works so I am excited about that.

Summer Bunnies!!! Yes, many Kenyans are coming home for Christmas, some I know, others I will get to know if you catch my drift 😉

Jamhuri day is on Monday, can you say 3 day weekend?? Though I do not have any grand plans, I am still very much excited about it 🙂

I am still not sure I will break for the holidays, but cross your fingers for me please.

Most of all I am looking forward to the fun times and holiday cheer 🙂

How was November for you? What are you looking forward to this December?

Smooches,

 

Monday Riff Raff

So Monday is usually the day where I reflect about life, after the happenings of the weekend. I dunno why but for some reason I learn a lot of things after weekends, especially crazy ones.

This past weekend was nice and polite, kicked it with my friends and had fun catching up. Though I still have not properly gone out dancing, and my feet cannot stand it.

I stumbled upon the above picture and wondered if I could do some of the things it says. Like the first item on the list, i have been staring at my phone for the longest time. He cannot possibly be waiting for me to do something, could he? Sometimes I wonder if he thinks of me as much as I think of him, and the answer that I conjure up in my head is that he doesn’t…

So I decide, every single time, that I will get him out of my head, but he doesn’t get out, instead he hides out at a little corner at the back of my mind . The closer we get to December, the closer he gets to coming out of hiding.

Then I stumble upon this, and my decision to just expunge him from my entire being goes out the window. Anyway I will decide what to do when and if he is ever in my presence….

I also really need to learn how to listen to my instinct, sometimes I do things knowing they are mistakes, but I just ignore that nagging voice in my head and do them anyway, knowing I will regret not listening  to myself smh. I have no idea why I do this, but hopefully I will consciously decide to listen to my instinct the next time it speaks to me, because it may be my only true friend.

You know how you can meet someone and just get that feeling that there is something not right with them? I do not, I never have them 6th sense if I  can call it that.  I tend to look for the good in people, and maybe my judgement may be impaired by good looks too 😉

But there are some people  that I do have a 6th sense about, and I am failing a bit when it comes to staying away from them -_- but I am back on my guard.

I also learnt that sometimes, maybe the people you are meant to trust are not so trustworthy… I dunno, sometimes it is difficult to know who to trust.

Enjoy the last few days of November,

 

 

TGIFridays!!!!

Thank God It’s Friday!!!!

I was super syked about Friday, then I woke up with this throbbing headache, at least it has subsided, but I still feel weird 😦

I Am Excited About

The weekend being here, and hanging with the girls today.

Today I Am Feeling

meh *shrugs*

My Funky Friday Theme Song Is

This is the jam!

This Weekend I

have no clue what I will get upto.

I am craving

Abs 😉

I wish

schools would remain closed forever, the road was so nice this morning.

I hope

tonight’s gonna be a good night.

Today’s Inspirational Quote Is

‘He who has a ‘why’ to live for, can bear almost any how.’

Have A Fantastic Friday!!!

 

Someone else’s bed

Remember I had talked about wanting to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)? Well I signed up, but I had no idea what to write and in all honesty, I was not going to write anything until I suddenly got inspired.

On Sunday I was watching Wall Street: Money never sleeps and there was a scene where Carry Mulligan’s character was breaking the news to Shia LaBeouf‘s character about her pregnancy. And I thought, I would hate to be in her shoes, because even if they were engaged and in love, she still seemed nervous about telling him about the baby. It seems despite your situation, you never know how someone will react to this news.

I managed to conjure up some 1,215 words, nowhere near the 50,000 word target. It was lots of fun I must admit, maybe I may finish this ‘Novel’. Have a read, and let me know what you think.

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‘Oh my God!’ ‘Oh my God!’

My heart felt like it was a prisoner in its own chambers trying to escape; I was hyperventilating like I had forgotten how to breathe.

‘This cannot be happening.’ I whispered to myself, which was kind of strange seeing that I got myself into this predicament in the first place.

He was there, when I was at my weakest, lonely and inebriated. I tried staying away from him, but it was like he knew I wanted him, needed him even. He saw through my nonchalant façade, and he came at me with his game face on.

I really tried to ignore him, and act like his very presence did not confuse my senses and drive me insane. I shouldn’t want him so bad, when he was not mine to have.  He was that alluring forbidden fruit, that looked so delectable and tempting.  I had been fighting so hard to resist the temptation, but I am after all Eve’s daughter.

I know he liked the fact that I was a challenge, he had been chasing after me, and somehow I had managed to brush off his advances and it took me all my strength to evade him. He was wise enough to pounce on me during my weakest moment, with my vulnerability emanating from my entire being.

The fruit was even more scrumptious than I had imagined or could ever have anticipated. The fact that I was not meant to be eating it made it both exhilarating and scary at the same time. It was the most explosive and intense experience of my life. Then it was over.

The little bubble I had sought refuge in burst open, and I emerged, spent, with my craving sated, and with strong feelings of guilt. He on the other hand, was the happiest I had ever seen him. His eyes were shimmering and bright, he had this glow surrounding him and he was beaming from ear to ear.

He looked like he had just discovered the true meaning of happiness, and that scared me to death, especially because deep down inside, I felt the same way too. This was a mistake, none of this was meant to happen.

So I did the only thing I could do, I ran away.

He tried calling me, but I refused to answer his calls or respond to his messages. I was so glad he had no clue where I lived.

For the 2 weeks that followed, I was tormented by the guilt of what we had done, the desire to do it again, the turmoil and confusion of refusing to submit to him. I was so caught up in all those emotions, that I never realized that I was late.

When it dawned on me, it felt like I had been hit by a monster truck, my world literally came crashing down. The doctors confirmed what I already knew was true, and I was faced with the impossible task of deciding what needs to be done.

The activities of that night kept playing over and over in my head.  That temporary moment of insane pleasure had now created a connection with him, forever. There was a piece of him inside me.

At one point or another, every woman has thought about what they would do if they ever found out they were pregnant. I always knew abortion would never be an option, but the thought did cross my mind.  Going through with it would eliminate the complication that was him in my life, having to become a mother when I was barely done with growing up.

I made my bed, and so I must lie in it. Even if this was unplanned for, and despite all the fear, I already knew I loved this baby growing inside of me.

I was extremely confused and scared, and most of all too embarrassed to seek advice or refuge from anyone. The only solution that I could think of was to go to the person who got me into this mess in the first place. So I called him.

He picked up after just one ring. His voice, evidently, still did things to me.

“To what do I owe the honor of receiving a phone call from you? After you have gone to extreme lengths to steer clear of me?” he asked somewhat in a condescending tone.

“I need to see you.” I responded curtly.

“I have been dying to see you ever since that night, but you have just been ignoring me. Why the change of heart?”

“You know why I couldn’t see you.”

“Why?” he asked, knowing very well what the answer to that question was.

“There’s only one way to find out, meet me.” I replied.

“I am free now, come to my house.”

The thought of going to his house, the scene of the ‘crime’, scared me, but it had to be done.

“Okay, I am on my way.”  And I hang up before he could say anything else that would prevent me from going to see him.

So many things ran through my mind as I drove to his house. How would he react? Would he think I wanted to trap him? Would he be happy about it and take responsibility?

I got to his house, parked the car, and found him at his door step waiting for me.  Seeing him took my breath away. There wasn’t anything spectacular about him, except for his eyes, which stared at me like they wanted to bore into me and reach the depths of my soul. And his body, well toned and strong, he reached out for me and crashed me into his arms. For a moment, that felt like the most wonderful place to be in, here in his arms.  The moment ended and I released myself from his embrace and walked into the house, searching for the perfect place where I could break the news to him.

“I missed you.” he said, as he walked towards me.

“I am happy you finally came around, what has been going on with you? After a night like that you would think that you would be banging down my door rather than running away.”

“I know this whole thing is not the best situation, and I know that’s the reason you have been avoiding me. But none of that matters.”

He was now standing next to me, his frame towering above me as he stared down at me.  I couldn’t bear to look at him, because I was busy trying to figure out what to say, how to form the right words.

His hand grazed my cheek, and he lifted my chin, forcing me to look into those eyes.  When our eyes met, it was very evident that I was in turmoil.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, his voice filled with concern.

“I’m pregnant.” I blurted out.

It felt good finally telling someone and putting it out there, why should I suffer alone in silence?

I had really anticipated his reaction to this life changing piece of information, and I waited with bated breath to hear what he would say.

“I…..” and the door burst open, with Haley barging in, guns blazing and throwing accusatory glances at us..

************

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See what I did there?? Suspense 🙂

Thank you for reading,

 

 

 

 

TGIFridays!!!

🙂

Thank God It’s Friday!!!!!

I am excited about

the weekend, this girl just wants to have fun 🙂

Today I Am Feeling

like there is awesomeness in store for me.

My Funky Friday Theme Song Is

Love the way they dance!

This Weekend I

will kick it with the birthday children, looking forward to it 🙂

I am craving

I dunno what I am craving *shrugs*.

I wish

my friends were coming home in December 😦

I hope

these studies do not ware her out….

Today’s Inspirational Quote Is

Have A Fabulous Friday!!!!

Do I have my groove back?

Having been in and out of a relationship sort of put me in a slump. I wanted nothing to do with men, which is really a sad mindset to be in once you get out of a relationship.
I had mentioned before how it sort of left me broken in the sense that I really did not feel good about myself.
Anyhoosmu I embarked on a journey to love myself and be in control over my own happiness and it worked wonders.
I am in a spectacular place right now, life is good and I am revelling in it.
Maybe men can see it because they seem to be drawn to me. I do not mind the attention, I just wish it came from better avenues…
Don’t you just hate it when you meet a group of guys, and you are digging the hot one, but it’s his ballsy friend who hits on you more than the cute one?
That happened to me yesterday, got to hang with this really hot guy with the cutest dimples and his friend. Though I could tell he was drawn to me, he really did not make a significant move on me. Which is a shame because I have been dying to see him since 2009 -_- but I let it slide since he was baked and inebriated. His friend however, really kept looking for me. He was not a viable prospect since he has baggage and his smile is too gummy lol (you forget I can be superficial?!)
The list of forbidden fruits keep increasing, I won’t lie I am tempted, but there is really no need to get myself involved with such dudes who will bring me drama. I like my life sucker free.
I met this dude in September, you know those types of guys who you meet and you know you have unfinished business? Yeah well that was him. I met him last weekend, and we picked up where we left off.
He is really interesting, kind of intense because he is bluntly honest, and asks me the most difficult questions smh.
And just like last time, we have unfinished business yet again, I just don’t know if I actually want to finish the business…
Basically, I am back in the game. Hopefully I won’t make the same mistakes as my past relationships, and that soon enough I will be able to figure out what the hell I want..

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