My new loves

Goo Goo and Mooze

burning my fingers

I had kids over the other day. With kids you are never sure what they will enjoy in terms of food. So I decided to make a little of everything and I should have known that kids are easy to please. They loved everything! I guess it's adults I should be wary of. Kids like to try new things. So if you decide to have jacket potatoes, they will love them, adults will ask why didn't you peel the patatoes like everybody else. The one thing they were really interested in was the pasta. I don't break up my pasta. I washed their hands and asked them to go ahead.
By the way, why do people break up pasta, if you are going for small why not just buy long grain rice?

The one person I haven't been able to impress is my little cousin Irungu. He doesn't like salad at all. Unless there are pineapples in it, then he will pick these out . Reminds me of my friend's son who would only eat a few cucumbers off a whole bowl of salad. But Irungu likes pancakes, and as it is, his brother makes better ones than I do. I donno what's with that boy, Munyeki. He has a way with food. When he fries githeri, it is gourmet githeri.When I try that, it becomes githeri, onions, tomatoes and water.

So this time I'm sure I can feed about five people, with second helpings, men included. That is not exactly correct.I'm assuming all men eat the same huge amount. My friend's husband would eat less than us. Times when we went out for bakut teh, Me and and my friend would order two three rice bowls, each one and a half, and Wei would have one bowl. Then we'd scrape off the mush rooms and bits of pig from the pot. I guess I should say, five, moderately eating people. And about 3 kids. And they need to be open to new tastes.

I haven't made a pumpkin in days, so I'm off to look for one.

Ready to Go Emergency kit

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Bombs, falling buildings, civil war... eehk.

In Kenya, our recent scare is Al Shabab. I overheard a woman at the market say-
"see these black spots I have, what do you know, I got them when Al Shabab started."
You would think Al Shabab was a communicable ailment. Gun shots, especially where I live are common but these days whenever a shot goes off you'll hear someone saying- they have come.
So I've been meaning to write about how to prepare for such an emergency. It is not an original idea, I read about it in the Awake! magazine.

You will need. A carry on bag
A torch and batteries
water
canned food(you can have biscuits, noodles)
A first aid kit(pain killers, antiseptic, scissors, bandages, Elastoplast, safety pins,salt,wet pads and those that can be used on burned areas donno what they are called )
Red cross has medical kits going for ksh.3,000 and ksh 2,000. But it is cheaper if you got them from a chemist.
You can add anything else you think is important.
For me, I would have copies of identification and a list of family and friend's numbers.

I have only done it half way but I'll keep getting the things I need.
When disaster strikes, all that would really be useful is yourself in good shape. Grab that bag and escape.

the link lists comfortable shoes and rain wear as well as an fm radio phone if you can manage (http://www.watchtower.org/e/200709/article_02.htm)

I can't get this off my head

"How To Save A Life"

Step one you say we need to talk
He walks you say sit down it's just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
And you begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Gentleman Vs Thug

versus

The other day my friend said to me that she thinks people generally end up getting mismatched.

yeah, sad. I said

"But that's the way it should be, you fight, you hate each other and have a miserable life, but you are in love and you won't just settle for the nice gentle man who does everything right but you just don't feel him," she said. So I wanted to write something about it.

Well, gentle man, thug which one?

It simply depends on what you are ready to put up for rest of your day lights.
But of you ask me, I would vote for a thug any day.

A thug is not afraid to tell you right out that he likes and you are really cute when you wear you hair like that.

A thug is not wishy washy about what he wants. If it doesn't work out, so what, at least you tried. If you just continue walking on the line, 27 years after 2012, you'll still be wondering why ladies just wanna be friends. A thug won't keep you guessing what's up.

A thug doesn't think the world revolves around him around him. He knows you got stuff to do.


And a thug will walk past your mother to see you when you're sick, he won't care.

So to all the thugs out there. You are special.

My play list this week:

E.V.E and Alicia Keys- Gangsta Lovin'
Agar tum mil jao
Quelqu'un M'a Dit - Carla bruni
These bones- Dashboard confessional
Cinderella-Ali kiba

pictures courtesy of photo stock images

discovering tastes

pic courtesy of clia.org.mx

Me and my mother's friend are in the kitchen arguing about the best way took ugali.

You just mix it then cover, she says.

But this is flour from the mills, you need to boil it first- I say.

She takes it off the fire before I think it's ready but I don't argue, I was just helping her so, it's her meal.
2010 was a crucial year for me.I learnt the way to make well cooked ugali from Tata. And in 2011 I spent most of the evenings perfecting the skills. My neighbor would tell people.
-her, she only cooks ugali, I think she prefers it to many foods- I'd agree and add that maize products are actually good for a healthy worker's body.

So last night I was making ugali and I realised I do spend quite a bit of time preparing and cooking food. I enjoy cooking, I didn't before, I guess coz of lack of ideas or was just plain lazy.
Spending time with Michelle's mum, Mrs. Yap changed a lot of things in me. I'd pound the ginger, garlic, pepper, tomatoes , onions and green pepper until it was a fine nice smelling pulp to be used in frying the rice, or green veggies.

That pulp is used as a base for all frying as opposed to a single onion.

Now whenever I'm frying even green veggies,I make quite a big deal of it. To make a good pumpkin soup, I'll start at 5 p.m to serve at seven.Then the sink will be full of equipment needing a wash. The other day I made fried rice, the Chinese way but lacked one ingredient- soy sauce. I'll look for it next time I go to the market. It turned out okay and now I know I need a wok, a big one.

I have freedom to experiment in my house. My friend Carol rang me the other day and asked what experiment I had for super, and you can bet it was a laugh. I had fried that green shaped veggie- we call it shasha; with beans and the usual spices, then using mashed potatoes I made my own version of a shepherd's pie, it tasted good.

I just googled. that veggie is called chayote, choko, chocho,
or Bangalore brinjal. and it's good for you too. check out wiki-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chayote-


the real shepherd's pie ;)

pic courtesy of snovalley grub blog

in the neighbourhood 2/01/12

six eyes, and three beautiful girls always meet me at the gate when I get back from a trip. They run upto me screeching:
Auntie Gathoni Amerudi!- auntie Gathoni has come back. They all hug me and almost topple me over and I can't help the warm feeling welling inside me. They carry my bags and we have to spend five minutes looking for the keys, then:

aki tumekumiss... they chorus
then when I'm settled on my bed they ask :umetuletea?-what have you brought us?

I ask what they've kept for me and they will say they didn't know I would get back so soon, but promise to keep something for me when I go away again.

Three girls soon to be unassuming teenagers
Rose Brenda and KUi. Brenda is the oldest but Rose is more outspoken and has seen a lot in life so she is the captain. She is in class one. My friends in the coffee bean neighbour-hood

I once fell sick and was expecting visitors, the girls came and assisted, I simply gave instructions and for the week I was sick, they all came to cook clean and sympathise.

I remember Brenda in the great grandmother's smoke congested kitchen boiling eggs for me-of course we split everything- but she looked so lovable with her tear filled eyes, her pink tights. I could bet a load of firewood she had never had to start a wood fire before that day.

Kui, 4 years old came in and advised me to gurgle salt, it helped, when you are sick you don't think quick enough, and salt is a good antibiotic so with tonsillitis it is bound to come in handy, even a little girl will tell you that.

Rose lives in the same compound so she came in frequently to do my bidding. She's secretly my favourite. Her personality is just a book by itself and she challenges me, like an adult, so we converse one on one like agemates, and she won't take a telling off. She has opinions and reason.

So whenever I'm headed to my house I'm thinking what treats to carry for my girls. This time I had plums. Dear Rose didn't know what Plums are, never had any. I'm glad I lived in 2011 and met those girls.