How to Make Moi-Moi and Corned Beef - Eat with Pap

Moi-Moi is one of those meals I forget to cook because I think of it in my head as too difficult to prepare. This is because when growing up, and for a long time after that, we used fresh beans and had to clean it by hand before making moi-moi. When I tried that here the first time, it broke my blender, and since then, my wariness of moi-moi increased. I do cook it once in while a with bean flour, but either the taste doesn't come out the way I want it, or the texture is off.

My mom reminded me of the meal during her last visit, and at our visit to the African store, I bought a pack of the ground bean flour. This one had a recipe and method of preparation on the label and turned out to be the best moi-moi I had prepared in years. I've since bought several packs more of the same kind and moi-moi has more regularly been on the menu.

Kim Kardashian, Nashville and the Divorce Dilemma

When Kim Kardashian split from ex-husband Kris Humphries 72days after their wedding, people started tallying up the shortest celebrity marriages. In a quintessential art-imitates-life episode, Nashville, a show on ABC, had one of the series music stars, Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) set a new record for the shortest celebrity marriage ever.

Within that one episode, the upcoming star elopes for a quickie registry wedding with her footballer boyfriend, Sean Butler (a Christian who happened to be waiting till marriage to have sex). After she has her way with him in the wedding limo, he wants them to meet his parents, and there, things fell apart. His mother wants a Church Wedding to put God's blessing on the marriage, and within a week, Sean is waiting for Juliette at the altar.

At that point, she couldn't follow through, and still in wedding gown, flies off in her private jet to start a concert tour. And so ends a marriage. Before I go on, let me state that I love Sean, and hope Juliette gets her act together so they resume their cute TV coupledom. Ain't they cute?

A Birth Story, Preeclampsia and Eclampsia

Hmmm..sometimes, pregnancy is just so scary, and when a woman goes through and has a healthy baby, it is really a thing of joy and thanks to God. Downton Abbey is, like any soap worth the name, without its twists. Last night we had one of those shocking episodes that reminded me of Grey's Anatomy, not only in the way it made me cry but also that I went hunting webMD and Wiki. For those who haven't watched it, there may be spoilers ahead.

On Sunday , after the two weddings of the first few episodes, there was a death. Sybil Crawley went into labor, but the joy of having a baby was stifled when the family doctor, Dr. Clarkson, noted that she was suffering from symptoms of preeclampsia - she had swollen ankles, her mind was muddled and there was excess protein in her urine. However, there was a know it all medical man, Sir Philip, who insisted the symptoms were just normal signs of labor.

As they were debating rushing her to the hospital for a cesarean, (her father and Sir Philip preferred a home birth befitting nobility), Sybil goes into labor. She gives birth successfully and there we were thinking it was all over, and was well that ended well. That was not to be.

Sign Fireman Speaks on his Hot Girls in Lagos Poster

I was surprised when the slightly light-hearted post I made last year about Sign Fireman and the Hot Girls in Lagos poster went viral and was published and syndicated by various media outlets. It remains one of the top posts on this blog with the #1 keyword for search, showing that it's an issue on the public mind. Today, this comment below was made on that post by Whitney Chad, who I can only assume is Sign Fireman's PR person. For those in Nigeria, read and see if Mr. Fireman has a point.

"The point is that God sent me to bring Twenty-First Century innovations that will change Christianity and make it have more results! Let me give you an example.

Recently, believers do soulwinning among believers! Churches “wins souls” from another church! That is not soul winning! That is souls transfer! They are fishing in the frying pan! Real soulwinning is reaching out to SINNERS and getting them saved! To do that, one has to go to where sinners are!

Labaran Maku Versus Transparency and Accountability

Former Nigerian Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, who was also at one time "Madame Due Process is stepping up the national conversation. Last weekend, in her remarks during the convocation lecture at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, she accused the Nigerian government of squandering about $45 Billion in foreign reserve account and another $22Billion in the Excess Crude Account left after the last administration. Following the reports of her speech in the press, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, accused Mrs. Ezekwesili of misinforming the Nigerian public, insisting she has doesn't have sufficient understanding of government finances.

According to SaharaReporters, "although Maku made these sweeping statements, he did not provide any substance to his attempted rebuttal of Mrs. Ezekwesili, who was briefly the Minister of Education before her departure for the World Bank. But Minister Maku did say of Mrs. Ezekwesili that she “collected” N352.3 billion as Minister of Education, suggesting that Ministerial budgets are normally “collected” by Ministers."

Dear Myne - My Boyfriend Does not Have a Degree

I met this guy of recent early this January. We've just been friends and from all indication he wants to be more than a friend with me. Anytime he is around me he keeps talking about marriage and all. The issue here is that I feel this guy did not attend a higher institution though his English is OK. He is a very nice guy with a good character.

To some extent, one can tell the kind of person a guy is with his relationship with his present family. I have seen him with his family and the way he cares for them. He is the first child with four younger ones. The way he relates with his family shows they are so close. The guy is God fearing.

I have not really had the liver to ask him about school issue, I don't want him to feel bad. There was a time we were talking and I was like for me, I want to go for my PGD this year and then my masters. He didn't say anything towards that so i sensed it and decided not to talk about school with him. I am the sensitive type so I acted sensitively that day by keeping quiet and not talk about school again till when am sure about his own school status.

Mom Holds down her crying Toddler to get a Tattoo

A shocking video was posted online yesterday which showed a woman, presumably the mother, holding down a crying toddler while he is being given a tattoo. No one is sure of the source but, you can hear the mother saying “mire, mire” – Spanish for “look” – as the distraught boy continues to scream and cry.

Some commentators have compared this to circumcision for boys, or piercing ear-lobes for girls as a way to excuse the act, but I'm not buying it. And while there are conflicting reports, it is believed this took place in Cuba where it's part of the culture, something to do with helping the boy to be a man or something.

Unless, that is the case, that mother and all those adults are simply abusing that child. After all, an American woman was arrested last year for giving her 11years old daughter a tattoo. What do you think?

Valentine Dinner Special For Toronto, GTA Residents

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How to Make Jollof Rice With Chicken and Plantain

Jollof Rice is one of the staple meals eaten in most Nigerian households. Put simply, it is rice stewed in tomato sauce. The method of preparation differs, and even I personally have about two ways I prepare Jollof Rice. In one method, I mix the tomato stew with stock and then cook the rice in the mixture. In the second, I cook the rice in plain stock with some chopped tomatoes, and mix when done with pre-fried tomato sauce. Using Chicken for my meat and stock, I'll outline the first method which I think is simpler.

Ingredients
3 cups of long-grain rice
1 pack of cut Chicken drumsticks
3 ladles vegetable oil1 can tomato puree - small size
4 small fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 medium size onion, chopped
2 Teaspoon of dry pepper
2 Knorr Chicken cubes
2 fingers of very ripe plantains
Salt and Spices to Taste

3rd Mainland Bridge Crash and the US Toyota Recalls

Over the weekend, the news outlets were agog with headlines of an overspeeding Toyota Sienna which crashed through the railings of the Third Mainland Bridge and fell into the Lagos Lagoon. Luckily, there was just one occupant in the car at the time of the accident, and he was rescued by Fishermen and others working on the lagoon. The man has now recovered a bit and spoke to the press saying he had not been overspeeding like had been earlier reported.

Reading this reminded me of the Toyota recalls of the past few years in the United States, of various Toyota brand cars with faulty accelerators. A crash with a recorded 911 call by an occupant who later died along with three others brought the sudden unintended acceleration fault to the public and national consciousness in 2009. Several other crashes involving Toyotas kept surfacing the issue up till 2011 when massive recalls by Toyota were launched, and the CEO appearing at a hearing before the American Congress.

In the Nigerian crash, the driver, Olusola Oladimeji, in addition to insisting that he had not been speeding, also commented that his airbags did not deploy after the crash. I had always kept half an ear on the Toyota faults and recall news since we also have a Toyota, and so this news report today made me try to check around for any connections.