London Photo Diary

I had a break from work and I wasn't going to go anywhere, but then last minute, London called. I love London because it's more or less like not going anywhere, it's even more familiar to me than Lagos. I had a list of things I wanted to do- mostly eat to be honest but then I got there and was really tired so I ended up abandoning my list and doing nothing. I walked around the city and listened to music. It's so different from this 

holiday post

 where all I did was eat. I was really insecure about even putting up this post because it's just sooo boring, but it's exactly how the trip was. Perfect. 

This was the only place on my list I actually went to. They have an excellent cookbook and blog and I had to go and try some recipes in really life. Also, amazing matcha latte!

This girl was glittering in MAC. I love that she posed when she saw the camera.

My local starbucks had these adorable drawings of their baristas on cups. Should have made them draw one of me.

I spent a lot of time with my 

cousin

Muji and Paperchase are my favourite stores. I obsessively buy these notebooks, so imagine my happiness when I went and there was a stamping stand. I spent a good 20 minutes there buying and stamping things. 

Just a regular day on the streets of London. Why not?

Cookies on branch birthdays

London is hardly the greenest place, but I spent so much time appreciating 'nature' because it's non-existent in this grey place called Lagos.

I actually cooked sometimes. I even made jollof rice. I never ever ever ever cook.

Ping Pong is literally the only time I went for dinner and I don't think it counts because it's ping pong. Me and 

friend

 really went in though. Probably ate all the meals I should have eaten out in bowls of dim-sum.

I went on a few runs because it felt so good to run in a park!

The beginning of a deliciously messy night. 

On...Identity

Recently, me and my boyfriend broke up a little after 2 years together. For some reason, because I didn't fall apart, I thought I came out of it unscathed. I didn't realise I was reeling until after I stopped reeling. I didn't suddenly become a completely different person, it was more subtle. It was the way my interactions changed and there was this self imposed lightness in my relationships with new people that just wasn't real. Slowly, slowly, I started to be myself again and I realised all the shit I'd been doing. In a way, it was funny. In a way it wasn't. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things. Any relationship I inadvertently ruined was probably going to fall apart anyway.

But it made me think of identity and how it changes. It took me years and many lessons in self esteem to discover my identity. But it seems like just when you find it, you have to find it again. After uni, I went on a journey to find myself. I ended up in London in a job I absolutely loved and friends that felt like an extension of myself. I ran, I ate, I spent lots and lots of hours walking around and listening to music and sometimes had street parties with people I barely knew. Life was perfect, but it had to end and I moved back to Nigeria.

Everything was immediately different. My style had to change- messy quiffs and ripped clothing were generally frowned upon. My friends were no longer an extension of myself. I had to completely re-learn everything. My identity was in complete freefall. I started to re-shape a new identity, then I got into a serious relationship- before now, I had entered commitment only halfway but this time i entered it completely. With that too, came a new identity.

Law school, nysc, a new job, a new city, a new life plan and an old relationship and yet again, I have to re-shape my identity. But it gets easier, some things don't change. I've found a way to still be me, even when I'm re-finding my identity.

What Happens When you Big Chop in Nigeria

The first thing you learn is that it's a shared decision between you and everyone else. I learned this for the first time the day before I cut my hair. I mentioned the idea to someone at work and she followed me in the elevator begging me to re-consider because people don't like girls with short hair. 

I learned it again afterwards when people approached me with horror and sadness. One girl went on about it for so long. Why I did it and why I shouldn't have and why she preferred me before I did it, that someone else stepped in and told her off. The irony is that only a year before, the first time I met her, she had just big chopped herself.

It blows my mind that something like cutting my own hair for my own personal reasons can have such a strong impact on people that really don't care about me much in their day to day lives. It's almost like their strong disapproval is supposed to serve as a punishment for daring to step outside the acceptable lines of what is 'done'.

One girl said to me that short hair is only acceptable as a look if you're a 'model type'- skinny with long limbs. Off course the unspoken implication was that I wasn't a model type and it would therefore be foolish for me to try it.

I find these comments amusing and a reflection of just how deeply we are taught as Nigerian women to internalise self-hate. We are only allowed to love ourselves within acceptable confines of whatever beauty is defined as at the time. It's not just hair. It's the way you dress and whether or not you wear make-up and how much of it you wear. It's the style you choose to sew aso-ebi fabric in and whether or not your body type is acceptable at a moment in time. I've been called 'edgy' and 'weird' and 'alte' because I dared to stray from these very narrow standards of what is acceptable and apparently, I have strayed again by daring to cut my hair without regarding myself as different or interesting or brave because of it. 

Kajuru Castle, Kaduna State, Nigeria Review

Once upon a time, I stumbled on photos of kajuru castle online. It looked too good to be true. I showed some of my friends and they basically ignored me. It just sounded like false gist. Fastforward to earlier this year and a bunch of people I knew went. They loved it, so when another opportunity came to go, I hopped on it real quick.

I edited down from 119 pictures. At first, I was thinking, OMG, I need to show the views, it's so beautiful, but honestly, there are so many pictures of the castle already online, Just google 'kajuru castle.' Some of the photos look fake but trust me, it looks exactly like the photos. This is basically going to be more a practical guide of what to expect if you decide to go there. 

We drove from Abuja. There were 20 of us so we rented two buses because you have to take all your food and drink basically. Think of it as staying in an empty but nice house. It was a 3 hour drive, fairly straightforward.

So much excitement when we got to the little gate. That road ahead looks normal, but its so steep, and you have to drive up it. We started the drive and stalled midway, we all screamed, imagined our deaths and came back down really slowly. After that, we decided to just walk up and let the driver take his chances (with all of our luggage).

Our bus had fewer people and a careful driver. The white bus managed to drive up easily. 

So exciting walking up to the gate of the castle and beginning our little tour.

There are 5 bedrooms in the castle, all with two single beds which can be separated or joined together. Most of the rooms are in a tower (one room on each floor) and the master bedroom in the main house. The master bedroom and one other room have en suite bathrooms and the other rooms have a bathroom each but not en-suite.

Old ass crocodile!

The dining room

The kitchen (not pictured) has gas and two fridges and plates and pots and stuff. Many meals went down there.

The couches were specifically prepared for us as extra sleeping area because we were such a large group, which is why these cute mosquito nets are on them. They were actually really comfortable but apparently the castle maximum is actually 12. 

Master bedroom

Everyone basically put their stuff in here and I think 6 of us slept in here. It was pretty comfortable.

The sauna

Grill

Gazebo

It was so hard to find a time when the pool was empty to to take this photo so I waited till everyone was in the sauna. (or almost everyone).

There's space to have a party. I think you can also go up just for the day. They have a tower of speakers and you can play your own music. We had some pretty amazing playlists. 

They only accept one booking a time, so you don't share the castle with other guests, which is nice. 

I'd go back there again and again. 

Breakfast at Bistro 7

Listen. Bistro 7 is my favorite resturant in lagos and it's been for two years. I cannot articulate why. It's not particularly cheap and the food doesn't blow my mind away. But I like the consistency. Also, the fact that you can kind of see into the kitchen which allays my health and safety concerns. Their cocktails have never dissapointed me and they are the only people I know that have a green tea latte. I've tried to review it twice before now. One time, my memory card decided to fail me and that was a really good spread. the second time, I took pictures of chairs and tables and forgot to take any pictures of any food. So yah, that was a bit silly. The other weekend, I went there for breakfast on SATURDAY and SUNDAY so I kind of had to do a review. I'd say breakfast is the best time to go there because it fills up quite quickly at other meal times, especially on the weekend. 

Don't you love that they have actual breakfast cocktails? I have never tried a bloody mary and never say never, but I don't think I ever will. Tomato juice and vodka? Lord no. 

No doubt this is an overpriced meal, but hollandaise sauce, real ham and poached eggs in Lagos? Sometimes you just have to pay a premium on things that aren't available. Capitalism and all that.

These pancakes are quite sweet but very decent. 

Ah, a good mimosa. 

Before you judge this sunny side up, I asked for it well done, I'm not sure what was going through my mind at the time, I think I was very hungry.

Iced coffee? Yes please. (I love drinks)

Bistro 7 is at 273 Kofo Abayomi Street and is open on weekdays from 11am-11pm, opens at 9.30 ish on saturdays and is closed on Mondays

The evolution of Naturi Noughton

Remember this girl on the right here?

This girl on the left here with the glittery flat stomach?

I actually LOVED 3LW. I had their album on repeat for months. 'Getting really tired of your broken promithes promithes....sing it again, sing it again....ooooo'

This eager singer?

I actually loved FAME. Corny ass singy movie- it was awesome! Loved it so much, I bought the soundtrack afterwards.

Well, hello there princess!!

Throwback Thursday: Lunch Club at BBQ & Cravings

So like two lunch clubs ago, we went to to bbq and cravings. It was this thing that EDL was trying where we went to a low-key place instead of like a 'proper' restaurant. They also tried having more than 10 people for the first time. 

Arrived to cold coronas in these cute branded thingibobs. As I write this, I think I have to find it and throw it on my coffee cup. Tired of burning my hands because Nigerians don't believe in cup sleeves. I digress.

This menu didn't look like a lot of food, but it was a LOT OF FOOD.

The walls are covered with graffiti from people. And this fan was the MVP, because it was blowing away flies and flies and flies.

Actually, it didn't really feel like there were more people. The table was kind of divided a bit but I think that still happens when there are only 12 of us. The conversation was loud and noone was complaining. Welcome change from a regular inside setting.

Now, that's a portion of wings!

More meat. Meat Meat Meat. Tasty meat though.

'To share' apparently meant to share with one other person. Whaaaa?! By this point, I was almost full. 'Almost' being the operative word.

This sandwich was great and I love a cubed potato. By this time, I was actually full. By the time the burger came after, I had to get it packed. It wasn't happening.

Folly made these slutty brownies and I was greedy and had 2. But hey! Yolo right? 

Urban Fuxion Review

I love the movie

Chef

! So when I found out on

Eat. Drink. Lagos

 that a real life food truck was open in Lagos, I had to try it. But like most things I do, I procrastinated and procrastinated and then they followed me on twitter. I took it as a sign.

I sent a dm asking where the truck was. I think apart from when it moves around at night, it's usually parked in the same place in Lekki.

The truck is really nice. Great branding and so big. (for people that are looking at me like um, thats how food trucks are, I don't know anything about food trucks). There was a take out and take in window. I mean, you can't eat in or anything but there were two windows basically to make it more efficient.

The menu is burgerfrieswingssandwiches type menu. I tried the burger, some regular fries, chicken wings and a chicken sandwich. I remembered that the margaritas are supposed to be quite good, so I ordered a strawberry one.

I realise latently that I didn't take a picture of the menu. I was trying this new not taking pictures with my camera but trying to be under g with my phone and I'm not sure it quite clicked.

I argued with the guy that he gave me a virgin margarita because all I could taste was sweetness. The margarita was so so sweet, like bubble gum sweet, like artificially flavoured bubblegum sweet. I didn't like it at all BUT it DID have alcohol and if you like the bottles pitchers ,you'll probably like these. Different prices sha.

I think I should have tried the ribs. There's a consensus that they have amazing ribs but I don't think I'm really a rib eater and it didn't even occur to me at all, but everything was so average. Now, it's a food truck, so like the food is not going to be like amazing or anything, but it's not the cheapest food truck, like it's not fast food prices so I guess I had this expectation that wasn't really met.

I paid N2800 for the burger with fries and a drink (drink being regular stuff- water, fanta sprite). That's very reasonable, maybe even cheap by Lagos standards because Lagos standards are crazy but it's not cheap.

The food was forgettable and after I started writing this review, I had to taste the stuff again (my brother paid)

The wings tasted boiled. Maybe they were. I don't really have anything against boiled chicken but it was weird.

The sandwich was dry, like inside.

The food was okay. I think okay is my go to word for describing food that I wouldn't necessarily pay for again. The burger was fine, it could have been from anywhere. The fries were bland and the portion was tiny.

I have to say- the food looked good though.

I was disappointed to be honest but I really think I'm in the minority here and I'm going to have to taste those ribs. If I'm on the streets at 4am and I'm hungry, defs going to eat the food happily.

Studio of Mode Movie Screening

So, the other day, I saw on Instagram that Studio of Mode was having a movie screening of girlhood. It was on a Sunday afternoon and I'd been meaning to check out the studio so I took myself there. 

The movie screening was free but for N2000, you could get food and drink. I paid and got a hotdog, some popcorn and a drink.

I really love the store space. It's really fresh and light and all the stuff looks so pretty!

There were three screening rooms.

One cute couch space which a couple took...

This really cute screening room that I sat in. It was a great way to watch a movie tbh. Foreign language movie? check. No large crowd? check. I feel like this a great idea for like a birthday or something. 

This one had cushions on the floor for a super chill vibe.

At the end, people chilled and hung out for a bit. I took pictures and called my uber 

Nigerian Law School Bar Finals Tips and Hacks

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Law school exams are here again and following the massive failure lately, it doesn't hurt to have a few tips on the ready. 

1. Attend every single revision class. A revision class is where it was casually announced that the time of our exam had been cut. 

2. Read the same thing from different sources (by different sources, I mean lecture notes and revision notes, not mami materials) as many times as possible.

3. Take no more than a few minutes to arrange your thoughts, but then write really fast. Three hours speeds by faster than you might think.

4. Leave two lines after you answer every question in case you remember something.

5. Give straight to the point answers. You have no time for faffing around.

6. If you're making good time, give examples, where relevant.

7. When you're unsure of the exact answer, write everything you know about the theme of the question.

8. Where you have a choice, don't answer a question that requires you to draft a process if you're not sure of every single part of that process. 

9. Make sure you go through every single page of the syllabus and know what everything is. Some questions may be on something that wasn't mentioned in class at all, but every question will be from the syllabus. You should know everything, even if it's not in detail, you don't really have time to answer anything in that much detail. However, you answers should be articulate. 

10. Memorize your exam number. 

11. Don't take your watch to the exam. In the middle of my exams, watches were randomly banned and someone I know had her watch stolen. If you don't want to rely on the random clock in the hall, bring a cheap watch.

12. In fact, don't bring anything you don't need.

13. Dress properly.

14. It's better to miss 15 minutes of last minute studying than to be let into the hall 30 minutes late. Be smart about going in on time.

15. Ask lecturers questions at any point before the exam. 

16. Beware of mami materials, except maybe past questions. Ask questions and follow the syllabus.

17. If group revision has never worked for you before, don't try it now.  

18. If everything else I say is irrelevant, USE THE SYLLABUS to study.  

Good luck!

How To Get Fat

You're skinny. You're slim -maybe you've always been skinny- maybe you just lost a lot of weight. Today is Saturday- it's your friends birthday- it's a dinner-intimate - this is one of your closest friends, it would be rude not to eat- you know how long she's planned this and she's paying herself! You more or less starve all day so you can eat dinner. And it's amazing! 4 courses + birthday cake! Plus the most divine cocktails.

The next day- you miss your workout because you stayed out late. You're tired and a little hungover- it's not the end of the world, you've worked out a couple of times this week anyway. On Sunday, you're in bed watching TV shows- your loving partner or mum walks in with a little treat, a pack of coconut chips, a salted caramel cupcake, a mini doughnut, or some frozen yoghurt because its Sunday and everyone needs a little cheat in the week. You've been so good. You eat it because it's only little and you're hungover off course it would be rude not to.

Now for many people, that's fine. They might get up the next day and go straight back into insanity and salads. Or maybe that's a trajectory to weight gain. Either way, we all know it's easier to lose weight in a first world country where everything is packaged and prepared and the nutritional values are slapped on to the front of the packet.

In Nigeria, it's hard. I just started a weight loss challenge with some people and when I was trying to convince people to join, I was struck by how little information there is about losing weight. People have this impression that it's all salads and starvation and spending a lot of money, but it's actually not.

So I've decided to make this week wellness week. I'm going to debunk myths and post recipes and hacks and meal ideas that don't feel like you're suffering but don't also kill your budget. It's not just being slim, it's your skin, it's your energy, it's digestion, it's your mood. It's crazy how much what you put in your body affects everything else.

It's Monday, try and be healthy today! 

Sunday Brunch: Lunch Club VIII @ Velvett Grill Lounge and Bar

So, the 8th lunch club was yesterday at Velvett. 

Velvett is usually kind of pricey. So when I saw the lunch club menu, I knew I was getting a bargain!

At the beginning, we had lovely surprise cupcakes from 

honeys cupcakes

 from her new ...line?...collection? whats the right word for new food, which we got to try and review.

Obviously bread wasn't on the menu, but when the waiter put this basket on the table, I nearly wept in gratitude. The bread was really fresh. When he took it away, I almost grabbed the basket out of his hand.

I'm sure you could tell from the menu that it was going to be an appetiser platter. It was missing the plantain, but I can't say it would have added something different- just more food. Everything tasted good to me, tbh. I did wolf everything down at scary speed, so most of it probably missed my tastebuds.

I ordered my steak medium well because you just can't be sure how you're going to get your meat cooked in places. I ordered medium rare one time and they basically slapped the dead cow on my plate with sauce. Fola ordered medium rare and it was perfectly medium rare, so with Velvett, I guess you can trust that they understand how to cook steak. The meat was really tender and the black peppercorn sauce was great. This course came with a discussion of Nigerian cows and why steak cuts are imported.

Oh and the mash was great. Creamy, smooth and made from real potatoes. I pretty much scraped the bowl.

The chicken looked really good and was massive!

We had the brownie and tiramisu for dessert. I have to admit, this fell a little flat for me. The tiramisu was much too creamy with little or no sponge fingers. The custard was tasty, don't get me wrong, but the dessert isn't just custard and mine was basically that. The brownie was dry and most of mine was burnt. After the rest of the meal, I was a bit disappointed, but also full, so it was fine.

Velvett Grill Lounge and Bar is located at 19b Idejo Street (beneath Izanagi).

To join the lunch club mailing list, go on 

eat.drink.lagos

Sunday Brunch- Hans and Rene

You know those Sundays when there's rice at home, but you still want brunch (because brunch isn't just about the food), that's where Hans and Rene comes in! 

Hans and Rene is an gelato cafe (my words). They have gelato, sorbet, slush, sweets, coffee, tea, cakes, cookies and pastries (ps- I hate the word pastries). 

It's inside the Radisson Hotel at the side and has this cute outside seating strip. 

Their gelato has 40% less fat than ice-cream (has an extra scoop).

Ps- their salted caramel gelato has popcorn in it. It's an unpleasant surprise.

Their sorbets look creamy because they are churned really slowly, not because they have any cream. This zobo sorbet was delicious. 

You can taste as many flavours as you want (I think). The last time I was there, I did see this little girl taste like 10. She had a stack of used spoons. 

Cruffins are croissant  + muffin. They taste more like croissants, but not as flaky. Still delicious though!

These doughnuts are cakey and delicious but small enough for you to not to feel too guilty about it.

It's done up really well and the seating feels spacious and comfortable. I was tempted to plant myself here for a day, it's easily that kind of place.

This 3D wallpaper in the bathroom was interesting. We ended up posing on it. My 

cousin

's picture turned out better than mine. Mine was lame, but sitting on a pretend chair is a lot harder than it looks.

These painted ceilings are pretty! And so real. One of my favourite things!

I had the regular vanilla and nutella gelato. My cousin had the rice milk vanilla and chocolate vanilla which is a great option for the lactose intolerant and fitfam.

 This is hands down, the best mocha I've had in Lagos (then again, I haven't had many). It was creamy and perfect.

Hans and Rene is in Radisson Blu Hotel on Ozumba Mbadiwe and is open 12pm-7pm, Mondays to Fridays and 12pm to 8.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

International Stores that Deliver to Nigeria

Before I begin this post, I have to point out something that a lot of Nigerians don't realise or believe. Nigerian has a postal service AND that's how most of your ASOS deliveries come (for proof that it works), so if you're for instance sending a parcel from the UK to Nigeria, and you use regular royal mail, your package will probably be fine. So, not everytime, look for someone coming back. It will take like two weeks and the girl at the post office might charge you N500 to collect it but it will probably come.

When I moved back, I made a point to look for things I can buy in Nigeria instead of spending foreign currency, because the naira is really unreliable (and that's putting it mildly). Obviously, it's frequently a lot cheaper to buy it from wherever and there are some things that are just impossible to find (matcha powder and loose leaf tea if anyone knows)

Anyway here are some sites that deliver to Nigeria;


Asos
Asos is number 1 because their delivery is FREE (no minimum spend)...as in you can buy a £3 necklace and ASOS will deliver it for free. I'm stressing this because people actually order stuff from Asos and sell the stuff, which makes me feel like people don't know delivering from asos is easy, free and relatively quick. If you're in Lagos, it's going to get to you faster sha, because they deliver to Lagos first and then dispatch to whatever state. When I ordered from Abuja, it took a while. Try and keep orders under £40 because over that and you start to have issues with customs payments and etc. Your stuff will still come but you might have to pay to collect it.

Missguided
Now, I heard about this and went to check out the delivery countries on their site and sure enough, There was Nigeria but, I've never ordered from here or known anyone that has, but if you try it, let me know what your experience is.

Lookfantastic
Look fantastic sells beauty products...look fantastic...geddit? teehee. I feel like you can find most beauty products in Nigeria, but still.

amazon
Amazon ships selects items to Nigeria and some sellers deliver to Nigeria as well.

T.M.Lewin
They have stores in Nigeria so I feel like this is moot, but if you like want the latest collection of shirts or whatever. Actually, I think ordering from the UK is actually cheaper than buying from their Nigerian stores, but don't quote me.

Aliexpress
I've actually never ordered from aliexpress. There's something about choice that cripples me, plus a sellers paradise where you cannot trust for a second that what is advertised is what you're going to get. I'll try it someday sha. *shudders*

Selfridges
Delivery on selected items. I somehow feel like Selfridges just wanted to say they deliver to Nigeria without really having to deliver on that promise.

This isn't an exhaustive list. Where do you shop?

Sunday Brunch: Lunch at Kitchen Butterfly

So in my

last brunch post

, I mentioned Kitchen butterfly, but that's only because I have firsthand knowledge that her food is amazing. Teehee.

Let's just all agree that the best brunch place in Lagos is

Wheatbaker

 so we can move on with our lives. Free champagne cannot redeem Southern Sun brunch. They don't care about the food AT ALL. They just toss food on the table and blind your taste buds with free champagne. No.

Anyway, this isn't about brunch wars. It's about that one time I happened to have lunch in KT's kitchen. And boy was it a good lunch.

We started with some roadside plantain chips with scent leaf dip

Rose and zobo mix with chunky ice-cubes- yum

Cream and condensed milk

Grapefruits sprinkled with sugar

Waffles!

Spicy crispy chicken

Mini blueberry pancakes

Dipping sauces...chocolate and caramelised white chocolate with mint (she should bottle this)

Spicy zobo jam

Peaches and cream (not just regular cream)

Creme brûlée about to be blureed

blow torch in action!

Perfect!

beignets- I was so full at this point, I don't think I even tasted these

 The food, the conversation, it was all really perfect. Who else is opening up their home for lunch?

5 things you learn as an adult

 1.  Nobody is either good or bad. There is no such thing as completely bad to completely good. Humans are complex creatures with the capacity for good and bad and what they do depends on many environmental factors.

2. No one is going to make you do things. You have to make yourself.

3. How you look is probably not the most important thing about you.

4. Neither is how intelligent you are.

5. Your dreams fade/die if you don't constantly cultivate them.

6. Friendship takes effort.

7. Someone is going to title their post 5 things and tell you 7, that's life, deal with it

Sunday Brunch: 202

I took these photos last year, last time I went anywhere :( But as much as I appreciate the growth of the Nigerian food industry in the last few years, it's still soooooo far behind. Some days I don't want want a buffet of non-breakfast food or packet pancakes and cold toast. Some days, I just want real proper brunch. If you're in London, please live for me and go and have real brunch. If you're not, like me, just go to the kitchen and fry some eggs or beg

kitchen butterfly

 for an invite to her kitchen. Anyway, without further ado...

Isn't this kettle gorgeous?

some kind of berry smoothie

french toast and bacon

eggs benedict

I think this is the crab salad but I really can't remember

eggs florentine

pancakes

mint leaves in hot water (aka mint tea)

sorbet and ice-cream

crumble

tiramisu

202 is at 202 Westbourne Grove and is open from 10am-5pm on Sundays

Sunday Brunch: Crust and Cream

I remember like 3 or 4 years ago or was it 5? I don't know man. Anyway x number of years ago, the only places to really get brunch in Lagos were hotels. Hotel buffets. Some people still swear by that type of brunch but now there are a lot more options. Crust and Cream is one of those brunch places that everyone swears by and it's also SUPER CHEAP! This might be the cheapest place I've ever had brunch...or wait...is it? Actually now, I'm starting to doubt myself...but for brunch, it's still cheap...don't get me wrong...you'll whip this up at home for less...but a restaurant is not your home. 

So... the brunch menu is typical...Who has had this Asian breakfast? I'm curious and no one seems to have ordered it...Does it even exist?? 

 I ordered the American breakfast because even if the restaurant is not my home, I'm not paying 2800 to eat yam or plantain.

 Something was missing from my plate...I think it should have a sauce? All these dry things and nothing to add them together. Also, I had to ask for butter...what's toast without butter?? The food was okay. I didn't feel like I had thrown my money away but at the same time, I was like hmm...I kind of know why it's cheap.

I had dessert, because I try to have dessert as much as possible (remind me about this when I complain about being fat)...It was a chocolate fondant. The presentation was cute, like a little wonky star-eyed face. The fondant was too much oozy centre. A (I'll assume) manager came up to me when he noticed I hadn't really eaten any of it to ask what the problem was. When I told him about the overly oozy nature, he tried to tell me that's what a fondant is...lol...I know what a fondant is...I didn't really appreciate that lecture but then he swapped it for a different less oozy fondant, so good outcome. He also said that if I ordered it again, I should ask for my fondant how I want it #protip.

And thus ended my rainy day adventure at crust and cream. I realised when I was uploading photos for this post that I barely took any. And they have such a pretty display of pastries and confectionary. Must have been the ridiculous rain!

Crust and Cream is at:

11 Musa Yardua Street, VI.

They are open from 8am - 12am on Friday - Sunday and 8am-11pm on Weekdays.

just do it, Dammit!!

I over think everything. Everything, everything, everything. The over thinking mostly ends up in undergoing or not doing at all and its like procrastination x 150,000. It's terrible. It's also ridiculous. It's more ridiculous because we now live in this super hyped up world where everyone seems to be doing and doing and doing...or is seen to be doing. There's a main hustle and a side hustle to a side hustle to a side hustle all wrapped up in a brand name. I've been part of people's hustles and I can't help but ask myself...where is your hustle?

I'm asking myself these questions like...

1. what do you want to achieve

2. How are you going to get there

3. What's the worst thing that would happen if instead of overthinking, you just did??

4. How come pepper soup isn't that common? Even in restaurants with apparently Nigerian menus?

Has this post suddenly transformed my whole life...am I suddenly going to just become a Nike logo and do things? Probably not...But also probably not not. 

Throwback Thursday: Lunch Club V @ Mansilla

So...another lunch club is coming...seems like the perfect time to write about the last one! 

These have to be my favorite name tags yet- stuck in macarons!  People left their macarons on the table, but I ate mine. Typical. Sigh.

The menu was PAAACKED. Eek. But I've never been scared of a packed menu and I wasn't going to start being scared now.

They brought out this fancy water, but the cover destroyed the look. Why can't brands just follow through design to the end?! I excluded the cover because it made me sad.

The Quinoa salad was AMAZING. Delicious and fresh, slightly warm. The pomegranate seeds added a little extra flavour. This excited me for what was to come...

A palette cleanser, is well, just that.

These duck spring rolls were everything spring rolls should be. Crisp and ducky. They were also really small so the portion wasn't overwhelming.

The two drinks were...disgusting. There's no other word. The mango margarita with the chilli rim sounded exciting and looked beautiful and that was it. It tasted of only tequila. So, a chunky tequila drink. I couldn't drink it.

After the disastrous drink, my high kind of dropped. This ravioli was okay. The pasta was a bit chewy and the sauce wasn't enough, but it was very okay. It wasn't bad. It was just one of those 'this can be rice at home' moments.

So the owner? manager? came round and noticed my drink was virtually untouched so she offered a different cocktail and it was delicious! Yay! She basically got new cocktails for everyone so that was nice.

This curry dish was okay! The vegetables were seriously undercooked (so healthier, I guess). The curry was lumpy. Sigh. There was just no 'I'm eating out' feel from this. It was like it came straight from my kitchen on a regular day.

Steaky steak steak. 

The final palette cleanser which was nice.

Double dessert! I hate cheesecake (except chocolate cheesecake because the chocolate basically masks the flavour of the cheese) so I didn't even bother. sigh. The chocolate cake was okay. The dessert was misrepresented on the menu tbh. It was an okay end.

This was a really good lunch club. The crowd was great. The conversation really flowed and we ended up being there for absolute ages. I would go to mansilla again for the quinoa salad and the duck spring rolls- so starters. I've also heard they do a good breakfast. For mains or drinks? nah nah nah nah nah.