Fiction, Food, Faith and everything in-between

Yay for this lovely cookbook. This is the October cookbook for the Jamie Oliver cookbook club and I love it. It us a great book full of stories and colourful pictures. The recipes are easy to follow and the ingredients are accessible. A few pictures below. I made Somali Spiced Tea (Shaah Cadays) It is like a very spicy chai, very spicy! Definitely a good one for winter. Chicken with garlic and ginger(Akoho Misy Sakamalao) from Madagascar.  Fish in a coconut sauce. Coril de Peix Coro) from Mozambique. and Kachumbari which is Tomatoe and Onion Salad but Kachumbari sounds nicer. The book doesn't say where the salad is from (unless I missed that part) but according to Google Kachumbari is popular in East Africa.  They are all tasty and easy to make.

I love cooking and this October we have a new book in the Jamie Oliver Cookbook Club. It is 'Bibi's Kitchen.' It is another great book and I have been cooking a few things here and there. I made Date Bread this morning and it was surprisingly easy to make. Over the past couple of weeks I made Zanzibar Pilau Rice. It is seasoned with Cardamoms and cinnamon stick and tastes really fragrant. You have to try and hunt for the Cardamom and Cinnamon and retrieve them before serving. I made Doro Wat to go.with the rice. This is a spicy stewed chicken which is supposed to be eaten with hard boiled eggs. I skipped the eggs because I am not really a fan. I also made stewed Spinach otherwise known as Zebhi Hamli. It is great to find a way to eat Spinach. I think mine had a bit too much Tomatoe but it still tasted great and went nicely with the Doro Wat and rice. I also beans which are called Kunde in the book and I made ...

October is here! Wow! The year has gone so fast for me. I have had such a busy September with our Regional Director's conference, preaching at church and my own conference that I organised for my staff. I have also had various meetings about my new role and lots of advice.  Despite this, I still found time to bake Lavender Biscuits, Cholla Bread and Chorizo and Onion Empanadas. This morning I made Paul Hollywood's Plum Pizza. It is really a plum tart with a pizza base. Making it is timely because it was 'Bread Week' on the GBBO and the bakers made all sorts of pizzas. One of the things I have realised about cooking is that you need to take advice. Apart from following the recipie which is obvious, there is also quite a bit of advice in recipes which sometimes is optional and other times gives freedom for individual style. When making something for the first time I always try and follow the advice and the recipe as closely as possible. I also like the way there is so muc...

I made two small loaves of Cholla yesterday. One for me and one for a friend. I realised that my loaf wasn't going to last long so I made an additional two loaves for the freezer.  To be honest I don't even know if I have enough space for these in my freezer but maybe we will just eat it instead. I also made a spicy salmon dish from my Dominique Woolf cook book. It doesn't look as good as her's but it tastes great.  I wonder what the fish looked like when Jesus fed all those people with five loaves and two fish? In any case I also cooked a rice tray bake. Thai Green Curry Chicken and Rice Tray bake from my Dominique cook book. Yes - that cook book is a great favourite and I love it even more now I have tasted the peanut and coconut bites recipe and it is made without baking! I am not feeding thousands,  but I am grateful that I am able to try out recipies and feed my family, especially at this time when so many people are ...

I have cooked all kinds of things over the past few weeks. Some were my new but old favourites  Like the Red Red from my Zoe's Ghana Kitchen book.  And the Cinnamon Buns from the BBC website. But I also tried a few new things like Teriyaki Chicken Puffs from my Dominique Woolf book  and Barbecue Beef Short Ribs from the Jamie Oliver website. And I made a Lavender Loaf. It was perfect and silently disappeared from the fridge as my son quietly but determinedly sliced his way through it. The lock down and extended working from home gave me the time I needed to focus on my cooking. Instead of cooking a few favourites, I invested in some cook books, joined a cook book  club and rediscovered my love of cooking.  I plan our meals with precision and I have a good rhythm of cooking which means I am not in the kitchen everyday. But even if I was I would still enjoy it and so would my son.  My new job is most...

It has been a very odd few weeks. I accepted the offer of a new job and it created a stir. There is always a huge amount of interest in anything the Archbishop of Canterbury does and I think appointing a black woman as his Chief of Staff has definitely stirred things up in a number of different ways. There are many people who are happy to see a black woman in such a senior post and there are those who aren't happy at all. Such is always the case  but what truly matters to me is how I feel about this new direction.  How do I feel? It is really nice if people are happy for you when you achieve something, especially when family and friends are happy.   I am really not bothered about the opinions of people I dont know. I am not a popstar or celebrity, and this is about my personal life and my career but because it is the AB's post strangers wade in with their opinions and I ask myself 'who send you come'? A Nigerian phrase for 'who are you and what is your business here...

In her lovely cook book Dominique Woolf advices the reader to taste as they cook. This should be common sense but sometimes when you are so focused on the process it can be easy to forget. I never forget to taste at the end though! I am really enjoying this cook book especially the many different recipies for vegetables.  The photo above is Chilli and Miso Stirfried Pak Choi. I dont normally cook Pak Choi but I shall do so more frequently now. Sprouts! I am actually one of those people who eat sprouts all the year round and not just as some kind of Christmas tradition. I love them especially when they are accompanied with Chorizo. This dish of Kung Pao-Style Brussel Sprouts with Chorizo has taste and style. I could eat the entire pan in one sitting and I think I should put a pan of this on my cooking list for a future supper with a few roast potatoes. Then I made Stir Fried Rice with Gochujang Beef. This is where I failed the taste test. The Gochujang paste ...