Beginners' Guide to Solo Christmas Cooking

This post was inspired by Ummi's post on Naman Sallah for Beginners. Do check it out.

Christmas cooking and sharing food to neighbours is one of the things i looked forward to and dreaded at the same time about having my own family. It was a tradition in my parent's house and i couldn't wait to make it my family tradition as well but i dreaded doing it all on my own as it can easily get cumbersome, overwhelming and stressful to execute all alone (i don't have a maid); especially if you don't intend spending your entire Christmas eve and Christmas day cooking.

My 1st Solo Christmas Cooking (Dec 2014)

I have already commenced preparations in full force for my Christmas Cooking therefore i thought it best to put up this post as someone may find it useful. I wouldn't say i do the cooking completely solo 'cos hubby has really started helping out with cooking especially dicing & slicing all veggies and i'm loving it!

Christmas (Dec 25th) is on a Sunday this year so if you haven't done your shopping for your key ingredients, you are carrying last. The only thing you should be buying a day to or on Christmas day in my opinion is veggies for your salad (Cabbage, Lettuce & Carrots)so they are fresh.

The reason for my statement above is mostly hiked market prices, the traders know the meals most people cook during the Christmas and Festive period and increase the prices for the ingredients in order to make maximum profit (can't really blame them). Also some things get sold out and the traders don't bother to restock.

I kinda carried last too 'cos i was too busy to go to the market and i don't have a maid to do that; i finally did my shopping on Friday, Dec 16th and the prices hurt my pocket quite a bit.

The major key to a successful and stress-free Christmas Cooking is early preparation.

1. First thing is to create your Christmas Menu and the days it'll be convenient for you to get them prepared with minimal stress, mine is as follows:

• Spring Roll (25th)
• Samosa (25th)
• Puffpuff (25th)
• Fried Rice (25th)
• Peppered Chicken (25th)
• Fried Plantain (25th)
• Gizdodo (22nd)
• Chicken & Sausage Salad (24th or 25th)
• Pan Sweetpotato Meatpie (24th or 26th)

I don't like to cook on Dec 23rd 'cos its my birthday and all i really want is a proper lazy day after work (my office typically closes for the year on this day).

2. Find recipes for all the meals on your menu (Check the links for mine above), review them thoroughly and draw up your market shopping list. Last time i went to the market (Utako) the prices for popular items were as follows (after bargaining on some):

• Orobo Chicken -N1,200 per Kilo
• Soft Chicken -N1,200 per Kilo
• Turkey -N1,300 per Kilo
• Turkey Gizzard -N1,600 per Pack (it used to be N1,200)
• Tomatoes- N700 per Regular Basket 
• Tatashe a.k.a Romano Pepper- N800 per Regular Basket 
• Rodo a.k.a Scotch Bonnet Pepper -N100 per Medium Bowl
• Onions- N200 per Medium Bowl
• White Yam- N600 per Medium size
• Plantain -N1,200 for a huge bunch (I bought an unripe bunch so they are ripe by the time i'm ready to use them)
• Palm oil -N800 for a Small bottle (it used to be N600 for a big EVA bottle)
• Sweet potatoes -N500 per Regular Basket
• Crayfish- N1000 for half Mudu (it used to be N600)
• Smoked Fish- N400 per Medium Size (Depending on your bargaining skills)
• Plain Flour- N300 per Mudu
• White Sugar- N700 per Mudu (it used to be N300)

3. Draw up your budget and go shopping

4. Sort out your food items, do the necessary preparations and store them in your fridge or freezer

• Blend and Boil your peppers

• Marinate and Boil your Meats, Gizzards, etc.
• Clean and dice/slice your veggies (You can get hubby to help out)

• Dice your boiled Gizzard (sure most hubbies would volunteer to do this.lol)

• Make your spring rolls & samosas 

5. Make your Christmas meals according to your menu and designated dates. Check out my post on Tips for Easier/Faster Cooking.

• I boil the rice for my fried rice on Christmas Eve (i prefer using day old rice for my fried rice)

• I made my Pan Sweet Potato Meatpie on Christmas Eve

• Wake up early enough to prepare the meals you have designated for Christmas Day, defrost the necessary ingredients before you are ready to cook to avoid unnecessary wait
• I make my Fried Rice on Christmas Day (Morning) with my already cut veggies  (I'm not a fan of store bought frozen veggies)

• I make my Peppered Chicken/Turkey on Christmas Day (Morning) with my already blended  & boiled peppers and well marinated boiled chicken/turkey (and i get tasty stew after taking them out)

• I fry my plantain on Christmas Day (Morning)

• I make my special salad dressing & add it to my pre-made & chilled salad (You can also make your salad on Christmas morning for freshness)

• I defrost my pre-made Gizdodo, add more sauce and heat it up

• I fry my already prepped Spring Rolls & Samosas on Christmas Day (Afternoon)

• I make my puff-puff on Christmas Day (Evening)

I'm usually done with the major Christmas Day Cooking in 1-2 hours (that's around 9-10am). The thing with cooking Nigerian meals is that it's usually the prepping of the ingredients (blending, dicing, slicing, marinating, etc.) that take the longest time.

I make more than enough so i can have lots of leftovers for us to heat up as needed and enjoy.

6. Share the love and Food with your neighbours, security guard, gardener-everybody! I prepare a tray with a warmer of the different meals and some drinks and give them. 

For my Neighbours

7. Relax, eat and enjoy your dishes with your partner or family and friends.

If i can pull it off, trust me you can as well. 

Remember Jesus Christ is the Reason for the Season. 
Spread the Love through Sharing whatever you have.

Toodles!XooX

Happy New Year 2015

Happy New Year 2015!!!

Awesome 2014, held so many unexpected blessings for me and my loved ones. I had a really cool post-vals day surprise proposal dinner, then a surprise bridal shower, got married, got my masters admission, had some downtime fun with le hubby, attended many weddings, beautiful babies were born to my loved ones, attended my cute sis-in-law's graduation ceremony, hubby and I celebrated our December birthdays and we moved to a new house amongst other good stuff that happened last year. I also got to spend some time with the in-laws and my folks and spoil them all a lil which felt really good. 

I also got to share a Christmas Meal to my neighbours and guard on Christmas morning and i went all out (Fried Rice,  Peppered Chicken, Plantain, Gizdodo, Salad and soft drinks), my mum shared items to our neighbours as a tradition when we were much younger to spread the love and i can't tell you how long i have been looking forward to starting this tradition in my own home. Sharing is definitely satisfying.

Looking forward to what the New Year holds, glad to have made it hale and hearty with all my loved ones as i expressed here. God's grace is sufficient for us all. Hope you had a good 2014

Toodles!XooX

23 on the 23rd of December (II)- Super late post

 

I turned 23yrs old on the 23rd December, 2012. Whoop Whoop!! oh thank you all, you are far too kind *curtsies and bows...ignore me abeg *giggles. Allow me revel in the awesomeness that was my birthday via this post. Merci, as you oblige. I celebrated my birthday in December (did a quick post here, 'cos i knew it'd take me a while to do a full post; did not tink it'd take me this long though *Covers face*) and my age and date of birth happened to be the same number 23. Yes i'm one of those people that note things that have the same no. #judgemoinot. I had the most awesome birthday ever or shall i say birthday week!! I got loads of gifts and was able to have a small get together with my friends which is what i have been craving for a couple of my birthdays now without actually getting it. I got a Nexus 4 android phone from le boo, a beautiful abaya from one of my friends that travelled to Dubai earlier, a cake, a set of make-up brushes, 2 NACK dresses, a NACK top, alcohol (White wine & Amarula which are still in my fridge, i'm not a fan of alcohol), perfumes, earrings, necklaces,cards, chocolates a red & black, bodycon gown, money and the gifts are still rolling in from people that were not in town during my birthday. I can't even start to quantify the calls, text messages,Facebook posts/messages, Tweets/DMs, BBMs, DPs & PMs, etc. I felt too too loved! This was definitely not like my other regular birthdays.
God definitely always makes a way, i had been looking forward to my birthday since December began, i wanted to have a get together and do something different from my usual birthday which normally just entails me chilling at home with my family, i get a cake and a few gifts, most of my friends are usually outta town for the holidays. I was that kid that never got to celebrate her birthday in School 'cos we were always on vacation by the time it came around and because it's Christmas period, there's usually so much preparation for that, that my birthday gets rolled over, which i have never liked! but i learnt to live with it, cherish the few gifts i get, phone calls, texts, etc. Woe betide u if u are my friend and forget my birthday!!lol, but that was back then anyway, in the years of recent, i don't even stress about people forgetting my birthday. Oya o, back to my birthday.

My week began with me stressing over what to do for my birthday and my broke state, before i knew it Friday was upon me, i got my beautiful Abaya from my friend, Habib, on Thursday so i 'launched' it to work on Friday, lol. After work hours another friend, Bolaji, took me for ice-cream (Blue bunny- birthday cake flavor) and pancakes @my fave ice-cream place Dunes!! We chatted, ate and he dropped me off @home, i saw le boo later in the day and we chilled and jisted about my birthday plans.

Saturday, some friends came to visit me and one of them came in from Zaria to pass the night @my place, i cooked Jollof Spaghetti, watched some series, jisted with my friend and just chilled wondering if my birthday would be like any other regular day that would just pass by. Saturday evening, le boo and my very close friend ND, called me up to get dressed that we were going for a dinner. YAAAaaaayyyyYYY!! (My friends are the best). We went to Uptown Asian Cuisine & Lounge, some people were also having a suprise birthday party there, it was really cool. I wasn't so hungry though + i was upset with le boo at the time (can't remember what it was about though) so i had some WonTon soup, we jisted and took loads of pics, i had a really good time and got back home around 11 pm.

Sunday was upon me!yikes...still no plan, but i had decided to cast all my worries away and let the day unfold itself. I went to church full of joy that came from somewhere i honestly do not know. I woke up early, got dressed for church and my friend dropped me off close to church, i sang songs of praises and thanks as i strolled the remaining distance to church. It was the first service and it was a swell one!! I had just 3k on me at this time but i wasn't even worried about that. I gave out of it for my offering to show my appreciation to God for all he had done for me thus far and all he will still do for and allowing me to see another birthday hale and hearty. I danced well well during praises and thanksgiving, the highlight of the church service for me was when some elderly people and youths came to dance 'azonto' and 'etighi' at the front of the church, it was hilarious although one elderly lady got it to the T. After church i strolled back home, singing and full of even more joy. I rested a bit, ate and my friend travelled back to Zaria.

I was home alone, enjoying my series and responding to calls, texts, chats, etc. when two of my friends came around separately. We jisted a bit, then one of them told me to doll up that we were going to Transcorp Hilton to have lunch, as i should not be at home dulling on my birthday...lol I Agree!! I got ready and i had a swell time! i had mashed potatoes and Stake and a Peach Melita for dessert *bliss with 2 Chapmans (i love chapman and *btw rich people dey enjoy o!!).
He dropped me off @my close friend's place where i played with her niece and nephews and they gave me a card with the sweetest wordings (dose kids just know how to light your world), we watched some cartoons and i gave my friend some money to help me get 2 packs of canned coke in case anyone came around to greet me when i got home.

I received a call from eju while there that she was baking me a cake as my birthday gift (awwwww), i felt so loved and then i got a few more calls from Mandie and his 2 bros and Saidat that they were on their way to my place (oh oh). I said my goodbyes to the kids and my friend promptly dropped me off at home. Lucky for me they had not waited too long. Le boo and i made up and he also came over, Eju came over with the cake and Josi ,Esiri, Francis and Ma bday mate Chinedu joined us. We chilled in my small room, jisted, ate the cake and had drinks and everyone left with a slice of cake. I also gave my neighbours and the guards some cake. I was super happy when the day was ova and slept with a smile on my face.

I had a brief embarrassing moment though, the Jollof Spaghetti i had made the day before had gone bad because i did not heat it before storing it (it had fish in it) and i had no clue it was bad 'cos it dint even have an odour!!! I warmed it when my guests were around and served it to 2 of dem, just for them to taste it and tell me it had gone bad!!! I cringed, apologized profusely and took it away to trash it. *shrug-these things happen.
All in all, it was a great birthday week and holiday :D

Toodles!XooX

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

Its a new year full of possibilities and bursting at the seams!

I can't wait to start my new diary!(i'm more diligent with diaries) so many diary options, thanks to all these banks 'kissing my boss's ass'. Oh well i will probably go with the First Bank diary since it's my dad's bank and their diaries are handy and nice.

I refurbished my blog some days back thanks to the newly configured wireless connection in my office, so hopefully with less work @work my posts will be more regular.

New Year Resolutions

I usually make new year resolutions because they keep me focused and unlike my usually unpredictable self, i manage to stick to them throughout the year.Even my friend (sammie) was curious about what my new year resolutions will be this year.

I had to disappoint her though because my resolution for this year was no resolution.

I have no reason for not making resolutions,i just did not feel like it, that does not mean i don't have things i want to achieve this year though, i do, and hopefully by God's grace i will,here are a few:

• Improve myself in all aspects
• Get my own place (in progress)
• Get a car
• Get another degree (in progress)
• Continue my French lessons
• Get a guitar and learn how to play it
• Save more (this is already highly in progress)

That's basically it, and i also made up my mind that this year is a 'No Nonsense' year. I intend to cut off all the people that do not add value to my life in one way or the other and i have started doing just that, can't afford to carry extra baggage this year - 'Good riddance to bad rubbish' i say!

That aside it's been a great year so far! Last year was a good year and i thank God for seeing me, my family,friends and relatives through to 2011, i'm really sad and worried though about safety in Nigeria due to the Oct 1st and Dec 31st bomb blasts, i will do a blog post on these later on.

Merry Christmas

Christmas was great as the whole family (except my dad) was around, plus we were in our own house so we were all merry, plus this was a really "Giftfull" year (lol), my brother's got the PS2 they had been crying about so i'm not so pressed to get them the Nintendo Wii, instead i have to get them the CD's for the PS2 and i'm cool with it :D, i got my sister a blackberry, the look on her face when i gave her was worth it!, ma aunt said she prefer's cash so i gave her 5k,i got my mum a new phone also! It felt so good to be able to do something for my family,there was so much eating and drinking i felt bloated!lol oh..and i also paid full subscription + indian on the DSTV,so everyone was happy! i also got a lotta gifts since my birthday was on the 23rd, my brothers got me a gold necklace and earring set,O.Othey saved to buy it(brought tears to my eyes when they came to present it to me proudly!!),ma aunt got me a pair of colorful slippers,ma sis got me a silver brooch and pendant,my mum got me a cute nighty and gave me $100, she still owes me though!so..so...so...that's bout it. i'll do a post on my birthday in a bit!

I'm so happy to be blogging though!!!