Things I Found On The Internet: Vol. 002

What to Do When Your Friends Start Moving Away

 Hello! *Waves slowly like the socially awkward child that I am*. 

When it comes to friendships, I sometimes form an emotional dependence on my friends. Because of this, I can be quite sad when any of my already FEW friends has to move to another city or another country (why do the real ones have to be so far away?!!!! 😭). This article I found in relevant magazine addresses how to respond to an inevitable part of our 21st century lives. One particular part of the article stuck with me: 

"My mentor in college had a saying that has stuck with me: “Community will never come find you. You must go find it.” Whenever our friends move away, we must not sit back and wait idly for others to take their place. Instead, we must continually seek out and cultivate new relationships within our churches, communities and neighborhoods, trusting that over time (not overnight) new friendships will form.”

Nuff said, click here.

That time the internet tried to body shame Karrueche Tran

Source: Madame Noire

Karrueche is a model and TV actress on a TV show titled Claws. 

But that isn’t why we’re here today. 

A few days ago, Karrueche posted a bathroom selfie on the set of her tv show. She was dressed in a bikini as her show's character "Virginia". Apparently her body type didn’t fit into the usual voluptuous body that some online users were used to seeing. They then resorted to making unsavoury comments about her and her body type.
I’m not going to discuss her motive for posting that picture or the morality of her post because she has the right to do what she likes on her social media page, I personally will not follow any page whose content I dislike. I’m also not going to post a link to the image because she decided to bring the picture down.

What was interesting to me (and anyone that had common sense) was that people online had a problem with her body type! These are probably the same people that will criticize women for surgically modifying their body parts, so I’m confused 🤷🏾‍♀️.

We have all seen these dumb body shaming memes that make fun of women for not having breast or buttocks in the proportions that are commercially acceptable, just because they dare to love themselves. Our perception of what "decency/modesty" in dressing is, should not distract us from the truth that body shaming is wrong. My observation: No matter what you do, people will still talk. So "do you”!

Nihun Lohun by Monsur Awotunde

Ever since I transitioned to being a creative entrepreneur (emphasis on entrepreneur meaning work, work, budget, free work, more work), time ain’t my friend. You know all those things you thought you’d get to do when you start working for yourself? Yeah no, still no time. 

I missed two art events I really wanted to attend this year, “Fabrics and Dyes” by studio of Mode and “Redemption” by Adeola Olagunju. I’ve decided to make time to attend at least one exhibition before the year runs out; such events give me inspiration, which sometimes helps my work. Rele gallery is currently showing an exhibition of paintings by Monsur Awotunde titled “Nihin Lohun”. I hope to catch it during the week before the exhibition end on 27th August. Find out more information about the event here.

I regularly come across interesting content online which I want to share with friends, or on the blog however I've always found it difficult to place because I never quite know what title to give such a post, how it'll be structured or where on the blog such a post would be placed. This series is a solution to that (plus I personally need something to refer to when I'm gisting with someone about "this cool recipe I found" or "a photo series I think you should check). I hope this gives a brief description of what to expect and if you have anything interesting you think should be shared on this series (an instagram post, a weblink etc), please leave in the comments below.

Thank you for reading.

Love,

Tope.

Cooking Diaries: French toast by a Nigerian

My first taste of French toast was at Transcorp hotel during the Calabar trip I went for in December 2015.
It was part of the breakfast buffet options we had during our stay and I probably had it all the time.

I remember telling my roommate/coworker B* on our last day "I don't know what they put in this bread, it tastes creamy and chewy", she then suggested I google the recipe and try it myself (can you imagine; I had been so caught up in going to the same spot and selecting the same options that I never bothered to check the name of the dish/food!). I practically forced her to try it out and she agreed it was delicious.
I took note of the name and when I got back to my room, i bookmarked the French Toast recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that there were different variations of French Toast including savoury flavours.
Its so easy to prepare  and I love that the main ingredients are 3 everyday items you can find in any kitchen: Bread, Milk, Egg.

1. Whisk the eggs and the milk together.
2. Cut each bread slice into 2 diagonal or rectangular shapes.
3. Lightly grease a large frying pan with butter.
4. Soak the bread slice into the egg and milk mixture.
5. Fry the soaked bread slice in the frying pan.

This is the basic foundation for any french toast recipe however I wanted to make it in a unique way. I decided to make three flavours: Honey & Cinnamon; Basil; Suya spice.
I made the suya spice from the scratch using the recipe I got from Kadirecipes. To flavor the toast, simply add the condiment to the egg and milk mixture.

Here are the pictures:

Basil

Suya spice 

Honey & Cinnamon 

My favourite was the Suya flavoured toast hands down. That nutty taste combined with the sweet creaminess of milk ehn, it was a "gustatory lituation".
I invited my family members to a tasting session however the old folks in my house picked Basil (*rolls eyes all the way to my village*). I guess at the end of the day, it's a matter of preference and any french toast is better than no french toast 😋.
On the weekend when you're less busy, why not try it and let me know what you think?

Thank you for reading.
Love,
Tope.