Is It a Globe or a Map: A Model's Brain

You know I love what I do.  I love the diversity of the tasks I have to perform each day, and I love the challenge of everyday being different and never really knowing what to expect because the people I work with are unpredictable.  There is never a dull moment, and while not always, the excitement is usually a lot of fun.  And after all is said and done, we can usually look back on the experience over a few drinks and laugh and laugh.

A conversation I had this afternoon made me feel like was was living an episode of Just Say Julie from over twenty years ago on MTV.  Remember the How To Be a Model episode?  (Google it!  It’s on YouTube.)  I was doing my best to help someone (not a child) understand that a globe was different from a map because one was 3D and the other was 2D.  I truly thought we’d find her brain on the floor resembling a wad of chewing gum after it exploded and shot out of her ear, kind of like the model’s.

I can never undervalue the head massage I receive from my barber after a haircut.  First there is the quasi-massage from the vibration of the clippers on my scalp, and after he finishes with the haircut, the barber really goes to town with his hands.  It is totally a win-win situation for me.  And after the “Model’s Brain” conversation I had this afternoon, I was in need of the stress and tension relief that comes along with the massages.

Since the barber is almost next door to Queen’s Restaurant, I popped in on my walk home for some unripe plantain porridge, or as we called in in Uganda: katogo.  

Perhaps just a bit spicier.

A Real Coffee and Cupcakes Kind of Day

My microwave oven doubles as a convection oven, and until today, I had never used that feature of it.  This Saturday morning seemed like a real coffee and cupcakes kind of day so I had to get the instruction manual out of the bottom draw and read up in order to fire put the oven and have Coffee and Cupcakes ready to open by brunch time.  

I found a fantastic recipe at:  http://www.anniesnoms.com/2013/09/17/back-to-basics-perfect-vanilla-cupcakes/, and got to baking.

I made the icing with probably the worst icing sugar I have had the pleasure (hihi!) to use.  Take note, people who bake in Port Harcourt, this is the guilty culprit.

Beware.  Sure, it is sweet enough, and in the end the icing was pretty good, but the rock-hard clumps of powdered sugar took some work to break up, and the consistency was a bit grittier than I would normally like to work with and made it a bit more difficult to get a smooth and fluffy icing.

After the cakes cooled, I iced those puppies.

The cappuccino was made and and an offering was placed at the Altar of Jessy.  She is a benevolent Queen and has never demanded such, but since I am living in a self-proclaimed colony of her Queendom of Fabulosity, I found it only fitting to do so.  

However, it would have been exponentially more fabulous if I could have offered a cupcake to her in person in my kitchen.  Wishes.

The deliciousness of the cupcakes inspired me.  After inhaling one… ok…ehrm…well…three, I was motivated to finally make my trip to the nearby fitness center and register.  From the look of things, 

my vist was none too soon.  I paid for a year’s membership to motivate me to actually go and get my money’s worth.  I also paid for the gold membership to have access to a personal trainer twice a week and massages twice a month.  Let’s see what happens!!!

Cupcakes Calming Corollary Consequences of Calamity

How do you top off a term of big changes:  planned changes, unplanned changes, sudden changes, changes galore?

You just dropped that bomb!

And then what do you do?

Not just any cupcakes.  Nope.  Cupcakes with the culprit’s face plastered on top of each one if them, an image which can be chomped, swallowed and digested.

When you are not left with many other choices because the situation is really out of your hands, you gotta make ‘em smile.  I have found this to work in many situations, from dealing with corrupt immigration officials at the airport to swaying the appetites of a meeting room full of unhappy lions who have just become hungry for a taste of someone’s blood.

On the topic of blood, I am going to sing the praises of Edward at Cinnamon and Sauces because his red velvet cupcakes are terrific. The are quite possibly the best red velvet cupcakes I have ever eaten.  Yes, I did just write ever.  (Notice I did specify cupcake.  There is no topping Grandma Hatcher's red velvet cake.)  If you are in need of fabulous cupcakes in the Port Harcourt area, give Edward a try!

The Status Quo and Vindaloo Possibilities

Last weekend was one of the most enjoyable and interesting ones I have had since I arrived in this city.  In addition to Thor with friends on Friday, there was the Diwali Mela festivities hosted by the Indian Cultural Association on Saturday night.  That is where

I won a vacuum cleaner, y’all!

Not only that, I rocked up on some pretty tasty Indian food.  How apropos at an even hosted by the Indian Cultural Association, right?  But the truth is, advertising is not at its strongest in Port Harcourt so you have to be in the know, know people who are in the know or accidentally rock up on things of interest.  Well, now I am one of those in the know now about Indian restaurants in Port Harcourt, and thanks to my phone camera, I can share their contact deets with you.

Ok, so I did not deviate far from the status quo with my sucky advertising.  The names of the restaurants were not captured in the photos, but the phone numbers are there, and I think that both restaurants are in the GRA area.  I have not yet visited the restaurants, but I hope to soon.  Judging by the food they served at the festival on Saturday, I’d say they are pretty good, and I look forward to having some more.  However, I’ve been off Indian food for a while.  I used to really love going out for Indian, then all the food tasted sweet to me which put me off.  We'll see how it goes… I could go for a vindaloo.

Mighty God of Thunder

Thor: The Dark World opened in Port Harcourt this week.  Natalie Portman on top of a recommendation from a friend were ultimately what led me to watch the first film in this current franchise.  My reasons for being excited about this week’s premier were:

• the first film was pretty good;
• and my itch to leave my apartment more often needed to be scratched.

I joined a couple of friends for the 5:10pm showing at Genesis Center.  On the plus side, you can have a pre-show drink at the Chinese/pizza restaurant on the ground floor.  On the not-so-plus side, the screen on which Thor was showing was slightly larger than a big screen TV, so it kind of felt like a private viewing room of some celebrity on MTV Cribs, circa 1999.  Not completely a negative.

While Natalie retuned for this installment, and I loved how the skirt of her dress billowed all Melissa-Gilbert-as-Laura-Ingalls like during the running scenes on Asgard, it was one of the Two Broke Girls, Kat Dennings, whose performance that I was most excited to see.  She acted the devil out of her comic relief role in the previous Thor, and she brought chipper light to this one as well.   Kat's intern-with-an-intern character has me looking forward to the Thor film which is sure to come in the next couple of years.

Despite my fondness for the current Thor films, my favourite, absolute favourite Thor related scene in a motion picture is from back in 1987.

Adventures in Babysitting not only sparked my interest in Norse mythology, but it also introduced my pre-pubescent self to Clearasil.  

Happy Walls! Happiness.

The handyman and I have spent hours hanging art together.  He's gotten to know me.  I've gotten to know him.  We are slowly becoming BFFs and our mensies may soon sync up.  Totally.

My walls are happy.

I am happy.

A friend messaged me today and said, “ You are gradually turing your house into a home.”

Yep.

That’s the idea.  I’ve made the commitment.

PH, baby!  PH.

Jumping Out of Cabs

I am really trying to get out of my flat more and more, especially since getting back from Brussels.  Last night, I sent my driver home, invited a friend over, walked down to the street, hailed a cap and went to the cinema at Genesis Center.  And it was a great evening.  We ran into a friend of a friend at the cinema and had pre-show drinks together.  Percy Jackson:  Sea of Monsters was pretty bad, but we laughed and that made the outing worth it in my book.  

It was jumping out of the cab after the ride home and having to scrounge around for change because the driver could not break the larger note that gave me flashbacks of great times of the past and made me associate my present moment with them.  I really loved it.  I loved the fact that I had been out with a friend (simple, but it’s been a while since I’d done that), and I loved the freedom I felt as we roamed around the neighbourhood together.  I guess we can call this progress.  Settling in takes time anywhere, and I guess I am out of practice with it.  Add to that the uncertainty related to security--a reality that cannot be ignored--and you get many evenings alone watching too many episodes of Come Dine with Me in order to vicariously experience dinner parties.  I have quasi-plans to go see Thor this weekend, and then a little cafe with pretty good cappuccino and waffles is scheduled to open in my kitchen on Saturday.  Things are looking up, and life appears to be getting exciting.  

Now, if only I can get the handyman back to finish hanging my art…

In other exciting news:  I think I see a marathon in my future.  I guess I need to figure out how/where/when/with whom to run.

Oh, and Britney released a new song.  Perfume.  

Love it!  It is on repeat.  I should have been hired to advise Britney long ago.  She is now taking the path with her music that I recommended she do twelve years ago.  And E! wants call will. i. am an innovator.  My mind is way ahead of that shit.

A Lucky Streak!

It was a five year old’s birthday today.  I got a plate of food from his party.

Food for five year olds.  I think I love Nigeria.

Notice that the plate contains a what?  

A cupcake.  Yes, the superhero confection might not have been fancy (It was my first experience with edible paper.  Amateur, I know.), but it was super-duper delicious.  Nigeria is literally feeding one of my addictions.  I must admit to being more than pleasantly surprised with the quality of the cupcakes I have been finding around here lately.  It is a very yummy lucky streak, and if I am not careful the belly will get out of control again.

Gym, please!!!

If you notice on the plate of food is a piece of two-layered cake, chocolate and red velvet.  The icing in the middle was not the traditional cream or sour cream icing, but no need to think, “Sad.”  In between the two layers was a peanut-butter icing, and it worked.  It really, really worked.  If my taste buds could have spasmed, they would’ve.  My toes did curl a bit from the unexpected, pleasurable taste sensation.

Who’s the baker?  Who’s the baker?  Sadly (now it’s appropriate to express remorse), the great cakes were not supplied by a cupcake bakery where one can go and just pick up a cake when desired.  However, special orders can be made.  The caterers are called Cinnamon & Sauces, and their contact information can be found following this link.

An Eclipse, You Say?

Well I did not see it here.  And according to what I heard on CNN this morning it will not happen again for 150 years.  “It hardly ever happens.”

Thanks, Ellie!

And thanks total solar eclipse of yesterday (3rd November) for giving me yet another excuse to break out my The Watcher in the Woods dvd.  Again.  It doesn’t take much.

While I was home over the summer I saw Jan ice skating in a James Bond movie.  It’s the one with Grace Jones.

In other local news, I got my ATM card today!!!  It only took a little more than two months, and I have it now.  That opens up so many possibilities for me.  

Getting my ATM card means having to pick it up in person which means going to the bank (in person) which means dealing with bank people.  You  know how I feel about visiting banks.  Bank people are insufferable the world over, whether it be the hag behind the desk in Port St Joe who was too damn stupid and lazy to even try to  figure out how to make an international wire transfer or the bank manager in Kampala who thought she would do me a 'favour' by taking my cash or the woman today who kept insisting that I take a seat when there were no seats left to be taken.  I had to assure her that I would not be sitting in anyone's lap, which brought a good laugh from those who were seated.  I love inspiring laughter, especially when it breaks the tension.

Had to put on my bank face.

Oh, the bank.

It’s All About the Downloads, Baby!

I have a confession to make.  I bought and downloaded Microsoft 365 yesterday.  Yes.  I did.  I had never been more excited about anything Microsoft ever.  While I am steadily falling in love with the most current update to Pages, I got tired of having to ‘export’ every time I wanted to transfer a document over to my computer at work.  Having Word on my laptop just simplifies my work a little.  I said, a little.  I am not in love with the idea that I have to pay a yearly ‘subscription’ of about $100, but I do like being able to download Office on up to five different computers and the 60 Skype minutes that come monthly along with the ‘subscription’.  I just hope I remember to use them.  I just updated my Office in my office to the 2013 version today.  Take that incessant red bars asking for the activation code!

The most serendipitous element related to the timing of my recent trip to Belgium was the release of Apple’s free new OS, Maverick!  One word:  beautiful.  I am once again in love, and my only regret is that I did not travel with both of my laptops.  Besides upgrading to Maverick, I also updated the iOS of both my iPhone and iPad, and I have never been more proud of my Apple Whore status.  I must say that I am not in love with the aesthetic of the monthly view in iCal, but I do love how you can now scroll between months.  

It is Halloween, and in the great Halloween tradition, I just finished watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which I also downloaded from iTunes while in Belgium.  I did quite a bit of holiday downloading and maxed out my host’s presumed unlimited amount of GBs.  Sorry, Jessy.  However, RuPaul’s Ho, Ho, Ho ready to set the Christmas mood makes it all seem worth it.

Also downloaded (from iTunes, of course) was the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, which I will watch in a couple of hours accompanied by Pizza from Cheers Bar.  Earlier today, I completed season 1 of American Horror Story courtesy a hard drive full of series to catch up on thanks to friends who allowed me access to share in the wonders of the world of stable and truly high-speed internet.  

Happy Halloween, y’all!!!

xoxo

Haven't You Heard? We're the Crazy Bitches Around Here.

And my Blair Waldorf moment of the day included a road trip to Antwerp from Brussels for the sole purpose of buying Macarons from Ladurée’s.  Is there any place else?  Jessy would have it no other way.  I love it when those fabulous wheels in her mind churn our fabulous adventures!

Today was my last full day in Brussels, and Jessy and her fabulous entourage saw to it that it would be a day worth savouring every moment.  And by savouring, I mean dinner included carbonate flamande, the traditional Belgian stew of beef and onions cooked in beer.

We took in a viewing of Malavita tonight.  Two words:  tennis racket.  What an effective way to handle unwanted touches by these who view you only as a sex object!  Now to work on the being viewed as a sex object part…

I’ve decided that there will be no sleep tonight; I’m too afraid of oversleeping and missing my early-morning train to Paris for my flight.  There will be plenty of time to catch up on sleep in the plane.  Plus, staying up gives me the chance to finish off a couple more of those Belgian beers I still have in the fridge.

We Totally Could Have Shared a Placenta

My time left in Brussels is very limited.  It has been a fabulous trip full of friends and fun, two of my favourite fs.

Honey Boo Boo’s popularity, like my trip, might be winding down.  But it's no time to be sad; let's celebrate!  Now I ain't gonna hate on the little girl down the road, and just like I did in Thailand, I redneckognized a similarity I have with the Thompson family while snapping photos (ok selfies) around town today.

Mama June and I share similar chins.  It’s almost like we were twins separated at birth.

Oh, if you did not get the Thailand reference made above, let me clarify.  Whilst (Did he say, "Whilst?  Makes me want to punch him in his neck!) we were waiting for the bus in Chiang Dao to take us back to Chiang Mai, I made my own ‘go-go juice’ cocktail with the original Red Bull and caffeinated beverage, then I posed my belly for the judges.

Yeah, I have nothing better the think of or spend my time doing when I'm visiting some of the most beautiful and interesting countries in the world.

City Walkin’ in the BRU

Brussels is the second city in which I have utilised the City Walks app.  It is a free app that I came across a little over a year ago as I was preparing for my trip to Accra, Ghana.  I love to explore cities by walking, and City Walks is a tool that I have now used as well in Brussels.  I think at the time there were only two walking tours available for Accra, but they were both excellent.  There are no less than 19 walking tours for Brussels.  Today I went to four of the locations on the Chocolate Shops tour and four locations on the Shopping in Brussels tour.  (Can you identify my priorities while here?)  However, Brussels is not an enormous city and many of the sites are very close together.  I just noticed that I inadvertently hit some of the sites on some of the other tours.

City Walks in a free app, and most of the walks come as both a free and a paid version.  I recommend that one not be cheap and pay the $3.00-$5.00 for the upgrades because the added features save you time and are more informative about the locations you’ll see.  Like any other tours, there are sites along the City Walks tours that I did not find interesting.  This kind of sucks to find out after walking the kilometers it sometimes takes to get from one site to another, but it’s part of the fun and adventure, and the additional sites one gets to take in and enjoy along the way kind of make it worth the trouble.  

Two notable locations I visited today on the waking tours were Mary’s Chocolatier on Royal Street and Dandoy biscuiterie on Boterstraat.  Both of these have several outlets across the city, but I got the impression that these location on the tour were the original or oldest current locations.

Mary’s chocolates were beautiful and beautifully delicious, and I had to take a box away with me.

Many of the other chocolate shops on the tours (e.g. Neuhaus) did not have the uniqueness of Mary’s; they were like cookie-cutter shops and lacked personality.

Dandoy was like an antique gallery filled with the delicious aroma of speculoos.  Speculoos reminds me of the spiced cookies from my childhood that the Piggly Wiggle only sold during the Christmas season.  Considering the idea of Santa Claus in the US came via the Dutch, I suspect this Chrismas cookie tradition did too and my childhood spiced cookies are a cousin to speculoos.

I look forward to sharing the speculoos from Dandoy’s over a hot cup of tea this evening.

The Running Man About Town

It had been awhile since I was last able to simply get up in the morning and go for a jog. Cinquantenaire park was a lovely place in Etterbeek for that short run to shock my system.

I realised while on my jog that it had been about eleven years since the last time I saw leaves changing colour in the fall.

Witnessing this transformation is one of the simple pleasures I am loving the most on this trip.  

Brussels in the fall:  yay!

On my way ‘home’, I popped by the Carrefour which is opposite of the place where I am staying to pick up some sustenance for the day.  Take note of my purchases and tell me that they do not look like those of a consummate bachelor.

Where Sally Ditched Her School Chums and Lady Chaperone

After spending what seemed like two days standing on my feet waiting in line after line after line, I finally reached my final destination (Brussels, Belgium) this afternoon around 1:00pm.  After linking up with Jessy at the train station, we set off to find food as eating is my favourite thing to do with my friends and I was famished after the journey.  Being that it was Sunday, and Sundays were made for bunching, we ended up at BarBeton for their spread of all-you-can-eat baked goods, cheeses and other scrumptious delights and used the brunching time to begin catching up which we will continue to do until I leave on the 25th.

The afternoon was spent taking advantage of truly high-speed internet:  downloading and updating software and apps.  We also took some time to catch up on needed rest and sleep.  

Then it was time to get started on the list of activities Jessy and I planned for my visit.  Yes, there is a table with bulleted activities scheduled for each day of this week.  Because I arrived a day late, we have made some revisions, but we got on to tackling the items on the list this evening, and the first item on the list we were able to put a tick beside was visit Antwerp.

We got a late start because both of us were pretty knackerd, so it was night when we got to Antwerp.  We went to the cinema and saw The Conjuring.  Then we wandered around the city a bit and ended up inside of the beautiful train station.  

The doorway looks like the doorway to the Emerald City and brought to mind Wicked.  Oh, Elphaba!!!

Topping off the evening, I added a tick beside "eat Mussels" after devouring a delightful plate of Italian risotto.

Update:  This is going to be like one of the episodes of Come Dine With Me when someone changes their score the next morning because something unexpected comes out during the night.  Something very unpleasant and unexpected most definitely came out last night, and the mild fever that accompanied it would suggest a bit of food poisoning was to blame.  Unfortunately, no matter how much I enjoyed the meal while consuming it (and it was delicious), I never hoped to excrete it in such a manner, and for this reason I am changing me opinion of the restaurant to "eat there with caution."

Silver Linings Stop-over: Over the Rainbow in Abuja

On my way to see my Queen, the Divine Ms J, it would seem that disaster struck about an hour into my journey when the Air France flight I was on was grounded in Abuja shortly after midnight last night.  It was a special week for my girl, and as I would travel to the ends of the world for my friends, I was off to Brussels last night with high hopes to party all night long tonight in celebration of someone who has touched my life and supported me in very important ways.

When the announcement was made over the plane’s intercom around 12:30 this morning that we were not continuing our journey, my initial reaction was annoyance.  However, then I thought that no matter how annoyed I got, it was not going to change the current situation.  Hell, I was in Abuja (which was the original plan I had in the works over a month ago for this weekend), a city I wanted to explore.  Plus, The Booj is the current home of Becca, and time spent with Becca is always adored.  

Waiting outside of the airport for transportation in the wee hours of the morning became one of those times when I decide the no one was a stranger.  I struck up a conversation with a guy who had boarded the plane with me in Port Harcourt (turns out that he was on his way to the US, with a short window to meet up with his wife in Chicago before proceeding to Michigan, which he was now going to miss because of the delayed flight; it could always be worse), and our conversation made the time until our transportation arrived to take us to the hotel (that’s 4:00 am, my friends) suck a lot less.  

I have had a Wizard of Oz moment during my stay in Abuja.  What began as this

transformed into this

because of positive people deciding to make pretty good coffee out of a grounded airplane.

I cannot get over how great the cupcakes are at Chloe’s Cupcake Haven in Abuja.  They are almost enough reason to go through the no less than six visits to a Nigerian High Commission it might take someone just to get a visa to come to Nigeria.  Chloe’s cupcakes are great. (PERIOD.)  I am not just saying that because I have been experiencing a dearth is tasty baked goods lately.  I take my cupcakes seriously, and the red velvet, carrot cake, death by chocolate and mocha cupcakes I devoured this afternoon (yes, gluttony is now considered a virtue) made me want to shed tears of joy.  Moist cupcakes which do not taste like baking soda and are soft with perfectly flavoured butter cream icing are descriptions more easily typed than actually achieved.  I want a cupcake accompanied by Chloe’s ice cream on my next visit.  Yes, there will be a next visit.

Fabulous people set the scene for an unexpectedly fabulous day.

Disaster averted!!!  

(Thanks Becs and Charles!!!

and CUPCAKES!!!

Chloe's, not just a haven, more like heaven.)

Douchey but Not Flaky

I left work early/on time/only 40 minutes late today and felt like a douchey slacker.  It’s sick, right?  I’m travelling tomorrow, so I had things to do.  And by things I mean I needed to buy a new Swatch, a red one this time.  I’m not even going to try and validate that confession with an explanation.  

I bought it at the Swatch store at Genesis Center.  I got the red Swatch to add to my collection, but I am pretty sure it had been sitting on the shelf for at least three years.  And the reason why I would know that is because it has the older type of resin wristband which Swatch replaced about three years ago because the bands would break in less than a year.  I know this because I had to replace the bands for two of my Swatches I bought about four years ago.  Anyway, I wanted the red Swatch , so I got it, even knowing I would be replacing the wristband in a few months.

Want to know what else I bought at Genesis Center today?  A cheese croissant (buttery and yummy, but not flaky which would have made it a truly remarkable find).

As I mentioned, I left work early/on time/only 40 minutes late and felt like a douchey slacker.  I had to find a remedy, and the remedy was to come home and put in another 3+ hours.  I really felt like I was channelling Angela B or Robyn Y tonight (love you!!!).  On the plus side, reports are edited.  However, the negative side effect is going to be trying to sleep tonight knowing the contents of the reports.  Anxiety.

More Than Just a Colour

Now you know how much I love my Queens.  Well, I am developing quite an affinity for my Queen’s as well.

From tonight’s menu,

I chose

It was my first okazi, and it delighted.  I am a sucker for greens.  If it is a leaf, I’ll probably love it.  Yes, in a past life I was probably a rabbit.

Tonight’s delightful okazi experience was my favourite gastronomic delight so far, and I attribute much of my appreciation of the meal to the service at Queen’s.  Because of my lack of appreciation for most things fishy, I have learned to ask that my food be served without the addition of extra fish bits on top which is a very common way of serving in this area.  Tonight, to my disappointment, goat (which is prominently advertised on the menu) was not available.  Neither was snail, and since that is what I ordered my last visit (the waiter remembered:  points for him!) he appoligised.  Little did he know.  The only meat available for the soup was fish.  

Nope.  

Not for me.  

Sorry.

I just can’t.

I politely, yes politely, asked that I be served the okazi with no meat.  The waiter said that would be no problem.  Then he had a brilliant idea.  He asked it I would not mind if he served it with prawns.  Now I enjoy prawns, so I agreed.  When it came out, not only did it have prawns, but it had periwinkles.  When I saw them mixed in with the greens and prawns, I had to ask the waiter what here were because I had no idea.  When he told me, I had to look periwinkle up online to get a better idea of what I was about to ingest because when I hear periwinkle, I think of a shade of purple/blue.  Ok, I knew that periwinkles are a type of gastropod, but I wanted to see what they looked like before they ended up in what turned out to be a yummy soup.  I’m down for trying almost anything at least once (Almost. I totally drew the line with eating dog in Vietnam.  I just can’t.) and I am pretty certain that I’ll be requesting this combo again in the not-too-distant future.  It was remarkably good, and the amount of heat from the pepper in the dish kept me scooping up more and more.

For dessert, here are some of the other Queens I enjoy.