Comment vous appelez…?

I was in a meeting recently and the lady on the other end (queue- Zoom, Teams brigade lol) asked if I could kindly pronounce my name… And I did, or I thought I did *straight face*. It sounded strange to my ears haha… I have one of those ‘exotic’ names that probably needs an interpreter, biologist, physicist and Nobel laurate to get right the first time… Yep, a name spelt like ‘hrasdfort’ but pronounced ‘Anna’ haha.

Just the other day, I mentioned my name to a client, and guess what he said? “That sounds like something from Star Wars…” *confused face*… I had to keep it together, smile and resist the urge to smack the taste out of his mouth through the phone haha… To be honest I don’t mind ‘that’ much when people struggle to get it right the first time… It’s not ‘Jane or Peter’ lol. But when I get it wrong… It’s a whole bowl of chaos and drama lol

I guess it’s mostly because I’m not around folks from my side of the planet. You know, the ‘hometown’ crew and family lol. When you keep hearing your name in many different ways, it sticks. Why? Well, other people use it more than you do. So you can imagine the trauma of living in a global village… hearing all sorts of variants of my name. With time, my mind adopted the foreign sounds *rolls eyes*.

So, this weekend… I might binge on some movies from back home *rolls eyes* to try get my accent back… And when next someone asks… I’ll let them know how it’s done “down under”

But first, we eat… Bon appetit!

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Sayonara Baby!!

After the PM’s announcement last night, I felt like moonwalking and break dancing around the apartment haha. Yes, folks, there’s light at the end of the tunnel… So get your swimsuits, bikinis, shorts, sun creams (probably expired as it feels like we’ve been in lockdownn for almost a century lol) and get packing… Well, not like it’s going to happen tomorrow… Just the thought of travelling again… And at the perfect time too…*beats a drum* summer…

I need to get the dust out of the suitcases lol… Do some laundry… That’s if I can find where I stashed my holiday clothes lol. Do you have a different wardrobe for different activities or it’s just me…*side eye* hahaha. Well, I have hot climate clothes(anything from shorts, vests, sunglasses.. You know, the whole shabang), then we have the winter ‘wonderland’ lol… No guessing what’s in there… Gloves, scarves, jumpers and quite possibly a burn fire too lol. Then the ‘office’ wears which in the past one year have began to smell a bit mouldy stashed up in the attic lol, I don’t know if I want to go there… Then the lounge wears… Yea, they have become the only clothes that feature most in the laundry basket these days lol… But now that things are gradually getting back to normal, I fear I might have lost my sense of style haha… Don’t blame me… That’s what happens when you mix two different outfits in a Team/Zoom meeting to look formal and yet comfortable…

Oh well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there… For now, I’m all about check in, extra luggage, duty-free and holidays by the beach… Sayonara Baby!!!

See you soon!!

No alcohol..

Over the past couple of months, I’ve become a ‘Jane of all skills’ lol… I’ve got my little apprenticeship going on… Yes, apprentice hairdresser (doing my hair since we can’t have Nana breaking the law), apprentice pastry chef (I love my sausage rolls, scotch eggs, pies, cinnamon buns but, I can’t keep wandering the streets each time I get a craving so might as well make them myself), and finally… Apprentice Gordon Ramsey 👀 *crickets* hahaha… That’s the best way to describe the kind of cooking I intend to dive into next…

So… one lovely evening while counting sheep and waiting to zzzz, I happen to come upon a menu with ribs… I love ribs… The only thing ‘wrong’ with the recipe was it included wine… Loads of red wine. I’m sure you’re wondering why that’s a problem, right? *I don’t drink*… Would preparing this dish often make me an alcoholic? Can I substitute with grape juice instead…? Then it got me thinking of all the lovely meals I’ve had at fancy restaurants (and on dodgy holidays *rolls eyes*) which might as well be drowned in some sort of gin or alcohol lol…

I’m so confused… What do I do…? I guess I’ll just have to stick with good ol’ bangers and mash till I come up with a plan… Lol

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But come to think of it… My kitchen will look nice with some fancy assortment of wine… Hopefully, I don’t reach for one when I’m all out of Ribena *straight face*

Missing ingredients…

Seems it’s going to be a ‘lockdown’ lovers weekend haha… No fancy restaurants, nice clothes and sweet-smelling cologne to accompany the cute heart-shaped chocolates… Hurrah! So we might as well get our Jamie Oliver 5 for 5 cookbooks (or whatever it’s called lol) out. To be honest, I’d rather sip some wine as I watch Rick Stein prance about someplace in Europe… Whetting my appetite as he cuts through thick portions of meat… But I don’t drink… *sips orange juice from wine glass*

I remember as a kid when I started watching cooking shows… The BBC came in handy back then… My earliest and fondest memories are of ‘Ready Steady Cook’… O M G… and Jamie Oliver… It was a means of escape from the predictable meals we had at home… Not that I wasn’t grateful… They just didn’t excite me as much as let’s say… Roast duck in jus…Watching these shows opened my mind to the many possibilities of the ‘other side’… 

I should mention, most of these ingredients on the shows were considered pricey in the sense that they were ‘luxury’ food items where I grew up… They weren’t regular items one could just pop into the store and pick up with a loaf of bread and a pint of milk… *rolls eyes*. They cost an arm, leg, two eyes and a human liver lol

A few years down the line and living abroad… Those items from the cooking shows don’t seem so luxurious anymore lol… Now the reverse is the case!! Buying ingredients from my hometown feels like a treasure hunt of some sort… I have to travel miles… Through dark alleys with suspicious characters tipping you on how to get the freshest and cheapest stuff… and the cutthroat bargaining…smh

Some days when I think of all the drama involved in getting these foodstuffs from back home, I just get out my phone and order numbers 23, 7 and 15 from my local Chinese takeaway… while sending a message to mama not to forget to pick up the “highly valuable food parcel” from Aunt B’s and daydreaming of when next I’ll get to have a meal like this…lol

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Happy Valentine!

New year, old dreams…

Happy New Year folks! Feels like we survived an Alien invasion with Will Smith or the Avengers *wipes sweat off brow*

What better way to start the new year than to look forward to vacations… Yep, those random holidays we hop on just because it’s £49 all-inclusive haha… Sit back, grab your hot chocolate, margarita, kale smoothie and let’s get cosy with one of my favourite holiday moments I can’t wait to experience real soon… lol 

Flipping through the channels while unpacking at the hotel and not one single English speaking channel… (Not entirely true lol… Well, apart from the popular News channel- Did someone say “BBC”? Lol, yep… Ever faithful… But does anyone watch the news on holiday 👀?) All I hear from the TV is krcghskrhrkelepwjwjw… haha. Yep, makes no sense to me either. Is it me or they tend to show interesting movies or series you want to watch but it’s voiced over in the local language? lol… No use, so you dunk the remote somewhere under the bed. Astalavista baby lol

I was never one to download movies, series, documentaries, Jamie Oliver (He’s a whole series to me lol) to watch on flights, but after my last experience, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea after all… ‘Click to resume download..’ haha

To be honest, I spend most of my holiday either in bed or at the buffet haha… Yep, I’m that lady walking around the buffet table with a plate in her hands. It’s all about “the good life” as defined by me… After a good meal, I squeeze in a bit of tour of the city on foot or with the popular ‘Big Bus’. So you can imagine my annoyance after a long day being a tourist and glued to bed with the air conditioning on (most times it’s about 40 Celsius outside- Remember, we are on vacation not cold London *side eye*) and discover just 5 channels, no English. Smh, I thought these hotels are meant to be ‘international’? Seems the only thing international here is my passport!

The irony of it all is when I’m back home with a zillion English speaking channels at my disposal… I hardly ever go past the first 3! 

Cheers to 2021… Please be good to us.