My one month on 18:6 Intermittent Fasting

June 9, 2020

I have been intermittent fasting since the start of the year. In January, February and March, thee number of days I did it increased and after intermittent fasting for about 12 days in April, I decided to commit to a specific window for May. If you’re not sure what Intermittent fasting is, I did a post about it here. In the 18:6 window, I eat for 6 hours and fast for 18, tracking my fasts on an app called zero. I usually eat my first meal around 9 and my last around 3. In May, the only times I didn’t fast for 18 hours were once when I ate later than usual for a date night and another time when I had morning cramps and needed to eat before taking painkillers. I fasted for 14 and 17 hours respectively those times.

Okay on to the highlights of my month long experience.

It was easy

This was the scariest part for me. I didn’t want to do a restrictive thing that felt hard day to day because in my experience, that has more long term detrimental benefits. I think what was key is that I experimented with different times and lengths from January to April and the fast I committed to for May was the one that suited me the best.

I didn’t lose weight

I need to get the weight loss out of the way because I know people take interest in a lot of lifestyle restrictions as a way to lose weight. I started this primarily as a way to control the way I was eating with maybe an added weight loss, which didn’t happen.

I stopped bingeing

I think up to about two or three years ago, I imagined bingeing as eating till you felt sick and were surrounded by empty junk food packets and waking up in the middle of the night to ransack the fridge. Basically, a caricature of what bingeing actually is, which I’ve redefined to mean eating large quantities of unnecessary food simply for the sake of eating. So eating a pack of chocolate chip cookies because im bored kind of thing. That has stopped.

I was (and still am) more thoughtful about what I was eating

when you don’t have that much time in the day to eat, you start to think some more about the choices you’re making. For the first time in my life, I started putting cake in the freezer for long term eating rather than trying to get through it in a few days.

I stopped having random cravings

I put this down to eating more real food generally, which i’ve never really been great at before now.

I slept deeper

My sleep is actually really susceptible to my diet. I had great sleep when I gave up sugar for a while one time and when I went keto- basically the moment my diet is free of sugar, I sleep very deeply. Even though my diet hasn’t changed much this time and I still eat sugar, I think the fact that I stop eating so early (around 3 or 4) has had positive effects on my sleep.

I’m still intermittent fasting and I truthfully love it and I see myself doing it till further notice. I think the key for me to consistency is picking what works for you and building in flexibility.

A Foolproof Banana Bread Recipe

May 22, 2020

Photo by Jeff Siepman on Unsplash — Photo by Jeff Siepman on Unsplash

Baking gets a bad rep. Compared to cooking, it’s seen as super hard and super technical- “everything has to be exact, it’s a science”. That’s not exactly true. I think when you’re baking for personal consumption, the goal is to create something you enjoy, not to create something perfect or to get the same exact results as a recipe.

There’s a reason why banana bread is a popular bake- it’s easy, it’s customisable and it uses ingredients that most people have at home. I like my loaves to have a nice crumb- I don’t like that kind of gloopy bake that passes as “moist”. After a fair bit of trial and error, I finally found a recipe that works really well every time and is kind enough to accommodate minor mistakes.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar (this can be any sugar. I’ve used all brown, all white and a mix of both. The sugar will affect texture a little bit but it’s up to you what your preference is, and what you have available)

2 eggs

3 mashed bananas

2 cups all purpose flour (you can use self raising flour and exclude the baking powder and salt)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4-1/2 teaspoon ginger powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

140g melted butter (or 1/2 cup oil)

If your butter is unsalted or you’re using oil, add 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt

Method

Mix all the ingredients together in the order listed until combined (do not over mix) and bake- if you make cupcakes or muffins, it will be ready in 12 minutes. If you make a loaf, it will be ready in 30-40 minutes.

If you have an oven you can set, put it on 200c.

If you have one of those ovens that just have no temp gauge, put it on a medium heat and check after 12-30 minutes depending on the size of your pan.

And there you have it. It’s not as clinical and straightforward as a regular recipe, which some people will hate and some will prefer, but I’d like you to bake in the mindset of being able to make adjustments that won’t alter the end result in any meaningful way. If you try this recipe, let me know what you think.

My experience on the Keto diet

May 21, 2020

Last year I decided to try the Keto diet. I’ve tried almost every diet at least once and this was no exception. The trip to stock up for this diet was one of the last shopping trips me and my mum took together and I don’t know- it makes the two things connected in my mind.

I didn’t weigh myself on this diet so I don’t know if I lost weight and how much- for people that are interested in that. I measured my waist and I lost 6 inches off my waist in the three weeks I was on this.

I kept a daily log for the first week of my feelings and roughly what I ate to track my macros.

Day 1- I had this crazy idea to wake up super early and SEIZE THE DAY. In reality, I woke up super early and spent the next two hours walking around in a confused daze. Tired me was tired and tired me makes bad decisions so I hauled my ass back to bed.

It’s 3.30- I’ve had a nap and feel more exhausted then ever. I’m starting to think this is the diet and not waking up one hour earlier. I feel foggy and exhausted and my head feels like it weighs a ton. I’ve had like 2g of carbs so maybe eating lunch will help. I’m not hungry though but I’m very tired

Day 2- started the day normally and by the time afternoon came, I was EXHAUSTED- had a nap and felt slightly better

Day 3- I was hungry- I even dreamt of being hungry

Day 4- I woke up hungry, but once I ate - I was good- water started tasting sweet- did my Google’s and found that it’s a sign of ketones in the blood- ate and water went back to tasting normal which was fine by me- couldn’t finish lunch and couldn’t eat again rest of the day- wasn’t tired or sleepy - had energy and motivation. Prepped chia seed pudding with coconut milk- the thing is I don’t like things that taste like coconut - so I mean we’ll see.if I wasn’t doing this for a story, I would have straight up started exiting

Day 5- cravings hit HARD. Im not hungry but I’m highly unsatisfied- after snacking on almonds and cheddar, I’m like ??? I’ve had coffee, a salad, chia seed pudding and lots of water

I want caaaarbs

Woke up in the middle of the night because I kept having the sensation of ants crawling under my feet- lord when does all of this end- Googled what it was and took a magnesium tablet - eventually, I drift off to sleep and when I wake up it’s fine

Day 7- at some point in the evening, my joint starts aching - some googling again and realise that it’s probably Uric acid- need to really up my water intake and be deliberate about drinking my 3 litres

Day 8- wake up, NOT HUNGRY! Whoop

So, the main feature of Keto after day 8 was that I was hardly ever hungry. I stopped it when I started going whole days without eating. I hated the feel of fat in my throat so much, and I couldn’t face another thing that wasn’t carbs. At the beginning, having butter or cream in coffee was fun but I got sick of that after a few days and switched to homemade almond milk. On my very last day on the diet, the only thing I had all day was coffee and I just thought, enough of this.

I tried to be really creative with my meals and made things like almond pancakes, chia seed pudding and frozen yoghurt- things I had never made before. I actually also ate more fruit and veg than usual because they were the only carbs I was having (while still staying under 20g of net carbs). It also turned me off dairy in coffee forever and I haven’t been able to go back to having my coffee with any dairy in it. Saying that, butter in coffee might sound gross, but when it’s blended, it’s really just the same as cream.

I can see why it’s so popular though- After I adjusted to it, I craved nothing. Food just didn’t interest me very much (I don’t know how much of it was the diet and how much of it was that I’m not all that crazy about meat and fat).

I don’t see myself doing it again but I can see it being a very good diet for people that are struggling to wean themselves off sugary processed food.

I would also suggest doing adequate research to make sure things like fibre and veg targets are reached rather than eating lots of fried processed food and artificial sweeteners.

Have you tried Keto? What did you think?

How to shop for a pandemic (includes free downloadable pdf)

March 19, 2020

Shit is getting real. As the world slowly shuts down and we start to practice self-isolation and social distancing, shopping in bulk is something that everyone has to come to grips with. For many of us, we may have lived in a house of bulk shopping, but never had to do it in our adult lives.

When I think of shopping for a pandemic, I think of the worst case scenario. What happens if there’s no light or you don’t have a source of water. The goal is to have options that don’t rely on anything else and to have the bare essentials and some extras.

Food

You still want to try and eat as nutritiously as you can. If you have a lot of freezer space, you can buy things to freeze. If you don't , this is where cans and cupboards come in handy. Even if you have freezer space, imagine that there will come a time with no light, so you have to have can and dried food. Think of how many people live in the house and how long you want to shop for, then multiply each item. Me and my husband used a two week shopping list as a base and calculated things based on what we already know about our usage. For water, the recommendation is 3 litres per person per day. For me that is 84 litres of water, which is 4 dispenser bottles. Apply that mindset to your whole shop. This is a non-vegetarian/vegan list.

Freezer

Meat/ Alternate protein source

Vegatables

Canned Goods

Canned Fish

Canned vegatebles

Canned fruits

Beans

Chickpeas

Cupboard foods

Rice

Beans

Pasta

Garri

Ketchup and hot sauce

Peanut butter

Nuts

Seeds

Tea

Coffee

Powdered/evaporated milk/ shelf stable milk

Shelf stable drinks that don’t need to be refrigerated and have a long shelf life

Water

Fridge

Yoghurt

Fruit and vegetables

Cleaning Products and Toiletries

Multipurpose bleach based cleaner

Sponges

Dish washing liquid

Wipes

Soap

Toilet roll

Kitchen roll

First aid

Multivitamin

Vitamin c

Paracetamol

Bandages

Plasters

Antiseptic wipes/solution

Other Essentials

Powerbanks

Torch light'/rechargeable lamps

batteries

candles

how to shop for a pandemic what Dami did

Get your pdf shopping list here

What it's Like to be Vegan in Nigeria

March 3, 2020

I found a draft of my vegan journey and even though I did this in 2018, I realised that some of the lessons I learnt are still useful. I’m going to leave the draft untouched in italics below and continue after.

I didn't want to start off the year with the pressure to lose weight so when someone I know suggested vegan January, I jumped at the chance. More fruit and veg and real food in my diet? yes. There's this misconception that vegans can't eat anything- hahaha. They can. Bruh, I might actually put on weight on this thing they way things are looking.

Examples of things that are vegan that really just make me stressed

Smarties- what?

oreos- this is the most common one and i think everyone knows this

hobnobs

pringles

ritz crackers

noodles

dry pasta

omo- the list goes on.

Things that should be vegan and often aren't

orange juice

wine

sugar

palm oil

So yeah anyway, I'm in for a carby ride. To fully prepare, I went on a massive shopping trip, which on reflection was largely unnecessary. Stocked up on nut milks for my lattes, pasta sauces and chilli sauces. I'm not going to be vegan AND stress myself cooking everything from scratch. Ironically, I kept fresh fruit and veg to a minimum because I dont like having tons of stuff that can go off in the fridge staring at me.

The biggest revelation was all the SNACKS! Bruh, being vegan is a snackers paradise- might really have to do no sugar February after this- hmmm, thats actually not a bad idea.

Anyway, wish me luck, off to nap after eating garlic chilli noodles.

I made a vegan birthday cake for my husband (boyfriend at the time). I make vegan cakes all the time because it’s good for a lot of intolerances (dairy, egg etc)

Okay so now we are here in 2020 and thank God for the Apple update that makes it possible to search your phone by date because I have 21,733 photos and would never have been able to find photos from January 2018.

When I look back on my journey, it was obvious that I decided to do this on a whim. If I were to do it now, I would eat completely different foods and approach it differently. I had to stop after 24 days because I couldn’t breathe properly, I felt like I constantly had a weight on my chest. I did go to the hospital and they said nothing was wrong, but I still couldn’t breathe so I stopped. I did try to eat fortified foods and supplement as much as possible, but I was eating a lot of low nutrient foods and I’m anaemic, so it honestly wasn’t the best combination.

Here’s a summary of stuff that I found

My skin was kind of glowy. I sent a photo to my friend and she thought I was showing her a new highlighter. The only other time I got good skin from a diet was when I gave up sugar completely in all forms. This wasn’t skin on that level but it was pretty good.
I never felt full no matter what I ate- I did feel satisfied but never stuffed and sometimes I ate a ton of rice. I guess because of how simple carbs (which sadly, is the bulk of what I ate) are used by the body, it’s harder to feel stuffed.
I craved vegetables. My first meal post vegan was a vegetarian pizza with A LOT of vegetables and a salad.
My appetite shrunk a lot

Places I ate at

Samantha’s bistro (does it even still exist?) had a really really good veggie burger- they claimed it had no animal products but I didn’t investigate too thoroughly because I wanted to eat it.
Craft Gourmet was a place I used to go to a lot at the time so it made sense that I tried being vegan there. The options were fewer than I expected- lots of vegetarian options though.
Sharwarma & Co was the surprising one! They have a couple of vegan wraps and they are delicious!
I also did things like buy plain salads and add them to plain white rice to make a “burrito bowl”.

I would hundred percent do it again if I needed to or if I became vegan for ethical reasons and I think it’s very doable in Lagos. I’m sure with eating out, things may have had stock cubes that weren’t vegan etc, so it would have been a completely different experience if I approached it from an ethical standpoint. I probably wouldn’t have risked eating cooked food at non-vegan restaurants. I stayed strictly on the side of “contains no animal products as far as I can see and am told.

What to do when you're waiting to learn how to eat intuitively

November 29, 2019

Diet culture, intuitive eating, intermittent fasting. If 2019 has been the year of anything, it’s been the year of body buzzwords. There is a call to reject diet culture, adopt intuitive eating and nothing in-between. It’s left a lot of people confused because no-one ever says anything concrete about HOW to go from eating creamy pasta, wine and chocolate 7 times a week to knowing your body needs only two forks of rice and stopping there. So while we wait for the trend to shift from the should to the how, let’s think about stuff we can do to fool ourselves into almost being there.

Always front load your day with something healthy- have the smoothie for breakfast. Poach some eggs. Whatever the healthiest thing is in your house, eat it. At least, if it all goes downhill from there, you can look back at breakfast and remember that you already ate all 5 of your 5 a day in that one smoothie.
Stop buying junk food for later- when you’re out, eat the dessert, have the cocktail but don’t pack anything. When you go to Hans & Rene, order only what you can have at that exact moment, don’t order anything “for later”. You may feel out of control of your current decisions, but there’s no need to also plan for bad future decisions.
Buy the smaller version always - when chocolate or plantain chips find their way into your basket in the grocery store, buy the smallest version. The mini chocolate bars, the smaller bags of crisps, the 33cl Diet Coke, because you know that when you open that bag, you’re going to want to keep going.
Look at the menu online- when you’re eating out, look at the menu online (as much as possible, because in Lagos, you can’t always find it) and decide what to order beforehand. Give yourself a few options. You may or may not stick to it at the actual restaurant, but more times than not, it will stop you from feeling overwhelmed and over-ordering.
Keep a small bottle of water in your line of sight at all times- you’re more likely to reach for it and with water, it’s always about trying
Stop eating food you don’t like- seriously- if you love salad drenched in dressing, drench it and eat the salad- don’t force yourself to do the opposite and only eat it. I find it weird that there’s so much more policing of the “right” way to do healthy than the actual unhealthy food. Your body still gets vegetables either way.
Start dealing with any emotional issues related to eating - not everyone that eats a lot is an emotional eater, but if you are, dealing with the emotions is necessary and being honest with yourself is a start.

I was just as tired of all the “do this diet” talk as I am of the “stop diet culture, love your body, eat intuitively”. We are all just trying out best okay?

Is circa privé your new favorite lekki restaurant?

June 30, 2019

I’m really excited everytime something new opens in Lekki. Before I moved to Lekki, I hated going there, but now that I live there, I hate leaving! Everything good lives in V.I and sometimes the thought of going to V.I makes me sit my ass home and not do anything. So imagine my excitement when a huge ass building housing a new restaurant/bar/ a lot happening opened right on Admiralty Way. I was even more excited when they emailed me to attend an “exclusive” chefs dinner to try the menu, because I balk at spending money at new Lagos places.

With an empty stomach and green lipstick, I went to try the new menu.

There were 10 of us invited, one person didn’t show up. I was the first one there (as always, I keep hoping that if I keep showing up to things on time, something will eventually start on time). Another blogger showed up like half an hour later, it took like two hours for other people to show up, it was actually really really really annoying.

DRINKS

There was no drinks menu when we went, so we just ordered blind, I ordered based on how pretty the drinks looked. All the drinks were really good.

STARTERS

Mozzarella sticks- I loved the size, sometimes mozzarella sticks are big and overwhelming, this was a good size, tasted pretty good.

Calamari- tough and bland

Spring rolls- I’m still not sure what was inside but tasted really good, nice and crispy on the outside

Chicken wings- had a lot of potential, but not fully cooked, so wasn’t willing to risk it

Prawns- huge and tasty

SALADS

Seafood/fruit? salad- a likely confused by what kind of salad this was. It was very fresh. The octopus was tough and bland, I don’t know too much about how to cook octopus but this felt like it hopped from the sea into my plate via the shower.

Crab salad- fresh

Chicken salad- I wish it was made with something other than iceberg lettuce, considering all their salads are super expensive. Paired with spinach, rocket or an interesting mix, this would have been perfect. Unfortunately, the iceberg let this salad down.

MAINS

If there is one thing that’s sure, I always order salmon or duck as my main wherever available, so I went straight for the salmon main. It was absolutely delicious, so good, that I had a few forks and asked them to pack it up to give myself the chance to fully enjoy it when I wasn’t so full. I took photos of the other mains, but I didn’t try anything else and I didn’t ask anyone how their food tasted, but everyone seemed to enjoy their food.

DESSERT

By this time, we were really really really really full. The chef sent us shots and then the fondant came out. The shots were great, the fondant was dry, I wouldn’t even really call it a fondant, more like a dry cake. The dessert was maybe, the lowest point of the meal.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I would recommend this place off the strength of presentation alone. All the food was plated beautifully and the drinks looked great. The food was also really good, all the ingredients were obviously carefully chosen and fresh.

I looked at the menu a little bit and the food looked pretty pricey, so it’s more date night than '“lets grab a meal”.

The service wasn’t great. Considering this was a private event that Circa Privé personally invited us to, I was surprised. The service was great at upper levels (chef, management, PR), but not so good at the level that was important (waitstaff). However, they’ve hopefully sorted out all service issues by now.

Parking was valet parking which was expensive. Considering, we parked ourselves, it seems like “valet” was stretched A LOT.

Noir Lagos Review

February 14, 2018

Not sure why it took me so long to write this. I feel like it always takes a long time to do things I want to do, almost like I get one chance and I want to do it EXACTLY right; basically a fancy way to procrastinate...but anywaaaay...

In January, I went to Noir. Restaurants are popping up like moles on whack-a-mole in Lagos and I've given up trying to play the game, I like what I like okay?

It was the last chance to hang with my sister before she went back to school so along we went.

Supermarkets are kind of my guilty pleasure, so I'm pretty surprised that I'd never been to La Pointe (the grocery store by the owners of Noir). I still haven't been (the restaurant is upstairs) but I got a peek and thought- hmmm groceries *rub palms together*

I was fully prepared for a three course meal, something I don't really do anymore and we got salads to start. I have to say, ordering a kale salad as a starter was a first for me, and it was BLOODY delicious. It DID NOT look like much- saying much is actually an understatement, it looked like NOTHING. It came and I was like whaaaat have I doooone? Honestly, the kale was massaged to death because it was sooo soft (and if you prep kale, you know it takes a lot to get there) the dressing was sweet and tangy and the apples were crisp- listen, it was a delicious salad- that's what you need to know.

The prawns in the prawn salad were so delicious and mangoes are in season, so you couldn't have tasted a better mango. I was ready to end the meal right there.

I dont want to say too much about the cocktails except there was grenadine in places where there shouldn't have been grenadine- not impressed- the cocktails were actually the downer for me- the bartender needs to have grenadine taken away from him- less grenadine, more muddling mint.

It was cook your own steak time, the USP of Noir. I went for South African Tenderloin. The meat was great, absolutely amazing, but I would not cook my own steak again. There was smoke, I had to work at the table, I ended up with a perfect steak, but at what cost?

My sister's meat was overcooked, but she had no-one to blame but herself - cooking steak is hard man.

I won't lie to you, I was completely completely full at this point, but I had to have dessert! Had to! The desserts were good, but not memorable. So if at the end of your meal, you want dessert, I'd say go for it, but I wouldn't go there because of dessert.

I had a really good experience. Next time, I would skip the cocktails and I definitely wouldn't cook my own steak. Actually, I might skip everything and risk it all for that kale salad!

I should have guessed from the name panache

February 27, 2017

...that this place wasn't going to bang. I mean what is Panache as a name for a restaurant? According to the first google search result, "Panache is a flamoyant confidence of style and manner" (also, I just checked and it was a yahoo search, awks)

Anyhoo, yeah. I was in Abuja for a bit and wanted to go somewhere nice. After all my research, only two options kept resurfacing - Pow and Panache. Pow is Japanese and someone said they cook with too much maggi so I chose panache because it's 'continental' (my word, not theirs)

Walked in and it was full of square tables with tablecloths. I kept trying to find a good angle to photograph the setting, but I couldn't find one (also, some man came up to ask why I was taking his picture- I wasn't but yeah)

At this point, I was still super excited. The menus were really gorgeous with pictures and they had the best dessert selection I've ever seen in Nigeria- AND.THEY.HAD.DUCK. Man I was ready to go in.

Ordered duck, my boyfriend (he asked me to put in this post that he's 6 5" and well built-he's not, but yah) ordered ribs, and we both ordered mojitos- which I always order because - easy to make right? wrong.

(thats my water served in a wine glass btw)

So we received this and I was like??? These mint leaves were obviously not muddled like they should have been. I'm paying way over the odds for this. What? According to my boyfriend, it tasted like transparent cough syrup and you know what? It reeally did.

The bread rolls had a very very very weird aftertaste- Before that day, I'd never tasted a bread roll I didn't like- I usually inhale bread rolls like I need them for my lung function - I put this down after one bite (also, I had the nagging feeling that the guy that accused me of taking his picture was trying to poison me.) I had to take a bite of my boyfriends roll just to be sure that they tasted the same- but then he would just poison us both, right?

My duck came. generous portion, in a wine jus AND honey roasted root vegetables (including beetroot, yuck). The duck was actually gorgeous, perfectly cooked and flavoured, so tender and lovingly made.

The dis-service was in the combination of the other things on the plate- my potatoes not dauphinoise enough and all the sauces being way too sweet and overwhelming. I asked for a new plate for my duck and ordered a garlic sauce. I can't even believe this happened, but my garlic sauce WAS BLAND. How is this even possible? I just gave up at this point and asked for the dessert menu. By this point, our waiter- Ekajo, who was the best part of the meal, was concerned about all the leftover food so, he recommended that I get the fondant. I wanted a more rounded dessert experience so I ordered a dessert duo instead. The duo included his beloved fondant so it was cool.

*sigh*. The fondant was the best thing on the plate, it was good. The white chocolate on the other hand, tasted like- you know when you put something sweet in the freezer with fresh stew and leftover moi moi and it ends up with a weird freezer taste, thats how the white chocolate tasted.

In summary, I generally don't have the highest expectations for food in Nigeria, I eat out more for the ambience than anything, but I just couldn't believe this , man.

And don't kill me, but I would still recommend it- stay with safe dishes, lower your expectations and just live. Order your water (which is served in a wine glass) , pretend you are drinking wine and just enjoy yourself. I mean, it's Abuja, where else are you going to go (this is a joke, don't give me a list).

Snapshots: Delis

August 19, 2016

New Restaurant Alert: Due by Chef Dish

July 21, 2016

Hey there! It's been sooooo long since I did a food review but I went to a new restaurant on Friday and thought "why not?"

Due (pronounced dooh-eh) is a little cute restaurant on Adetokunbo Ademola in the Samantha Bistro family. It had a test run for a month before it opened officially on Thursday. It's divided into a cafe area and a restaurant area.

High chairs are cute, but they are certainly not made for you to hang around for hours

I don't know if it's because they just opened, but there was a limited menu, nothing else for it but to crack open a bottle of wine and try to decide.

I love handwritten menus, spelling and all

We asked if they had any starters and they had chicken wings, so we ordered those blind.

Since we ordered blind, I can't say what was in or on the chicken wings. I wasn't a big fan but I don't know that I can tell you why, maybe because it was fried and I don't like fried chicken?

The poached fish was poached perfectly- it wasn't overcooked or over flavoured and the sauce it came with was very tasty. The mash was very homemade tasting (but like I make a good homemade mash, so that's not a bad thing). Sweet potato fries were an alternative to the mash, but I don't think sweet potatoes that aren't orange go with anything, my friend loved her fries though.

We asked if they had dessert and surprise- they did! The menu was turning out to be full of random surprises. We had one each but I think its the perfect size for sharing- the cream had orange in it, which made it taste a lot more exciting.

We were pretty brave ordering from a menu with no prices, but in the end it was pretty average. Everything was between N1500 and N4000 (except the wine).

Due is at 35a Adetokunbo Ademola, Victoria Island (small black gate between Tantalisers and Chase Mall) and the entrance is up some stairs at the back of the building.

Tips for the eat.drink.lagos festival

July 15, 2016

So last year, EatDrinkLagos had a food festival. I don't know if anyone expected it, but the turnout was huge. It was in Parkview Estate and it basically shut down Ikoyi. Awks. More awks is that vendors anticipated numbers based on regular events and food was finishing left right and centre. From the goodness of my heart, I decided to write survival tips for anyone that wasn't there for the last one, or was there and otherwise pre-occupied by drunkenness, lateness or looking for parking space.

1. COME ON TIME! I think this is pretty self-explanatory. I mean, you don't have to be there the moment the doors open, but if you're trying to do attending the reception time, you're on your own.

2. Bring cash (but like not too much, if thats not your thing)- I think people finished the money in the cashpoint opposite the venue last time. Luckily, this time, there's a great option that wasn't there last time- PayWithCapture. So as long as you have a phone (smart), you can pay (without network because etisalat is unreliable), but best set it up beforehand, so incase you're about to grab the last rib, someone else that thought ahead doesn't buy it before you- awks.

What Dami Did Jello shots EDL Festival 1

3. Wear Loose Clothing- Seriously, look cute, because apparently it's Tinder in real life, as long as cute doesn't involve unforgivably tight clothes- guys and girls, I'm looking at both of you- because tight jeans are for everyone (and not for the festival)

4. Look at the Menus and plan ahead- the festival website has a list of vendors and menus with prices and everything. Take time out before the festival to prep your list and budget. You cannot eat everything or drink everything, so be wise.

5. Pace yourself but not too much- You don't want to try and eat everything in the first hour you're there, please- chill out. If you come early, you'll get good seats in the sitting area and you can take breaks. If your break is too long and your next on the list sells out, you're really on your own.

6. Bring some ziplock bags for takeaway- last festival, I sold cookie bars that were packaged for take-away basically and there will be other vendors that have things like that or things that you can make to be like that (with your handy ziplock bag)- there's nothing more painful than thinking the next day 'oh shit, I wish I bought that cake' or whatever.

7. Take a break at my stall (3)- jello shots are a great non-stomach filling way to have alcohol- but I mean, mojitos do the job too!

My Whole 30 Experience

January 20, 2016

...so far.

It's day 16 of Whole 30.

Let me start from the beginning.

Whole 30

is a 30 day eating plan that excludes artificial sugar, processed food, alcohol, grains and legumes for 30 days. You can eat eggs, meat, fruit and veg. At first it sounds bat shit crazy but it's actually one of the healthiest meal plans I've been on in years (2 years) and I'm loving it. The hardest part of Whole 30 is making a concious effort with remembering what you can and can't eat. It's harder than it seems. But once you master that, it becomes pretty easy. At the end of the day, it's only for 30 days.

I haven't had a perfect whole 30 experience. For one thing, I've weighed myself twice (on day 4 and day 11). You're not supposed to weigh yourself or take measurements because one of the biggest points of the Whole 30 is to break unhealthy relationships with food- but hey- 2 out of 15 days is not bad. Also on day 4, I had dinner with the lovely

Kitchen Butterfly

and drank some zobo which contained sugar. Now, on the rules of the Whole 30, you're supposed to start again if you cheat or make a mistake, but I'm an adult that made a choice and I'll be damned if I start again.

You're also not really supposed to snack and my Lord, I'm a snacker. Eating actual meals is generally really overwhelming for me. I haven't eaten a real meal since day 13. I'm just so bored of everything I'm allowed to eat, so I've been eating nuts and drinking coffee and orange juice (fresh) and zobo (unsweetened). I don't think snacking is really a habit I even want to break to be honest, but I actually need to learn to eat more food and to eat more food at mealtimes. However, I've massively improved from the first few days when all I did was eat bananas. Bananas and yam (which strangely is allowed).

On the first day of whole 30, my entire focus was on weight loss. I mean, we all tell love stories about health but weight loss always hides underneath those stories and I straight up wanted to lose like 10kg in 1 month, I specifically researched weight loss stories of whole 30. 3 days in, my goals shifted more towards my other goal- giving up sugar forever and it's been on that ever since. It feels really different to be one of 'those people' that cares more about health than aesthetics. Don't get me wrong, I still want to lose 10kg, but I'm okay about not losing it right now.

What else? I'm finding it pretty easy but read what I said earlier. I haven't really deprived myself so I have no reason to feel deprived. I've given up sugar 2 years in a row for lent, so it helps. There was a time in my life where I used to dream of chocolate bars in bed but lent changed that so now I have the ability to stick to whole 30 which I'm pretty sure I didn't have before.

I'm waiting for my skin to glow though, but I'm not sure that will happen in 30 days. When it happened during lent, it was towards the end, but ah well.

London Photo Diary

December 4, 2015

I had a break from work and I wasn't going to go anywhere, but then last minute, London called. I love London because it's more or less like not going anywhere, it's even more familiar to me than Lagos. I had a list of things I wanted to do- mostly eat to be honest but then I got there and was really tired so I ended up abandoning my list and doing nothing. I walked around the city and listened to music. It's so different from this

holiday post

where all I did was eat. I was really insecure about even putting up this post because it's just sooo boring, but it's exactly how the trip was. Perfect.

This was the only place on my list I actually went to. They have an excellent cookbook and blog and I had to go and try some recipes in really life. Also, amazing matcha latte!

This girl was glittering in MAC. I love that she posed when she saw the camera.

My local starbucks had these adorable drawings of their baristas on cups. Should have made them draw one of me.

I spent a lot of time with my

cousin

Muji and Paperchase are my favourite stores. I obsessively buy these notebooks, so imagine my happiness when I went and there was a stamping stand. I spent a good 20 minutes there buying and stamping things.

Just a regular day on the streets of London. Why not?

Cookies on branch birthdays

London is hardly the greenest place, but I spent so much time appreciating 'nature' because it's non-existent in this grey place called Lagos.

I actually cooked sometimes. I even made jollof rice. I never ever ever ever cook.

Ping Pong is literally the only time I went for dinner and I don't think it counts because it's ping pong. Me and

friend

really went in though. Probably ate all the meals I should have eaten out in bowls of dim-sum.

I went on a few runs because it felt so good to run in a park!

The beginning of a deliciously messy night.

Breakfast at Bistro 7

September 26, 2015

Listen. Bistro 7 is my favorite resturant in lagos and it's been for two years. I cannot articulate why. It's not particularly cheap and the food doesn't blow my mind away. But I like the consistency. Also, the fact that you can kind of see into the kitchen which allays my health and safety concerns. Their cocktails have never dissapointed me and they are the only people I know that have a green tea latte. I've tried to review it twice before now. One time, my memory card decided to fail me and that was a really good spread. the second time, I took pictures of chairs and tables and forgot to take any pictures of any food. So yah, that was a bit silly. The other weekend, I went there for breakfast on SATURDAY and SUNDAY so I kind of had to do a review. I'd say breakfast is the best time to go there because it fills up quite quickly at other meal times, especially on the weekend.

Don't you love that they have actual breakfast cocktails? I have never tried a bloody mary and never say never, but I don't think I ever will. Tomato juice and vodka? Lord no.

No doubt this is an overpriced meal, but hollandaise sauce, real ham and poached eggs in Lagos? Sometimes you just have to pay a premium on things that aren't available. Capitalism and all that.

These pancakes are quite sweet but very decent.

Ah, a good mimosa.

Before you judge this sunny side up, I asked for it well done, I'm not sure what was going through my mind at the time, I think I was very hungry.

Iced coffee? Yes please. (I love drinks)

Bistro 7 is at 273 Kofo Abayomi Street and is open on weekdays from 11am-11pm, opens at 9.30 ish on saturdays and is closed on Mondays

Throwback Thursday: Lunch Club at BBQ & Cravings

September 24, 2015

So like two lunch clubs ago, we went to to bbq and cravings. It was this thing that EDL was trying where we went to a low-key place instead of like a 'proper' restaurant. They also tried having more than 10 people for the first time.

Arrived to cold coronas in these cute branded thingibobs. As I write this, I think I have to find it and throw it on my coffee cup. Tired of burning my hands because Nigerians don't believe in cup sleeves. I digress.

This menu didn't look like a lot of food, but it was a LOT OF FOOD.

The walls are covered with graffiti from people. And this fan was the MVP, because it was blowing away flies and flies and flies.

Actually, it didn't really feel like there were more people. The table was kind of divided a bit but I think that still happens when there are only 12 of us. The conversation was loud and noone was complaining. Welcome change from a regular inside setting.

Now, that's a portion of wings!

More meat. Meat Meat Meat. Tasty meat though.

'To share' apparently meant to share with one other person. Whaaaa?! By this point, I was almost full. 'Almost' being the operative word.

This sandwich was great and I love a cubed potato. By this time, I was actually full. By the time the burger came after, I had to get it packed. It wasn't happening.

Folly made these slutty brownies and I was greedy and had 2. But hey! Yolo right?

Urban Fuxion Review

September 23, 2015

I love the movie

Chef

! So when I found out on

Eat. Drink. Lagos

that a real life food truck was open in Lagos, I had to try it. But like most things I do, I procrastinated and procrastinated and then they followed me on twitter. I took it as a sign.

I sent a dm asking where the truck was. I think apart from when it moves around at night, it's usually parked in the same place in Lekki.

The truck is really nice. Great branding and so big. (for people that are looking at me like um, thats how food trucks are, I don't know anything about food trucks). There was a take out and take in window. I mean, you can't eat in or anything but there were two windows basically to make it more efficient.

The menu is burgerfrieswingssandwiches type menu. I tried the burger, some regular fries, chicken wings and a chicken sandwich. I remembered that the margaritas are supposed to be quite good, so I ordered a strawberry one.

I realise latently that I didn't take a picture of the menu. I was trying this new not taking pictures with my camera but trying to be under g with my phone and I'm not sure it quite clicked.

I argued with the guy that he gave me a virgin margarita because all I could taste was sweetness. The margarita was so so sweet, like bubble gum sweet, like artificially flavoured bubblegum sweet. I didn't like it at all BUT it DID have alcohol and if you like the bottles pitchers ,you'll probably like these. Different prices sha.

I think I should have tried the ribs. There's a consensus that they have amazing ribs but I don't think I'm really a rib eater and it didn't even occur to me at all, but everything was so average. Now, it's a food truck, so like the food is not going to be like amazing or anything, but it's not the cheapest food truck, like it's not fast food prices so I guess I had this expectation that wasn't really met.

I paid N2800 for the burger with fries and a drink (drink being regular stuff- water, fanta sprite). That's very reasonable, maybe even cheap by Lagos standards because Lagos standards are crazy but it's not cheap.

The food was forgettable and after I started writing this review, I had to taste the stuff again (my brother paid)

The wings tasted boiled. Maybe they were. I don't really have anything against boiled chicken but it was weird.

The sandwich was dry, like inside.

The food was okay. I think okay is my go to word for describing food that I wouldn't necessarily pay for again. The burger was fine, it could have been from anywhere. The fries were bland and the portion was tiny.

I have to say- the food looked good though.

I was disappointed to be honest but I really think I'm in the minority here and I'm going to have to taste those ribs. If I'm on the streets at 4am and I'm hungry, defs going to eat the food happily.

How To Get Fat

August 17, 2015

You're skinny. You're slim -maybe you've always been skinny- maybe you just lost a lot of weight. Today is Saturday- it's your friends birthday- it's a dinner-intimate - this is one of your closest friends, it would be rude not to eat- you know how long she's planned this and she's paying herself! You more or less starve all day so you can eat dinner. And it's amazing! 4 courses + birthday cake! Plus the most divine cocktails.

The next day- you miss your workout because you stayed out late. You're tired and a little hungover- it's not the end of the world, you've worked out a couple of times this week anyway. On Sunday, you're in bed watching TV shows- your loving partner or mum walks in with a little treat, a pack of coconut chips, a salted caramel cupcake, a mini doughnut, or some frozen yoghurt because its Sunday and everyone needs a little cheat in the week. You've been so good. You eat it because it's only little and you're hungover off course it would be rude not to.

Now for many people, that's fine. They might get up the next day and go straight back into insanity and salads. Or maybe that's a trajectory to weight gain. Either way, we all know it's easier to lose weight in a first world country where everything is packaged and prepared and the nutritional values are slapped on to the front of the packet.

In Nigeria, it's hard. I just started a weight loss challenge with some people and when I was trying to convince people to join, I was struck by how little information there is about losing weight. People have this impression that it's all salads and starvation and spending a lot of money, but it's actually not.

So I've decided to make this week wellness week. I'm going to debunk myths and post recipes and hacks and meal ideas that don't feel like you're suffering but don't also kill your budget. It's not just being slim, it's your skin, it's your energy, it's digestion, it's your mood. It's crazy how much what you put in your body affects everything else.

It's Monday, try and be healthy today!

Sunday Brunch: Lunch Club VIII @ Velvett Grill Lounge and Bar

August 16, 2015

So, the 8th lunch club was yesterday at Velvett.

Velvett is usually kind of pricey. So when I saw the lunch club menu, I knew I was getting a bargain!

At the beginning, we had lovely surprise cupcakes from

honeys cupcakes

from her new ...line?...collection? whats the right word for new food, which we got to try and review.

Obviously bread wasn't on the menu, but when the waiter put this basket on the table, I nearly wept in gratitude. The bread was really fresh. When he took it away, I almost grabbed the basket out of his hand.

I'm sure you could tell from the menu that it was going to be an appetiser platter. It was missing the plantain, but I can't say it would have added something different- just more food. Everything tasted good to me, tbh. I did wolf everything down at scary speed, so most of it probably missed my tastebuds.

I ordered my steak medium well because you just can't be sure how you're going to get your meat cooked in places. I ordered medium rare one time and they basically slapped the dead cow on my plate with sauce. Fola ordered medium rare and it was perfectly medium rare, so with Velvett, I guess you can trust that they understand how to cook steak. The meat was really tender and the black peppercorn sauce was great. This course came with a discussion of Nigerian cows and why steak cuts are imported.

Oh and the mash was great. Creamy, smooth and made from real potatoes. I pretty much scraped the bowl.

The chicken looked really good and was massive!

We had the brownie and tiramisu for dessert. I have to admit, this fell a little flat for me. The tiramisu was much too creamy with little or no sponge fingers. The custard was tasty, don't get me wrong, but the dessert isn't just custard and mine was basically that. The brownie was dry and most of mine was burnt. After the rest of the meal, I was a bit disappointed, but also full, so it was fine.

Velvett Grill Lounge and Bar is located at 19b Idejo Street (beneath Izanagi).

To join the lunch club mailing list, go on

eat.drink.lagos

Sunday Brunch- Hans and Rene

August 9, 2015

You know those Sundays when there's rice at home, but you still want brunch (because brunch isn't just about the food), that's where Hans and Rene comes in!

Hans and Rene is an gelato cafe (my words). They have gelato, sorbet, slush, sweets, coffee, tea, cakes, cookies and pastries (ps- I hate the word pastries).

It's inside the Radisson Hotel at the side and has this cute outside seating strip.

Their gelato has 40% less fat than ice-cream (has an extra scoop).

Ps- their salted caramel gelato has popcorn in it. It's an unpleasant surprise.

Their sorbets look creamy because they are churned really slowly, not because they have any cream. This zobo sorbet was delicious.

You can taste as many flavours as you want (I think). The last time I was there, I did see this little girl taste like 10. She had a stack of used spoons.

Cruffins are croissant + muffin. They taste more like croissants, but not as flaky. Still delicious though!

These doughnuts are cakey and delicious but small enough for you to not to feel too guilty about it.

It's done up really well and the seating feels spacious and comfortable. I was tempted to plant myself here for a day, it's easily that kind of place.

This 3D wallpaper in the bathroom was interesting. We ended up posing on it. My

cousin

's picture turned out better than mine. Mine was lame, but sitting on a pretend chair is a lot harder than it looks.

These painted ceilings are pretty! And so real. One of my favourite things!

I had the regular vanilla and nutella gelato. My cousin had the rice milk vanilla and chocolate vanilla which is a great option for the lactose intolerant and fitfam.