Sunday Brunch in Lagos

Hey hey,

   So I moved to Lagos 3 weeks ago for work and have a ton of stories to tell you already. Lagos is a lot of things,  good and bad, but it is unquestionably FUN! I love going out to dine and Lagos is a haven for foodies like me! There are dozens of cafes, bars, restaurants, hotels, bukkas and joints everywhere and I intend to eat and drink my way through as many as I can while I'm here with my foodie sidekick Dammy!

I discovered the blog Eat.Drink.Lagos and it is awesome! I read their reviews before I go to places and I love their wit and humour in writing!

Last Sunday we went for Brunch at The Foundry (No 19, Glover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos Nigeria +234-817-200-1143 | +234-817-200-1152).

Like most Lagos places I have been to, it was inconspicuous and there was no large sign. The decor is nice and under stated and it has an American diner feel. We were sat near the cafe and kitchen and I could see how the food and drinks were being made, which I liked. The waiter was friendly and attentive.

I had the American breakfast which had scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausages. Because I don't eat bacon, I had extra sausages. Dammy had toast and nigerian scrambled eggs i.e with pepper. The pancakes were not the best,  I make better at home. But the eggs were light and fluffy and the sausages were Nigerian made ones that tasted like flavoured beef which I loved. To drink, I had the chai latte and cupaccino and they were both strong and delicious!

Breakfast ranges from N2500-N4000 which from my Abuja standards seemed steep, but I am learning that eating out in Lagos is alot pricier! 

Today I went to Bistro 7 for Brunch with a few friends. (273 Kofo Abayomi St, Victoria Island). It is also quite difficult to locate but once inside it was worth our getting lost. The decor is really nice and modern,  and it was quite packed. They have these large white menus which I liked and a wide variety which were all available.

I had the Breakfast platter which had one (as in a single) pancake, toast, chicken sausages, hashbrowns and eggs. I ordered a banana pancake which was warm and delicious,  and the scrambled eggs were perfect. However, the sausages were actually frankfurters and the hash browns were oily and soggy.To drink I had a masala chai latte which was perfect.

The let down was the service was really poor. I don't know if it was because they had quite a full house, but they were so distracted and not particularly friendly. I asked for no bacon or toast and he brought both. The food took almost an hour to come out, we had all finished our drinks well before it arrived. They pacified us with some nice warm bread which was complimentary but we were all so hungry that it didn't help.

My friends had the pizza, which was fair, a seafood pasta which was well seasoned,  and eggs benedict which was also nice.

Breakfast costs between N3500-N4500 and drinks about N1000 so it is not cheap. I would go back though,  but maybe at a less crowded time in the hope of a better service!

That's it for today folks! I will bring you more stories from my Lagos shenanigans as I go along! Hopefully my will to blog has been revitalized!

Xoxo
Miss B

Sickle Cell and other Stories

Hey all,

I have figured out why it is so difficult for me to blog these days: Twitter!

It is called micro-blogging for a reason. It allows me to articulate all my thoughts instantly in 140 characters and it is quite frankly my favourite social media platform. But I will try not to let it affect my blogging (2 posts already this year :-)) anymore. Anyway you can follow my twitter ramblings @naijadaydreamer

In other news, I am sure you all know that I am passionate about Sickle Cell Disease. It is something that affects me personally and alot of my close friends and family members. Sickle Cell is not a joke, it has moments when it seems like the worst thing in the world. I have seen it create untold difficulties and hardship for people, and as much as it makes me feel truly blessed that I have had it easy, it always saddens me to see others go through pain.

I joined the Sickle Cell Aid Foundation (@scaf_nigeria) in Law school in 2011 and it has given me the opportunity to make a difference in my own small way to raising awareness about sickle cell. I have gotten the opportunity to meet so many people living with sickle cell and everyone has their own story of their daily struggles. The one thing they all have in common is that it makes them stronger in character. There is something about being weaker physically that makes people more resolute mentally. 

Unfortunately, we lost one of our members Awele a few weeks ago and it was heart breaking. I am only able to write about it now, but it affected me alot more than I was willing to admit because that could easily have been anyone of us. Awele was such a vivacious and greatly loved person and she had so many complications from sickle cell but never let it wear her down. She was very vocal about her battles and eager to raise awareness about it. She won an award for capturing her struggles with sickle cell in a documentary called Awele's Diary. I attended her funeral in London, which happened to be my first funeral, and it was so tough emotionally to watch another person I cared about loose the fight to sickle cell.

But it ultimately renewed my faith and reenforced the importance of doing something worth while with your life while we have the chance. We sometimes get so caught up with daily life and forget to actually be passionate about something. Sickle Cell is my passion, and whenever I leave the world, I hope to have left my mark in advocating for it in my own small way.

To mark World Sickle Cell Day 2015, we had an awareness walk in Awele's memory as well as a blood drive. The founder of SCAF was recently honoured by the Queen of England and David Cameron for being a Young Achiever and it has really validated our work and given us the drive to keep up our advocacy in our own little way.

To every sickle cell warrior, family, friends and supporters of people with sickle cell, we know your pain and we wont stop working until every one does! 

RIP Awele.

xoxo

Miss B

Growing Up Is...

Hello world,

My last blog post was on Monday the 12th of August 2013. Alot has happened but I have decided to start writing again. I will be back to my fiction and short stories but today, let me start with my ramblings so here goes:



Growing up is ridiculously hard work. Nothing and no one prepares you for how hard it is. The educational system is designed in a way that hard work merits rewards, usually in short periods of time with few other elements being measured. You go to class, listen to your teacher, do your homework, study for your exams and you get a grade usually tantamount to the efforts you put in and or your talents.

Your grade determines your position in class, which determines if you will move on to the next year. If you get good grades you are often praised by your teachers, peers and family, assuring you that your effort/talent alone will take you far in life.

This starts from how we are taught as kids in kindergarten. It is reinforced that good behaviour gets you sweets as a reward and misbehaving gets you punished, also with almost instant consequences for all actions. This is fair and just.

Adult life is anything but just. There are so many other factors that determines rewards in adult life. Money, family, friends, social class, relationships, level of education, determination, saviness, social skills, cunning and a great deal of luck.

There are books on how to be successful in life that explore most of the major factors. I am not a fan of self help books as I find them patronising. Offering generalized advice to a non-specific group of people seems redundant on its face. The few I have perused emphasize determination, hardwork, taking risks etc which are key components of success in any field.

I much prefer reading biographies which tell a person's success story from a very individual perspective. They often detail their rise as well as their falls including bumps in the road. But even these rarely assign the importance of luck in people's life.

Simply being in the right place at the right time has done more for creating success than most people would care to admit, or could even contemplate. Knowing the right person who can refer you for a role, or refer your company to a client is the cornerstone of building yourself or your business. The saying "Your network is your net-worth" doesn't take into consideration how much luck plays in meeting the people that make up your network.

Success in personal relationships more than any human endeavour is not based on the quality of a person's character. Too often we see genuinely beautiful people ending up with horrid friends, family and life partners. One's love, devotion, and commitment to another will not automatically be reciprocated even though they work as hard at the relationship as they possibly can.

Being African, most things have a religious explanation. Luck is often referred to as "finding favour" or "God blessing your hustle" while avoiding negativity that can "Pour sand sand in your garri".

This is not to take away from hard work and being a good person. They are traits that often bring a type of contentment that in itself can be a reward. But they do not impact on success as much as we are brought up to believe it does. You don't get what you deserve in life simply by following the prescribed path. That is why the hereafter exists in all religions. To keep you motivated that doing the right thing will yield the desired effects, if not now then maybe after you die.

xoxo

Miss B

P.s- Thank you Omotee for pushing and pushing me until I wrote this. You are a true friend.