It is fair to say I have a strictly love relationship with food, seeing as my closest friends are avid foodies. Funny enough I was one of those kids that embraced the liquid diet a bit too much for my doctor's own good. I absolutely hated food as a kid (looking back, I think the chewing part of it, tired me), and only indulged my nanny's excellent hot chocolate skills. However, my parents loved eating out and we often had family dinners with close family friends, relatives and foreign business partners at Eko Hotel, Ikoyi Hotel, Federal Palace, Golden Gate, Imperial Chinese, Peninsula and some others I am too young to remember. I was an only girl for a long time so yes I probably was spoilt, but my mum had no issues with me getting a perm or painting my face with my makeup set for these dinners and I think this is where my passion for food/eating out stemmed from. As I got older, I started to enjoy food and although we had decent portions at boarding school (Atlantic Hall, yes I know a lot of people do not consider this to be a proper boarding school lol), like Oliver Twist I always wanted more. It also didn't help that daddy would always bring home "grub" from the latest Lagos eateries and so we always had too much Ikoyi club or Mega Plaza suya, and I won't bore you with all the other goodies from Mr Bigg's, Munchies, Tantalizers, Sweet Sensation, TFC, Frenchies etc.All in all, a girl just never really had to learn how to cook, especially as unlike most other girls, I opted to study Agricultural Science in senior secondary, not Food & Nutrition (ewww!). So anyhow, before I relocated to the UK to commence my A-levels at another boarding school, mummy insisted I spent some time in the kitchen (eeeek!), learning the ropes as she feared I would never have the opportunity to practice my skills. Meanwhile, my younger brother had started flirting with ideas he picked up from the game show we never missed, BBC's Ready Steady Cook (Ready Set Cook in the US) lol. He would go to the pantry each day and pick out different ingredients and make magnificent dishes, so of course I was determined to catch the cooking bug. Anyhow I never quite needed to cook properly till much later especially as my friends love to cook, bake and whatever else you can do in the kitchen. Although we regularly take turns to host each other, we almost always eat out and so these last few weeks of freedom have been spent on research for where the next hot feasting spot in London is lol. Back in May, another friend and I had conquered a few such places in NY such as Tao (featured in SATC series), Buddakan, (SATC Movie 1) and Zengo. Trapped in by the day's unpredictable weather, I gave up my plans of shopping in Sloane Square and decided to conquer my laziness and make some jollof rice with prawns, beef and oven baked chicken for my siblings (we are five altogether). Result! Not only did it taste damn good, I discovered I had some maternal instincts as it pleased me to watch my siblings devour my cooking especially as mummy is a culinary genius! I do love my food and yes eating out is in my genes lol, besides London has some fascinating places to eat, people watch, drink and just chill, but some days, cooking is just what is needed. (The sun better stay put tomorrow, I'm majorly craving a Henry J Beans medium cooked rib eye steak with Voodoo sauce yum....King's Road here I come!).
