Saturday, February 27, 2010

Suya

A favorite food of Nigerians....skewered chicken or beef cooked over an open BBQ and sprinkled with spices, then wrapped are served in a piece of newspaper....all for only 200 naira. A great deal!

On a quiet Tuesday in January, Dan and I jump into our car with 3 other friends and drive down the street to a favorite suya hot spot. It is located at the end of a quiet, dead-end street behind a big unmarked gate. There we turn into a driveway and sneak into a parking spot. The renovated suya stand is quite impressive and very popular. (much bigger and better than it used to be) It is a large brick structure with a built in grill. There is a tall stack of newspaper sitting on the counter.

Our friend, who is a regular customer here, orders a variety of suya including a suya spiced fish and her favorite: suya gizzards. She send us upstairs to the "dining area" to find a table. So Dan and I head in that direction, climb the tight spiral staircase and start looking for a table. This is harder than it may seem: there are no lights and only enough room for 6 small tables. (this is more of a take-out establishment) We grab the only table that is open and start hunting up 5 chairs.

The food arrives, wrapped in newspaper, with several toothpicks as our only utensils. We do our best to stab the meat (and not each other) with the toothpicks as we begin to dig in. Luckily, there is a waiter on hand who can bring out beer and other beverages to "put out the fire" from the suya spices.

It was a great night; and no one was sick the next day!! (that is always a good thing)

My Dance Recital

How wild and crazy is this? I am 40+ and participating in my first dance recital!!

Last December, I was asked to volunteer and participate in the American dance portion of "Small World"; along with several others ladies in the Consulate.

Small World is a charity event in which several International Women's Groups come together and raise money for charity by sponsoring an International Night. Each participating country donates time, energy and resources to the event in the way of food, costumes, dance and music. From what I have heard, it is the event of the year ~ one that should not be missed.

Back in January, a group of 8 of us met at a friend's house to begin practice. Two of the girls has already volunteered to be part of the dance and they agreed to teach the "new recruits" what they had learned. It all started off well~ then we came to the twirling spin! As one of our coaches demonstrated the move, she landed badly on her foot. Practice halted and we helped her as best we could until the doctor could arrive. Practice had not gone according to plan; our coach had broken her foot!!

The rest of us continued working with the choreographers for the jazz and tap portions of the dance. We were having fun, but as February approached, tensions were getting high. It was during one practice late in January, that we finally felt stronger and more confident.

With Small World just a week and a half away, practices were now scheduled for the stage at the venue for the event. We were critiqued and given the "thumbs up" for our routine. Yeah us! Now with only 4 practices until the performance we are fine tuning a few details, but overall we are good to go.

To be continued......