Dont Mess with My lil Sis

When we were home - south coast - for vacation, the popular and fast moving snack there is viazi karai. In the previous post, I gave the recipe for viazi karai, that which my big baby Nratili loves! Now that is a home recipe but for commercial cooking, the ingredients are fewer and used sparingly especially the wheat flour & salt and the extra taste additives aren’t used at all!

Regardless of the taste, as long as its viazi karai, my baby is game! ;-) We were from visiting several  relatives and of course eating wherever we visited but by the time we reached home, the girls still had room for some food. They had saved up some cash and the best snack bet would be... yap! You guessed it right. Viazi Karai!

My mum volunteered to go buy them and along went her younger sis, the baby of the house. A great deal of time had lapsed and we were thinking that they are playing along the way. Shock on us! Kumbe the dude selling had continuously ignored them coz they were kids and serving others despite them being there first and buying the largest quantity!

When mum stood firm and confronted the dude on why he was ignoring her, the dude instead started shouting at her. She still stood firm and was finally served and get this... she was given less three pieces of the viazi karai! When she finally arrived and narrated her story, Nratili was not amused. Infact she was very agitated.

She immediately shot up and told her lil sis to lead the way and show her the idiot who had the audacity to do so. I could only imagine what was going through her mind and at the same time pitying the dude. Nratili gave the dude a piece of her mind but only after he had given them the three pieces that were short of the amount paid.

The dude was left explaining himself as my girls walked away as if saying, “...talk to the hand!” ...and as she famously likes saying, "Shinda Hapo!!!" My big baby was soo mad! She came back hissing and puffing! Don’t mess with my lil sis! I was proud of her for standing up and being there for her younger sisters, as I always keep telling them ...“Be your sister’s keeper!”

Indeed she was! God bless you mum!  Muuaah!

Viazi Karai

If there is a delicacy that my first born daughter Nratili loves, it is “viazi karai!” Boy ooh boy can she live on those waru! SIGH!!! That would be the best punishment you would ever give her! ;-) Viazi karai is a delicacy that is made of Irish potatoes. The potatoes are peeled and cut into sizable pieces then boiled with a pinch salt till ready to eat and not too soft as that of making mash potatoes.

A thick paste is made on a separate container, to coat the boiled potatoes for deep frying. The thick paste is made of wheat flour, pinch of salt to taste, food colour (preferably sunset orange or egg yellow) and water. To give the paste some taste, the quantity of the following depends on one’s liking; pounded garlic, dhania and onion.

All the above ingredients are mixed to a thick paste ready for dipping/coating the boiled potatoes for deep frying. They are deep fried to a firm and crisp coat. My ooh my, this is so yummy especially when eaten with kachumari or a tamarind paste (ukwaju) as you wash it down with a cold glass of your favourite drink! SIGH!!!!

Jinx!, you owe me...

This is the trend now in my household whenever the girls say something at the same time. This could be a comment or reply to a question asked. An example is when I asked the girls if they had finished their homework coz they were watching TV instead of doing their homework. They answered in unison, "YES!"

Next thing I heard was... "Jinx you owe me a pin-pop! Jinx you owe me a soda! Jinx you owe me clothes!" ...and as they say this, it is still in unison until one defaults on the owing thing! You should see the body swaying and loud confrontation of the involved persons.  Ti-hi-hi... funny huh!!?

In the beginning I would laugh soo hard coz the confrontational sight was so amusing. Well now, it still is amusing though recently I fell a victim too. I answered in unison with my mum to a question her older sister had asked, the next thing I saw was some 10-year-old girl rolling her eyes on me saying, “Jinx! You owe me a pin-pop! Jinx you owe me a soda! Jinx you owe me clothes!...”

...and who was I to be left behind. We went head-to-head, leggo!  “Jinx! You owe me a pin-pop! Jinx you owe me a soda! Jinx you owe me clothes!... not forgetting that I too was body swaying and eye rolling!!! ;-)))

A Person or Lesson for Life!

Happy new year y’all. You have to thank our Almighty God for the precious gift of life and good health. I am indeed grateful and thankful for that. The festive/holiday blues are now over and reality has checked in. Its back to work and back to school or whatever was it was you were engaging yourself with.

Being a new year, there are many resolutions or just a few practical and realistic ones that we set for ourselves, then we pray and hope we meet at least half of those by mid-year. My prayer and hope for this year is continue thanking God for everything that comes my way in this journey of life. May He continue to keep me from harm so that I am free of pain. May His blessings continue to flow as I get to learn and be humbled from each encounter. Amen!

In the journey of life, you get to interact with several people along the way. Some good, some not so good, some bad, some not so bad and some are just pretty indescribable! People come into your life for a reason or a season, though you shouldn’t dwell on that. The lesson will be learnt in due course. It is said that when you fully trust a person without any doubt, you eventually get one of the two results; A person for life or A lesson for life!

There you have it. Food for thought as the year takes off!