How to drink like a fashionable Ghanaian

Observing the fashionable food trends of Paris is so passe, so the last 100 years of haute cuisine. Everybody's doing it. Why not be a bit more daring and take your drinkable fashion cues from Africa? Starbucks has a team devoted to dreaming up new beverages. How do they do it? First they dream up what colors will be fashionable next season. And so because orange is trendy, we get the awful

Rice as a Measure of Womanhood

Rice is one of the world’s most popular grains. It is a mainstay in diets from Latin America to Africa and Asia. It is consumed on every inhabited continent, in some form, in every country. It is perhaps then little wonder that rice preparation can serve as a ruthless metric of womanhood. I was reminded of this today. My husband and I have been in the habit of sharing some of the food we make

The Best Carrot Cake in Chicago(and a recipe of my own)

Cake is a troublesome thing. On one hand it is powerfully nostalgic: we remember a grandmother's cake, we mark each birthday with...cake. Yet recently I had decided that cake rarely satisfied relative to all of its fat and calories. For me, it wasn't a wise indulgence. I believe that desserts are perfectly compatible with a healthy lifestyle, but that means I seek desserts that have a huge taste

"Cage-Free" Eggs are the New "It" Accessory

Hotter than a Marc by Marc Jacobs handbag, cage-free eggs are all the rage. The living conditions of America's favorite poultry was only a simmering concern in 2003 when Adbusters did a scathing expose on the living conditions of commercially raised chickens in the U.S. But now concern for the living standards of our poultry has hit the mainstream media, as evidenced by a recent New York Times

Baked Potato Soup

Some recipes add variety to your palate and nothing more, but some recipes become instant family classics. This recipe was an immediate classic in our home: pure comfort in a bowl, perfect to ward off the chill of autumn. I actually developed this recipe as a comforting, all-natural meal that I gave to a friend undergoing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. When I prepared it for her, I

Seghesio Port

This is one wine to get your hands on before everyone else catches on. A group of friends and I discovered this fine port while on a trip to wine country in California. When we go, we make it a point to visit several vineyards and try new places. This was our first visit to Seghesio, and I have to say it is one of the more delightful wine tasting experiences. We did a tasting flight downstairs,

Restaurant Follies or How to Find a Good Restaurant in an Unfamiliar Locale

The other night I had the worst food I have ever paid to put in my mouth. This is doubly disappointing because I had this food at the restaurant that is right across the street from my new house in Accra's swanky Osu neighborhood. I hate that my first post about an Accra restaurant is going to be negative, because there are quite a few really fine restaurants here. But I will walk you through