Well the weather is starting to warm up, and here that means one thing......football season is upon us! haha, not the typical correlation, but that's just how it goes down in Africa. I will definitely miss the cool evenings we have been having lately. Its such a nice change of pace from the super hot days.
After the long holiday weekend, with lots of eating and drinking for 4 days, I was actually ready to get back to working out and our weekly routine. Friday, the 16th, the Gips had everyone over for brew night. Graham brews his own beer, so the guys always help him with the tasting and such while Kristiann cooks for us all. It was fun because all our close friends are finally back from traveling. There were 6 couples including us, and we are all around the same age, so we have a lot of fun together!
On Saturday night, we were invited by one of the executives at Exxon to a Tablecloth Toga Party! It was such a cute idea, since everyone has these tablecloths made out of African batik fabric. They hosted a costume party where everyone used these as togas and it turned out great! A lot of people (including me) just bought some typical African dress from the market, but it was fun to see all the varieties. They had tons of food drinks, prizes for best dressed and encouraged us to wear swimsuits underneath as everyone ended up in the pool! They actually hired a party photographer that provided these fun shots for us.
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| Nolan, our host for the evening |
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| The grill and bar |
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| the other side of the bar |
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| our semi-matching African wear |
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| view of the full outfits ;) |
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| Courtney, Amanda and I |
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| all the party guests |
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| zoom in to our side of the group photo |
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| the infamous swan encouraging people to jump in the pool! |
Sunday, I attended a baby shower for Erin, who is having a little girl and moving back to the states next week. There was great food and we played all of the typical baby shower games. Jason golfed on Sunday, instead of Saturday, since I had the party.
Monday, I went to the Lekki Market to shop and then lunch with my friend Laura. I skipped my workout, but for a good cause since Laura is pregnant and this was her last week in Lagos :(
Tuesday, I went to the orphanage as usual. Wednesday, we had dinner at the Lagoon with Laura and her husband Daryl. This restaurant is on the water and has awesome views of the sunset. It also has a great breeze, where I was actually chilly. Still crazy for me to feel cold outside in Africa!
On Friday night, we celebrated our friend Sam's 30th birthday with a big group dinner as Asian Villa. We enjoyed cooking various items in our hot pots including seaweed, lettuce, ham (Spam is more like it), beef, noodles, potatoes, tofu, lettuce, egg, crab legs, and fish balls. We had a fun time and went to the Ecko hotel afterwards for a drink by the pool.
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| our hot pot |
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| Sam, the birthday boy, and his wife Deepa |
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| me and Jason |
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| Stephen and Amy |
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| Graham and Kristiann |
On Saturday, Jason had to work, but we met up with Laura and Daryl at the American Guest Quarters (GQ) for a drink before they left to board their flight. We are definitely going to miss them, as they are the first people I met upon arriving in Lagos last year. Daryl is as big a golfer as Jason and was his weekly golfing buddy :( They are going to Norway, so we hope to go visit next summer when the little baby has arrived!
Saturday night we had dinner with Jason's boss and a client and his wife. We tried the Italian restaurant, Milano, at the new Intercontinental Hotel. It is extremely beautiful with all of its fancy decorations. It was a great dinner and we also enjoyed a cocktail downstairs at the hotel bar before leaving.
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| Champagne wall inside the restaurant. |
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| view of the hotel at night |
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| view of the Milano restaurant |
On Sunday, Jason golfed while I did some cooking for the week. I try to incorporate some of the healthy vegetarian dishes from my books, like the Kind Diet and the Honest Life, so I made quinoa cooked in chicken broth. I also tried a recipe from my friend's blog. She post news recipes all the time and I really need to try more. They all look delicious:
www.amommawhocooks.blogspot.com
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| this is my version of the vegetable rice, that she posted recently |
