Cameroon Duck Stew Recipe

Ingredients

Tomato paste. I love using this brand

Tomato brand

Carrot, green beans and onion

Leeks or green onion

Ginger

Garlic

Green pepper

Green spices

Pepper

Onion

Carrot and green beans

Sliced duck

Preparation

Boiled tomato pastes

Bon appetit!

Last Friday was the dedication of my daughter's paternal grandmother as a deaconess in the church. It was an exciting occasion and it reflected the typical Cameroonian way to party. 

Friday Parties Are Fun Too

The decor for the party

Usually, parties are scheduled on Saturdays in Cameroon but this one was programmed on Friday. Friday is a working day so not many people had the time to help out with the preparations during the day. 

I wasn't expecting it to be a big party so I was surprised at how much preparation was being made.

I sewed our 'asoebi' for the occasion. That's for me, baby and daddy. Daddy helped me with the sewing and we did it the day before.

Slicing tomatoes for the party chicken stew

The party started at about 8 pm. There were no long speeches - just a welcome speech and an apology for the late start. Immediately after that, the guests were ushered to the table to eat.

The good looking salad, bread, egusi pudding, etc

Opening the food and preparing to serve the guests

The rest of the menu

It went on well as we helped to serve the guests. Until we noticed a guest who dug into every bowl of meat taking at least three to four slices from each bowl. In fact, he helped himself to everything on the table. We had to stop him at some point because he kept on filling his plate with slices of pork after taking four slices of chicken.

The surprise was that he came for a second round. This time he wore a pullover over his shirt. I don't know if he wore it to go unnoticed but I discovered he was the one from the way he dug into the Ndolé and from the number of Miyondo he took from the table. The amount of food he took made me wonder if he could actually eat all.

Then came the time for dancing and this guy was one of the leaders in it as he drank his beer. Others had their moments to dance but this guy and a few others were on the dance floor nonstop. It was fun to watch them dance. I danced to a few songs that I couldn't help but dance. It was so much fun.

In between the fun, my daughter woke up from sleep a few times. By 5am I was tired and went to bed as well. We returned home in the morning still tired. I took home some leftover Ndolé and sweet potato which I ate once I got home before going to bed to rest again.

I just remembered that the same guy whom I talked about earlier - the one who kept filling his plate with meat almost carried away a pot of food. When the table of food was being cleared there was a tray of Khoki on the table. In fact, that was the only food that was left there. This guy after dancing would come from time to time and take some slices of Khoki. So when the rest was cleared it was taken behind to where the washing was being done. The plan was to save the food left and then wash the dishes. There was also a pot of sweet potatoes standing by waiting to be emptied and washed. 

This guy went behind, took the tray of Khoki and the pot of sweet potatoes and was leaving with them. When he was stopped he said he was taking it to his house. He was now asked to bring a bowl to get some of the food to take home which he did. 

When we talked about it in the morning it was so funny. From what I gathered the previous day, he isn't totally mentally stable. He actually did animate the party so much with his dancing steps.

In Cameroon, there are people who will come and grace your party like that. Most times they come with the desire to eat and drink to their fullest and even take some home. And most of the time they are uninvited guests. 

The Friday party was great because it was possible to rest on Saturday and Sunday.

These past weeks have brought a sigh of relief as our daughter recovered. Dealing with the stress of caring for a sick child is not easy.

My Initiation Into A New Level Of Motherhood | God Came Through For Us

I didn't only have the scare of my life when she fell ill but also, realized that I was being introduced to another stage of motherhood.

No one wishes for their child to be sick. That has been my greatest worry ever since my daughter was born and I am thankful to God so far for sparing me of that stress. And now that it happened, I'm glad we were able to overcome it with God. 

It started all of a sudden and got serious so fast. And I'm grateful to God for guiding us and seeing us through. I'm so grateful to God for healing my daughter and nurturing her back to good health.

This experience has made me stronger and more vigilant as a mom.

I pray that all children who are sick also find healing in Jesus' name! Amen.

This recipe is quite easy to realise and I recommend it for anyone who is just starting out learning how to cook. 

How To Cook Cameroonian Pork Stew

Ingredients

Pork

Tomatoes

Onions

Leeks

Poivre blanc or white pepper

Pepper

Garlic (a little)

Preparation

Wash and clean all ingredients.

I sliced and washed the pork with lime water.

The rest of the ingredients were washed, cleaned, sliced and ground or blended all together.

Heat a good quantity of oil - according to the ingredients and fry the ingredients until most of the water dries. 

Add the pork and let it stew together until it is ready and thick. You can reduce the oil if you notice that it is too much after the stew is thicker.

Season to your taste and serve with any complement of your choice. I had mine with Irish potatoes and later rice.

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it. Enjoy your meal.

 Hey guys, 

Hope you are doing well. Today I want to share with you some street food that I have been eating lately especially when we were in the hospital and after.

So let's get into it.

Cameroonian Street Food I Have Eten Lately

BHB - Beigniets Harricots Bouillir or Achombo

Sometimes I have it with fried fish. I love this dish because it saves me the energy of preparing breakfast.

Pork Suya

I buy this from the market where I get groceries. The man who makes them sells raw pork as well so he uses a portion to make suya. Apart from the fact that he uses good parts to make the suya, his pepper is also the bomb.

Achu and Yellow Soup

So I found a restaurant that hasn't failed me when it comes to making good Achu around Rond-point Express. A plate is thousand francs and I love the way they make the soup.

Malta Guinness

This has been part of my street food ever since I discovered the new plastic Malta Guinness bottles. I initially tasted it to see if it tastes like the glass bottle one (the glass bottle one is the best). I realised that it's almost the same and it costs just 500frs. My only cry is that plastic bottles are not good for the environment so I might cut my consumption of Malta Guinness in plastic bottles.

Roasted Fish

Salad

Avocado and simple vegetable salads have been my go-to salads.

Yoghurt

It's not only delicious but it replenishes energy so I don't hesitate to have yoghurt.

That's it for my list of Cameroonian street food I have been having lately. 

Hello everyone 😊.

I'm so glad to have you back on my blog. It's been a while since I last posted something here and God knows how much I have missed my blog and you guys. 

The reason is my daughter was sick and it wasn't easy for me to handle that and blog at the same time. So I had to take an unexpected break from writing for you guys. We were admitted to the hospital and that experience got me really stressed. It felt like an initiation into another level of motherhood. That's a story for another blog post guys.

Right now we are all gently recovering as we all (Mama, Papa and Baby) are tired from the experience.

My tired face.

We have been eating healthy to recover well. To our nutrition, we have added fruits and white meats like pork and chicken amongst other things to help us recuperate. It feels nice and healthy to eat like this and we are thinking of adopting this new healthy lifestyle.

Pork stew & Irish potatoes. Recipe here

Irish potatoes and eggs

Fried plantain and egg

Cocoyam leaf soup and cocoyams. My daughter totally enjoyed this meal.

I tried making 'Kondre' with pork. I say I tried because I wasn't quite sure it came out as it should.

Ok here is my little girl getting back to her activities when we got home. She watches the children play downstairs.

With her favourite teddy.

Also sleeping and resting more 🥱 is part of our daily routine now. Not that we didn't sleep before but we just sleep more now because it has become such a necessity. The tiredness of being to the hospital couldn't be dealt with in one sleep session. So we've been taking lots of naps to recover.

Now that our bodies, minds and spirits are getting back to normal, I started getting the possibility to get back to my normal activities. I really missed blogging. I don't know if we will have a blog post published daily but I really want to get back to my daily blogging schedule. So I'll make efforts to do so.

On my YouTube channel, I made a video explaining why I have been on and off YouTube. Also, I had a pertinent question about Blogging in Cameroon so I made another video talking about how I feel lonely because I don't see any other personal lifestyle bloggers in Cameroon.

Here are the links to these vital videos for you to watch:

Why I have been on and off YouTube

So many stories to tell but few tellers

How To Invest In Yourself As A Woman | Becoming A Smart Woman

1. Build Your Knowledge

Find knowledge about:

You can build your knowledge by doing the following:

2. Improve Your Physical Appearance

Here are a few ways to invest in your physical appearance:

3. Improve Your Confidence

This is how to invest in your mental energy:

4. Practice Making Decisions

5. Take Action On Your Dreams And Passions

6. Don't Get Discouraged When Things Are Hard

Decision making is a complicated process especially when there's a lot at stake or lots of good things to choose from. But decisions still have to make as long as we live. 

As a smart woman, you will be faced with difficult decisions. And everything may rely on your decision. Decisions on your career, relationship and life, in general, will be part of your daily routine and the decisions to take will either lead to your success or not. For this reason, you have to learn to make smart decisions in life. 

 How To Make Smart Decisions 

The first thing you have to know how to do when it comes to decision making is; 

Stepping out of your emotions and into the reality of the situation you find yourself in.

Listen to your instinct.

Note that your decision must not be perfect nor must it satisfy everyone.

Making a bad decision is not the end of the world.

From the title, you know that this post is dedicated to the victims of the massacre in Kumba that took place on the 24th of October 2020. 

Today is a national day of mourning because of this event. 

National Day Of Mourning In Cameroon For The Victims Of The Kumba Massacre On 24.10.2020

I pray especially for the parents of Victory who was their only son. Their pain is immense and deep. A child they waited to have for ten years was taken away from them in such a brutal way. I pray for the soul of the mother who couldn't take it and dies because three of her kids were killed in this massacre. May she rest in peace alongside her children.

May all of them who lost their lives during that event rest in peace. We feel sad but all we can do is pray for their souls to find eternal rest. 

I hope you say a prayer for them too.

Be yourself and the world will adjust

While this quote makes being yourself seem easy, it is not easy to be fully yourself in the world we live in.  A lot of people face the problem of not knowing who they are because they are trying to be what people expect of them and not what they feel or think they should be.

Balancing Being Yourself  & Being What Others Expect Of You

It is important to find yourself and be yourself at all times but the influence of others can be overwhelming. The people in our lives may expect us to be different or act in a certain way which may not be the same as what we want. And this can be disturbing especially if you so really want to be you.

Their expectations of us can lead us to prejudge ourselves because we begin to see ourselves through their eyes. So learn to distinguish between your thoughts and the thoughts of others and keep the thoughts of others aside when thinking of the things you want. 

Don't make pleasing others a priority no matter what. Consider the desires of others but always try to understand their motive and what the outcome will be before you give importance to their expectations.

Parents for example want us to do certain jobs or careers and they may take various measures to make us do it. But if your desire is to do something different from what they expect of you it can be hard to control. To deal with this it is important to find out the motive for their desire. What is making them want you to do the career they chose? Is it because they really care about you and really want you to succeed or is it mostly for their own pride? Also, ask yourself what will be the outcome or result if you choose to do as they say or as you want? If you do as they say you may succeed but you may be miserable or you may not excel in it because your heart isn't there. if you do what you want you will be more fulfilled and happy and have a greater chance of succeeding because it's your passion so you will be more determined to succeed. 

That is a clear example of how to balance being yourself and what others expect of you. Do this to see if what others want for you is best for you instead of what you want. And if you will feel better doing what others want instead.

As you do this remember to be as objective as possible and always prioritize your happiness. Don't be afraid to be yourself when you are convinced that it is the best thing for you. The world will eventually adjust to your choices and desires.