Happy New Year Friends!

It is 2020!

How are you? How did you spend your New Years Day?

Did you set any goals?

On New Year’s Eve, I spent the day at work and I came home when I was done. If I was in Nigeria, I would have gone to church to pray in the New Year. Did you do that? Since being in the States, I noticed that some people go to church and some do not.

With time, I have come to notice that some people cook special dishes for the New Year to bring them good luck, wealth and good health. The older I am getting, I would like to set traditions for my younger one to keep and this is one I might be adapting- the cooking of black-eyed peas!

In Nigeria, black-eyed peas are the last thing I would want on my plate for New Year! It was (in my house) considered food you got that was healthy, filling and nutritious but something you cooked when there was nothing in the house. However, here in the States, it is cooked at New Year because it is said to bring in prosperity! Most people who ate black-eyed peas at New Year believed that these seeds (black-eyed peas) looked a bit like money, and the amount cooked almost always doubled or multiplied when you cooked them. The hope was that on cooking and eating black-eyed peas; one would get good luck and prosperous in the new year!

I like black-eyed peas and it is in very many dishes we make in Nigeria, some of the dishes are Moi Moi, Ewa & dodo, beans and garri (this I love), beans and rice to name a few dishes.

This year, I decided to make rice and stew and black-eyed peas and I enjoyed it!

So I will ask you, do you have a special meal you prepare for New Year’s day?

You might be thinking that New Year means setting goals and such and I would say to you yes and no!

Yes, it is time to start anew and No because if you have not and are yet to finish what you started then finish that first!

I choose two things to do this year:

1. Eat what I cook and make

2. Increase exercise- walk more, dance more and laugh more!

I will end with this.

I planted black-eyed peas when I lived in Florida; one seed produced at least 5 pods which gave me about 1/4 of a cup of black-eyed peas. All I did was water it, place it out in the sun and the seed grew

What about if we set simple goals and work to achieve them? Just like the bean seed I planted, I would say set your goals/dreams/vision (s) and work on them. Pray over them and watch them grow. You would be surprised at what the harvest would be!

If you want a recipe for how I cook my black-eyed peas, email me below 😊

Happy New Year Friends!

Black-Eyed Peas

Memories of The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It is the most wonderful time of the year for so the song says!

Do you agree or no?

One of my favorite childhood memories with family happened during Christmas time.

When I was younger and my family had gone to visit my grandparents in the village (countryside -US) as it was customary to do, most of us kids were so excited because this was the time to see all the cousins we had not seen for about a year. Now, I will tell you that at that time in Nigeria, there were no cell phones, and there was no electricity in the village. If one had electricity, one had a generator and that was turned on for a few hours of the day.

When the generator came on, we were all happy and played music. It was funny now that I think of the fact that we as kids would compete for who was the best dancer when music was played. No, I was not the better or best dancer; I know how to move to a tune and that my dears is it.

One thing we often did was go to church on Christmas day and it did not matter what day of the week December 25th was, we went to church. In this one year, all of us were in the grandparents home and we were all excited and getting ready for church, my grandparents had already gone earlier and now it was us the grand kids aka “late out-of-towners” turn to go to church. We got ready and were more than fashionably late there. We all (all of the 10 plus grandkids) sat in a few of the pews and I can bet you, we did not pay any attention to what the sermon was about. We were too busy looking for old friends who were also coming back to the village for Christmas 😝.

When it was time for offering, we all got up lined up and danced our way to the offering plate!. Have you ever seen an African church service offering? Check out this link on YouTube to see what I am talking about. After church service, we all go out of the church and then meet and greet old friends and even visit them sometimes.

This memory of this year in Nigeria for me was my favorite because I Chose to enjoy and take in everything around me. My brother and I had been praying to God for a miracle to come back to the US and I knew that this might be the last time I was in the village for a long time.

This ended up being true-I have not been back in the village for almost 20 years! I have lost family members in Nigeria that were dear to my heart and grandpa and grand a have also passed away. These two people made Christmas time special. We did not have much but there was food, laughter and lots of stories by moonlight that grandpa told us.

The song I’ll be home for Christmas often reminds me of this fond memory that I have, when we were young, and loved ones were still here! Do not think that I do not love Christmas now and do not have any fond memories here in the US! I would share that another day 😊

I still say

Christmas is one of the most wonderful times of the year!

The happiness that comes from the memories being made and the ones already made too. Happiness from being with the people that I love and the memories of laughter and so much more.

The carols that I sing along to and love, the time people take to be kind to each other, the time we try to spend with one another, that to me is Christmas.

The kindness we see is a reflection of the kindness of God who sent His Son Jesus. The same Jesus who sends the Holy Spirit to comfort, teach, help us and so much more. I love Christmas and I love it because I see a God who is not afar off, it is the time He showed me that He is with us, just like it said in Isaiah 7:14

What is your most favorite thing/part about Christmas? Share!

😊

With this I want to wish you and your family A Very Merry Christmas!

This would be the last post and episode for the blog and podcast. Follow me in Instagram and see what I am doing this holiday time.

I will see you, God willing in January 2020!

God bless you always,

Ezanya

Thanksgiving Menu in a Biracial Family

Hello

How was your Thanksgiving Day? Did you have a great time with family, friends and or loved ones?

I hope you did because I was wishing that for you.

I had a great time and my cousin came in from Texas. We had lots of food and fun!

Before I share a bit about what we did, I would ask you; what did you do?

Do share!

Thanksgiving Day for me signifies that Christmas is around the corner. It can be a time to start fretting about what I need to get done for Christmas or what needs to be bought. I have come to learn that, even if I have a full wallet to spend or have nothing with which to buy what I think I want to for Christmas, I will still give thanks 😊

When my cousin arrived on Wednesday, I was still at work- I had not even finished all the cleaning as you’d see in the pics that I had wanted to do (anyone relate?) but I had told myself, this time was about being with family not time to pretend that my house was always spotless! We went out to eat for dinner and then came home and slept.

Thursday Morning, we had breakfast/ brunch and then went to Walmart! Yes, we did.

We needed a few more items for the day.

I want to stop here to say a big Thank You to the people who worked the stores during the Thanksgiving Day- You people are the real deal! I was surprised to say that I had good customer service at the store- I thought I was going to meet people who did not want to work but the people I met at the store were happy to help and answered my questions.

Okay, back to what I was saying; We got what we needed and came home. By the time we got home, the turkey was almost done (thanks Hubs 😍) and BOY! Did it smell great? We then started cooking after the turkey was done.

Sigh! It was 3 pm when we started cooking.

The Menu

Turkey,

Moi Moi

Jollof Rice

Rice and Stew

Fried Plantain aka dodo

Mac & cheese

Mashed Potatoes

Collard Greens

Curried sweet potatoes

Sides: apple pie, Patti LaBelle’s Sweet Potato Pie, Cranberry Jelly, cookies…

We ended up with a few items rather than all that was listed on the menu because we started so late in the day! I baked the moi-moi to save time, my cousin made some delicious jollof rice and some good tomato stew to eat with white rice. For the dishes often seen on TV for thanksgiving, we had the staples; dressing, collard greens (first time on the menu), turkey, cranberry jelly (I had some this time- it should be called Cranberry Wiggle) and I gotta stop! We had a lot of food.

We had food and family and that was enough for me!

Every Thanksgiving, I am blessed to do something different in the kitchen but a few staples remain- turkey, jollof rice and lots of love and gratitude!

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and I hope that you were able to not only eat too much as I did, but you were also able to rest too!

Until the next episode,

God bless you.

Always,

Ezanya

Ps.

If you want recipes for the Nigerian dishes mentioned, let me know and I will share them with you!

Before the Feast

After the food was cooked

Smiling before we “dig into” the food

Cheering for the cowboys and eating apple pie. Do you see the dinosaur staring at my pie?

Saying Thanks In Every Circumstance

What a year this has been!

It has had quite a few highs, lows, and plateaus but still, I am thankful!

Yes, I am thankful for life; it does not matter sometimes just how short it has been lived, or how much lack it has been shown and many bounties I have had, I am thankful. 

Thankful for My Family.

I am blessed to have family in Nigeria and here in the U.S. They have encouraged, listened to me argue or try to make decisions about situations. When I have doubted myself, they have been there to encourage and also to help me remember what I believe in- that with God nothing is impossible.

I have also come to learn that the people who make up a family I have come to realize are not or do not have to be blood relatives. Sometimes, God puts people in your life and around you that become family. Have you ever been through stuff and had no idea what to do? And then discover that you have people around you that care and also help you through what you're going through? Yes, I have been blessed that I friends that have become family to me. I am thankful.  I have been living in the U.S miles, hours, time zones away from where my family is and the people I have worked with, work with, attend church with and school with have become family. A friend appropriately called it “doing life together” and I will add that these people end up being family.

Thankful for Working, and The Izora Podcast!

We moved states, started work, school and started new friendships too at work.

I started the podcast this year not being sure how long or where it would take me. Some of you have come with me on this journey and I have come to call you friends. Thank you for being with me on this ride 😊

Thankful for God’s Faithfulness

This year, I'd say again, I am thankful- I have seen and experienced God come through for me and my family in ways that I have not expected or even thought about.

In our losses, God showed Himself strong and has been faithful to us. In our abundance, I have seen that it is the hand of God at work. 

Thank you, my friends, in the U.S and around the world and I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. 

I'd love to hear from you and I will ask you; what you are thankful for.

Till the next episode,  God bless you.

Always,

Ezanya

Daycare Nose, Mom E-motions and Early Rising

Hello and welcome to the Izora podcast. If this is your first time on the blog and also listening, a BIG welcome to you. Reach out to me on Instagram and let me know how I can help you.

How have you been? I hope you are doing well.

Daycare Nose

I am doing well and I have been trying to get rid of a cold. I heard the term daycare nose/ sniffles from a colleague and I thought to myself how appropriate! I had thought that this term referred to kids who were in daycare and had a constant runny nose but I think this also applies to their parents who “lovingly” get colds passed to them from their kids.

So yes, we had people in the house who had colds but, thankful that it is passed now.

I can say that we have been in Louisville for over a month now and praying, pushing and resting is what I have been doing. Praying that all that I have planned to do in my head gets done and also pushing to make it happen with some resting too. I am happy that my son is in daycare but if you recall in this episode, my emotions were up and down. Have they improved with time, yes and I have had to learn from wonderful parents who have been on this journey before.

E-motions;

In the past few years before moving to Louisville, Ky; my husband and I had worked alternating schedules and our little one did not have to be in daycare. Now he is a bit older, and we work the same hours, the little one has started daycare. I was thinking that it would be a smooth sailing operation for me and by God’s grace, I will say it has been. The morning drop-offs were rough for me; he is not so happy being dropped off at school aka daycare and I fuss and feel terrible that I might have made him have a bad day.

I go to work feeling terrible. I pray and by the middle of the day, I feel better (parents/ caregivers reading this, does this happen to you too?) I asked moms that are at my place of work and they say some kids do not like going to school and there are some who do. Most of them do not. I asked my mom and she chuckled and said I did not like going to school.

She told me a story of how as toddlers, we (my twin brother and I) thought she was going to school instead of work and that we were sad that she (our mom) went to school as an adult- she was in grad school. We talked loud enough for her to hear and we were telling ourselves we needed to go to school as kids so we would not go to school when we are too old. I laugh thinking of it now because life is all about learning! There should be no limit and or is no limit to what we learn if we choose to open up to it.

I found these articles by Christina Clemer and this other one by Pam Larouche & Elisa Constanza-Reyes. I was glad I did because of how the articles helped make it easier for dropping off Lil man at daycare in the morning.

My favorite lesson from both was saying goodbyes at drop off. I was lingering in the hopes that I was soothing my Lil one but it kinda made it harder for him. I learned to say goodbye confidently and not to linger and I can tell you, these two things have made a difference for me and him. I have seen him go from being pouty to waving goodbye and turning around to go do his stuff. . . I call it my mom win moment.

Early Rising

One thing that I have not done, in a super long time is going to bed early. I cannot tell you when I did it last. With our new schedules; we now have to go to bed early. It is not mandatory, but we have found that it works for us.

I will add by saying if I do not respond to your call, comment or message after 9 pm, I am sorry. My pillow won the fight and I quit fighting sleep. I wake up feeling refreshed and rested and I ask my self, why did I think going to bed late would help accomplish a lot the next day?

That is it for now.

I want to wish you a very pleasant weekend and I will see you in the next post and episode.

God bless,

Ezanya