This Week’s Treasure Trove

Drink of the Week

Ginger Beer

During the COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria in the year 2020, I had a yearning to try out new recipes. This probably explains why I decided to try my hands at making ginger beer. I was gingered to act on this when my brother brought a pack of canned non-alcoholic ginger beer home one afternoon.

I checked the ingredients on the ginger beer can to see if it was something I could make as I recall that my mom had made ginger beer when we were children. I checked YouTube on how to make it. I watched some videos, selected the recipes I liked, bought the ingredients, and made it. Since then, I make it at least monthly.

The ingredients for my ginger beer are ginger, cloves (kanafiri in Hausa), lime, sugar, and water.  

It has a tangy-sweet taste that I enjoy. It’s best served chilled.

Artwork of the Week

I came across the massive sculpture of the freed slave couple at the Badagry Heritage Museum in Lagos State. It was one of the places we visited during our Badagry sightseeing trip with Naidrenalin Adventures in July 2021. The sculpture is located within the museum’s compound.

I was on the verge of tears after touring the museum having seen the artworks and pictures depicting slavery and listened to the tour guide’s description of the transatlantic slave trade and the harrowing realities of a slave’s life. He also spoke about the courageous role played by abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman and Olaudah Equiano in campaigning about the inhumanity of slavery and the eradication of slave ownership.

It was therefore comforting to see the statue of the couple portraying freedom from slavery.

Seeing the statue made me appreciative of how far we have come as Africans. It’s a reminder of our history as a resilient people, of the need to embrace our heritage and forge ahead. The ending part of the first stanza of Nigeria’s national anthem succinctly captures this sentiment:

Musical of the Week

The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is a romantic musical about Maria, who takes a job as governess to a widowed Captain and his seven children while she decides whether to become a nun. It won five Oscars. As of 2021, it’s been 56 years since the movie’s release in 1965. The movie is loosely based on Maria von Trapp’s 1949 memoir, “The Story of the Von Trapp Family Singers“.

This movie was one of the high points of my childhood. I recall excitedly singing “Do-re-mi” along with the Von Trapp children whenever I watched the movie. I only recently realized the lyrics of the Do-re-mi chorus to be:

I can vividly picture the scene in the movie where the children were singing “So Long, Farewell” to their parents’ party guests as they filed out of the room. Some of my other favourite songs are “Maria”, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain“, “The Sound of Music“.

Trivia from IMDB on The Sound of Music

1. Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl were not the Von Trapp children’s real names. The children’s real names (from oldest to youngest) are Rupert, Agathe, Maria, Werner, Hedwig, Johanna, and Martina.
2. Maria’s wedding gown train was fourteen feet long.
3. The real Maria was sent to the Von Trapp family to tutor one of the kids who was recovering from scarlet fever. She was not sent by the convent to be a governess. The child’s name was coincidentally, Maria. This was changed for the Broadway production in part because the audience would be confused if there were two Marias.
4. Cameo of Maria von Trapp: Portraying the elder of the two women in Austrian peasant garb who are in the background as Maria (Julie Andrews) walks through a brick archway during “I Have Confidence.”
5. The day after the Von Trapp family left Austria (by train to Italy, not trekking over the mountains to Switzerland as this movie depicts), Adolf Hitler ordered the borders of Austria to be shut.

The movie has its own website – https://www.sound-of-music.com/

If you would like to watch the movie (again) and relive your fond memories of it, simply click the link below to either rent or buy the movie from Amazon at a budget-friendly price:

You can also buy the book, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, by clicking the link below:

Songs of the Week

• Arise, O Compatriots by Kemi Adegoroye. She sings the national anthem of Nigeria with strength and conviction. Nigeria marks 61 years of independence on 1^st October 2021.
• Bole Chudiyan by Amit Kumar, Jatin-Lalit, Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan and Kavita Krishnamurthy. This is a soundtrack from the fabulous 2001 Indian drama movie, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham… Do check out my post I attended Boarding School out of My Free Will to see my history with this movie. Bole chudiyan means “The bangles are saying”. It’s a love song with happy jibes. It starts off soft and builds up with the drumbeats and jingling bangles. I always smile when listening to this song. It’s on my Indian songs playlist on Apple Music. You can watch the movie clip of the song on YouTube by clicking here. My favourite part is where Yashvardhan “Yash” Raichand (played by Amitabh Bachchan) joins the song.
• Back at One by Brian McKnight. This love song was released on 1 January 1999. It’s classified under the genre of R&B/Soul. The best part of this enrapturing song for me is the chorus:

Do take a listen and let me know what you think.

• One Naira by M.I Abaga feat. Waje. It was released in 2010. It’s a love song with compelling lyrics, beautifully sang by MI and Waje. It’s one of my top 10 love songs.
• Amaghimo by Password. “Amaghimo” means “I don’t know” in Igbo language. It’s an upbeat song appreciating God in Igbo and English. The artist’s real name is Patrick Mathias.
• Yin Baba by The Clergyman and Midnight Crew. An awesome praise song to God sang largely in Yoruba. “Yin Baba” literally means “Praise Father” in English. It hilariously starts off with a man grumbling to God about not getting blessed after turning over a new leaf. It ends with the man excitedly sharing about God’s blessings in his life.

Kindly note that you can listen to the above songs by clicking on the title of the song.

Book of the Week

The Smart Money Tribe: An African Woman’s Guide to Making Bank

by Arese Ugwu

The book is a gift I received from Bestman Games for playing Monopoly on the Games Night held on 19 December 2019.

It is the sequel to The Smart Money Woman: An African girl’s journey to financial freedom. I didn’t read the first book, so it was a bit of a challenge following the story for the first few chapters.

It’s a fictional novel that revolves around five women – Zuri, Tami, Lara, Adesuwa, and Ladun, going through different personal and financial issues. They have a friendship circle where they have productive conversations on money matters like investments, capital structure, how to scale their business. I love their bond and the unity of purpose they have in making smart and collective investment decisions.

One of the reasons why I love the book is that it teaches about personal finance in a way that is easy to understand. It delves into important concepts such as savings, investing, budgeting, personal branding, insurance, financial assistance for relatives, business model, raising capital (debt or equity), creating multiple streams of income, building a valuable network, collective investing, and leveraging social media.

At the end of each chapter, there is a smart money lesson. It is a short informative write up which expounds on different aspects of finance and investment dealt with in the chapter. For instance, the smart money lesson in chapter 6 is titled “How to assess an investment opportunity” (Page 163). Here is an extract:

“If your friend or family member brings you a business opportunity, how do you assess whether it is the right opportunity for you or a valid investment. Most people tend to go into these situations blindly and nine of ten times they fail because:

1. they made a business decision based on emotions, not facts;
2. they did not understand the business or industry they were investing in because they did not ask enough questions or the right questions;
3. they did not do their primary research; and
4. they probably had a short-term view instead of a long-term one.”

Here’s another extract from the smart money lesson from chapter 9 titled “make more” (page 257):

“You want to be rich? The reality is there are only two levers that control wealth – earn more or spend less. It’s essential to learn how to spend less than you earn and how to apply your limited resources most efficiently. However, let’s be clear: no one ever got rich via a savings account. Your goal is to focus on making sure the engine that generates your income is as productive as it can be.”

There is also an exercise portion with questions for you to answer. This ensures that you can implement the lessons learnt in your personal finance.

If you’re like me and enjoy an engaging novel with unexpected plots and twists, then this book is for you. I highly recommend it. You can get the book on Amazon by clicking the below link:

Also, do check out my posts on How to start and sustain a consistent savings habit and Investing – The Next Phase to Wealth Building to learn more about savings and investing.

Podcast Episode of the Week

How to receive feedback

by NPR Life Kit

Receiving feedback especially negative ones isn’t always easy for me. It makes me defensive or raises my hackles. Criticism can be a tough pill to swallow. However, over time I’ve come to realise that it’s a great way to grow and become aware of my blind spots. Listening to this podcast episode has helped me know how to handle feedback better.

Shanita Williams and Stacy-Marie Ishmael dropped several gems in this episode on receiving feedback. Here’s a recap:

Five tips to make feedback a little less scary

• You don’t have to take in every piece of feedback that you are given. Realise that feedback is just information and you have the power to decide what you do with it – whether to incorporate it into your life or not. Biases like sexism and racism or rudeness are not feedback.
• SIFT through the feedback

• Take notes and ask for time to review the feedback. When you get feedback see if you can slow it down so that you can process it more completely.
• Actively listen.  Listen with an open mind and ensure you’re on the same page by repeating back what you understood from what the other person said.

• Practice the OPEN technique. This enables you to interrogate the feedback you are getting so that you can make decisions about how you move forward with it.

Hillary Clinton aptly said, “Take criticism seriously, but not personally. If there is truth or merit in the criticism, try to learn from it. Otherwise, let it roll right off you.”

YouTube Video of the Week

10 Classic Cycling Mistakes You Won’t Forget!

by Global Cycling Network (GCN)

Hilarious video with great lessons on cycling. Here are four lessons that resonated with me:

1. Don’t make a drastic last-minute change to your saddle position before a big ride the next day. Your knees will feel the brunt of it. Leave the changes you want to make to the easy rides when you have more time to get used to it.
2. Don’t go attacking into the bottom of a climb. You shouldn’t overtake on a steep hill unless it’s necessary as you may strain yourself needlessly.
3. Racing down a descent isn’t always wise as you may lose control. Safety is key! Take it easy and slow down.
4. Don’t procrastinate riding, you’ll regret it. So, get your bike out and go for a spin.

Do check out my post on A Bicycle – Fundamental Facts You Need To Know to learn more about bicycles.

Quote of the Week

My biggest fear is not crashing on a bike… It’s sitting in a chair at 90 and saying, ‘I wish I had done more.

— Graeme Obree

Word of the Week

bipedal 

Vocabulary.com states that animals that walk on two legs are bipedal. Bipedal animals include humans, ostriches, and gibbons. This word comes from the roots bi-, “two,” and ped, “foot.”

Life Lesson of the Week

Enjoy each season of life. Don’t be in a hurry to rush to the next phase. – Lesson from Us Again, a Disney animated short film.

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