Barbecue Evening

What a joy to have a BBQ with NO factory farmed, hormone injected, mass produced, mechanically recovered "meat products"
I'm sure even my neighbour from home (Lofty) would have approved.
And if you knew Lofty that is saying something.
I am still waiting for my friend to return from his trip to Lebanon for he has promised to make me a decent BBQ in his company workshop. I cannot wait to get rid of this plaything I am forced to use at the moment. These he normally makes from old compressor casings, sawn through the middle and hinged. The metal is so thick that the whole thing glows cherry red and holds the heat extremely well. It is possible to get the internal temperature so high that things like rare steaks can be popped inside for 15 -20 seconds and cooked to perfection. The meat seals immediately and just need a ten minute rest to become the juiciest steak imaginable.

My belief is that all steaks require ten minutes to become edible. A rare steak requires a cooking time of a few seconds and the rest of the time is needed for the juices to redistribute themselves as the meat relaxes. It is necessary to increase the cooking time as one moves from rare to well done. Of course for those people that require their steaks well done the whole 10 minutes is taken up by cooking time and there is no time left for the meat to relax. This doesn’t matter because people who like well done steak have no sense of taste and there is no juice left to distribute anyway. They deserve tough,tasteless steak for that is what they ordered when they uttered 'well done'. And they probably didn't say please either for they are those kind of people. That is my theory and I am stuck with it.

The design of the pig roaster is now complete. This differs from a conventional BBQ where the charcoal is in the bottom of the device with the beast rotated above it. This of course works, but requires too much attention during the cooking period. At a certain time during the cooking, a large amount of fat will ooze from the beast and drop directly onto the hot charcoal and cause a flare up. If you are not around at this point your pig is knackered within seconds and in this part of the world would probably cause the death of whoever you had left in charge of the device, be it the gardener, cook, house boy or whoever.

So the trick is to construct a BBQ with a solid vertical metal back plate that has a metal grill held some 3 - 4 inches in front of it. This creates a pocket into which the charcoal is poured and creates a fire that is held in the vertical plane. The beast to be cooked is rotated in front of this heat and any fat running out does not drop onto hot charcoal thus preventing any flare ups, premature deaths or blood spills to spoil the day.

Rather like a large scale version of the things that they cook the factory farmed, hormone injected, mass produced, and mechanically recovered "meat products" that the piss heads enjoy at midnight in the Kebab shops back home. Poor suckers have forgotten what food should taste like, if they ever knew that is.

Todays Headlines

So screamed all the headlines in the local press here today.
Outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo today officially handed over to the new President Alhaji Umar Yar'Adua and his Vice President Dr Goodluck Jonathan. It is the first time in Nigeria's history that one civilian leader has taken over from another.

Nigeria's 36 state governors have also taken their oaths of office around the country today.

Not wishing to comment too much on the local political scene it is fairly common knowledge that all observers, be they local or International, regard the election process as being flawed.

So even though the election process is seen as being less than credible I wish the incoming President all the luck in the world. He inherits many problems in taking over Africa’s most populous nation and its largest oil producer.

Although hand picked by the previous President and having a questionable mandate, let’s hope he can turn into the type of leader that the whole country craves.

So good luck President Umar Yar’Adua; please read your inauguration speech each morning before leaving for you office. If you follow that you will not go too far wrong!

Here is what a local website Oyibosonline.com had to say:-

A reclusive former governor hand-picked by departing president Olusegun Obasanjo was sworn in as Nigeria's new leader Tuesday in the first transfer of power from one elected government to another in Africa's most populous country.
Mr. Umaru Yar'Adua, 56, took the oath of office before Chief Justice Idris Kutigi, pledging to uphold Nigeria's unity and pursue its best interests.
While Mr. Yar'Adua's inauguration marks a milestone in a country struggling to consolidate democracy after decades of military rule, he was elected in an April vote the opposition has denounced as fraudulent and international observers have said was not credible.
Earlier Tuesday, troops and police set up roadblocks and patrolled streets in volatile districts of Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, saying opposition leaders would not be allowed to go ahead with a planned protest of the inauguration.
Police said a coalition of labour and civic groups did not obtain an official permit for the protests planned in Lagos.
Lanre Ehonwa of the Civil Liberties Organization, one of the civic groups supporting the protests, said the constitutional provision permitting public processions superseded a colonial law requiring police permits for rallies.
“We are going ahead with our protest rallies,” Mr. Ehonwa said.
Mr. Yar'Adua, the 56-year-old scion of a storied political family, was chosen to lead the party ticket in April by Mr. Obasanjo, who was barred from another term by constitutional term limits after eight years in power.
On Tuesday, “a new generation of leaders will take over the great responsibility of running this great and diverse nation,” Mr. Obasanjo said in a nationally televised farewell address Monday night. Mr. Obasanjo, though, remains a powerful figure in his party.
“Democracy is not a destination, it's a journey,” said Mr. Obasanjo, whose 1999 election ended decades of near-constant military rule, including a particularly brutal 15-year phase that began in 1984. “We are well on our way to a greater destination.”
Mr. Obasanjo said his restive nation of 250 ethnic groups and 140 million people, almost equally split between northern-based Muslims and southern Christians, had grown more united under his tenure.
While the end of repressive rule unleashed long-simmering conflict that has left 15,000 dead in political violence, Nigerians “are no longer divided along ethnic, tribal, religious lines or north-south divide,” Mr. Obasanjo said.
“We have become simply Nigerians interested in the development and progress of our country. This is a great gain. Let us respect this spirit of oneness and unity in all that we do from now on.”
Under civilian rule, Nigerians say they have gained freedoms and their country has shaken its reputation as an international pariah run by generals bent on looting the public coffers. Mr. Obasanjo has cleared the country's books of billions of dollars of debt wracked up by the military rulers and helped end at least two of West Africa's civil wars by sending troops to intervene.
But many Nigerians say graft has continued to flourish under Mr. Obasanjo and services such as electricity and water supply have degraded. The vast majority of the country's people live below the poverty line, while a largely corrupt political and business elite linked to Mr. Obasanjo has grown.
Armed struggle in the southern oil region of Africa's biggest crude producer by militants seeking more petroleum funds for the region has increased markedly in the past 18 months — handing Mr. Yar'Adua one of his most-nettlesome problems.
Mr. Obasanjo, a former military ruler who handed over power to a civilian regime in 1979, gave himself high marks as a civilian ruler, then wished his people farewell.
Nigeria has never seen power transferred from one civilian leader to another. All other attempts have been undermined by coups d'etat or annulments.
As the head of the ruling party, Mr. Obasanjo is expected to continue playing a top role in the country, as he has since he was a government commander during the country's 1967-1970 civil war.

Only in Nigeria

Enough said?

Headhunted!

No, not by some half naked tribesman with a bone through his nose and brandishing a spear, although if it had been, I don't think that I would have found it any more unsettling.

There I was trying to negotiate a deal with another company and doing my best to try and get a great result. I got a call from the company several days later and when I met with them, they slid a contract across the desk. Great I thought I have done it. Then when I read the thing I saw it was a contract for me to join their outfit. Guess that's one way of recruiting. The salary is very, very tempting. On top of that there is cash in lieu of housing, so if I were to forsake the luxury of a normal expatriate house, I could live in a cheap hotel and really make some coin. Just what I need at the moment, something to unsettle me; which this surely has.

Normally I wouldn’t consider jumping ship when already under contract, but……….......

I need to sleep on this and give it serious thought.

Moving Out

Yesterday was a funny day. It started off very well, new house and all.

However, no sooner had we got settled into the new house and played with all the electronic gadgets, tested the internet connection and sent the blog it decended down hill very rapidly. The agent came knocking on the door and the poor chap didn’t quite know what to say. The bottom line was that the owner had already let the house and collected the cash for doing so! He had just forgotten to tell his agent.

This meant we had to move out and so where to go? We finished up going to a hotel that had serviced apartments as well as normal type rooms. We took a small one bedroom affair. Not something I would like to live in forever, however, it does have the advantage over a normal hotel room in that you can cook for yourself if you so desire. It has a couple of balconies that are just crying out to have a BBQ installed. There is of course a swimming pool, which even though looks the bees knees, seems to be completly deserted.

So it is back to house hunting again.

Moving In

At last I am finally moving into my own house. I looked at it yesterday evening, accepted it on the spot and have had all my stuff moved over during the day. There has been a squad of men giving it a spring clean during the day and I arrive home to survey my new pad. It’s a five bedroom affair. The most impressive thing about the whole place is the quality of the fixture and fittings. The kitchen is a dream, straight out of the pages of some ‘Ideal Home’ type magazine. The sitting room is large enough to hold a five a side football match and the plasma TV seems almost lost despite being a 50 odd inch affair. This is coupled to a DSTV system and a Bose ‘Lifestyle’ sound system. On the second floor there are three further bedrooms and a TV lounge with equally impressive 50 inches plasma. The top floor contains the master bedroom complete with four poster bed and a miserable 32 inch TV! All bedrooms are on suite so I am quite a happy puppy.

My pride of joy is the BBQ; a gigantic affair which of course the weather gives every opportunity to use. The wonderful fresh fish and crustaceans are available from the sea which is all of 50 meters away.

A Day at the Beach

I went to the beach for the first time on this trip to Nigeria. I took a Federal Government Jeep complete with the Policeman and his AK47. Of course this solved the trouble with road blocks manned by the Police, Customs, Lagos Road Safety officials or the myriad of other agencies that just love to stop expatriates to extort money.

On arrival it was apparent that the number of expats on my favourite beach had declined drastically from what I remember. I can only assume that they have found some other spot to while away their Sundays. Never the less it was an enjoyable day. The weather was excellent and we hired a small beach house at the waters edge. The BBQ was fired up and we were soon eating filet steak that we had bought with us, along with loads of prawn that we purchased fresh from the sea. All washed down with a few bottles of beer made for an enjoyable day.

It was surprising that some of the traders that walk along the beach selling everything one could imagine still remembered me. But there again I have kitted out several houses on previous contracts here with paintings, wood carvings, carpets, animal skins etc so they probably see me as an easy touch. And I guess they remember the easy touches.

I restricted myself to buying just foodstuffs and a rip off copy of a Rolex watch. No doubt once the house is ready I will be back to bartering for anything and everthing.