AkieM's has a wide selection of abstracts, contemporary, and black art, also original sculptures by Blac Quartz. Custom framing and matting can be done upon request. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lionheart%20Nala/129/207/28
The weather is changing, and a rash of damp, dreary days has sprinkled itself over the region. People are getting worried about the swine flu, with alarums clamoring. My ancient bones are complaining and creaking like a Halloween skeleton, and dragginess is a watchword. If it were Spring, we'd be talking tonic (Pappy's Sassafrass tea, anyone?). But it isn't! It's the Fall that acts as overture to a loooooong winter.
And I have a remedy for you.
It is my cure all for sore throats, blocked noses, aching sinuses, the blues, and whatever ails you. And it came my way in Nigeria, decades back. It is...the mighty habanero pepper!! Now some of you don't know the habanero, known to English-speaking West Indians as the Scotch Bonnet--or the ata rodo, the Yoruba name that most other Nigerians use, too. You know the jalapeno, the chipotle, the banana pepper, but not the habanero. Others know it and dread it! It is high up on the peppery Scoville scale, and one pepper can make a pot hot enough to down a Cuban! It was born in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, but the Portuguese took it off to West Africa where it flourished and jumped into the cooking pots, changing the cuisine several centuries ago.
Now a Yoruba cook cranks it up! Not everyone in Nigeria can take it, but that was the level I started with. They're full of vitamin A, full of flavor with a capital F--jerk chicken wouldn't be jerked without that peppa!!! You can't tame your mouth with water or beer (though the latter tastes good with it). Only milk or ice cream can really do the job. Don't be afraid--it's worth it. Groceries in Puerto Rican neighborhoods have ata rodo--buy a lot and just pop your extras in a plastic bag in the fridge, so you have them at a bargain price all winter long--when you need them most. Dried doesn't do it--they retain the heat but lose the flavor.
A simple way to try it is delicious and fast--I learned it when the power would be shut off and I couldn't use the blender to make Nigerian stew. Put some water on the burner. Heat some oil in a skillet and get your knife out--chop up four or five Roma tomatos and a third or a half of a purple onion--and chop up one ata rodo. But be careful, especially if you wear contacts! It takes a day to come off your fingers--put a plastic bag over your hand to cut it up. By the time it's cut up, the oil should be hot, and throw it all in. Water boiling? Throw some pasta in (or make some rice). After your sauce has been on high for about five minutes, lower the heat. Add some salt, some basil, some powdered ginger. By the time the pasta is cooked, the sauce is ready.
Less than half an hour, you've got a hearty meal that will clear your head and make you glad to be alive! A little bit of the tropics will fill your kitchen and your stomach--and sometimes clean you out the next morning! Enjoy yourself.
AkieM's has a wide selection of abstracts, contemporary, and black art, also original sculptures by Blac Quartz. Custom framing and matting can be done upon request. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lionheart%20Nala/129/207/28
AkieM's has a wide selection of abstracts, contemporary, and black art, also original sculptures by Blac Quartz. Custom framing and matting can be done upon request.
***Market Stalls: The temporary Festival Market stalls were a big hit with visitors, and several of the vendors mentioned how pleased they were with their sales. Saminaka will be developing its Anioma sector with Igbo buildings soon, and we're going to relocate a small open market there.
Solylence Houston and Nygela Paris are both taking African clothing stalls, and we welcome other vendors with a zest for things African! 25 prims for 150 a week--contact Tamsin Barzane
***cacao Main Store: The main store for cacao will now be developing quickly, since the building is up and the Festival is behind us. This means that Cinnamon Brigade will be phased out, its inventory updated and folded into the new cacao--which means an expansion for Seven Cowries! It's a shuffle all round--some of the stock of African Art at Pangolin Dreams (on Robben Island) will move to Saminaka, as Pangolin Dreams narrows its specialties. Likewise, Tropicality clothing and shoes will in part move to cacao (with updates!) as Tropicality shifts its focus exclusively to beach and resort wear with African flair.
As some of you know, I teach African art in RL, with the occasional informal talk in SL and two galleries, Seven Cowries on Saminaka and Pangolin Dreams on Robben Island. I'm not the only seller of African art, by any means, but I think I have the best "stock" of pieces, since I gather them not just from the Internet but from the best of rl collections. But my mission is not the lindens my shop makes--good thing, since I don't think I've made even $15 from them in two years! My goal is to winkle out lovers of African art and subversively give them information, or entrance those unfamiliar with these beautiful objects, and inspire a desire to see them in person or find out more. When I run into people who love them, it leads to loads of great conversations (for me, anyway).
This week I lassoed Bitsy Buccaneer, because she is an avid friend of Saminaka and a lover of African art. (She's also a great tp-er of folks with the the right letters for lucky chairs, but that's another story). Bitsy's interest in African art began at college with an African religion course. She identifies herself as "a suburban white girl who paid attention," but it's plain to see she is a professor's dream: a student who allows the material to enrich their life.
Today there was a TV news story about a graduate who hadn't found a job, and planned to sue her university for the return of $70,000 of tuition money. That's my horror, that students see universities as some kind of advanced vocational ed, rather than a transformative experience that makes life more interesting and worthwhile--and might get you a job to boot. Awww, don't blame me--I'm an academic who went straight through school, so my ivory tower is firm and tall!
Anyway, Bitsy wasn't a student yesterday, but the material stuck with her. I asked if she had a favorite piece or a favorite region, and "Songye and Luba art from the Democratic Republic of Congo" came flowing from her typing fingers without a pause. She goes to exhibitions whenever possible, and claims, "Every week I was dragging another person in to visit my friends." The different abstractions of facial features on her different "friends" particularly intrigues her, and fixes them in her mind. She loves the owl-like features of an Ngbaka slit drum, and the quiet power that emanates from the sculpture of a Hemba diviner's wife.
SL is great for sharing your passions--someone shares them, and sometimes a whole lot of someones. I'm glad it enabled me to meet Bitsy and lots of other Africanists, personal and professional.
You've discovered Second Life's Premiere source of great qualityAfrican Art .We offer a varietyof African Art Images, vases, rugs, fire bowls and a whole lot More!Unique new pieces created by "CocoCurious" to complete your African Art Collection. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meissa%20Isle/181/185/25
You've discovered Second Life's Premiere source of great qualityAfrican Art .We offer a varietyof African Art Images, vases, rugs, fire bowls and a whole lot More!Unique new pieces created by "CocoCurious" to complete your African Art Collection. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meissa%20Isle/181/185/25
You've discovered Second Life's Premiere source of great qualityAfrican Art .We offer a varietyof African Art Images, vases, rugs, fire bowls and a whole lot More!Unique new pieces created by "CocoCurious" to complete your African Art Collection. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meissa%20Isle/181/185/25
You've discovered Second Life's Premiere source of great qualityAfrican Art .We offer a varietyof African Art Images, vases, rugs, fire bowls and a whole lot More!Unique new pieces created by "CocoCurious" to complete your African Art Collection. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meissa%20Isle/181/185/25
The weather is changing, and a rash of damp, dreary days has sprinkled itself over the region. People are getting worried about the swine flu, with alarums clamoring. My ancient bones are complaining and creaking like a Halloween skeleton, and dragginess is a watchword. If it were Spring, we'd be talking tonic (Pappy's Sassafrass tea, anyone?). But it isn't! It's the Fall that acts as overture to a loooooong winter.
on money. That's my horror, that students see universities as some kind of advanced vocational ed, rather than a transformative experience that makes life more interesting and worthwhile--and might get you a job to boot. Awww, don't blame me--I'm an academic who went straight through school, so my ivory tower is firm and tall!
s her, and fixes them in her mind. She loves the owl-like features of an Ngbaka slit drum, and the quiet power that emanates from the sculpture of a Hemba diviner's wife.
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