It’s my sister M’sa’s birthday. The plan is for brunch in the city (NYC) and ice-skating. It’s frigidly cold and if the meteorologists are correct, it will be the first significant snow day of the year. I have just driven a few hours from my home to join the birthday party prior to departure. To […]
A Promise to Self
Dear Body, Forgive me for being so reckless. For the past year, I have neglected you. I have pumped empty calories inside you and expected you to perform. I have robbed you of necessary rest and hydration. No wonder then, that you have been so sluggish. Last week, I stupidly jump-started you with back-to-back Body […]
The Neighbourhood Watch
I recently moved. Yippee! I now rent the ground floor of a grand craftsman style house. I have a front porch, a large garden and a basement. I simply can’t wait until the weather is warm again to begin planting. That’s right, I can’t wait. I already have dreams of the cold-tolerant banana plants, elephant’s […]
Amsterdam’s Red Light District Exposed
If you had asked for my opinion of Amsterdam’s Red Light District (Dutch: Rosse Buurt) before my travels I would have said something along the lines of “Prostitution, the world’s oldest trade, is not going away anytime soon, so if a country can find a way to keep it safe, destigmatized, and regulated by making it legal, […]
Tasting Notes – Puccini Bomboni
How can I go all the way to Amsterdam and not go to the best chocolate shop there? I can’t. Many rave over the expensive yet delicious artisan chocolates of Puccini Bomboni with two branches in the heart of Amsterdam. They are not mistaken. The store is clean and quite bare with the exception of the […]
Exploring De Oude Kerk in Amsterdam
The Oude Kerk (Old Church) is the oldest surviving building in Amsterdam. Part of my fascination with it is that it’s right next to De Wallen, home to the Red Light District. It seems to me that that area has always been derelict. The church was consecrated in 1306 as Saint Nicholas Church, with Saint […]
Black in Amsterdam
Isaac Israel. Portrait of a Wounded Soldier (1882) Rijksmuseum. Depicts a Belanda Hitam (Zwarte Hollander) originally from Elmina, Ghana When I was deciding on a European break this summer, I purposely decided against Barcelona or any other locale that I envisioned I could be mistaken for a prostitute simply on the basis of my dark […]
8 hours in Ghent
By the time we decided to visit our family in Belgium it was already too costly to take the high speed train from Amsterdam. Not to worry. The cheaper alternative came at the expense of 3-4 hour travel each way and very tight connections but overall it was a very easy and pleasurable trip. After […]
Eating Amsterdam
For convenience sake, we ate close to our rental apartment in Leidseplein on our first and last nights in Amsterdam. As expected, the food was generally tourist crap and not worth the expense though N’ku enjoyed the fries and condiment that came with her ribs at one of the first venues we were convinced to […]
Exploring the Arts in Amsterdam
Collage of holdings at the Rijksmuseum I’m not much of an art connoisseur but my sister N’ku was hell bent on seeing iconic Dutch paintings. She was rattling off names like Vermeer and “Night Watch” and I felt like I must have missed some part of vital education somewhere along the line. I mean since […]
A lover of mangoes. A woman - smart, without pretense, lefthanded, Afropolitan - navigating this thing called life. An unapologetic believer in social justice and karma. Choosing to radiate positive energy and be true to myself. Here, my musings.