Thanni posted this appreciation on my Facebook page on New Year’s day.
You are welcome Thanni!
And the learning continues this year. ♥ ♥
Some people often ask me to promise them that my website, Facebook page and Youtube channel will never go away. I cannot make such a promise because I am not the Almighty. I cannot see the future but to the best of my ability, all these information about Nigerian food that I put out on the web will continue to be in existence.
I have seen that this is my calling.
Though I understand the science of cooking and in a family gathering, family members would rather I do the cooking, I am not the best cook neither do I know everything about Nigerian cooking. Apart from learning from my Mum and paying attention when people around me cooked stuff, I have no special training in cooking Nigerian food. Surprise Surprise … I am not even as passionate about cooking as most people think! When we come together to cook as a group, you can bet that I am often not the one doing the actual cooking. I let others do that. 😀
So that “Flo, please open a restaurant” will never happen. 😀 And I will not be catering any event in the near future. But I will continue to empower and inspire you all to prepare your own Nigerian meals, open your own restaurants, start your own websites, Youtube channels; start a snacks, Nigerian spice, events catering and catering school businesses.
So if I’m not that passionate about cooking, why am I doing this? What brought about all this Nigerian cooking business is my love for codes, website creation codes that is. That was how my website came to be – I coded it from scratch while trying to wake up my coding skills. Now I can code all day and all night long. And people say that I have the gift of passing on information in the language most people will understand. Maybe … I am a teacher’s daughter afterall. 😀 😀
Apart from the few initial recipes I uploaded to test my website codes, all the recipes, videos and information on the website are my efforts to answer your Nigerian cooking questions, debunk Nigerian cooking myths and write recipes that you request for. Some people insist on my version even when I send them links to these recipes on other sites. Others need a video. It must be a calling!
So this 2016, I hope to bring you more written recipes and videos. I have at least 70 recipes requests and 20 videos I shot but have not had the time to work on for the longest time due to numerous personal projects that I have been working on in the past year, my family life and my demanding offshore oil exploration job (video).
But I cannot do this alone. I’m counting on your continued support of this website. For us to take this my calling to the permanent site, you’ll need to keep interacting with me and sharing these posts to make them reach more people.
This website has gone from my lab rat for updating my coding skills to a site that is used by thousands of people everyday.
My Facebook page has gone from a forum I created where people can ask me questions and hopefully get an answer from other people before I get to it, to a page with over 130,000 followers, all thanks to the ever supportive Nigerian food lovers of that page. Most of you have consistently supported that page since it started. I see some people from as far back as 2011 relentlessly liking, commenting on and sharing the posts. You know yourselves. ♥
I remember one day I uploaded a video on Facebook and for some reason, while one could hear the audio in the video, the picture/video was blank – the video was ok on my laptop. While the geek in me was trying to figure out what was wrong with Facebook on that day, some of you, the same people I am talking about here had already started liking the video while some “smart” mouthed people were busy asking you what you were liking and making fun of you. 😀
Yes, people who have never been passionate about anything will never understand it. Just like they will never understand why you are madly and deeply in love with a certain somebody; they will never understand my love for codes that sometimes makes me chase a single piece of code till the early hours of the morning simply because I want to display a seemingly insignificant part of a recipe in a specific way on my website; neither will they understand your love for All Nigerian Recipes page that moves you to comment on, like/share posts or videos even before you read/watch them. That’s the ultimate unreserved love right there! ♥
I cannot mention you all by name but I see every single one of you. Know it now that I love you so much! Thank you so much because every time you comment, like and share the posts, you are contributing to making these recipes reach more homes, making more people happy, rekindling love by saving marriages/unions that are about to crash because of our brothers’ love for their stomachs and encouraging me to continue working on this. Please keep it up.
Here’s to a foodilicious 2016! Let’s keep learning and cooking!
♥ ♥ ♥
Dear Flo, you are a blessing and you are such an encouragement especially in our homes. Can’t tell you how much your Cookbook and website impacted my household in 2015 and even before. My Jollof rice was the best yet in ages this Christmas. And since then I have prepared numerous recipes and had my family finger licking and asking for more ;). My friends have also been blessed by this website and I say it again, even if you’re already a good cook, you can never finish learning and there will always be various ways to cook even the same meals to suit different palettes. So here’s cheers to you and more blessings as you continue this wonderful website in 2016 and perhaps Cookbook 2 somewhere in the future. More grease to your already oily elbows (ha ha ha) as you take care of your family, job, personal projects and us. LOLz
Well said Sabine, well said! We can never learn it all especially when it comes to a subject as diverse as cooking!
I am always learning new stuff from food conversations on the web. This is why I often encourage people to join the conversation and share what they know, even ask questions because I have learnt some great things from people’s questions alone! They always get me thinking in different directions. That information we may think is not important may well solve someone’s decade-old puzzle. So let’s keep interacting and sharing!
Thank you so much for your great comment. So glad you are enjoying the cookbook. Congratulations on your successes with these recipes.
Cookbook 2? Sabine are you serious? I need to recover from this one first. lol I feel like I’ve already offloaded everything I know in this one. O well, never say never they say so let’s wait and see if I’ll have enough new information to share in the “front matter” of another one. You know how I have some basic/background cooking information at the beginning of this one? If I have lots of new information like that and if there’s enough requests for it, why not? 🙂
Good bless you too dear! And a big Amen to all your prayers! ♥ ♥ ♥
Nice!
A good message for the new year. Flo more grease to your elbow. Know that I appreciate you for the things you do for Nija food. I hope that my own request will be number one – the danwake. wink
Thank you K! Ahhh the Danwake is in the list of recipes that have been shot and not yet edited. It took a long time because I was looking for a nice sauce/stew to eat it with. And I found a delicious one! So that’s coming up soon, ok?
I met you through wives townhall connection. The things you and aunty eya are doing in our lives eh, only God can bless you. Ur reward is in heaven as per teacher’s daughter. 😀
Awwww Mama Twins! What can we do without Aunty Eya? God bless you too!
hehehe @ heavenly reward! Me and my mama go come stand for the same queue abi? 😀
Thanks dear. 🙂
Bless you Flo! I love the work your doing here. Happy new year!
Bless you too Sis Kate! Thank you. 🙂
This is quite an inspiration. I honestly believed that cooking was your first passion. It is amazing that you started and the ball just kept rolling with the recipes, videos and followers.
I can’t count how many times I have come to this page for the meatpie recipe, or how many recipes I have read on here. I even found I love the boiled egusi over the fried method when I tried your recipe.
I find the unadulterated “nigerianess” of your recipes refreshing. And now I have been inspired by this story of how you started.
O yes Amaka, it’s boiled Egusi Soup any day for me too! And it has to be cooked with bitter leaves. Egusi Soup is too “sweet” for me so these help me keep it down.
Nne that Nigerianness is what most people request. Thank goodness that’s the only aspect of Nigerian food I know and enjoy.
Thanks for reading. 🙂
Wow!!! Aunty Flo, I miss this blog so badly, haven’t had time to read my favourite blogs in a loooong while o. Today I decided to take a few minutes just scan through a few and here I am reading this Appreciation post right to the last letter. You are a gift to this generation. I haven’t said “Hi” this 2016 so it’s still a “HAPPY NEW YEAR” You are the bestest best.
Aunty Eya! Na your eye be this? I mean “your eye” right here on the blog because we have been in touch via email. 🙂 O yes a healthy blog round from time to time is great.
Happy New Year to you too! Me too, I need to come back to writing for your blog again. I remember those days we held town hall meetings on your blog. Are you back to blogging full time again? I have at least one post that will fit your blog so can I come and post? 😀 So that the meeting can continue!
Thank you so much for your kind words. I am trying to be like you oo, you are such an inspiration! ♥ ♥ ♥
Hello Ma’am!!, my name is Mickey and I bumped into your website sometime last year and I personally feel you have the best website on cooking in Nigeria,why? because your site is so straight to the point,instructive,simple yet comprehensive,you are selflessly changing and impacting lives, “you have the heart of an Angel and the beauty of a Queen”. I really appreciate your work and I wish you more grease to your elbow,God bless you Ma’am I am officially a fan.
Thank you Mickey! You are awesome!
God bless you too.
Aunty flo! Just got my all nig cook book today,,, what else could I ask for in cooking,, I really love the cookbook,,my future kitchen book .with your book in my kitchen I would have the best and ever licking hand meal.God bless you
O yes! God bless you too! 🙂
I stumbled on your blog when I was trying to get recipe for a particular food which I can’t remember again and yours caught my attention. I really love your blog because it has improved my cooking skills. may God increase you more in wisdom. thanks and God bless you, amen!