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About Radiant's blog

The blogging sphere has crowded up very quickly in the past decade and it even looks like YouTube is taking over. Starting a blog in 2021 se...

Thursday 21 January 2021

How to make Coconut Rice



Coconut rice is one of my favourite rice dishes. There are different ways to cook it. 

Here is the way I make my mouth-watering coconut rice.

How to cook Coconut rice

3 cups of rice
10 Chicken drumsticks 
2 Onion bulbs
1 tomato
3 bell peppers (green, yellow, red)
3 garlic cloves
Ginger powder 
2 scotch bonnets 
1 table spoon curry powder 
1 table spoon thyme
3 seasoning cubes
Salt to taste
400g coconut cream
3 tablespoons ground crayfish (optional)
Desiccated coconut (to sprinkle)
1 cup of Vegetable/coconut oil


Cook chicken with blended onion and garlic, ginger powder, curry powder, thyme, one seasoning cube and salt. Separate the cooked chicken from the stock. You could fry or grill the chicken.

Parboil rice. Do not parboil if using Basmatti rice. Wash and set aside. Fry diced onions in oil with thyme and salt. Add diced bell peppers and tomato. Fry. Pour chicken stock, coconut cream and blended scotch bonnet.  



Bring to boil. Add seasoning cubes and salt to taste. Pour parboiled rice. Add water if needed to just above the rice. Once boiling, reduce heat to lowest, cover pot with foil and cook till done. 


Sprinkle crayfish or cooked shrimps and desiccated coconut. Stir and the food is ready.



Have you made coconut rice lately? What's your recipe?

Leave a comment below.

Radiant ~ January 2021

Sunday 10 January 2021

About Radiant's blog

The blogging sphere has crowded up very quickly in the past decade and it even looks like YouTube is taking over. Starting a blog in 2021 seems almost pointless. Yet some say if you find a tight niche, you could thrive. Where then does that leave memoir bloggers like me who write about practically anything going on in their lives? So that I am not perceived as jack-of-all-trade-and-master-of-none, here is what this blog is about.

Radiant’s blog is about ME - Chidiogo Nwosu a.k.a Radiant. I am my own mastery. I have been blogging here since November 2013. I started it as an outlet for my creativity, an online diary. Surprisingly, I got quite some faithful followers. My mission is to be a social influencer, to inspire people through my life's experiences.  Hopefully this post will help you navigate easily through many of my wonderful write-ups. 

About Radiant's Blog

I was born in a rich yet poor diverse country called Nigeria - popularly known as the giant of Africa. 

Much of my primary school memory is hazy. However, I remember fondly that I frequently represented my school in competitions. I've penned some of my secondary school experiences in my FEDACAD tales.

Like many young girls, I've had my own share of guys approaching me for a date. In Nigeria we call it "chyking". My Chyking series details this.

I studied to become a medical doctor at the University of Nigeria and became one in 2012. During my internship year, I decided to explore my passion for music. I wrote and performed songs.

After undergraduate studies in Nigeria, graduates attend a compulsory one year of national service called National Youth Service Corps, NYSC. I did mine in Lagos, the capital city of Nigeria and lived there till I left Nigeria so you will find posts about life in Lagos, Nigeria.

In 2015, I was among the pioneer cohort of the Young Africa Leaders Initiative (YALI) Regional Leadership Center in Accra, Ghana. I wrote a series on my experience at the YALI RLC.

While I practiced Medicine in Nigeria, I was constantly dissatisfied with the profession and wrote about the reasons for this here

Seeking a way out of clinical practice, I decided to pursue Public Health and came to United Kingdom for a Masters degree. Any wonder that I have posts on my life in Nottingham under the label Nottingham Tales and a post on why you should choose UK for your Masters study?

I was privileged to obtain a scholarship for my Masters programme. Hence my post on how to write a winning scholarship essay

I moved to London after my Masters programme for an internship and to prepare for the medical licensing exam. So I definitely logged my London tales.

After gaining the General Medical Council licence, I got a job in Manchester. It was so busy I got no time to write about it. I've since moved on to a General Practice training post in a small town called King's Lynn in Norfolk, East of England. I plan to write a post on getting into GP training.

I have had a stammer since I can remember. So of course I have posts about living with a stammer.

I am married. So I've thrown in a couple of posts relating to marriage.

But before then, I have a whole RadiantKing series about my courtship with my darling husband from meeting him in Lagos, Nigeria, him not showing interest, our long distance relationship, to the engagement and wedding. We now have a son. Hence my motherhood posts.

I had my mom over just before I had my baby and I wanted to help others find answers to the questions I had when I went through obtaining a visa for her. My posts on getting a UK visitor visa for your parent is apt if you are in such situation.

I am Christian. I go to church regularly and listen to sermons very often, so I have some posts on lessons from sermons.

I love to cook and bake so I have food recipes here.

I have written poemsI'm not into fiction but I have tried to do some.

I love to read and watch movies. So I have a few book reviews and movie reviews too.

I have posted lyrics of some of my favourite songs. I did this when I saw there was no post on the internet containing these lyrics. 

So you see that even though the posts on this blog are diverse, they all tell the same story - the story of Radiant's journey on planet earth. Please let me know what you think about this blog in the comment section and what you would like to read about.

Happy touring!


Radiant ~ January 2021

Friday 1 January 2021

New Year Resolutions: 10 Goals for 2021

 

The start of a new year for many is an opportunity to set new goals or resolutions. Though wise and useful, some have lost hope in this activity as they tend to give up on their new year goals by the first quarter of the year. Sometimes, this is because they do not set monthly, weekly or daily targets to achieve their goals. So these resolutions never materialise. Research shows that those that set goals achieve more than those who do not. So here are 10 examples of goals to set for the new year.

10 goals to aspire to in the year 2021

1. Make or keep more money
It is said that money answers all things. Little wonder it makes the top of the list for most people. What if you also made contentment your goal for 2021? A man's life is more than the abundance of his possessions. Another goal could be to reduce expenses. What's the use of making more money if you are going to put them in leaking purses? You could target to keep an account of your daily expenses, review this account every month to see where your money is going, stop any unnecessary expenses and budget for each month. In addition, find ways to increase your income e.g. apply for tax rebates where applicable or work extra hours if you can. 

2. Explore more talents / potentials
Compete with yourself and not others. Always strive to be a better version of you. Research has shown that the best of humans use only up to 10% of their potential while the majority actually live out far less than this. The older you get, the harder it is to explore new things because of worries, cares and responsibilities. Hence, now is the time to discover and explore new sides to you, find new hobbies, and learn new skills. To achieve this, you could target to spend less time on TV, social media or idle talk and channel that time to activities that build you up. You can decide to try one new area of interest every quarter. Use every spare time to study about it and practice, and then decide at the end whether to carry on or not. If it doesn't work out, well then you know your area of weakness. It is better to have tried something new and failed at it than live life wishing you did.

3. Build new relationships / enrich current ones / kill toxic relationships
As a child I heard this saying a lot - show me your friends and I will tell you who you are. Now an adult, I also hear that you are the average of the top 5 people you spend the most time with. The relationships you keep influence your behaviours and actions. So if you want a better life in 2021, you should terminate friendships that do you no good and cultivate inspiring ones. Keep in touch with good friends weekly or monthly depending on the practicality. Remember their birthdays.

4. Expand your network / Expand your worldview.
The pandemic may limit physical gatherings but with online video platforms you can now connect with people from across countries and continents. Find people of like passion, mission, profession or vocation and connect with them by attending (virtual) conferences, joining online support groups, following  blogs/vlogs, listening to podcasts, etc. See how people in other parts of the world tackle issues in your area of interest. 

5. Find purpose and live purposefully
People often get to a point in life where they ask, "what is all my toiling for?" Solomon got there. He worked, studied and jollied hard but at the end of it all, he noted that "there is nothing better than for a man to eat and drink and be happy in his work." The Japanese call this Ikigai which literally translates to "life's worth". This is the meeting point between what you enjoy, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be rewarded for. The happiest people are those whose daily lives reflect these four.

6. Be more generous, more loving and helpful
When people die, they are not remembered for the number of cars, houses, or degrees they acquired, but the number of lives they touched. Similarly what counts in eternity (life after death) is the service you gave for others while on earth. Hence, this should be a daily goal. Look for opportunities to show love, be selfless, give, honour, build and help others.

7. Spend quality time with family 
Plan to spend time with your parents, siblingsspouse, children and other loved ones. Inculcate in your kids the values you want them to have. This assignment cannot be left to the society as the outcome can be regrettable. There are many platforms nowadays that make it possible to connect with loved ones who live far away. Personally, I have found that scheduling weekly calls with my family abroad works.

8. Add value to yourself, grow your mental capacity
You are today, the knowledge and experiences you gained yesterday. In order to be a better human being tomorrow, you must continue to add value to yourself today by reading books, listening to role models and exposing yourself to opportunities beyond your comfort zone. Don't rest on your laurels. If you are not growing, you're diminishing. You cannot be stagnant. A practical target can be to read one book every month. E-books now make it easy to carry books wherever you go. In stead of wiling away time on the bus or train, read a book.

9. Prepare for the future
What better time to prepare for uncertainties than with the current pandemic. If you are in a country that lacks  universal healthcare, you could get private health insurance. Nobody prays for a loss of livelihood, but many saw that in 2020. You can plan to keep an emergency fund (i.e. savings of up to 6 months of your expenses) or buy Bill Protector insurance. Also, you can prepare for the future by building your wealth through investments.

10. Rest, review and replenish 
Your body would wear out on you if you work without rest. Plan vacations or staycations, but make sure you rest. Rest helps you to re-energise or refuel. It affords you a pause in daily business to review progress, correct errors and re-align with goals in case you've drifted. It helps you to recuperate and keeps you healthy. Remember, only the living can work.

Other goals depending on unique circumstances could be to buy a house, buy a car, pass an exam, pay off debt, relocate, get a degree, get married, birth children or adopt, attain spiritual growth, etc. To fail to plan is to plan to fail. Be intentional with your expectations for 2021. 

Happy new year.

Please leave a comment below.

Radiant ~ January 2021



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