Prep-ing For Christmas
No, I don't have a favorite part of the year!
Yes, not even Christmas!
However, I do have a favorite part of Christmas and until today I never knew it was something I liked.
Noooo, it has nothing to do with putting out the Christmas tree, I'm Nigerian for Godsake, that's not a typical Nigerian thing to do.
Fun fact, the typical Nigerian thing to do for Christmas is my favorite part about Christmas.
Making Chin-Chin!!!!!
If you don't know how to make Chin-Chin, it's actually a great deal of stress and I, like everyone else, don't like stress but the reason I love this part of Christmas is because of the anticipation.
The Chin-Chin is not meant to be a household snack, it's primarily for the guests on Christmas and Boxing Day and the Muslim families we'll be sharing our food, drinks, or snacks with.
My first time making Chin-Chin for Christmas, the neighbours had good reviews on it.
One I can't forget was "Ah, it tasted so much like Minie-mie Chin-Chin".
Doesn't matter if you think great of Minie-mie Chin-Chin or not, what mattered to me was MY CHIN-CHIN TASTED LIKE THAT OF A POPULAR BRAND'S.
And I guess since then I developed the anticipation of hearing what they'll say about my Christmas Chin-Chin, so I put my heart into mixing the ingredients, making the dough, kneading, and cutting it into shape.
Today I made Chin-Chin for Christmas, but it was different this time.
My heart was still in it, but I guess I needed more brains.
I made a mess!
I put in more water than I needed, making the dough too soft.
That can be reversed, right?
Yeah, I did that exactly. Rushed to the market to get more flour and add.
So it's Harmattan over here in Nigeria, instead of snow we have low humidity and the air is always looking for any moist stuff to suck out from, in this case, my dough was the victim.
When I returned from the market with the flour I bought, I felt I only needed to add a little since it seemed it wasn't as soft as I had thought earlier.
Fast forward to 5 hours later, I was done kneading and cutting, wanted to start frying and that was when I noticed that all the time I spent cutting had been in vain.
So because of how soft it was, instead of staying individually on the tray I put it on, it clustered and lost shape.
When I put it into the frying pot, it came out as…. let's not talk about that.
But yeah, all's well that ends well, because after so much turmoil today, I'm glad to say my Chin-Chin came out alright.
Could have been better, as it could have been worse too.
What’s your favorite thing to do in preparing for Christmas?
