Learning to cook started at a young age for me; not that I remember being asked 😉 it was just the way things were. 
From assisting mother in the kitchen in preparation of all sorts, to going over during the holidays to help grandma prepare her classic agidi jollof/wrapped corn meal and oil bean flakes which we would also help her sell at the local market; commercial trading was also learnt in the bargain.
Naturally, as a young child and a bookworm, often, I would get distracted or sneak into the restroom to read a quick page of my fave of the moment and the quick page turned into several; meanwhile my absorbed mind has forgotten that I was meant to be watching the pot of beans and ensure that it didn’t burn.
Needless to say, it was usually the aroma of burnt offering that alerted my nostrils to the disaster on fire and mothers voice raised to power two exclaiming away “Hia! this child will not kill me!”
The burnt level of the beans knew many degrees and the instruction to wash that burnt pot until it was gleaming enough to show the reflection of your teeth was never a small task. It kept you on the straight and narrow corner of the kitchen for some good days 🙂
Yet mothers patience never gave up on us. She continued teaching and we continued attempting to kill her, but thankfully never succeeded and turned out to be responsible adults today.
Let me leave you with this African proverb:
“When you overlook the small clay pot, it will boil over and put off the firewood.”
This can be translated in so many ways, but a quick example is: when you overlook a small bad habit, it becomes a character trait.
Once again Oba thank you for extending this invite. I am enjoying it.
To participate in the 3 quote challenge, I would like to invite:
Good day and blessings.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
a cooking pot and twisted tales 