Bentsifi’s Tattle: What’ hot & what’s not around town!

DRUMROLL

Like you, I blinked, and November came. With rain. And steamy hot afternoons. And uncharacteristic as it is, the rain, though, is welcome, for its coolness. But, It seems like it was only a moment ago when we were counting down to ring in the New Year. And just like that, before many-a-New-Year-resolution could be followed through, we’re about to undergo the whole process again!

Isn’t Accra running fast! November’s arrival has things geared up a notch with the capital’s events calendar full and overrunning. This month is just so packed with such a wide range of activities to choose from.

ACHIMOTA’S CENTENARY ‘BLINKARDS’

The first in a series of performances to usher in ‘Achimota @100’, which grand celebrations in 2027 is being currently being planned, there’s going to be on the 15th, a stage performance of Kobina Sekyi’s ‘The Blinkards’, the earliest Ghanaian play, written and first produced in 1916, situate within the colonial era, satirizing the mannerisms of people.

Have things changed? This is an absolute must-watch, when you consider it will feature not only current students and teachers of Achimota School, but some Akoras – old students who will reprise their roles as stage buffs in an unforgettable showing!

If you have nostalgia for seeing Achimotans have their way with the English language, you will find that this play will give you more than warm memories.

There’s a special offer for groups of 5, and a quick chat on 0553398483 will get you tickets. This is the one show you simply cannot miss, one for the history books, so “be there or be square”!

TONIGHT OUT WITH AMBOLLEY & CO

Today, I’m feeling rather completely light hearted. In one of those moments when I just want to break into song and dance in anticipation of exciting things to come. It’s as though thinking about the fundraiser musical concert happening tonight at the Accra International Conference Center in aid of the commencement of the physical construction of the much awaited Pan African Heritage Museum has set my mood.

It’s tonight, you know, Nov 7, and all is set for this concert, which by all accounts is going to be an absolute blast of a night! One night with so many packed with so many memories. A night where we see the lyrical Rap Doctor, Okyeame Kwame, highlife legend Gyedu Blay Ambulley, and Grammy nominee Rocky Dawuni all belting out on one stage, thrilling guests at the musical concert which is the talk of the town!

You will get tickets at the door. See you there!

KOFI TYCOON & THE AMADAA PALAVA

I bet you would be just as confused to see “Kofi Tycoon” on a menu anywhere! But, here it is, as the entree on Week 4 of Gastro Feastival – Table of 8 podcast series. The conversation was about plantain – amadaa (Ga name for the crop) and, yours truly, as main chef of the day couldn’t help but curate a posh alternative to the ‘Kofi Brokeman’ munch as we know it!

Basically an elevated version, the plate came in all its gourmet pomposity – a sweet plantain & mincemeat layered casserole served with grilled veggies drizzled with a spicy peanut butter sauce!

You can roll your eyes all you want, but plantain is another food crop indigenous to us that has so many derivatives. Why, plantain has given us the ubiquitous gobe, as in ‘Red-Red’, and the globally acclaimed kelewele! It has what it takes to claim its tycoon status, no?

A “feast of a festival,” the Gastro Feastival is turning out to be quite a movement that seeks to reconnect Ghanaians with the soil, spotlighting agribusiness opportunities, and rewriting the story of food in Ghana. It comes off during Farmer’s Day weekend – Dec 5-6, at the Palms Convention Center at La Palm Royal Beach Hotel.

Before the grand feast, however, is the Gastro Feastival “Table of 8” podcast series – From Farm to Feast, which features each week, farmers, investors, entrepreneurs, foodies, chefs, and policymakers who gather to ignite conversation, exchange insight, and explore innovation across Ghana’s food value chain.

You want to catch the series on the Charterhouse YouTube channel. Here, all kinds of delicious conversations happen, serving “food for thought”!

In the end was a dessert of ‘mini kokor (plantain) kaklo in a tangy tiger-nut millet cereal pudding’ created by my collaborating partner chef Joe Tetteh which had all the guests nodding in unison that Amadaa is indeed our star food!

ONCE UPON A NEW DAWN

You know, once upon a time, when I was all over tattling about what was hot and not about town, I thought I was incognito enough to escape being identified. Who wants to be recognized as the town gossip! I went about my reporting enterprise, telling tales and making known what new lifestyle choices, places, events and experiences were trending, putting the positive spin on the capital’s lively energy, and I thought I had succeeded in disguising myself. And I largely did.

I was recently in the company of new acquaintances who begun discussing how they lived an exciting life vicariously through the writings of this weekly columnist in the newspaper. None of them seemed to be aware that I had been the person behind it! It was spooky hearing them talk about the tattling leading them to try out many different restaurants, hotels and events!

I felt like chocolate fudge, sitting there listening to them recounting stories of their antics, when they had soaked in my review and had made it to experience the things I wrote about for themselves! They were so animated! I just beamed, sitting there thinking, and wondering what they would think if they knew I was the one pointing them this way and that!

Then, it occurred to me that although I have been off circulation for a long while now, owing to the affliction of this chronic sciatica pain i suffer from which has rendered me quite ineffectual, I still had juice in me to revisit tattling. So, here we are.

STEPPING OUT IN ALL WHITE

December’s lineup is even more loaded with all kinds of fun stuff including, for the first time to be hosted here in Ghana, the staging of the world-renowned all-white picnic event celebrating “style, elegance, and gastronomy” at a secret location. I’ll tell you all about it next week. Chao.

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