Aderinsola and I have been friends for almost four years now, but never once have I slept over at her house.
One morning, my phone rang, and it was Aderinsola inviting me, especially for a weekend treat since she was on leave during that period. I accepted because I knew it was a beautiful way for us to bond even more.
"I sure will be coming. What would you prepare for me?" I jokingly teased her. "So many delicacies; you just don't worry yourself," she replied with so much enthusiasm, and I knew the weekend was going to be a special one.
The weekend arrived, so I got dressed and headed on a two-hour journey leading me to Aderinsola's house.
"Pass through the kitchen, babe; I am so busy, okay?" I could hear her voice resounding through the kitchen window when I tried to knock on the front door. I passed through the back door, leading me to the kitchen.
"Cooking already?" I asked, hugging her slightly from behind. "Yes, I want to quickly boil yam and make some sauce for dinner; go freshen up and join me here if you wish," she replied, concentrating on what she was doing.
I immediately took my luggage to the room, unpacked to feel at home, and then headed to the bathroom to freshen up. As soon as I was done dressing up, I headed back to the kitchen, and I saw something very surprising.
I stood for a moment to be sure of what I saw until I exclaimed. "What?" I was awestruck when I walked into the kitchen and caught her boiling yam with salt and sugar.
"Wait a minute, was that you adding some sugar to boil your yam?" I asked yet again to clear my doubt.
"Oh, are you surprised? That's how I was taught to boil yam right from childhood; don't worry, you'll enjoy it," she convinced me, wearing a pretty smile.
"I doubt if I'll enjoy this; do you think it's even healthy for you to add sugar to your yam?" I kept asking because I had never seen anyone who added sugar to boil yam before.
"Babe, calm down. I am a Yoruba girl, and that's how my mom boils her yam just to add extra flavour to the yam." Pointing to the salt container, "See, I also added salt to tone down the sweet taste of the yam, so you have nothing to worry about, I bet you." Her smile got to me, and at this point, I couldn't wait to have a taste of the yam and sauce.
After about a few minutes, the sauce and the boiled yam were ready, and after dishing them, we sat on the floor in the room to enjoy the food.
As soon as the yam hit my taste buds, it was truly a delicacy to remember. I kept longing for more and promised to make such a sweet delicacy for my family when I got home. We both laughed and began to chit-chat after the meals.
The two days I spent with Aderinsola were memorable as we bonded even more and I learned new recipes since she was a foodie. We would both check out any recipe we wanted to try out on YouTube and ensure we satisfied our cravings.
When I got home, I decided to try boiling yam with sugar until my big sister stopped me. "Do you want to increase your chance of developing diabetes? Do you even know the side effects of this recipe? Please don't do that." She warned sternly because she was a medical practitioner. I paused for a minute to think things through. My sister was right because the final product of carbohydrates was glucose, and adding sugar to it to make it even sweeter was deadly.
I called my friend to encourage her to avoid such a harmful cooking method, but her response was a bit sarcastic. Since she had a sweet tooth, I had a feeling she would never stop boiling her yams with sugar, but I wished she would before it got too late.