During one such conversation, my cousin let on that she now reads blogs regularly and that she discovered a couple of the blogs she reads through my “The Chick Behind the Blog…” post. I was surprised and pleased. The blogs that she mentioned are ones that I enjoy reading, and I knew her life must be richer for reading these blogs too.

It got me thinking. Although I never read blogs before I started blogging (don’t ask me how I decided to start blogging – call it divine inspiration ), I have since become an avid frequenter of the blogosphere, in general, and the East African blogosphere, in particular. Why the East African blogosphere? Well, mainly for two reasons. First, the subject of my blog is East Africa so I tend to attract East African readers. It’s only natural, therefore, when these readers also happen to be bloggers, to be curious about their blogs and to find my way to them. In the 2+ years that I’ve been blogging, I’ve come to know and love my fair share of blogs in the East African blogosphere this way. The second reason is a little more intentional. Reading East African blogs helps me keep informed about everyday living in the different countries that make up this region. There’s nothing like reading blogs to find out what’s truly on the hearts and minds of a people.

And now to today’s list.  With the endless number of blogs across the East African blogosphere, how do I choose which blogs to read regularly? Honestly, it’s quite simple: I don’t. Instead, I let someone else do the choosing for me. What?! Yes, you heard me. To figure out what blogs to read in the East African blogosphere, I turn to Afrigator, an African social media aggregator.

Without getting into too much detail, I simply log in to Afrigator, which allows me to select African countries from which to view social media content. For a composite view of East African blogs, I simply select the 5 individual countries that comprise the East African Community – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda – and voilà! I have a great starting point to finding the hottest blogs in the region. So…interested in finding out the 20 hottest blogs in East Africa today?

With no further ado, the 20 hottest blogs in East Africa today (according to Afrigator) are:

Screenshot of Afrigator's Top 20 Ranked Blogs in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda (Sept. 20, 2009; 6.15pm)

1. Afro Articles
2. Blog for News
3. Marathon You Can Do It
4. Saharan Vibe
5. Jambo Network
6. Uganda Insomniac
7. PoliticalArticles.NET
8. Full Shangwe
9. A Nairobian’s Perspective!
10. Bankelele
11. Appfrica
12. African Music Forum
13. Total Knockout
14. Africa Expat Wives Club
15. Food, Fun & Farm Life in East Africa!
16. kenyantykoon’s blog
17. FotoBaraza
18. Confluence
19. Wananchi Forums
20. my wretched consciousness

Now tell me, are you familiar with the blogs on this list? Do some of your favorites feature here? If so, which ones are they? Which blogs did you think would feature on this list but didn’t? (And before you write me any nasty-grams, yes, I know that this is not an all-inclusive list and that there are many East African blogs not on the Afrigator network. Still, a woman’s gotta start somewhere! )

So that’s it from me now. I hope you found this post interesting but more importantly, I hope that through this list you discover a great new East African blog that you’d never read before. When you do, please be sure to write me a comment and tell me all about it. As always, I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Until the next time,
Biche

P.S. To be sure not to miss future posts on ChickAboutTown, sign up to receive posts directly by email or subscribe to ChickAboutTown in a reader.

]]> http://chickabouttown.com/2009/09/20/20-hottest-blogs-in-east-africa/feed/ 14 http://chickabouttown.com/2009/06/18/readers%e2%80%99-choice-15-most-popular-posts-on-chickabouttown/ http://chickabouttown.com/2009/06/18/readers%e2%80%99-choice-15-most-popular-posts-on-chickabouttown/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:33:11 +0000 Biche http://chickabouttown.com/?p=2709 On June 29, 2009, ChickAboutTown will be turning two.  I’ve greatly enjoyed writing this blog and recently decided to take a trip down memory lane to take stock of what exactly has been going on, on this blog, for the past two years. I reread some of my older posts and, most importantly, tried to figure out which of my posts you, my readers, enjoyed most.

In doing this, several things became glaringly clear to me. For starters, I found out that whereas you, my readers, enjoy reading about places to hang out at, you are a lot more concerned with going to the movies, shopping, and well…having sex! Don’t stop reading me yet, I say that in jest! On a more serious note, to measure the popularity of a post, I took note of how much traffic it generated regularly during the first half of this year. Although this method is not foolproof (nor particularly thorough since I know many factors go into determining how much traffic a post generates), still, I thought this was a good general indicator of which posts you found to be most interesting and relevant.

And so, I’ve decided to share my findings with you here. For the newcomers to this blog (many who discovered ChickAboutTown through my participation in The Honest Scrap Awards), I hope this list helps you to discover more quickly the best of what ChickAboutTown has to offer. For my older readers, I hope this list points you to at least one oldie-but-goodie that you haven’t read yet.

Whatever the case, here is the official list. These are the 15 most popular posts on ChickAboutTown based on average daily traffic generated by each post during the first half of this year:

15. Olepolos Country Club

14. Salsa Night, Safari Bar, InterContinental Nairobi

13. Soho’s, Westlands, Nairobi

12. Kosewe/Ranalo Foods

11. What I Value in KQ…

10. You Missed This – Kumekucha

9. Body N’ Soul Gym , Kilimani, Nairobi

8. Bags Whose Name I Know Not…

7. Toyota Vitz (or Echo or Yaris)

6. Nairobi – Kampala by Bus, Part I

5. Nu Metro Website

4. The Chick Behind the Blog…

3. Nakumatt, Westgate Centre

2. Nu Metro Cinemas

1. Durex Play 2-in-1 Massage Gel

I hope you enjoy reading these posts as much as I enjoyed writing and sharing them with you.

Before you go, I’d like to hear from you: what has been your favorite post(s) on ChickAboutTown? And if you can pinpoint it, why? Please let me know by leaving me a comment below. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Until the next time,
Biche

P.S. To be sure not to miss future posts on ChickAboutTown, sign up to receive posts directly by email or subscribe to ChickAboutTown in a reader.

I humbly accept this award whose attachments are:

Attachments to the award:

1. You must brag about the award.
2. You must include the name of the blogger who bestowed the award on you and link back to the blogger.
3. You must choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
4. Show their names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog.
5. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself.

Then pass it on with the instructions!

Since I have bragged about the award and let you know who awarded it to me, I’ll now move on to the next step and tell you which seven bloggers I’m  passing the award on to. To these seven: you may never have heard of me or my blog before, but I am an avid reader of each of your blogs! I hope you will accept my award for what it is: a testament to how much I enjoy your writing. Thanks for your wonderful thoughts and words; I look forward to reading much more from you. Without further ado, these seven are:

1. African Expat Wife of African Expat Wives Club
2. Ernest Bazanye of  Mr. Ernest Bazanye
3. Kipepeo of Kipepeo (the blog)
4. Moses Kemibaro of Moses Kemibaro (the blog)
5. Rafiki of Rafiki Kenya
6. Rebekah Heacock of Jackfruity
7. Tumwijuke of Ugandan Insomniac

Now that that’s done, let me tell you ten honest things about myself. Drum roll, please!

1. 

   Not a picture of me!

   Let me start by sharing something trivial. Let’s say, about something  like…hair. I have a 5-year pact with myself not to cut (or process) my natural hair. I made this pact in 2006, so that will be in effect until 2011. (If you are wondering why, it’s because I am scissor-happy when it comes to my hair, yet I want to grow a huge Bamboocha afro. So far, so good! )

2. I have a “Christian” name, but most people who know me, don’t know this fact about me. I go by two African names: the root of my first name means “hope”, while my second name means “he who, through his own efforts, does well for himself”. (This is not in an effort to be afrocentric – it was all my parents’ doing.)
3. I have no sisters, just brothers. (To all my cousin-sisters reading this, you know I simply mean among my parents’ offspring. With you in my life, I know I definitely do have sisters! )
4. I am very goal-oriented. I love to set goals for myself and achieve them. The more unlikely I am to achieve a goal from the start, the more exciting the whole journey is for me. I can take extreme measures to reach a desired goal but rarely realize how extreme I am being until other people react to what I am doing.
5. I was never taught how to read. I (spontaneously?) began to read one afternoon when I was three or four when I couldn’t find anyone to read me a story. My younger brother had just been born and I really, really wanted to hear a story. I guess it’s true what they say: where there is a will, there is a way. (True story! I just verified this fact with my Mother to be sure my memory wasn’t playing tricks on me.)
6. Money is important to me – I love having money and enjoy the power and freedom (and fine things ) that go with having money. I am a staunch believer in Suze Orman’s mantra, “People, then money, then things”, though I often misquote this as “Money, then people, then things” (can anyone say Freudian slip? ).
7. Although I am 30 years old, I feel like life has just begun for me. I look forward to seeing the world and partaking in a multitude of experiences that I have only dreamed of until now. This is in sharp contrast to what I feel the world tells me I should be feeling now, which is feeling like settling down and bringing forth the next generation. Not!
8. I love Africa and particularly love living here. My happiness is directly related to my being on this continent. I am a true daughter of the soil.
9. Family is very important to me, both nuclear and extended (on both sides). I go to great lengths to nurture my family relationships. Some of the members of my family are my closest friends. (You know who you are! To my peeps, oyé! Note: this is not when you contradict me and say that I have been too lost lately. You know my love for you never falters! )
10. When I first found out that Mama had given me this award, I was sure I was not going to comply, but on second thought…

So that’s me in a nutshell…for now. I hope you enjoyed finding out more about me – I definitely enjoyed sharing myself with you. Thanks once more, Mama, for the kudos and the opportunity. I hope your curiosity has been satisfied!

Until the next time,
Biche

P.S. To be sure not to miss future posts on ChickAboutTown, sign up to receive posts directly by email or subscribe to ChickAboutTown in a reader.

In the comment sections of this and this post, some readers and I shared our views on the quality of cocktails served at some of Nairobi‘s most popular bars and nightclubs. In this discussion, Mercury Lounge and Casablanca were named as establishments that were thought to serve good cocktails, while Hidden Agenda and Soho’s came up as places to avoid when in search of a good cocktail.

Frankly, of late, I have not been too impressed with what I’ve been seeing  many establishments pass off in the name of certain cocktails. Because it is trendy to serve (and be seen drinking) cocktails, I find that a lot of  East African establishments are great at having all the right cocktail names on their beverage lists, but do an extremely poor job when it comes to actually making these cocktails. In my opinion,  the cocktails served are often overpriced, too little (in quantity), and  barely have any alcohol in them. One place that I have been to recently, though, that does not disappoint me when it comes to cocktails is Coral Beach Hotel in Masaki, Dar es Salaam. I’ve tried a couple of their cocktails, and each time, I have been pleasantly surprised. My favorite cocktail there, the El Presidente (TSh. 7,500), is a delicious blue drink that packs a real punch (you’ll have to sip this one slowly! )

Coming to think of it, there’s absolutely no reason for you to limit  yourself to drinking your favorite cocktail to only when you are out on the town, when you are not completely sure what you’ll get when you order your favorite cocktail and yet will probably still be charged a pretty penny for it. Do you know that it’s quite simple (and very cost effective) to make your favorite cocktail in the comfort of your own home?

A number of years ago, a friend of mine and I, decided to get together once a week at either of our homes for a fun girls night in, where we’d learn how to make a new cocktail of our choice, followed by a nice gab fest and sampling of said cocktail . Although we didn’t keep it up for too long – we both love going out way too much – the experience taught me how simple it is to make even the most complicated sounding cocktails.

So where to begin? One of my favorite online resources when it comes to making cocktails is DrinksMixer.Com. I like this website because, here, I can find recipes for a wide variety of cocktails and use cool features such as the ingredient-based search (useful for making cocktails with drinks you already have at home); or the ingredients scaler, which allows me to scale a recipe up or down depending on the number of servings I want to make; as well as get useful information about the cocktail I am making such as the alcohol content and the average rating given to the drink by other users who have also tried to make the same cocktail before.

No clue as to what cocktail to try? Well, why don’t you try out one of my favorite cocktails, the Strawberry Daiquirí, a fresh fruity cocktail that can be made with or without alcohol and be served both as a slushy (as it’s done so well at Tamambo) or as a liquid (like it’s done at Slims). Here’s a recipe from AllRecipes.com for the slushy variety.

I hope this post has given you a few ideas. If you do try to make your favorite cocktail at home (or at a friend’s home) please let me know how it goes.

I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Biche

P.S. To be sure not to miss future posts on ChickAboutTown, sign up to receive posts directly by email or subscribe to ChickAboutTown in a reader.

I first stumbled upon Kumekucha following a link that my niece had sent me in an email forward. The link led to a post on Kumekucha that talked about a then-recent event that had just occurred in Kenya that was as unimaginable as they come. I found the incident (and the post) hilarious, so decided to spend some more time on Kumekucha reading some  of the other blog posts. After three hours, I had still not gotten enough. Along with posts about funny/incredible situations that had taken place in Kenya, there were countless posts about social and political scandals along with incredible never-heard-elsewhere details that seemed plausible if not necessarily entirely factual (I am not doubting the veracity of the facts published on Kumekucha, but neither am I vouching for them – you’ll have to decide for yourself). I had a ball reading Kumekucha that first day, as I do whenever I read the blog now.

Well, I’ll stop telling you about it and let you check it out for yourself. The URL for the blog is simply www.kumekucha.blogspot.com. Visit it and let me know what you think.

I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Biche

P.S. To be sure not to miss future posts on ChickAboutTown, sign up to receive posts directly by email or subscribe to ChickAboutTown in a reader.

]]> http://chickabouttown.com/2009/03/09/you-missed-this-kumekucha/feed/ 5 http://chickabouttown.com/2008/12/29/afripay/ http://chickabouttown.com/2008/12/29/afripay/#comments Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:36:01 +0000 Biche http://chickabouttown.com/?p=1605 Afripay
Mezzanine Floor, Titan Complex
Chaka Road (off Argwings Kodhek Road, near Yaya Center)
Tel: +254-(20)-2730770
Mobile: +254-(722)-256368
Website : www.afripay.net
Email: sales@afripay.net

In the developed world, almost everything can be bought and sold online, and so it often is. On my most recent visit to the US, a couple of years ago, I asked a good girlfriend to recommend stores that she thought I should visit during my then-quest to buy a new laptop. My friend seemed a little flabbergasted. She couldn’t understand why I would go through all the trouble of shopping for a laptop in person when she felt I could do so more efficiently online. Her reaction surprised me a little bit. The African that I am (or at least that I was at the time) was used to shopping for things in person and, especially in the case of an expensive purchase, much preferred to physically see the item I was purchasing before I actually paid for it.

This experience was to be my first aperçu of how pervasive shopping online had become in the Western world. Later, during that same trip, I often saw my parents (who were soon to be 60 years old at the time) and brothers do the most mundane things (like buying books) as well as some not-so-mundane things (like buying complex musical instruments) online, seemingly without giving it a second thought.

This was a far cry from my reality in Kenya at the time. Although I moved in pretty technologically savvy circles, partaking in e-commerce was not a main stream activity for most people that I knew. Although the reasons for this were many, I am pretty sure one of the main reasons for this was that so few of the people I knew had credit cards (and this was pre-M-pesa days in the case of local e-commerce). Speaking for myself, the lack of a credit card was definitely the reason I never sought to buy anything online or even subscribe to some of the online services that I found interesting. Do you find yourself in the same situation?

If so, then I am pleased to tell you that you no longer need to hold yourself back for there now exists a local solution to your problem. Afripay, located in Titan Plaza, on Chaka Road is a company whose focus is ”making online purchase a reality!” I have used Afripay’s Purchase Assistance service several times and can recommend it wholeheartedly! For a little more than the Kenyan Shilling equivalent of whatever amount I intend to spend online (click here to find out more on the pricing of Afripay’s Purchase Assistance service), I can simply pay a visit to Afripay’s office, tell them what  I need to have paid for online, pay them money in Kenyan Shillings, and then walk out of their offices with my online payment completed. Although I was a bit apprehensive the first time I visited Afripay (I wasn’t sure how smoothly everything would go), I have since learned to appreciate their reliably friendly and efficient service, which I use whenever I need to make a payment online.

According to their brochures and website, Afripay also offers other services aimed at facilitating online shopping. These services include the Afripay Virtual Visa (which was not available the last time I inquired about it) as well as the facilitation of goods shipment to Kenya, for goods purchased from companies that do not deliver to Kenya. Unfortunately, though, I can’t tell you much about these services since I’ve never used them before. If these services are of interest to you, I encourage you to call Afripay or visit their office to find out more.

All in all, I have been extremely happy every time I have used Afripay to make online payments. I find their Purchase Assistance service well-priced and easy to use. It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly I can make my online payments during the course of a regular day with the entire process usually taking me no more than 15 minutes.

If you are looking for a way to make online payments but do not have a credit card or need some other assistance in completing the purchase, then check out Afripay, they just might be the solution you need.

Once you do, please drop me a line and let me know what you thought of the service.

Wishing you all the best,
Biche

P.S. To be sure not to miss future posts on ChickAboutTown, sign up to receive posts directly by email or subscribe to ChickAboutTown in a reader.

So to begin with: what is Facebook? Facebook, located at www.facebook.com, is a social networking website that allows you to keep in touch with friends, family, workmates, and other people that have ever been a part of your life, using the Internet, without having to go through the tedious process of writing emails to each of these.

How does Facebook work? Essentially, first you register a profile on Facebook, which can include a recent photograph and general information about yourself. Then,  through using tools such as Friend Finder or by joining well-defined social networks on Facebook, you can connect to other peoples’ profiles to share information about what’s going on in your lives, send messages, and share photos, among other things.

How does Facebook differ from other social networking utilities such as Hi5? First and foremost, Facebook is extremely user-friendly. Other than that, what I find to be its most distinguishing feature is the home page news feed which allows you to see what your friends are up to simply by logging into Facebook. This feature allows me to find out, for instance, that a good friend will be getting married soon, that another friend who lives half way across the globe will be visiting my city soon, and that my baby brother is in a funk…simply by logging into Facebook. Previously, acquiring this same information would have required me to write at least 3 separate emails, one to each of the people mentioned.

I am definitely a people person. The relationships that I have built over the years (across the world) mean a lot to me. Unfortunately, I am not blessed with the gift of keeping in touch. Although, I may care deeply for my friends and family, rarely am I one to initiate phone calls or emails to see how my loved ones are faring. Facebook has allowed me to bring all the relationships that I treasure so much from my past, back into my present, regardless of the distance that separates me from the other party. My life is infinitely richer because of Facebook. (Thank you, Facebook!)

Before you immediately rush out and set up a Facebook profile, I would like to end with a word of warning: Facebook is addictive! The first couple of times (or months) that you log onto Facebook, you might wonder why you keep spending so much more time on it than you’d planned. I am here to let you know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Eventually, you will learn how to strike your own personal balance regarding how much time you spend on Facebook. Do not fear!

Now, go ahead and connect! Let me know what you think when you do.

Biche

P.S. To be sure not to miss future posts on ChickAboutTown, sign up to receive posts directly by email or subscribe to ChickAboutTown in a reader.

The website, AllRecipes.com, is an online cooking community where home cooks from around the world go to share, rate and download recipes and meal ideas. That’s how AllRecipes.com describes itself. In my words, AllRecipes.com is a great place to find recipes that will have your friends and family swearing that you are a great cook! If you chose correctly, AllRecipes.com will never let you down!

What I love most about AllRecipes.com is that it makes any meal idea I have materialize as a reality on my dining table. By simply entering what I feel like making for brunch, lunch, or dinner into the search box on AllRecipes.com (whether or not I have a clue about how to make it), I immediately get a list of different ways to make the dish. Then, since AllRecipes.com has a rating feature for its recipes, I can order my search results by rating and choose to ignore all recipes other than the most highly rated. Et voilà! A magnificent dish appears on my table, and I get all the credit!

Sometimes, the recipes on AllRecipes.com call for ingredients that are not available on the East African market. That hasn’t happened to me very often though. When it does, I simply chose another recipe or come up with a creative substitute for the hard-to-find ingredient.

Once I have settled on a recipe to make and want to ensure that I have enough of each ingredient on hand, I use yet another handy feature of AllRecipes.com – the ingredients scaler.  Before I even mention the ingredients scaler, allow me to point out that the recipes on AllRecipes.com can be displayed, interchangeably, in both metric and imperial units. AllRecipes.com truly is for everyone! To use the scaler, a user simply enters the number of servings of the dish that they wish to prepare, and instantly, all the measurements for the recipes are either scaled up or down.

That’s not all AllRecipes.com has to offer. Along with the recipe itself, AllRecipes.com also provides nutritional information such as calories per serving (great for anyone who is watching their weight) as well as information about the time needed to prepare and cook the dish (each listed separately). That’s a great feature when you plan to cook under time constraints.

When I was a young girl living in Côte d’Ivoire, I often sang along to a jingle for a Maggi Cube advertisement that went: “Cube Maggi, avec l’étoile, le secret de la bonne cuisine” (Maggi Cube, with the star, the secret to good cooking). Dare I say that, for me, le secret de la bonne cuisine (the secret to good cooking) is AllRecipes.com. I am sure many a modern woman who is less than proficient in the art of cooking would agree.

Don’t take my word for it; try it out for yourself. When you do, please let me know what you think.

Happy Cooking,

Biche

P.S. To be sure not to miss future posts on ChickAboutTown, sign up to receive posts directly by email or subscribe to ChickAboutTown in a reader.