This weeks contributors: Lydia, Dore Fasolati, this week's subjects: White shirts, Wrapping diamonds, Full moon, Clean food, Santako and Pomona restaurants.

Power of a white shirt

Ever wondered why the color white goes well with everything!!? The color white represents purity and innocence, it is bright and creates a sense of space and can add highlights. The white T-shirt is an all round great option for any outfit, whether being matched with casual or under a shirt. However for men, a white shirt creates the illusion of broader shoulders and a slim waist, creating a more V-shaped body, which is a great sign of masculinity. 

Let’s delve a bit into the history of the white shirt, which influence dates back to the Victorian era (that marked the reign of British Queen Victoria(1837-1901) also saw a demise of rural life as cities and slums rapidly grew, long and regimented factory hours for many laborers, the bloody Jack the Ripper and even bloodier Crimean War) where it was an important symbol of wealth and class distinction and a powerful emblem of sobriety and uniformity despite it being mostly hidden under outer garments.

This garment is familiar and omnipresent in men’s fashion and we are mostly not aware that this single piece garment is essentially unadulterated in form from the late 19th century, and has been defining and representing status, wealth and fashion norms. The color white of cloth fulfills masculine ideals of resolute austerity and only an audacious individual could afford to have them washed frequently and own enough of them. The individual character of the white shirt is determined by the best way you think you can style it off.

Wrapping paper for diamonds.

Recently a friend bought a diamond for his wife's 50th birthday. A big one. (the diamond, not the wife). After agreeing on the price of the diamond with the jeweler (1 carat is 1/5th of a gram and would, depending on the quality and the type of cut cost anywhere between 2000 $ and 12000 $) he suggested to set the diamond into a nice golden ring, and asked how much the gold would cost. We don’t charge for the gold, Sir, was the answer. That is the wrapping material for the diamond you just bought.

Full moon

Many of us live busy lives and hardly have time for rest and relaxation. And we become disconnected from nature which has been proven to have a negative impact on our health. You may not have time to go to the beach or hike up the Aburi mountains, but you could become more aware of nature by taking an interest in the moon. Tomorrow is full moon, take a look at the sky. Some say that full moon is good for making love and that it influences crop growth. Some wine growers will not bottle their wine unless it is full moon. And I had a friend who always invited me for beach walks when it was full moon and the walks were nice for deep discussions. Over to you.

Clean food

It is not easy to find food without chemicals on it. Assume the farmer wants to send his cabbages to the market and the day before he finds his cabbages infested with worms. Will he spray with insecticide and not wait for the mandatory 2 or more weeks before sending to market? So better find live worms in your cabbage than dead ones. Control on agrochemicals on the food we buy is almost non existent, and starting your own residue laboratory in your kitchen is not really practical.

So what is in your food is anybody’s guess. So eat little quantities of each type of food only, if it is contaminated you don’t get too much of the chemical. And try to buy organic, for whatever it is worth, or get it from a family member in the village whom you can trust. This is a serious matter, how many people do we know who were rushed to the hospital, put on the drip for 2 days and sent home without any explanation. Poisoning?

The Santoko restaurant is my favourite Japanese restaurant in Accra, Their service is about as close to tops as it gets. I guess management is giving the staff a hard time keeping standards up, many times i have seen new staff and new room managers as well. Keep it up, please. They serve far more than sushi. Sushi is raw fish. They also serve a very nice Chenin blanc (dry white wine), and, my favourite, a cheesecake. A place worth checking out, but also do check their pricing before you go there, and book a table, quite often they are fully booked.

Things are less good at the Pomona Restaurant, Osu, Accra, equally expensive. No problem with the service but apart from the goat cheese salad which was nice, our fritura seafood starter just had shrimps and tough octopus, the spaghetti seafood had the same shrimps and tough octopus (is that the only seafood Ghana has? Just asking) and had so much tomato paste that it should have been called a tomato paste dish, and the imported steak had been frozen and unfrozen so often that it had become a taste – and structureless piece of proteins. The potato puree was grade B-minus.

Lydia...

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