I am trying to save for retirement
I am trying to save for retirement. This is only because I did a campaign with Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) and it made me realise that old age just sneaks up on you.
One day you are five years old and crying while throwing yourself on the ground, all because your mother bought you the wrong flavour of cake for your birthday, the next you are old and everyone is asking if they can help you get up since your creaky knees won’t work.
Why I am talking about old age and retirement is not because they are inevitable, they are if you are lucky enough to live that long, but because it requires a lot of changes in your young life.
The sages say that old age feeds on youth. This means that if you eat all your money, and most of us do this by visiting fancy restaurants every chance we get, you will have nothing to buy supplements with when you are old.
Now imagine visiting restaurants and paying through your mouth so your Instagram followers can see how well off you are doing, then waking up while old and you are trending because you peed in a banking hall since you did not have money to buy adult diapers.
I am making a case for staying in, though not all the time. When you have the time and money, do get out and have a cocktail and a starter.
This is where Noir Gallery comes in, a quaint spot for eating out at every once in a while.
Located off Muthangari Road, Noir Gallery is an eatery with expansive grounds and an art gallery all rolled into one. It is a quiet spot for lunch during the week and a riotous one for fun on lazy drunken Saturdays or Sundays.
The first time I went to Noir was because my Luhya friend – I only mention his tribe because he loves tea way more than anyone should – told me that they make the meanest tea cocktails in town.
I, of course, made endless jokes about how he will take tea with anything, including proper meals, where he takes it last and argues that if someone can take wine and say it is dessert, then his tea definitely is dessert.
The tea cocktails were quite good. We took so many that we had to have meals at some point.
Noir’s Korean chicken wings serve just the right amount of heat, while their chicken satay – skewered and grilled chicken pieces – are quite sumptuous.
If you want a proper meal, you can have rice with a side of beef made with peppercorns or some well-cooked lamb.
Dessert might be highly priced, starts at Sh950, but it is definitely worth it. Go for the Italian blush if you have a sweet tooth.
It is a delightful mix of ladyfingers, sugary mascarpone, white chocolate, all balanced out by tart strawberries.
The portions are filling and the prices range between fair and high depending on what you want to order.
It is a charming space to hang out with friends and family. They open on weekdays at 11am and on weekends at noon, and close at 9pm because Covid starts spreading promptly at 9pm and not a second earlier, or later.
I will be back again once I have saved enough to cover adult diapers for three months at least.
