Wednesday 27 March 2013

Foodspiration - From Nigeria with Love

Hello Loviesssss,

Today i'll be doing my first food post - Yipeeeeeee. 

I was thinking since the holiday is almost here, i should give us a little foodspiration. 

Today's meal is called Moin-Moin, steamed bean cake or steamed bean pudding; don't mind me, i kept searching for a proper english name :-) 

Its made from brown beans or black eyed peas. Its very high in protein and can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Please follow me as i take you into my moin moin making journey. I hope you find this post helpful. 

By the way, i decided to use the leaves and not cups because i wanted to get the taste of the leaves in the moin moin.

Lets remember that this is my own style of making it and when making yours, you may choose to twick it here and there to suit your taste.

Enjoy.

xoxo.


Ingridients

-Black Eyed Pea
-Red Pepper (Ata Rodo)
-2 Meduim Onions
-Palm Oil or Olive Oil
-5 Eggs
-2 large smoked fish
-Moin Moin Leaves
-Knorr Cubes (or preferred seasoning)
-Salt to taste

Soak beans for 5mins and wash chaff off. Wash the moin moin leaves and set it ready for use. Then prepare pepper, onions and washed beans for blending.  After blending, you should get a thick paste. Add warm water to the consistency you want; not too watery, perhaps slurry. Then add your palm oil, knorr cubes and salt to taste.

Using the moin moin leaves is optional, you may choose to use small sized cups. 

Wrap a small portion of the blended bean paste in the leaves, add eggs, smoked fish and place in the pot. Steam for about 45mins and its ready to serve.

See below the step by step process on how to make this delicious meal.


 Soak the beans for about 5mins and wash the chaff/skin off

 Once the chaff or skin is removed, it should look like the picture shown above. Try to remove as many as possible.

 Wash and prepare all your ingredients; red pepper and onions ready for blending.

 Palm Oil - This can be replaced with Olive Oil or normal Vegetable Oil

 Eggs

  Smoked fish

 Washed Moin Moin leaves

 All the ingredients

 Put washed beans, add chopped onions and red pepper into the blender or food processor and blend until completely smooth.

 You will get a thick paste

 Add warm water to the paste to get the consistency you want. It should not be too watery. Slurry or medium paste should do. 

 Add Palm Oil to the mixture

 Stir


 Add knorr cubes for seasoning and salt to taste





 Cut the sticks at the end of the moin moin leaves and place in pot just as a base


 Pick two moin moin leaves as shown above


 Place the smaller sized leaf in front of the bigger sized leaf


 Hold and fold one side side to the right and then the other side to the left as seen above


 Then form into the shape of a cone


 Fold/bend the end carefully as seen above


 Put your moin moin paste/mixture into the cone shaped leaves


 Add your egg and fish as seen above


 Fold one side of the leave again to the right


 Then the other side to the left


 Then bend the top all the way to the bottom to form a wrap as seen above


 Place gently into your pot and add warm water into the pot 


 Steam for 45mins adding some more warm water if needed


 This is what it looks like when unwrapped from the leaves



Serve with a bowl of garri, sugar and cold water to be poured into the garri (preferably Ijebu garri)

Thursday 21 March 2013

Figure Flattering Fashion - Swimsuits for all body types.


Hello Loviessss,

I trust the week has been good so far?

I was watching one of my favorite TV shows, Steve Harvey's talk show; the author of "Act like a Lady Think Like a Man". Its an amazing book and i recommend it for all ladies. That guy understands women so much its scary :-)

Anyhoo to the gist of today. During the show, they talked about different body types and how hard it is to find swimsuits to suit our different shapes.

I decided to a post on our usual figure flattering fashion which teaches us how to flatter areas we are most conscious about.

Hope you find this post helpful.

Enjoy.

xoxo.

Quote of the Day: Be ready to go against the wind to rise or succeed; those who are scared never try.



Boyish Shape: The cut out sides gives an illusion of a slightly shapely body. Halter top provides push up for burst.





Flatter your burst: The deep plunge in the picture below enhances burst and the ruffles in the other picture makes the burst appear bigger. 



Hide Love Handles: The print on the side of this swimsuit is placed vertically to visually elongate the side of the body. This does a terrific job in hiding love handles.


Bottom Coverage: If you are conscious of your posterior, these coordinating swimsuit separates helps you rock the piece with confidence.


Hide Tummy: This Fashion forward scarf print swim dress with midsection ruching provides adequate support to help hide tummy area. And the print also does a good job around the midsection.
.


Minimize Hips: The cut of this swimsuit rides high and cuts appropriately around the lower part reducing the appearance of big hips.



Highlight Curves: If you aren't afraid to show your curves, this piece is for you. Highlights all the areas in a flattering way for your body.


Minimize Thighs & Tummy: This incredible miracle suit has 3 times the amount of spandex of normal swimsuits to help shape, firm and hold upper thighs and tummy. 

Photo Credit: SteveHarvey.com

Tuesday 19 March 2013

Easy & Breezy

Hello Loviessss,

I had these pictures taken when my friend visited from Abuja.

After two nights of gisting and catching up, she decided to go swimming; unfortunately I couldn't stay with her because i had loads of things to do that saturday so i dropped her off and came back for her.  

Seeing that my day would be busy, i made sure my look was basically comfortable, easy and stylish.

Thanks for always reading.

xoxo.


Quote of the day: Love, Laugh, Listen.


  Sheer Blouse - Zara, Sunglasses - Gucci

 Leggings - Forever21

 Neck Piece - Macy's

 Bag - Micheal Kors


Friday 15 March 2013

LBD to the Rescue

Hello Loviesssss,

How have you all been? So good to be back to blog world. I am sure some people thought i had gone awol again :-) 

Been really ill; was battling a bad flu that left me in bed for four days. I kept wondering where the flu came from seeing the weather has been extremely hot. Someone said "Our Oga at the top" (trending joke in Nigeria) has sold Nigeria's ozone layer for only God knows what. 

I haven't had flu this bad in a while. Interestingly my body had been giving me warning signs but as usual i just ignored. 

I finally resumed work today and i just thought to take it easy. Was not sure of what to wear cos i didn't want to be uncomfortable at all. Thankfully my LBD came to the rescue. 

BTW, thank you all so much for the feedback on my personal style post. I am working on posts on what i wear weekends, to church, weddings etc. Baby steps...*wink* 

Thanks for always reading.

xoxo.


Quote of the Day: Its not always about the price tag, its really about the fit; effortless, clean and totally 'naff' at all times.


Dress: Calvin Klein
Belt: Top Shop
Shoes: Office 
Bag: Micheal Kors