Currently Loving: Hello, My Name Is

Matthew West:  Hello, My Name Is

No introduction or description needed. The song does it all.

Enjoy!


Love it!!!

Multiway Dress: Orange and Blue

Hi loves!  Hope all is well with you and your week is going well.
 I love dresses that can be worn in more than one way and look effortlessly transformed. This dress previously worn here fits perfectly into that category. Although I can only see two ways of wearing it now, as a dress and a skirt, it's better than a one show dress. I think the length and texture of the dress underlines the limitations of wearing it as a top but I might just figure out how make it work someday. I paired the dress with a layered Zara peplum top that I fell In love with at first sight and has been begging to be worn since last year.  Each time I pair it with a skirt or pant, I'm not completely sold on the outcome, so I put it away for next time. This time, I think I found one perfect pairing. One can almost say this top and dress were meant for each other. From the fit to the color combination and just the overall look. To create a finished look, I added a belt in the same color as the top to accentuate the peplum top and make the fit even more flattering. To balance the color block, I went with a pair of nudes shoes. I am however still looking forward to wearing the dress by itself, no blazer, no top, no cover ups; just the dress, letting it shine and complementing it with some bold accessories.

Dress worn as Skirt: Asos, Top: Zara, Belt: H&M, Clutch: Asos, Shoes: VS

Cheesy Chicken Pasta

 I find myself eating a lot of pasta lately and this is one of many pasta dishes I've made recently for dinner/lunch. Takes a lot more time and effort to make than my quick 15minutes yummy concoctions but it was worth the wait and Mr. D. was one happy eater even went back for a second round.

In other news, my phone is back! All it needed was a new battery and some extra care. I love my phone and I'm not ready to part ways with it even though I know I have to soon. With that said, since my phone is fully functionally again, that means I have pictures from the wedding weekend which I'll be sharing with you soon.
Ingredients
2 Chicken breast
9 oz Penne pasta
16 oz can tomato sauce
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
8 oz Mozzarella cheese, grated, divided
1 pint grape tomatoes, halve
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion
1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbsp freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup fresh Basil  leaves, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
 salt to taste

Directions
1. Cook pasta to al dente following directions on package. Drain cooked pasta and return to pot.
2. Pound chicken to even thickness, season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a grilling pan on medium heat. Allow to heat up, the add chicken and grill till chicken is cooked through. Remove form heat, allow to cool down a bit and dice into thin strips
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
4. In a medium pan over med-low heat, heat 2 tbsp olive oil, add garlic and onion, saute for 1 minute, add tomato sauce and tomato paste, Parmesan cheese, crushed red pepper, ground pepper and salt.  Stir continuously while cooking until cheese melts.
5. Add diced chicken strips, grape tomatoes, half mozzarella cheese, basil and cooked  tomato sauce mixture to pasta. Toss and mix till evenly coated. Pour pasta mixture into a greased baking dish, sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and bake for about 20 minutes.
6. Serve and enjoy!


Nigerian Meat Pie


I mentioned we had meat pie two weekends ago. For my non-Nigerian readers it's a variation of empanadas. Anyways, it was made by yours truly. After making it, I truly remembered why I don't make meat pie that often. It is hard work! But, it was all worth it at the end when I, Mr. D. and our guests devoured it and were still raving about it the next day. I pretty much followed the recipe here. I haven't made meat pie in a long time so it was better I turn to a good source than make a mess trying to wing-it. I made minor adjustment to the recipe like adding more condiments like curry to my filling. I also used one more carrot and potato as well. The last adjustment I made was using a bit more water. 7 1/2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of water wasn't getting me anywhere...lol. It was like a drop of water in the ocean. I almost broke my hand trying to make the dough, or maybe I just don't have enough arm strength; either way, I needed a little bit of help and that little addition of water did it.

This recipe I used is great and as you can see all the additions I made are personal preferences. The aroma of the filling filled the house once done, which I loved. If you are Nigerian walking in and you've smelled or tasted meat pie at some point, you wouldn't have to guess twice what the filling was for. My cutter was on the smaller size, a pot cover about 6 inches in diameter so this recipe made 20-25 pieces for me. I'm not sure of the exact amount because they were disappearing as they were coming out of the oven. I'll definitely be using the recipe again the next I'm courageous enough to embark on this journey of making meat pie.



Picture-less Weekend Update

HI lovelies!
Hope you had a fantastic weekend. I sure did! I was in Louisville, KY for the weekend celebrating with one of my dearest friend. She finally joined the married club and I'm happy to have been right next to her on her special day. The wedding was simply beautiful and elegant and we had tons of fun.  The weekend was full of great memories, high energy and of course the inevitable crash after all was done. Mr. D. couldn't make it to the wedding with me, so my dearest sister took his place. That meant I got to fly into Indianapolis, one of my favorite airport/places and spend the whole weekend with my sister. Even though I left her by herself most of the time because I was on bridesmaid duty, we managed to have some unforgettable moments in the time we actually spent running around an unfamiliar town together. 

Yes, the title does say picture-less because somehow, I have ended up with not even one single picture from the weekend. I trusted my phone enough to be my camera for capturing all the moments for the weekend and quite frankly it does a great job and being that I don't have a means of lugging around a camera with me the day of the wedding, it was a great idea until the unexpected happened. Everything was going well and I was taking some good pictures until we got to the reception and my phone just stopped working. Won't charge, won't turn-on. That was the end of it. So, I'm currently phone-less which sucks. I'm kind of waiting on the release of Galaxy 4S, so I'm not sure what to do in the mean time, will hopefully figure it out before the end of this week. I still carry around the dead phone as if it's going to magically come back to life, but no luck so far. If you do want to see some of the imagines I managed to post before my phone went kaput, visit my Instagram page here

Apart from hanging with my sister, I also got to see my friends, you know... the ones I miss so much. It's great seeing some of them twice in a span of few months. Well, I have the bride to thank for that. I also made a brief stop to see my beautiful nieces and nephew before leaving Indy on Sunday, even if it was just for a few minutes, literally. We said hello and good bye in the garage, I didn't even make it inside because I had to head to the airport. That 3 minutes or so was definitely worth it, it was like I made their day. They all came leaping out of the car and were very excited to see me. That definitely made my day and I was beyond happy that I got to see them.

That's my weekend in a nutshell from NJ to Indianapolis to Louisville to Indianapolis and back in NJ.

How was your weekend?

Easter Flow

Happy Easter Monday! 
Hope you had a great weekend celebrating and rejoicing with your loved ones. I enjoyed and celebrated the weekend with family and friends. We had home made Easter dinner: Grilled Rosemary Steak, Creamy Mashed Potatoes and Veggies with my sister and her friend while watching the last episode of the Bible series.Topped it with some meat pie afterwards.

This dress has been begging to be worn since day one. I got it some years ago and on the day I decided to wear it, the zipper broke. Ever since I've just folded it up and tucked it in a corner. I came across it recently, took it to alteration to get it fixed and left/forgot it there for almost a month. It finally came back home and made its debut on Easter day. I'll say its a win-win situation. Not all dresses get worn on Easter :)

Dress: No Brand, Sweater: Limited, Jacket: Vertigo Paris via Ideeli, Clutch: Asos, Shoes: Gift from sister Necklace: Limited