Ooh I say!
***
 |
 |  |
Sunday, 29 June 2008
What a lovely pair!
I went to an Ann Summers party on Friday night and my housemate made some special treats to take along. They were quite popular!
Ooh I say!
Continue reading this post..
Ooh I say!
Monday, 23 June 2008
Whoop whoop!
I went to London yesterday to meet my family for the day and as we wandered out of Covent Garden, my sister gasped and gabbled something about 'old sweets' as she ran up to this shop. It's not retro sweets as such, but sweets imported from the US, Australia, Japan etc.
I didn't manage to get a picture of the front of the shop because there were loads of people swarming about but this part of the display caught my eye in particular:
Blickup-blickup! Whoop whoop! Must be from Japan, surely! Those of you who know me understand my excitement surrounding anything to do with Super Mario. The NES controller with mints is great! I had to buy one (and yes, it does make you want to pretend to play with it). Apparently it can hold 12 DS games in it too. Useful to know eh? I love that there's a 'Power Up' energy drink. I was really tempted to get one but I was afraid that if I guzzled that down, it would make me run around like a maniac jumping on things and hitting my head on bricks.
I know the following picture isn't really anything to do with food, but it's to do with this post and I just think it's really cool:
Well technically it is food as it's a mushroom but not an edible one sadly. I think I would chase a red and white spotted mushroom down the street if I knew it would make me a bit taller! Continue reading this post..
I didn't manage to get a picture of the front of the shop because there were loads of people swarming about but this part of the display caught my eye in particular:
Blickup-blickup! Whoop whoop! Must be from Japan, surely! Those of you who know me understand my excitement surrounding anything to do with Super Mario. The NES controller with mints is great! I had to buy one (and yes, it does make you want to pretend to play with it). Apparently it can hold 12 DS games in it too. Useful to know eh? I love that there's a 'Power Up' energy drink. I was really tempted to get one but I was afraid that if I guzzled that down, it would make me run around like a maniac jumping on things and hitting my head on bricks.
I know the following picture isn't really anything to do with food, but it's to do with this post and I just think it's really cool:
Well technically it is food as it's a mushroom but not an edible one sadly. I think I would chase a red and white spotted mushroom down the street if I knew it would make me a bit taller! Continue reading this post..
Monday, 16 June 2008
Best of British: What would you miss?
I read an article today about how British people yearn for home comforts when they go to live abroad. The food mentioned though was not really things that I would miss: Wall’s sausages, PG Tips, Ribena, McVities, Walker's crisps, Cheddar cheese, Colman's mustard, Branston pickle, scones...In fact, I don't even like mustard or pickle! (Yes there are some foods that I don't like)
The one thing I did agree with is the traditional full English breakfast. It's something that I rarely have because I never buy eggs, bacon, sausages and the like. Actually, it's partly because I can't fry eggs, and am terrified of cooking sausages! Well, not terrified but I always feel like I won't cook them properly. I mean, the sausages just roll around in the pan and you don't know if they're actually cooking inside. Whenever I try to fry an egg, it ends up looking like bird poo (sorry for the mental image). Plus, it's a dish that you can't really replicate at home unless you can afford to buy the really good stuff.
Even when you go out, it's never quite the same as the proper stuff, where you have the best ingredients for it. OK, so I wasn't expecting a fry-up from Tesco's or Debenhams to be amazing, but even if you go to a local cafe, there's always something that's not quite right about it. I was a little disappointed when I had a Premier Inn brekkie as it came out lukewarm both days I had it. Now that is not to my standard! I was quite gutted that I couldn't take advantage of it being a buffet though (there was continental breakfast stuff too), as it was during a trip to Stafford for two days Aikido training. I did not want to be training on a stomach full of breakfast goodness, despite my overwhelming urge to consume everything in sight! Apart from the Marmite spread.
But by far the best English brekkie I had was in Brockenhurst at a B&B: behold the New Forest Breakfast...
Everything was fresh local produce and you could ask for as much of anything as you wanted... But as you can see, I managed to control myself and not go overboard with the ordering. It's enough that the people who know me are aware of how much I like to eat, let alone complete strangers! Continue reading this post..
The one thing I did agree with is the traditional full English breakfast. It's something that I rarely have because I never buy eggs, bacon, sausages and the like. Actually, it's partly because I can't fry eggs, and am terrified of cooking sausages! Well, not terrified but I always feel like I won't cook them properly. I mean, the sausages just roll around in the pan and you don't know if they're actually cooking inside. Whenever I try to fry an egg, it ends up looking like bird poo (sorry for the mental image). Plus, it's a dish that you can't really replicate at home unless you can afford to buy the really good stuff.
Even when you go out, it's never quite the same as the proper stuff, where you have the best ingredients for it. OK, so I wasn't expecting a fry-up from Tesco's or Debenhams to be amazing, but even if you go to a local cafe, there's always something that's not quite right about it. I was a little disappointed when I had a Premier Inn brekkie as it came out lukewarm both days I had it. Now that is not to my standard! I was quite gutted that I couldn't take advantage of it being a buffet though (there was continental breakfast stuff too), as it was during a trip to Stafford for two days Aikido training. I did not want to be training on a stomach full of breakfast goodness, despite my overwhelming urge to consume everything in sight! Apart from the Marmite spread.
But by far the best English brekkie I had was in Brockenhurst at a B&B: behold the New Forest Breakfast...
Everything was fresh local produce and you could ask for as much of anything as you wanted... But as you can see, I managed to control myself and not go overboard with the ordering. It's enough that the people who know me are aware of how much I like to eat, let alone complete strangers! Continue reading this post..
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Mabel Does Us Proud!
I was just watching one of my favourite programmes, 'Come Dine With Me' and this particular episode featured Mabel Wong, who was determined to win the guests over with her authentic Chinese food.
Rather than going down the usual route that contestants take with one dish per course (sometimes two, the daredevils), Mabel, with true honour in her roots, went for a 10-course meal, YEAH!
Chilli Beef in Lettuce, Vegetable Spring Rolls, Sweet and Sour Skewers and Steamed Meatballs
Chilli Beef and Broccoli, Stir Fried Bearn Curd with Oyster Mushrooms, Steamed Sea Bass, Monkfish and Tofu Stew and Garlic and Oyster Sauce Pak Choi
Gwar Lo
When the other contestants saw the menu prior to the dinner, they all seemed so shocked that there was so much! It's not really, I thought. We just differ in the way we eat - back home, when I have the luxury of sitting down to one of my mum's lovely dinners, there are at least three dishes out infront of us on the table. Meat and two veg? Nah, two meat, one veg! Well, the amount of meat usually outweighs the amount of veg ;-)
You see, rather than serving it all on one plate, we dish up a portion of rice each and put the rest of the food on the table in the middle to share. And what a lovely display it usually is! Next time I go home, I will take a picture. I have taken single photos (of course) of some of my mum's dishes which are in an earlier post. But here's another taster (haha) in the meantime...
Continue reading this post..
Rather than going down the usual route that contestants take with one dish per course (sometimes two, the daredevils), Mabel, with true honour in her roots, went for a 10-course meal, YEAH!
Chilli Beef in Lettuce, Vegetable Spring Rolls, Sweet and Sour Skewers and Steamed Meatballs
Chilli Beef and Broccoli, Stir Fried Bearn Curd with Oyster Mushrooms, Steamed Sea Bass, Monkfish and Tofu Stew and Garlic and Oyster Sauce Pak Choi
Gwar LoWhen the other contestants saw the menu prior to the dinner, they all seemed so shocked that there was so much! It's not really, I thought. We just differ in the way we eat - back home, when I have the luxury of sitting down to one of my mum's lovely dinners, there are at least three dishes out infront of us on the table. Meat and two veg? Nah, two meat, one veg! Well, the amount of meat usually outweighs the amount of veg ;-)
You see, rather than serving it all on one plate, we dish up a portion of rice each and put the rest of the food on the table in the middle to share. And what a lovely display it usually is! Next time I go home, I will take a picture. I have taken single photos (of course) of some of my mum's dishes which are in an earlier post. But here's another taster (haha) in the meantime...
Continue reading this post..
Friday, 6 June 2008
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
What about me?
I was talking to somebody about my blog the other day and they asked why I don't post pictures of my own food that I have made. That's a good question really. I don't actually have many pictures of food that I have made myself and I'm not sure why, seeing as I now have an instinctive urge to take a photo whenever I go out to eat.
Perhaps it's my after-work hunger pang - when I come home from work, I usually cook my dinner straightaway and because it usually takes a while, I'm just so hungry that the thought of taking a photo doesn't cross my mind and I just wolf it down within about 7 minutes (5 sounds too short, 10 seems too long). And don't you find that home-cooked food gets colder more quickly than restaurant food? I don't understand that! (I hate eating food that goes cold)
It's also about the presentation - which is related to my 'I'm-so-hungry-after-work-I-have-to-eat-immediately' complex where I just dump my food onto a plate, rather than take the time to arrange it nicely.
Then another thought occurred to me - sadly, my food just never looks worthy enough to have a photo taken. But maybe I should MAKE it worthy. After all, I do enjoy my own cooking as much as the food I eat when I go out.
So herein, one of my dinners, proudly taking the spot of being the first on here to be cooked by myself:
Char Siu Chicken Thighs, Fried Lettuce and Rice
Continue reading this post..
Perhaps it's my after-work hunger pang - when I come home from work, I usually cook my dinner straightaway and because it usually takes a while, I'm just so hungry that the thought of taking a photo doesn't cross my mind and I just wolf it down within about 7 minutes (5 sounds too short, 10 seems too long). And don't you find that home-cooked food gets colder more quickly than restaurant food? I don't understand that! (I hate eating food that goes cold)
It's also about the presentation - which is related to my 'I'm-so-hungry-after-work-I-have-to-eat-immediately' complex where I just dump my food onto a plate, rather than take the time to arrange it nicely.
Then another thought occurred to me - sadly, my food just never looks worthy enough to have a photo taken. But maybe I should MAKE it worthy. After all, I do enjoy my own cooking as much as the food I eat when I go out.
So herein, one of my dinners, proudly taking the spot of being the first on here to be cooked by myself:
Char Siu Chicken Thighs, Fried Lettuce and Rice
I know the first thing you're thinking - 'FRIED lettuce?!' It was only after I started uni that I noticed that a lot of people don't eat lettuce this way. I love fried lettuce, it's so yummy! You have to fry it just right so that it's still crispy, but not too much that it ends up going soggy and shrinks to blades of grass.
Don't knock it til you've tried it!
And the Char Siu Chicken? Well, that deserves a post of its own I feel, which I will do soon, another time :-)
Don't knock it til you've tried it!
And the Char Siu Chicken? Well, that deserves a post of its own I feel, which I will do soon, another time :-)
Continue reading this post..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
