Christmas 2014

I would say for the best part of my teen years I have spent EVERY Christmas Eve working for my parents. It really doesn't bother me as my family are all there, and sometimes not attending work means you are missing out rather than going. This particular Christmas was not any different. This time everybody just a little older and wiser. 

By now we are all very familiar with this face, and this is little Gracie! She loves a little pose, a little pout and to be centre of attention. The limelight is where she is supposed to be, constantly talking and eating.

I had to take the little moustache from her to have a little selfie moment of my own. Christmas Eve evening feast was not as exciting as it used to be! (Mainly because when you're 9 and waiting for your parents to return and letting you run around crazy till 5am was the idea of fun, now not so much)

So at 20 years of age, I have yet to have a traditional christmas dinner, but I guess this is tradition. HOT POT. Not my most favourite meal, but it does the job. It bonds people and is a chinese favourite, so why the hell not.

So the celebrations begin. Things are a little different now since we are all so grown! The youngest is 15 so we all gather and pretend to drink. There is less presents now and more talking as a family rather than adults vs children. It's an enjoyable catch up and this christmas was no exception.

Me and my twin of a sister. Soon to be a very different story. 

My cousin taking selfies and us being in the photo. How things definitely have changed since we were younger. I don't even think we have any images of christmas when we were younger!

And I am just one of those unphotogenic people, who do stupid faces at the wrong times, getting tired of taking a million pictures in a row!

 Brother and Uncle...... OH DEAR is right

Blogtober #2

Okay, so I have not exactly been keeping up with Blogtober, due to University commitments. I have been so busy just doing some reading, trying to get back into schedule as well as preparing for the future and trying my hand at a couple of new things, at the same time TRYING to stay social and see my friends and family. Here I am updating all in one. So here is #2. 

Dream job when you were little/What is it now?

]I was only a little girl, and all little girls did were dream right? I was always one of those that wanted to a singer, a little dancer or in a dance group. I was the S Club 7 generation that wanted to be a part of the S Club Juniors. Me and my cousins used to dress up in the same outfits and did little performances for our parents, forcing them to watch us dance and sing badly. 

When you grow up you soon realise to become one of these you actually need to have talent, and a little bit of passion and actually wanting to be in the spotlight.

As I have grown up these dreams have changed dramatically. First of all I hate being in the spotlight, so get me behind the curtains as quickly as possible. At the moment I do not have a dream job, there is no job which is that enticing to me that I believe that it is my "dream". Although becoming a full time blogger would be extremely fun and exciting as I enjoy travelling a lot, so travelling blogging, meeting new people would be a dream job I guess. 

What was your dream job and what is it now?

It is funny how much your personality changes as you grow up, and with personality changes come a change of dreams and aspirations too. 

Foodilic Brighton

Foodilic is a little vegan friendly restaurant right in the middle of Brighton town centre. Located on North Street leading up to the main shopping square called Churchill Square, this little restaurant is super easy to find and is super cheap (in my opinion). Brighton is loaded with food spots and there are many vegan/vegetarian friendly restaurants, however none in this price range. Dinner is £6.45 for a buffet, and the quality of the food at this buffet is much better than another other buffet you are to experience in Brighton. Healthy, cheap and unlimited, it really is a bargain!

Normally I just drink water as it is normally the only thing that quenches my first. But today, I thought I'd try something different. Grapefruit juice! If you don't like grapefruits this is probably your worse nightmare! But the juice really complemented this dinner. At £3.55 it is quite a pricy drink, but it is all freshly squeezed as you tend to yourself at the buffet. 

The buffet consists of two meat dishes, normally chicken or beef and mashed potatoes for the non-vegans/vegetarians. The rest of it I believe is vegan. Mixed beans, beetroot, pumpkin, green beans, red cabbage etc. 

I always have an enjoyable meal here, and it also helps that it is a buffet, which doesn't make you feel like you ate the entire earth, (I'm talking about you pizza buffets and chinese buffets). Delicious, cheap and definitely worth a visit, or many! 

Viet Rest

This restaurant is based in Deptford in South East London. This is probably the 5th actual Vietnamese restaurant I've been too, and it wasn't the worse, nor the best. To be honest, I love vietnamese food so I am so biased when it comes to judging the food. To me anything doused in the vietnamese vinegar and has lettuce and meat in it is delicious according to my taste buds.

The restaurant is quite small, with only around 6 tables of seatings for 4, but it is open all day, so whether you want a late lunch or an early dinner, this is the place. However, as all asian people do, if you choose to go for an early dinner, the staff will probably be sat behind you eating dinner too. It is also relatively cheap for vietnamese food. In comparison to the chain vietnamese restaurant, which is literally mind blowing expensive, and it really doesn't have much choice. The good thing about these small little vietnamese restaurants is the choice. They really do offer authentic and varied vietnamese food. I warn you however if you do not like lettuce or noodle soup, stay far far away from these vietnamese restaurants.

I really enjoyed this place, the people weren't extra friendly, but I don't expect anywhere to be. They were courteous and offered quick service so that to me was good enough. Fast, yummy food and cheap enough prices, worth it I believe. It is easy enough to get to, with it being in Deptford town centre and with parking right outside (albeit, it is street parking and can be sparse).

Enjoyable experience and food, definitely good enough place to recommend to those who are in and around the area at any point, looking to have a light or heavy lunch or dinner.

Greenwich Market

Greenwich Market is a nice little indoor market next to Greenwich park. It's a beautiful little place, however it is LITTLE. The stalls sell everything from little photo frames, to clothes, to cakes, cookies and asian cuisine. It caters for the family as well as couples and individuals. The stall below sold cake and cookies, as well as the many other stalls next to this one. On this particular day we bought a little gluten free cookie and a red velvet cupcake. 

 This gluten free cookie was large, but more on the expensive side. Health does come at a price though right? If you're looking for health over taste then this is probably a cookie to get, however if going for taste, Sainsburys or Asda bakery cookies are just as good. 

This red velvet cupcake however was DELICIOUS, the cottage cheese frosting wasn't too overpowering and the actual cupcake was nice an gooey. This was definitely worth the price, organic and delicious. 

Shake Shack London

Lets first appreciate that we actually have a shake shack in England, even if it is out of reach for most people. Unbeknownst to me this shake shack has been open for almost a year. Shake shack is a well-loved and hugely popular burger bar in America. If you are silly like me and love hot dogs, then you will have ordered the wrong thing too. How silly I was to order a hot dog at a burger bar… very stupid it would seem. As my siblings sat there enjoying there burgers, stacked with an array of toppings, bacon, cheese, the full works for my brother. I was sat there smelling a very plastic looking hot dog, which I gave up eating once I’d reach the mid point. The hot dog costing me a total of £5, for what we essentially a nice fried frankfurter, this was a food mistake I didn’t expect to make. I couldn’t carry on and I would definitely not recommend the hot dog. I shall never make this mistake again, however I will be back to try their burgers, and their chips. They were fried to a perfect texture. At £2.75 for a regular portion of chips, it isn’t the cheapest option, however if something is good the price tag won’t mean a thing to you foodies!

As the name would suggest they also sell milkshakes. I can’t say that they were great but they were good enough, I would even go as far as saying that I prefer KFC Krushems, but they are wonderfully delicious.

So if you would like to visit this place, I would suggest giving it a go but avoid the hot dog at all costs and DO NOT forget to order yourself a portion of chips. 

Zizzi: St Pauls London

It is no secret that Zizzi is one of my favourite restaurants. This one on this day seemed particularly tasty and the decor was oh so beautiful! I'm not a big pink fan but I really like the edge it gives this what would look plain Zizzi signs. It also gets better as you enter. 

I'm sure this restaurant is normally bustling with people, and for it being an early afternoon on a saturday in a business district I can understand why it wasn't in this particularly moment. But the good thing about that is it allowed me to capture the beautiful inside without people's heads everywhere! Every Zizzi I have been into has an open kitchen, and I love the look of open kitchens! I first fell in love with open kitchens when as a small little I went to my best friends house and saw her mum cook whilst we were playing. Something about open kitchens that make the environment seem so friendly; and this Zizzi did not disappoint. 

Then what really captured my attention and further escalated my love for this particular Zizzi is the unexpected quirky paintings on the walls. London being a fun free quirky city and all this was a very complementary look to the traditional Zizzi look, and I hope you agree that they work together fabulously! I mean those trees do look a little funny, however it still looks elegant and different in this set up, and I still love it! 

Below is an image of my sister. Having difficult choosing were you? I was having the same problem, the endless amount of dishes that just make you slobber everywhere! They also have dishes marked specifically under 500 calories, so if you are on a diet it's the perfect place to come to still enjoy eating and company with your friends or family! 

It appears there are lots of images of my sister looking at the menu, she must be thinking really hard about what she wants. That or she was just avoiding asking the waitress to come over, which is usually the case. 

Our starter: Italian Bread Bucket

These are delicious, freshly baked out of the oven, nice and warm. What is better than warm bread? (Lots of things actually, but in that particular moment it seemed like a little taste of heaven) Lots of oils to accompany the bread but to taste it in all it's glory, it is best by itself. 

For my main, I had a mixed seafood risotto, called the Risotto Pesce, and Oh my for my first risotto did I enjoy it! Consisting of king prawns, squid rings and mussels it was just perfect in the slightly chilli and white wine sauce. I have to admit I ate every last bite of this, and boy did I not regret it. Something this delicious should not be put to waste, or left to cool and reheated at home. It just doesn't deserve it! 

My sisters main: Skinny Pizza Pollo Picante 

When the menu tells you something is skinny, believe them. This pizza is tiny, having warned my sister of this before hand she still went ahead with it. (Maybe that is because we gorged on some cakes and cookies before hand). Spicy chicken, mozzarella and chilli, it is delicious even if it is small; having had this dish before. The side salad was untouched, but appeared nice and fresh and bursting with colour, which on appearance is a perfect accompaniment. 

My Other Sister's Main: Tomato and Pesto Bread

In actual fact this is a starter, but it was larger than the skinny pizza. So if you're looking for a cheaper alternative with a similar taste to the skinny pizza, I suggest going for this. If you're like me you'll have no idea what pesto is, and have to be educated by your 17 year old sister. Pesto originated in Genoa, and traditionally has garlic, basil, pine nuts mixed with olive oil (according to Wikipedia). 

Overall this trip to Zizzi did not disappoint, and until I enter a really ugly Zizzi serving bad food and bad customer service; I will always be a loyal fan. This St Pauls Zizzi in particular was somewhere that I think I will go to over and over again, because the decor is just so beautiful I didn't get to have a close enough look! If you want to try a Zizzi for the first time, maybe this is the place! 

Zizzi's

This is another one of my favourite restaurants and also my (sometimes not so lovely) ex boyfriend. However we always, ALWAYS order the same thing. This being Lasange, Sofia pizza and most of the time Spaghetti bolognese, this time being the exception.

The quality of the food always seems to be immaculate, the portion sizes also not too bad. It is also situated in quite a lovely part of Whitstable too. Just by the seaside. Whether that is a good or bad thing on a freezing cold, previously snow day like this I am not sure. But still rather enjoyable!

Lasange has never appealed to me, and I doubt ever will due to the large amount of cheese used to cook it. However with Sofia pizza, adding a little bit of Lasange over the top seems to do the trick and adds more flavour to do it. Sofia can be enjoyable individually, although it is slightly dry and rather meek in toppings, so this definitely adds a bit of sauce and I love nothing more than MINCED BEEF. YUM. This I all must give credit to Mr Hannan for inventing such a dish (as he would have wished, haha)

The spaghetti bolognese is delicious despite it being no competition compared to my mother's. It is still enjoyable and they sauce is normally quite tasty and their portion of minced beef and tomato sauce tends to be quite good as opposed to other restaurants which prefer to it seems RATION their sauce.

This Zizzi's is a lovely place and is a pretty much a regular for us and I think will always be a place which we will go towards. (Partly due to the fact that we can never decide, but also because we do genuinely love it)

Lincoln

Cooking
Unfortunately cooking is not one of my strongest traits, and most of the time I don't even attempt. However on a 7 hour trip to Lincoln and starving me and a friend decide it is best we cook instead of waiting for a delivery. Having not seen eachother in a couple of months we were eager to catch up with eachother, cooking and catching up come hand in hand when we are both starving.

However as the conversation became funnier, sadder and more deep we had forgotten about the rice which inevitably became cold by the time we had finished cooking the steak and mushrooms. Upon us falls another disaster, the mushrooms and rice further getting colder the steak was undercooked; having to place it back into the pan again.

In the end we settled with cold rice and mushrooms but scrumptious steak which is all I could ask for! Overall not bad for two cooks who can hardly be called cooks.

Wagamamas
Chicken katsu curry is one of my all time favourite meals. It just never grows old, not too spicy like Indian and Thai curry and not too sweet like Chinese curry. Just utterly enjoyable. Though having been to Wagamamas a few times in my life and hating the food, this was one of two exceptions and I quite enjoyed it and I think purely for the dish I chose. Ginger Chicken Udon, this tastes delicious. The udon is perfectly fried, nice and crispy on one side and tender on the inside and the chicken tastes just as good. Though I hate vegetables and removed all of them from the dish before eating, it actually adds to the flavour whilst cooking.

The service at this particular branch in Lincoln was also brilliant. The staff were quick on their feet, kind and endearing. Though one did look like a muscle builder and like he didn't belong, he actually was the nicest waiter in the restaurant and overall was a great experience for a girl who absolutely detests Wagamamas.

Lunch
Having spent the previous evening drinking and dancing until 3am and unable to have the chance to recover at 7.30am in the morning to catch my coach towards London, and having slept the entire 4 1/2 hours journey I was starving. The only choice I had was a measly pasta and crisps to pick up from Sainsburys. This was neither satisfying or tasty, but it just had to do. This pasta and crisps may not be much to blog about, but it just shows to you that we require time to eat, to enjoy our food AND HAVE BREAKFAST.

Lincoln was such an enjoyable experience, besides the long coach journey and cold weather. The people at the University are kind and the area surrounding the University is beautiful, the lake during the sunset is a magical sighting and the early morning snowfall.