EATING OUT: Miami Special!

Hello!

Welcome to part 2 of my 30th Birthday break, if you didn't read the first part, check it out here!

ROOM WITH A VIEW 

SOUTH BEACH BABY! 

THE VIEW FROM THE ROOFTOP AT THE BETSY HOTEL

So, we flew to the the most fab hotel ever in Miami - The SLS! Oh my god, this place is so stunning and we had such an amazing time there! As this blog post is all about food however, I won't go into too much detail about what we did and focus on the restaurants!

We did have breakfast in the hotel to start the day, I was still pretty tired so just had a simple green tea and avocado on toast where as hubby went for patatas bravas with an egg - sounds pretty hardcore, looked pretty hardcore and tasted it too!

PATATAS BRAVAS BREAKFAST AT THE SLS HOTEL 

PATATAS BRAVAS AND AVOCADO AND TOAST AT THE SLS HOTEL 

The first restaurant that we visited was a really basic and simple place but the food was awesome! it was called 'La Sandwicherie' and was on South Beach. Vicky at the SLS concierge highly recommended it and she was definitely not wrong! I went for a tropical salad and hubby had a giant sandwich! Seriously yummy, but then had to pass out infront of the pool after to recover ha ha!

LA SANDWICHERIE

TROPICAL SALAD

CHICKEN SANDWICH - ON ANOTHER LEVEL! 

That night we then went for dinner at the AMAZING Katsuya in our hotel. This place so absolutely gorgeous! Fab Japanese food and perfect for me as you can roll out of the restaurant with a full belly up into your bed ha ha!
We had some delicious food, I don't think I took pics of everything as I was a bit too excited, but you know the food must be good when you order sprouts and your husband eats most of them ha ha! They were like a deep fried teriyaki sprout - still salivating thinking about them! We also ordered edamame - because hey! who doesn't right?? Black cod plus some other munchies!
We also had a dessert which they ever so sweetly did a 'Happy Birthday' design on. It looks a bit weird - kind of sweet soup but tasted delicious! I think they had big marshmallows in them
Sorry about the quality of the pictures but I just needed to tuck in :)

KATSUYA AT THE SLS HOTEL 

TERIYAKI SPROUTS - YUM!!

EDAMAME BEANS

BLACK COD

SWEET MISO CHAWANMUSHI

A warm caramel milk chocolate custard, white miso cake, charred marshmallows and a sugar lace crunch

BIRTHDAY ME AT 30!

So, that was my birthday! The next day we decided to go for a walk around Lincoln Avenue and found that there were loads of restaurants about so we ended up eating at Paul for breakfast. this became a bit of a habit and we ate there everyday! Can't beat pastries for breakfast ;)

PASTRIES AT PAUL

PAUL

Then, lunch was at the hotel but dinner was a naughty one! As we walked around Miami we discovered there was a Shake Shack there - now unfortunately we can not walk past this place without going in... so yeh... that was our dinner! Of course, if you're having a burger for dinner, then you got to follow it with ice cream right?? RIGHT!

SHAKE SHACK

2 CHEESEBURGERS AND CHEESY FRIES - YEH NOT SO MUCH A FAN OF THE FRIES 

BEST ICE CREAM EVER! - STRAWBERRY OF COURSE!

Then, the next day we went for dinner at the 'ever so cool' Baoli' in South Beach. Very cool venue where we had lamb chops, squid salad, teriyaki salmon, asparagus and tiger prawns! yummy!

SQUID SALAD AND TIGER PRAWNS 

LAMB CUTLETS

 TERIYAKI SALMON, ASPARAGUS AND LAMB CUTLETS

WHEN OUTDOORS IS ALSO INDOORS

Then, on our final day we visited Cleo across the road for lunch. They did a really simple sandwich lunch menu so we ordered a roasted veggie and also a chicken sandwich - such a nice place and we had the sweetest waitress ever!

CLEO RESTAURANT

SANDWICH TIME!

So that was my trip! What a way to spend my 30th! If you ever have the opportunity to visit Miami I highly recommend it. Such a great vibe about the place, lots of shopping and my oh my - lots and lots of amazing restaurants!

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Emmaline x

My New Fav Foundation!

Wow! A post that is not about food!! ha ha!

Today I'm going to do a post on my new favourite thing! My makeup!

Being a facialist, I do get to see a lot of people's skins - pretty close up too! A lot of my clients come to me straight from work or after being out somewhere and usually have a full face of makeup on - to which I then remove and make their skin look radiant! Obviously! ;) he he

What I seem to find is that when you look at foundation close up, a lot of them are 'visible on the skin'. I know you're thinking well 'duh!' obviously! but now you don't have to! Over the years I have changed my foundation quite a lot. I used to use a really heavy one when I was younger as I felt I needed it to 'cover a multitude of sins' on my face, but what I found is that it almost made my skin look worse. As I've got older and formulations of foundations have changed I find myself buying lighter and lighter ones. Up to the point of pre-New York when I religiously used the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum. I love this foundation and I think I will still use it now and again when the urge hits, but I have moved on... to something amazing!

Whilst in New York, I did a major Sephora haul and almost spent all my holiday money in there *cringes* but it was so worth it! What I did buy - on an impulse though, was the Urban Decay Naked Foundation. I have been talking about these types of foundations for quite some time to my clients but have yet to find one I really liked. One that gave enough coverage but was almost invisible on the skin - but I have found it!

When I say 'invisible', it doesn't mean that after putting on your makeup you still look like you're bare faced, it just means that it gives your complexion an even colour, glazes over blemishes and brightens dark circles - it is subtle, VERY SUBTLE! I find this the best type of foundation though, even if you have a lot of blemishes, I think it is better to give the skin a natural glow and then pin-point conceal any pimples or marks. It then deceives the eye to thinking the skin is much clearer than caking on a load of heavy foundation which never looks natural. At the end of the day, foundation is not designed to cover everything, but instead even the skin colour out.

Why not try it for yourself, I've found it at a reasonable price at the moment on the Debenhams website. No, it is not a reasonably priced as the Healthy Mix Serum and if you don't want to spend too much on your foundation then the Bourjois is a great option at only £10.99, but if you fancy something different then maybe give it a try!

Let me know your thoughts too!

Emmaline x

My new addiction... ACAI BOWLS

Acai Bowls - What is Acai?

Well, according to WebMD...

"The acai berry is an inch-long, reddish-purple fruit. It comes from the acai palm tree, which is native to Central and South America.

Some studies show that acai fruit pulp is even richer in antioxidants than cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, or blueberries.

What are the health benefits of acai berries?

People eat acai berries to address various health conditions. But so far, acai berries have no known health benefit that’s different from similar fruits.

Can acai berries boost weight loss?

Some weight loss products tout acai, but few studies have tested whether acai promotes weight loss.

There’s no doubt that berries and other fruits are a key part of any healthy diet. The jury’s still out on whether there is something special about acai’s ability to help shed excess pounds."

These are so good! I know I say that about most things but seriously they are good. The great thing is that you can put whatever you want in them and top them too with whatever you like. Win Win in my book!

So, it's basically a smoothie in a bowl, I like to make mine slightly thicker so it's not too runny but it's really up to you how you like yours.

Recipe:

So this is just what works for me, but please change the ingredients to suit you. You can use all frozen fruit if you wish but I find sometimes it all gets a bit 'frozen' in the mixer if you add too much and then you end up adding more liquid - creating way way too much! ha ha

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup frozen mango
• cup of strawberries hulled
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• handful of frozen berries
• 1/2 cup - 1 cup of almond milk or coconut water
• 1 tbsp nut butter
• 1 tbsp acai powder
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1/2 tbsp maca powder

Then topping of your choice - I like cacao nibs, goji berries, toasted coconut and bee pollen. You can also add granola too

Method

 Blitz everything together in a vitamix/smoothie maker/food processor and then decant into 2 separate bowls. Serve topped with your choice of toppings - yummy!

This has been so great recently as it's been so warm, such a lovely refreshing start to the day!

Enjoy!

Emmaline xx

EATING OUT: New York Special

Wow!! What a trip!! 

So, lucky girl me got treated to a fabulous trip to New York and Miami for my 30th Birthday (cushioned the blow a bit of turning 30!) 

I made sure that I took plenty of foodie pictures on the way so I could do an 'Eating Out' New York special for you. 

We are some amazing food in some amazing places so here's a quick rundown of what we got up to...

Starting off on a typical New York Diner, we were starving! Just round the corner from our hotel (the stunning and Art Deco Viceroy on 57th Street) we found this little place. Really simple food and it wasn't the most healthy option! We had a quick bite to eat there before our dinner that night. So, here you see a massive portion of peasent fries (chips, cheese and gravy! Yes you heard me right, not had that since my good old college days! Ha ha) and some crispy buffalo wings. These were so yummy, naughty but YUMMY!

After threat I was super lucky, my wonderful hubby managed to get us a table at the 'ever so cool' Narcissa restaurant.Wowsers! This was possibly the highlight of my New York trip! Gorgeous food in the most amazing surrounding. We managed to get a table outside in the little courtyard area and sat and ate our dinner in the most beautiful setting. Candlelit lanterns and fairy lights... Perfect!

I had fish and hubby had duck. We also had some great nibbles to start too! Never managed to get a dessert in though, far too tired from our long day and I don't think we could fit in anything else anyway!

We went to a cute little place in the morning for some breakfast across the street from our hotel. It was a chain called 'Fresh n Go'. I had a oatmeal and quinoa porridge and hubby had an omlette which was great actually! Really simple food, I don't think you can beat porridge with honey some mornings! I chose it with granola topping which I've never had before, but will be definatley be making in the future!

Then came Katz Deli!! oh my days! This place is crazy! Heaving with people, everybody's chasing everybody else and so probably not the most chilled place, but the food! Oh the FOOD!! So, they have a special there which is the Hot Pastrami sandwich. This is life changing! Beef that is so so soft and 'melt in the mouth' delicious (I'm salivating right now)! You must must check this place out if you head to New York. It's on the Lower East Side and is worth the short journey there. I went for the traditional chicken noodle soup which didn't look to special but it tasted so so good! So all in all big thumbs up from me! 

We went for some pizza that night and then the next day checked out Bouchon Bakery! This place is so cool, I've got the cookbook at home so was super excited to go check it out. We went for a chocolate croissant, grilled cheese sandwich and a fruit salad with a herbal tea and coffee. Yummy!

Not the healthiest start to the day but a bloody tasty one!

Then, finally came the 'monster salad' of the weekend - Ta Dah! Mangia! This place was amazing, so beautiful to look at too but the worst bit... I forgot to take pictures! Doh!

Well, kind of anyway! It was such a cool place, there was a giant bakery area at the front with the most stunning cakes, then to the left of the place was a cold-pressed juice bar. In the middle was two huge salad bars, and when I say salad bars I'm not talking Pizza Hut style! The salads were so stunning I couldn't decide what to have. Then there was a grill at the back for hot food and then a bakery to the right where they sold hot pastries - heaven!

So, I got the idea that you choose a box that you want and then go round just filling it up. You then pay on weight instead of how much or what you chose. I just stuffed a box full of salads which took me about 45 long minutes to chow down ha ha. It was also quite expensive (I must have chosen the heaviest things!) and then I washed it all down with a huge peppermint tea. Yum!

Then the fun carried on as we went to La Guardia airport to fly off to.... MIAMI BABY!! wahoo

To be continued... ;)