Monday 30 January 2017

LITTLE GEMS: Chinese New Year, Breakfasts, Burgers, Pizzas and... Well Sushi of Course!

Hello!

Happy Chinese New Year guys! I don't think there's anything better than being half Chinese! When you get to the end of January and you think - I wasn't prepared! I've failed miserably at all my resolutions and feel like I want to start the year again... Then comes Chinese New Year (and so then I can ha ha!).

How was your week? I've been busy as usual in the clinic and working on some new projects I'm super excited about. Not really had much time to post much but I've got a few pics from this weekend of all my foodie adventures. Have a nosey through, I will explain as we go :)


Not a week goes by without avo toast. This was my Saturday morning special which I washed down (rather heavily) with a green smoothie! Yikes! I was seriously full after all that ha ha!


I love this with a poached egg on top, it just adds another dimension. Plus the tomatoes are so fresh tasting as well. This was delish!


Warm bowl of almond milk porridge and some berry compote. (Just add the berries to the pan with a little maple syrup and a squeeze of lemon juice. Cook them down until they start to mush a little. I find by the time they're ready, so is the porridge!)


Friday night treat was out at Byron on Deansgate. We were pretty hungry, so had some tortillas to start.


Love me a good burger even though I don't eat meat anymore. I actually find a lot of the veggie burgers are so tasty, some better than the meat options. They are full of so many spices and different flavours, I don't miss the meat one bit!


Plus I LOVE the courgette fries here. They are amazing! Also you can't not have the sweet potato fries and their special 'Byron Sauce' to go with it - I'm actually salivating at the thought of this right now ha ha!


Did a little bit of home shopping on Saturday. Couldn't resist taking some pictures either of the showroom!







I love with this chair! Maybe not so much the pimped up material, but still adore the shape of it!


Then off to one of my fav places in the world ha ha! The lovely Bents Garden Centre in Glazebury. If you have not been yet... WHY!?!?!? It's amazing. You can stroll around looking at the flowers, get an almighty lunch, do a bit of food shopping plus so much more. You MUST go!


We 'shared' a dessert. Well, except I didn't really have any ha ha! Hubs enjoyed it though! :)


Yum Yum Yum


Saturday night we celebrated Chinese New Year at my parents house. The last couple of years I've cooked, but this time my Dad said he would do it. He's the best cook too so I was super excited! I love these Chinese greens. This is kai lan and probably my favourite.


Our little meal. It's funny as it doesn't really look that much but the four of us couldn't even finish it all! Two types of prawns, a big fish, vegetables, mooli and carrot stir fry and lots of rice. Excuse the plates but this is proper home style cooking!


Happy New Year from Daddy Tsui and I he he! This was the mess we managed to create!


Of course Dexter had to be in on the celebrations too!


Then, after work on Sunday I had a quick business lunch at Victor's. Not had my sushi fix all week and well... I was so excited for it! Here's a bit of vegetable tempura.


Spicy Tuna Roll


Then my fav... Flamed salmon roll. Feel like these little beauties should have halos over them they are so good ha ha!


Finally had a proper 'pig out' at Pizza Express on Sunday night. Kept it simple, margarita and olives. Hit the spot big time too! Happy days!

So that was pretty much my week - well in the food sense anyways. I also did a big thing I was really nervous about I wanted to share with you... I started a YouTube channel!! Aaaaah! So nerve racking! It's just going to be based on skincare at the moment and talking about different skin care topics, but I might throw a foodie video in there sometime in the future - who knows! If you're interested in having a look I will pop the link below. As it's a new channel I don't think you can find me easily in the searches, but the link is here in any case.



I hope you have a great week and thanks so much for reading!

Big Love,


Em x


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Saturday 28 January 2017

EATING OUT: How To Order Chinese Food Like A Pro!

Hello!

Happy Chinese New Year! For those of you who are not aware, today we are celebrating the Year of the Rooster!


I'm not sure if you will be celebrating out in a Chinese restaurant, at home with a home-cooked meal or not at all. If you do decide to go out to eat, why not try this way of ordering Chinese food...

It can be quite daunting going out to eat in a restaurant that you are not too sure of the menu. Some things might sound a bit weird or you just don't understand what they actually are. The way Chinese eat though is usually by sharing dishes. It frustrates me when I go to a Chinese restaurant and I hear people ordering 2 portions of chicken fried rice and two portions of sweet and sour. It should always all be shared between the table and that way you get to try different plates and also, your taste buds have a little party in your mouth!

So, here are my top tips for eating out. Obviously this is just the way my family and I like to eat, but for me it gives us the biggest range of flavours and foods.


  • Always order a range of dishes, not one each but enough to share. If there are 4 of you, then maybe around 3-4 dishes plus rice
  • Always have one plate that has a sweet flavour to it. e.g. sweet chilli, sweet and sour, Cantonese sauce etc. This helps to bring out the flavours of the other dishes. Never have just a sweet portion of something to yourself.
  • Try and order one plate of green vegetables. Chinese veg is always the best. Either pak choi (best with garlic sauce), gai lan (always best with ginger sauce), choi sum etc if not, maybe a plate of mixed vegetables?
  • Going for Dim Sum? Have this for lunch. It's like a tapas style way of eating, so it means that you have lots of little dishes to share between you all.
  • Maybe try having some Chinese tea with your meal. I like Po Nee or Jasmine tea. Some people like Oolong Tea as well but I find this a bit bitter. Tea is perfect to eat with Chinese food as it helps to digest your meal better than a soda!




This is obviously just how I eat Chinese food, I know everybody likes to do it differently. For me though, this is one of the most authentic ways to eat it.

I hope you have a lovely Chinese New Year whatever you are doing. I wish you all health, prosperity and lots of happiness.

Thanks so much for reading,

Big love,



Em x

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Monday 23 January 2017

LITTLE GEMS: FIVE London Restaurants in ONE Day - That's How It's Done!

So I wish I could share all these five restaurants with you, I really do! Unfortunately though, I managed to format my SD card whilst stuffing my face and looking at pictures - don't ask me how! So I lost them! Hey ho, you live and you learn! Here is what pictures I have left of a bloody fantastic weekend in London, I hope you enjoy...

MAROUSH LEBANESE RESTAURANT

Love this place for a bit of Lebanese food. This was post a giant breakfast at The Ivy Cafe and a mid-morning break at Aubaine in Selfridges (Lost pics sorry!). I was still so full though from it all, I just had a simple fattoush salad. Delish!





PIT STOP AT DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY

The guy who created the 'cronut'! Probably one of the easiest ways to start on your journey to a heart attack ha ha! Check out these pictures of the food. These cakes were another level! Plus might have snook a little bit of Selfridges shopping in too between all the food he he!


















PARK CHINOIS

I'm not into fancy Chinese food. I've tried it time and time again and it just never measures up to a good, traditional restaurant or home cooking. I've done Hakkasan, Tattu, Yu Alderley Edge etc etc. Some are better than others, but most don't really move me. This though was GOOD! To be honest, it's a lot more about the experience more than the food. The venue is beautiful and so much fun, but the food does measure up too. Yes it was on the pricey side, but worth it for the experience if nothing else. Check it out... 
















NOBU MAYFAIR


THE NATURAL KITCHEN - BAKER STREET

So... this place was really cool. Great menu selection (my kind of stuff!) and I chose the porridge option. It came and looked a little different to the usual style that I would go for - as in my spoon stood up in it! Turned out it was luke warm :( So I changed it for the avo toast instead which was really good. Shame the staff were not too happy about it though, OOPS!













REGENT PARK

Had a lovely morning walk though through Regent Park on Sunday morning. Nothing like some good fresh air in your lungs - especially when you have been 'Ubering' everywhere instead of walking - plus I needed to walk off all that food!



I hope you enjoyed my pics this week, I know there's a lot less of me talking, but it's all about the pictures really right? ha ha!

I hope you have had a lovely week too and are falling back into your routine nicely.

Thanks so much for reading,

Big love,



Em x

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