They Eat And They Drink: A Little Trip To Thailand

As mentioned in my last post it was indeed my birthday yesterday and as it fell on a Sunday this year my boyfriend and I decided to go out for a lovely meal and drinks (lots of drinks, that's my excuse for the not great pictures!) on Saturday night. I chose a little place that I've been dying to try called Thailand No1 in Nottingham's Lace Market after hearing lots of good things about it from my housemate (you can read her blog post on it here). 

The restaurant has a lovely atmosphere and I didn't feel at all out of place in my fairly dressy birthday outfit, we were seated by the window which is fine by me as I love a good people watching session! The staff are all so lovely and our extremely cute waitress even explained what some of the words on the menu meant, I was also struck at how accommodating they were for our special dietary needs. Everything on the menu is clearly labelled if it is vegetarian, gluten free or contains nuts making order a hell of a lot simpler!

We both decided on the Tom Yam soup, a hot and sour clear soup with lemongrass, chilli and coriander. I went for the mushroom option and Jack went for the king prawn and mushroom variety. The soup was a great dish to start really delicious despite packing quite a punch in the spice department!

For mains we both went for curries, I love love love Thai curries so it really wasn't much of a decision for me! But in the end I decided on the Gaeng Pha which is a spicy jungle curry with Thai spices and mixed vegetables, again this was definitely spicier than I'm used to but it was super tasty all the same especially along with the sticky coconut rice we ordered. Jack went for the Thai green curry with duck and it smelt absolutely perfect. I had a sneaky taste of the sauce and it was perfection. 

Shamefully we were both too full to finish our main courses but obviously found some room in our dessert tummies for something a little sweet to finish the night off with! The boy ordered us a shot of Baileys each along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and warm banana in a coconut sauce, this was the perfect end to a lovely meal, the Baileys was smooth and the banana was so creamy and rich with the coconut and the ice cream off set all of this keeping it light and delicious. 

I would also like to mention the wine. I have recently become partial to a glass of rose here and there, but I went for a Thai classic rose on Saturday night and needless to say it was excellent as I polished off the entire bottle. It went great with the food, possibly a little too great judging by my sore head the next morning!

Thai food is most definitely a favourite of mine, I much prefer it to Chinese which I find can be quite heavy and greasy at times, and aside from my own mums excellent curries not much bets a Thai curry, be it red, green or jungle.

xoxo

She Eats: Italiano

February is a very exciting month, my birthday, mine and my boyfriends anniversary (three years on Monday!) and Valentines day. So we decided to take advantage of Zizzi's offer of a free bottle of Prosecco and a free main course last night. 

I've always been a big fan of Italian food and Zizzis especially, my only complaint is how often they change their menus! I always have something absolutely amazing and then return to find that it's no longer available, sigh. Anyway we throughly enjoyed our meal and they really do well to accommodate for everyone as I'm vegetarian and Jack requires a gluten free dish we both came home with very full tummies indeed!

I started off with Arancini which is risotto balls with mozzarella and peas coated with breadcrumbs and served with a tomato pepperonata dip. A great dish to start, they were so crisp on the outside and full of flavour on the inside and the dip complimented them perfectly. We also shared a  portion of olives and both concluded that the giant nocellara olives are delicious but the purple olives taste like cheap wine. You win some, you lose some. 

For our main I went for the simple Spaghetti Pomodoro E Bufala which is simply tomato spaghetti with mozzarella, I drizzled it with some chilli oil from the table and devoured it. Sometimes the simplest of dishes are the tastiest. This did need a tiny bit of seasoning and I would have liked a little more mozzarella but it was lovely just the same. 

Across the table my man friend ordered the Risotto Di Pesce which consisted of king prawns, mussels and squid rings in a tomato, chilli and white wine risotto. From how quickly it disappeared I can only assume that it was delicious (I asked and true to form the boy simply replied 'Yeah, it was nice' he's a man of few words). 

I was pretty much bursting at the seams after my pasta but theres always room for dessert! We both went for the Chocolate Melt which is a delicious oozy chocolate (and gluten free, I've never seen the boy look so happy when he realised he could actually eat this) cake served with vanilla gelato. This was amazing, really rich and scrumptious I could have done with a tiny bit more gelato to accompany the warm chocolatey cake. Jack also decided on a Baileys coffee, I had a quick swig and it was lush. Real creamy and rich, thumbs up from us! All in all a great way to finish off the meal.

What's your favourite Italian? 

xoxo

She Wears (She Wishes!)...

I haven't blogged in far too long and my excuse can be that I've been leading a very dull life lately... I'm in my final six months of being a student so hopefully this time next I won't still be living on such a tight budget! One thing that I am actually rather excited about is my upcoming 21st birthday which has lead me to window shop online lusting after all these beautiful things that I can't afford. So I thought I'd share my pain with you all, here are some pieces that have stolen my heart...

1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., 7., 8.

1. Topshop £60. I am not a bag person, I am a shoe person. I much prefer slipping on a gorgeous new pair of shoes than using a new bag for the first time, so it takes a special bag to make me lust after it. That my friends it this Topshop leather and croc effect suede bag. I love the slouchy look and the fact that it has long and short straps.

2. Topshop £46. I'm a sucker for foral dresses and I love this monochrome version, love the little cut outs at the shoulders. Great for nice little evening out for dinner or drinks.

3. Topshop £40. My housemate and I have been practically salivating over these leather shorts since September. You've probably seen them in store so I won't go into telling you how incredible they are.

4.&7. Olivia Burton £85/ £125. I haven't been a huge fan of this rose gold trend if I'm honest but it was love at first sight when I saw both these watches. The black is sophisticated enough for evening wear but would make a great statement for during the day. And the white is just lovely, simple and elegant. I can't choose between them!

5. Missguided £40. I spotted this jumpsuit on a fellow course mate at a Christmas party and I keep opening it up on my browser and then somehow I resist the urge to just buy it! I just worry that it'd swamp my tiny frame, but the blue is just beautiful and the draping and all the sexy straps makes it a great outfit for nighttime. 

6. Topshop £48. It's been a long time since I left my chunky heels behind in favour or strappy little sandals but these really caught my eye, I love the combination of textures and their simplicity.

8. Topshop £32. I am yet to find a skort that I really really love but this slightly different take on the trend is a winner in my book, the sexy slit is just enough to take this little number from dinner to dance floor.

She Eats Burgers: Carnaby Burger Co.

This Saturday was a day of firsts. My first visit to the IMAX in London (The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug was amazing) and it was also the first time I'd ever eaten at this lovely little burger restaurant near Carnaby Street called Carnaby Burger Co., which is what I really want to talk about. 

As a vegetarian family whenever we go out and fancy some comfort food in the shape of a burger we tend to stuck with one of two options: a sad portobello mushroom or a drier than sawdust bean burger. So it was a very pleasant surprise to see so many interesting vegetarian options on the menu. 

There was the usual vegetarian section of the menu but they also highlighted where a vegetarian substitution could be made. Even better the menu was full of gluten free options so needless to say I'll be taking the boyfriend.

Firstly I want to say how quick the service was, we'd just chowed down on our starter of nachos when our mains arrived.

I decided upon the Quorn Chicken, Mushroom and Swiss burger and fries. To quote the menu it was; a sautéed portobello mushroom, fried onions, melted Emmental cheese with peppercorn sauce (this was seriously delicious).

It goes without saying that we all left with very happy tums! All us vegetarians and meat eaters were satisfied - I distinctly remember my sisters boyfriend describing his burger as 'perfect' and my sister was ready to eat her falafel burger all over again.

The season of stuffing your face has most certainly begun! Have a great Christmas everyone!!! xoxo 

Santa Baby...

It's been over a month since my last post and that simply will not do! I'm not one for excuses but being a poor student has meant that there have been very few fashion or beauty purchases as of late. BUT a girl can dream and that's exactly what this post is about; dreaming, more specifically, dreaming about Christmas jumpers. From the tacky to the tasteful to the downright ridiculous, I love them all!

With December 25th just ten sleeps away there's still plenty of time to nab yourself a festive knit whatever your tastes. Here are some of my personal favourites;

L-R Boohoo, New Look, ASOS, Topshop, River Island

1. My all time favourite Christmas jumper! The berry red makes this one a little less tacky, but let's face it, any jumper with a huge slogan is gonna be tack-tastic. Who cares, it's Christmas! You can get this one for a bargain £15 from Boohoo.com.

2. This ones a little less garish but equally adorable, for those of you who don't need any help getting into the Christmas spirit and just wanna show your excitement! A little more than the previous knit at £27.99.

3. I love love love this jumper from ASOS, it's so cute and the traditional print is a lot more understated which, by my estimations, means you can definitely get away with wearing this right up till February! Making the £35 price tag all the more worth it.

4. Now I personally really like Topshop's Christmas jumper offering; The oversized holly motif would put even Ebenezer Scrooge in the holiday spirit! This one comes in at £50.

5. As far as the tacky jumpers go, this one is my number one. It's got everything: red and green, Christmas trees, a cute 'Under the Mistletoe' Slogan and an element of fairisle print! You can still order on in time for Christmas from River Island for £35.

The great thing about Christmas jumpers is that even the most fashion forward of us will embrace the ugly, the tacky and the bloody amazing, comfy, cozy knits to celebrate the holiday season! Team with a pair of jeans, killer boots and you're good to go :)

Until next time ;) xoxo 

Urban Indian Canteen: Tamatanga (Where else?!)

I've been a neglectful blogger it's shameful, if my blog were a child social services would have taken her away by now! I'm afraid third year is kicking my little behind and it's only the first term... Scary stuff. But enough about that, I've been meaning to write this blog post for weeks and weeks! I recently made not one, but two trips to the fabulous (yes it's that good) Tamatanga in Nottingham.

I come from an Indian family that know food. So it takes a lot for Indian cooking to rival my mums, which is why I often avoid Indian restaurants but I'd heard nothing but good things about this place so we ventured in...

Firstly, there's a warm and really inviting atmosphere in this place that makes you think it'd be far more expensive than it is. Our first trip was being paid for on expenses so we didn't hold back (free food always tastes the best). We had onion bhajis to start which were delicious and what made them even better was they were gluten free! They were accompanied by a yoghurt and mint dip (I think! Whatever it was it was to die for). 

My boyfriend got the malai lamb chops- this looked pretty awesome even to me and I don't eat meat! He described it as the best lamb he'd ever tasted and it kept him quite for a good ten minutes so I can only assume that it was scrummy. The menu sums it up beautifully, tender lamb shops marinated  overnight with ginger, garlic and freshly ground cloves, with a mint and coriander chutney.

I went the whole hog and decided on the vegetarian thali, so I had four dishes, naan and poppadums not to mention salad and another onion bhaji! Embarrassingly the couple at the table next to us were sharing this between them... This was great as I got to try a bit of everything- the naans are so fluffy and tasty and the curries were really tasty. They give you a choice of one curry and then give you a selection of three others. I went with the paneer makhni which was accompanied with daal makhni, bombay aloo and bhindi do piaza. All of these looked so good I didn't really know where to start! 

All in all a very good first trip! The second time round I went for one of the curry bowls, I chose the paneer makhni again because it was so good first time! The garlic naan was delicious both crispy and light :)

If all of that wasn't good enough if you go along before 5 you can get a curry bowl (with naan or rice) and a drink for £6.95! So if you're ever in Nottingham definitely take a break from shopping and head over to Tamatanga.

:) xoxo

Birthdays Are Natures Way Of Telling You To Eat More Cake

I don't really need any excuse to make a cake but the boyfriends birthday proved to be the perfect opportunity to try out a recipe my good friend Hannah sent me for a flour-less, yes you read that correctly, a flour-less chocolate cake.

Having recently found himself to be intolerant to gluten my lovely boyfriend is still adjusting to his new diet, so the best thing I can do is try to make some delicious treats to make up for it ;)

So lo and behold my very first attempt at a flour-less cake;

It's no where near perfect, I used a rather large tin which made the cake really thin and its a teeeeeeny bit over cooked. Despite this I'm pretty chuffed with this as my first go purely because it still tastes pretty damn good! 

I'd also like to bring this lemon and blueberry baked cheesecake to your attention, also gluten free, made by my boyfriends mum. With a dash of cream it was the bees knees, really moreish and just delish.

You can find a recipe the chocolate cake pretty much anywhere, I like to go with the BBC as their recipes are clear, simple and easy to follow. Must go, it is the day of rest and we have lots of wine to drink and cake to eat!

What's your favourite gluten free dessert recipe?