My Food Blog

Hey Hungry Dreamers!

Just a quick post to inform you all that I have transferred all my food posts to my food blog (click on the image above to be directed to my blog). So, if you love food as much as I do, please head over and follow my culinary adventures! :)

Fear not, I will still be blogging here with my usual daily activities! 

Thanks guys!

Visit My Food Blog: Culinary Treats

Cooking Is An Art, But You Can Eat It Too.

Cooking has never really been on the top of my agenda to learn. I personally think that everyone can cook.  Its whether you have that special hand/palette that is needed. In recent years, I've been training my tastes buds by trying out different cuisines. I live in London, the multicultural city of the world, a city filled with restaurants and bars.  My boyfriend has been a great influence in the culinary world. When he cooks, which is very often, he always teaches me everything that I need to know. After meeting him, food has been a major influence in my life. It is almost like the third person in our relationship haha.  I've been lucky enough to have dine at some of the finest restaurant in London. I'm not a fussy eater, which is probably why I adore food. So much so, I've actually considered going in to the food critic career route. But that story is for another day... ahem. 

I think it's time to tighten the purse strings and abolish dinning out from my diary. I need to dine in more since eating out cost so much money. I hope Lorraine will be my saving grace. Granted, it won't be easy cooking 7 days a week and to be honest, I'll probably won't completely abolish dinning out, because lets face it.. laziness kicks in once in a while! But I will try my best to rustle up some good and healthy dishes both sweet and savoury. And If at first I don't succeed, well lets just say that I have my boyfriend's number on speed dial.

The one dish that I am most looking forward to making is, my all time favourite, the creme de la creme of desserts ... Macarooons - I will, I must, I HAVE to master this. 

Any recipes that you lovely people would like to share, feel free to leave a message below :) all recipes are welcomed.

The Taste of London Food Festival @ Regents Park

No food festivals would be complete without a bag of macaroons. If you love food as much as I do, then you will understand how excited I was to have FINALLY attended The Taste of London Food festival. I booked tickets for the grand opening since it was my day off from work. All the celebrity chefs were out and about to promote their restaurants.  I even got the chance to meet a few and they were all so lovely. Despite the rain in the morning, it didn't dampen my mood. After all, I had a whole day filled with food.. how could you not be happy? I got to mingle with foodies from all over the city. I drank endless amounts of free (sampled) booze and ate some of the best foods from michelin star restaurants It was a foodies heaven. I even got the chance to sample some of Heston Blumenthal bizarre desserts - how does smoke salmon with ice-cream sound like to you, good? Probably not. but it was lovely! Anyways, I didn't get to take much photos as I was too busy eating, haha. But here's how the day went..

Yauatcha @ Taste of London Festival

Fino @ Taste of London Festival

Waitrose Cooking School @ Taste of London Festival

Sampling Heston Blumenthal's Desserts - Chocolate & Rosemary Ice-cream & Salted Popcorn Ice-cream @ Taste of London Festival

Heston's Garden @ Taste of London Festival 

Asian Produce @ Taste of London Festival

Delicious Starters @ Taste of London Festival

Independent Companies @ Taste of London Festival

Sample Dishes @ Taste of London Festival 

Chocolate Heaven @ Taste of London Festival

There were so many food stands available at the festival. We weaved in and out from each stand, from one restaurant to the next, trying out so many kinds of food. We bought £30 worth of crowns (crowns is the currency used at the festival. £1 = 2 crowns), which was more than enough for two. On average, it was 10-12 crowns per dish.. a bit pricey for the portions, but all the dishes we had were all so lovely.

The best part of this festival was that I got to meet a few celebrity chefs. Funny how they look so much smaller in person than they do on television. I even got to meet one of my culinary idols - Alexis Gauthier. He is such a lovely man, took the time out to speak to me and my boyfriend and told him that I have reservations at his restaurants for next week, he even took my name down. Lovely man!

Me & Alexis Gauthier @ Taste of London Festival. My idol :) 

Michel Roux @ Taste of London Festival. What a brilliant chef! 

Gary Rhode @ Taste of London Festival. Such a lovely guy! :)

A great day out for food lovers of all kinds! I'll be looking forward to visiting some of these big name restaurants in the near future. In particular, Gary Rhodes 24 and Roux by Michel Roux.

Bring on Taste of London Festival 2012!!

Dinner @ Barbecoa (British) & My Bank Holiday Weekend

Since it's the last bank holiday weekend until August, me and my boyfriend decided to make the most of it by planning a fast and furious weekend; dinning out at the new Jamie Oliver's and Adam Perry Lang's Barbecoa restaurant in One New Change, a crazy trip to MCM Comic Con at London Excel center, and a hilarious trip to the cinemas to see The Hangover 2 (all hail wolfpack!).

So, the weekend started on friday where me and my boyfriend did some shopping in Oxford street. Since it was pay day for us, we treated ourselves to some bits and bobs - nothing too special to get in to detail. After a good few hours trekking up and down Oxford Street, we headed to One New Change in St Pauls for our dinner reservations at Barbeca, the new Jamie Oliver & Adam Perry Lang's restaurant. We were greeted with a lovely welcome by the maitre d and headed up to the restaurant to a stunning setting overlooking St Paul's Cathedral - we were actually seated just behind the cathedral, so the scenery was beautiful and just perfect for a romantic dinner. 

The menu at Barboeca was very simple and very similar to Jamie Oliver's italian restaurants where they concentrated primarily on food that was easy on the eyes and easy on the palette. My god, were we in for a treat. We decided to  go all out, so we opted for a 3-course meal.

We had Italian olives on Ice, which is the best olives that I have ever tasted. They were crunchy and ice cold, perfect to get your taste buds prepped. We also ordered a plate of crispy pigs cheeks. You had to taste it to know how beautiful it was. It literally melted in my mouth, one mouth full after the next. 

We both opted for the steaks as our mains, I went for the mouth watering Fillet and my boyfriend opted for the juicy Sirloin. Let me tell you now, it was one of the best steaks that I have had.. ever. I've had some great steaks in my time, but this one in particular was absolutely amazing. My fillet came with a side salad, also accompanied with Bone Marrow, which by the way, was the first time I have ever tried it (and loved it!). It also came with a perfect amount of bearnaise sauce.  My boyfriend had the biggest piece of steak that I have ever seen. My god was it huge! We both opted for a side dish of duck fat chips and creamy mash potato. Yum double yum.

We finished off the meal with a very generous slice of Rose Cake with creme freche and crystallised petals (i've been seeing this everywhere - is it some sort of trend now?). All and all, a lovely meal accompanied by stunning surroundings. In total the bill came up to £105 including drinks. 

MCM Comic Con @ The Excel Center, London. 

Saturday, a bizarre yet exhilarating trip to the MCM London Comic Con in Excel Center. It would be an understatement if I was to say that it was an eye opener of an experience. I think me and my boyfriend may have underdressed on the day. See for yourself. 

Can you tell it was that sort of day? 

We got there just a little over 9am and the queues were already filled with comic fans of all nature. Some came as Spiderman, some came as Cinderella(man), some even came as Pac Man, but everyone was there for one reason and one reason only.... COMIC and GAMES. I was there to support my boyfriend.

The hall was filled with professionals from the comic/animation industry, to gamers, to japanese merchandisers. We met some great professionals, took photos of people in funny costumes, mingled with comic book fanatics and simply just admire people's outrangous yet wonderful outfits.

Need I say more? 

I've never been to anything like this before.. I could only imagine how the San Diego Comic Con is like.. now that one I would love to visit!