Saturday 29 October 2011

Bread Street Kitchen

stone bass filet
We went to Bread Street Kitchen last night, Gordon Ramsey's new restaurant in the city. We were really anticipating a wonderful dining experience, based on the decor and the amount of people working there, one could reasonable think this! Unfortunately, our night was dampened with mediocre food and pretty inattentive service.
We ordered the oven baked burrata and expected to get a big portion of delicious cheese but was given this pathetic portion of with an overwhelming onion tart underneath. The flavors were good but I just wanted more burrata.
king crab and apple cocktail pink peppercorns
 The crab appetizer was my favorite. It was similar to a prawn mayonaise cocktail but with generous, delicious portions of crab instead. Every bite was perfect!
the platter of cured meats, pickles and chili. The meats were good, but nothing mind blowing.
parmesan string beans and mac and cheese with garlic roasted crumbs,
hand cooked chips and spiced glazed carrots
for my entree, I ordered the short rib burger with a tomato relish and haloumi cheese. It was juicy, cooked to perfection, and mighty delicious. Everything I could have wanted in a burger, except I was super full and could only eat half!! Bummer.
Somehow the three of us still managed to have room for 2 desserts. This was a chocolate tart with salted caramel ice cream with honeycomb on top. I wasn't in the mood for chocolate but I had a few bites of the ammaaazing salty caramel ice cream. The boys couldn't get enough!
bread pudding, a bit too liquefied (didn't cook long enough), but the flavor was good! I was a bit petrified by the service at the restaurant. There were a TON of servers and hosts around but there seemed to lack any communication between them. I also witnessed a line cook accidentally touching a hot plate and proceeding to throw it back on to the counter, whereby splashing sauce everywhere and making a loud noise. That would have been the end of it, but he instantly became very angry and hostile to the other wait staff. I understand he must have been in pain and angry at not knowing the plate was hot, but it's one thing to briefly get upset but another to snap at your co-workers, especially in front of diners. It was like a bad accident, I couldn’t help but watch!

So all in all, it was an okay dining experience. The food didn't bowl me over but I would come back if friends wanted to try it.

Thursday 27 October 2011

Blogroll

Some recent eats! and my blog roll I currently have on rotate:
I've been on a bagel kick lately. Just some scrambled eggs and 1/2 a toasted sesame bagel with garlic and herb spread- YUM! Perfect pre-class breakfast.

I've been doing A LOT better this week about eating inside the home. The past couple of weeks were horrendous on my diet; it consisted of lots of junk food, chips, and takeaways. Greens never tasted so good!!
piri piri chicken, brown rice, and steamed kale and spinach seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
sauteed balsamic shrooms to compliment the lamb shanks for dinner.
pop this bad boy in the oven for an hour
and you get a delicious, tender lamb shanks and roasted veggie dinner in no time!
I also made some wild brown rice on the side. This was so delicious!
leftover piri chicken for lunch
check out how green my kale is! What a lovely color.
chicken in tarragon and white wine sauce, spaghetti carbonara, and kale on the side for dinner.
I used Bobby Flay's kale recipe. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/sauteed-kale-recipe/index.html
cinnamon and all spiced eggs for breakfast
salad and spaghetti for lunch before taking my usual afternoon "power nap".
the blob O' meat doesn't look very good but oh.. looks can be deceiving. This was very tasty.
sprinkled with some gluten free cheese and chili flakes. I had some cheese flakes left over from my gluten free diet experiment so I decided to use it. It tasted like regular parm cheese sprinkled on top! Mmm!

Time to get my study on. I have a chemistry AND biology test next week. Blergh. I made it to the gym on Tuesday but haven't been inside since so no workout updates :(

Blog roll:
http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/http://www.katheats.com/
http://fitnessista.com/
http://rhodeygirltests.com/
http://sarahfit.com/
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/

Tuesday 25 October 2011

I found a Saltines substitute!

Sunday night's game was awesome! Being at Wembley stadium for an NFL game, a CHICAGO game especially was beyond words for me. The Bears pulled off a win even though they played like crap and Cutler.. gee.. What can I say about him that probably hasn't already been said. He sucked. I still had a lot of fun though, and that game will be seared into my memory for a long time to come.

Some pics from the game:
We got lucky to have such a gorgeous day. I only needed two layers!
I was pleasantly surprised at how many British accents I heard with jerseys on. I guess some Brits do watch American football!






I love seeing players pray before the game. How endearing.
throwing it back to the early 90's with a little Goo Goo dolls

Sad that this was probably the most decoration the Bears had on the field. Since the Bucs had home advantage, there was a ton of complimentary Bucs flags waving about.


at least Staley made it!

It was actually quite funny at the start of the game because there was this little squirrel stuck on the field. He kept running into the end zone, then up to the middle of the field, and then turning back to the end zone as if he didn't know where to run. I swear people cheered when the squirrel made it back into the end zone, as if it had made a touchdown itself! Lol..  Eventually I lost track and am assuming the squirrel made its way off the field.
the shirtless man that made it on to the field for quite some time before getting tackled.
he managed to high five some players on the field which was hilarious!
narrowly missed the first tackle
but eventually was brought down.. HARD
lol...
the end=Bears win!
It was nice to get win in a stadium full of Bucs fans. Whoop Whoop! :-)
look who was waiting for us on the bed!! :-) Okay, so we put her on the bed.. what a cutie!!
I was really excited to find this on Ocado recently. Since the UK doesn't have saltine crackers, I was recently looking for a good substitute and this is perfect! It's a big heartier than a saltine, since I think Saltines flake more in your mouth, but it's very similar in taste! Me=happy! Now I have something to snack on eat soup with!
I steamed some kale with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. mmm.. It felt good to be eating some dark leafy veggies again!
plus ranch covered salad
chili prawn pasta with steamed spinach for dinner
a bit oily but delicious nonetheless!