Wednesday 8 June 2011

Chocolate protein oat pancakes

Gotta love the first Tuesday of the month because it's Milk and Honey's free tasting for members plus guest! We stopped by Kati Roll first to grab a meal snack before the tasting because the free samples leave you pretty tipsy if don't have anything in your tummy!
We got two sandwiches to share: the chicken tikka and unda beef roll. They were quite flavorful with a bunch of spices I couldn't pinpoint.
http://www.thekatirollcompany.com/
The menu isn't very complicated AND they have a Chana Masala roll for vegetarians. I might have to come back to try that one.
"Tarek go pose in front of the black door!!" The entrance to M&H is really inconspicuous; you have to know where you're going in order to find it. Buzz and you'll be let in! It's actually quite swanky and nice on the inside. Dim lighting and speak easy music to get you in the mood :)
Every first Tuesday of the month, they have a different liquor tasting. Tonight was Grand Marnier and its sub parts.
I always dug the red ribbon that gives the bottle a classy look
Grand Marnier is used in a lot of drinks such as margaritas and cosmopolitans. I love margaritas :)
Grand Marnier is a blend of cognacs and bitter orange. It was created in 1880 by Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle. Fun fact: His friend Cesar Ritz came up with the name Grand Marnier and Alexandre then helped him promote and buy his Ritz Paris Hotel.
We were the first to arrive and the first to get a fruity tasting cocktail. There was a hint of absinthe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Marnier
We were given a presentation on the history and makings of Grand Marnier. It was quite interesting. It also helped that the guy doing the presentation was pretty funny!
We tried a bunch of different cognacs that go into the making of Grand Marnier. They were harsh to the smell and burned when going down the throat- not surprising for a 60 proof alcohol! Not the most pleasant sensation but the overall taste that was left in the mouth was a fruity one.
Near the end, he gave us a sample of the final product: Grand Marnier. It tasted like orange candy after all those harsh samples. I would even dare to say it was yummy (or the liquor might have gone straight to my head!).
One last final fruity drink made from GM before heading out!
We walked out of M&H and saw the cutest dog and owner selling The Big Issue. I begged T to donate some money so I could get a picture of this. hehehe.. I'm such a sucker.
Dog lovers beware! Hey. It worked on me.
After the tasting, we stopped by Arirang to grab an actual bite of dinner. We weren't too thrilled with the service or the food. T proclaimed he would never go back even if it was the only restaurant open! Now that's a bold statement.
http://www.ariranglondon.co.uk/
The sushi wasn't very fresh but I guess you can't really expect that much out of a Korean restaurant.
Jap Chae- There were lots of veggies but the flavor was a bit too peppery
BBQ- Pork and Beef. The portion was good but the pork was too fatty!
Bibimbap- According to T, there weren't enough veggies and the flavor wasn't as good as some of the others we've had in London. I would have to agree! Oh well- You can't win everytime!

Breakfast this morning: Chocolate protein oat pancakes. I went trolling online for a recipe for pancakes and this is what I found. There are a bunch of them on the web but I didn't have some of the ingredients they called for. I was still waiting on our Ocado order this morning for the ground cinnamon.
http://amerrylife.com/food/chocolate-protein-oatmeal-pancake-recipe
  • 1/3 cup oats
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • I didn't add the 1/2 tsp cinnamon or cocoa powder because I didn't have any cinnamon and I felt that the cocoa powder would have made this pancake too chocolatey!
Thoroughly mix the ingredients together
Place on a hot skillet (but at least attempt to flatten them out in a circular shape-oops my bad!)
Topped with maple syrup. I gave T the sloppy looking one- I love having him as my guinea pig. muahhaha!
and I made mine more pretty! So, overall I thought it was good for a "healthy" breakfast. There is no flour or any obvious binding ingredient but the texture was still very hearty. I think that came from the combination of the oats and protein powder. I would definitely recommend putting something sweet on top because of the thickness of the pancake. I think I'm going to try putting fruit and maybe flavored yogurt next time. The possibilities of toppings are endless.

Agenda: PUNCH class, Korean studies, salsa maybe?