Mango craving cause by the one and only, boredom!

Oh how one of these would be so nice now......

Or one of these......

Or one of these........

 :( Days like this, I miss HK :(

Bellagio's Terenure

The weekly expedition with Ms. K, this week no problem in where to go, Dundrum it was and mainly to buy food!! Penney's didn't even get a mention- ok well it did but we agreed on food was more important :) But before we even sat down to eat, food purchases were made in M&S- a lot of food for a great price. I'm thinking I might go there more often from now own after 6pm for all those great bargains. Some of the things on offer- mussels for two or less than 4 euro, two dessert things in a packet for 75 cent, ready made pasta meals for 1.50, long rectangular tartlet plus salad plus side of potatoes or something for 6 euro, sweet and sour chicken for 3ish euro (all had gone off dates of today, bar the tartlet 6 euro offer) But still, total steal. Damn M&S didn't have any coffee and walnut cakes left, which were less than 3 euro, 2.99 or something :P


So shopping in Dundrum, sorted, where to to save our famished tummies.. Indian, Italian, Indian, Italian, Indian, Italian, India Gate, Bellagio, India Gate, Bellagio...... Oh the decisions one has to make to fill themselves up! After long negotiations of you pick, no you pick, no you pick, Bellagio in Terenure it was for tonight. We've been there before Christmas and we had such a yummy meal it's a little surprising we haven't been there since. The restaurant was pretty empty when we arrived, just around 7pm- made it in time for the early bird menu which didn't finish till 7.30pm, but the place soon filled up pretty quickly. We were seated almost straight away, the Italian owner looking guy asked if we would like a drink, to which I replied yes some water, and he immediately said still or sparkling, to which I had a quick decision to make, very quick, shit can I say tap water................. Well those two words, tap water, never came out, but something very close to it, still, please did. Thinking to myself robbing me off fecker, totally got scammed into that one (noticed other tables had jugs of water on their table, only one other table, two tables down from us had the bottle water from Italy), the thoughts of the scene in Slumdog Millionaire where the little boy fills up empty branded bottles with tap water crosses my mind.... When we were seated we were given menus, the early bird menu didn't seem to want to know us, he was playing hide and seek and only came out of his hiding spot when I had to ask for it.


Menu for the night:


Starters: Calamari and scallops
Mains: Carbonara and pizza vesuvio (salami, mushrooms, chili)


Verdict:


Calamari: Was much crisper last time. Still tasted good though. Came with a tasty garlicy herb mayo.


Scallops: Very good. I felt that the cauliflower puree it came sitted on wasn't hot enough.
Note- The starters took very long to come. The waiter himself noticed this and came over to us to tell us they were on the way, the scallops took a bit longer to cook?? Now that's a first I've heard of that. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't you always told not to over cook the scallops!? 


Courtesy of googling- The second thing we have to be aware of is that if we overcook the scallops to the slightest extent, they will assume a texture similar to that of rubber and be quite unpalatable. Most of us are familiar with the unpleasant sensation of chewing upon a piece of overly tough steak; with shellfish, the experience is even more unpleasant.


:D:D:D


Pizza Vesy: Nice, crispy thin doughy base
Carbonara: Well what can I say but a big disappointment, fly the chef back to Italy. Nothing compared to Little Caesars at all. The chef obviously was an amateur! Scrambled egg in my carbonara! Yucky. Yes, scrambled egg. Obviously the egg yoke split when it was added in so it turned into scrambley. How could a chef, especially an Italian one get that wrong?! I don't know. Beats me. Let down.

Total cost: 50 euro plus some not ordered scrambled egg and some water fresh from the Italian taps

What a gorgeous Saturday we had!

So we had a kind of Thailand style Saturday minus the beach, the waves, the sand, the pool, the pineapple, the mango and the bottled water! But weather wise, it was amazing! Oh and minus the tan as well, even though a teeny weeny bit of skin got a little bit burnt, but nothing like the bikini chicken was going to happen..

Friday was a long day and when we got home all we wanted was something QUICK to fill our empty tummies.. I would have settled for an Indian but due to trying to be healthy and not order a take out, the chef was called in. So sticking to the Indian theme, on a thin line, we had T style chinese chicken curry. Bought a 5 euro corn fed chicken and used that- if you know me, you should know the chicken breast comes no where near my kitchen. Should really learn how to properly debone a chicken, I felt like there was still loads to of meat I could have gotten off it- it didn't go to waste however, chicken stock = chicken congee for brekkie the next morning..

So here's T's style chinese chicken curry process:

It was pretty spicy which I intentionally and unintentionally tried to it! I guess I tried to make it spicy for Mr. C and not spicy for me, in the same pot, if that is possible! Yeah I don' think so either. Tasted good but could have done with a bit more sauce. 

What a busy day for the dogs- wrecked.. Little did they know what they were up for the following day!!



Saturday morning: What a gorg sunny hot day. Would have been a pity to waste it by not doing something outdoors, so a BBQ and the beach had to be the POA. Now it would be a bit crazy for me- we saw some crazy ppl do it, sunny bathing on the  beach, but what ever floats your boat!

`

After, a sandy and wet (for Bo, who went for a swim 'voluntarily') morning, it was off to get some grub and marinate it for the BBQ.

Who would have thought garlic bread would have worked soooooooooooooo well on a barby.. Absolutely tasty! Definitely a must for BBQs from now on..

Akasaka

I thought I better do this Akasaka post now, or it won't be done for another week due to laziness.

Oh Akasaka, oh Akasaka, how I love your sushi and sushi and sushi and sushi :) Oh and crab roe salad and crab roe salad and crab roe salad :)

I don't think I've ever been disappointed with Akasaka and their sushi, and their sushi and their crab roe salad and their crab roe salad and their sushi and their crab roe salad and their.. I'm sure you'll have got the message now. It's one of my fav restaurants, if not my fav. Oopsy forgot Yamamori Sushi.. Hmmmm might have to stop in there over the weekend, I feel a Japanese buzz coming on here. The thing with Akasaka which I think makes it more enjoyable is the actual restaurant itself and the atmosphere. I love the whole Japanese decor, sushi bar and tatami tables- just remember not to wear odd socks, and socks for that matter.

Oh my tastebuds, those chili, garlicy, pickeled cucumbers were so so so tasty we had to ask for seconds, thirds if we were brave enough and didn't want to look like weirdos :P But no we settled on seconds only, wanted to be able to walk out the door with our heads up high! We would have paid for extra extra, but they came complementary.. Top points.. Beansprouties were a tad bit bland and needed a good kick up the shoot.

We ordered this, but the waitress said it was on the house. Chi-Ching!! First two things into our bellies and they were both free !!

Go on the sushi and sashimi for the two sisters!! Don't think I'll ever be able to stomach raw fish, furthest I'll go is smoked salmon.. Dragon rolls my fav, I could just eat them all day, every day.. Munch munch munch.. Hmmmmm.. QP,, yum yum yum !! Dragon rolls and QP (japo mayo), all time favourite, I cannot stress how much I love them!! 

Salmon did look really fresh though. Love the lines going through it, I think it's a good sign of good fish :)

Oh my dear dragon rolls, how I would love to be eating you now :P So damn tasty.

The suki yaki. It used to taste so good, a bit disappointing last night, too sweet for my liking. Beef was very tender and tasty though, and could do with a few more enoki mushrooms.. Enoki mushroommmmmmmmmmmmmmsssssssss.. YUM !

And lastly, prawn tempuraaaaaaaaaa. So hot and crispy and tasty. The dipping sauce for them was soooooo good.. At this stage all bellies were full and happy :) Can't believe there were 2 left that we didn't finish (so want one now). Hope Chloe enjoyed them as much as we did :)

Meal was definitely a winner and at only 20 euro a head, there was no complaints to be made. Leaving the restaurant and making our way to...........

YEAH RIGHT !! We wish.. If only, if only..

Weekly weekend menu

The time had come again to solve the sweet and sour craving!! It seems like a every second week routine these days. It's like, we didn't have sweet and sour last week, we have to have it this week or else it's a crime. I guess any tradition we've come to take upon, just like our tradition to have rice at least once every weekend!!

So what could we have with sweet and sour pork?? Usual suggestions came up, 'usual' meaning what the taste buds were craving. Suggestions such as that stir fried cabbage I cook, came up a few times, I might have tried to push the idea aside :P but 'how about stir fried cabbage' suggestion came up so many times I think I might just have to have given in :P

I was in the mood for aubergines. I think I'm always in the mood for them. So a spicy aubergine with sirloin beef was definitely a big high five........ In Tesco the night before getting a bit of shopping done.. Picked up a packet of sirloin beef.. 'What's that for'? 'Nothing'. Maybe I do always have something up my sleeve, food wise!

Before marinating

After marinating!

Pork for sweet n sour

Yummy purple vegetables

Carrots diced so finely that I forgot to put in :(

Dinner is served Sir.. and Bo

No table manners what so ever

 Where would we be without you!!

And of course, how could we forget the cabaiste :)

Spicy aubergine T style

Sleeping beauties (well don't know about Bo as you shall see)

Usual nightly sleep with Suki, but last night Bo decided to join us. Bad luck for both Suki and me I guess, the fat snoring pig was sleeping with us. I woke up on the odd occasion having to kicking Bo and hopefully she would stop her loud snoring, but that just made the next snore even worse !! I reckon Suki will be sleeping for the whole day to catch up on her beauty sleep, any excuse Suki right ?!

How she started off..

 Definitely a set up photo!! Not a chance of it happening from mother nature.. But I think they were both so tired, they couldn't care.

 And finally, good morning stretches.

New Empire

Dinner tonight- New Empire in Rathmines with my take away buddy, who was having a strong craving for salt and chili prawns following last time's Ginzeng experience in Liffey Valley!!


After a little road trip around Tallaght, our tummies couldn't go any longer without food so there was only one stop next, Rathmines. It was between New Empire and Phoenix Dragon and tonight New Empire won the pick.


Ordered- 3 in 1, salt and chili prawns and an ever so expensive bottle of coke- we've decided to bring our own drinks with us next time :P Total came to 11 euro. Prawns were 6 euro, halved so it wasn't too bad. 


The 3 in 1 was huge !! Portion was definitely alot more than if you ordered it for take away- we sat inside and ate, the usual table, the usual chairs !! The counter girl was ever so friendly- she seemed to like her job with big smiles from her left ear to right, not the usual service you get from a take away !! Curry was hot and a tad bit spicy resulting in runny noises around the table.

The salt and chili prawns were good, way better than the ones we got before in another take away which resulted in nobody wanting to talk to us for the night because all that came out of our mouths was the sweet scent of garlic :P ha ha ah no it wasn't that bad- just Mr. C didn't wanna talk to me :P Portions were a nice size and a good few came in one portion, I think I might prefer them to Ginzeng??

Easter weekend

What a great weekend, so much to catch up on that's happened.. Apart from the fact Mr. C was up every morning at 4m to go to work, apart from the fact Bo had terrible snoring problems, so loud one would have thought there was a pig at the bottom of the bed and the crappy Irish weather, it couldn't have been better!! Wait did I mention my farmers market had lost it's poor little roots to the frost?? Yes unfortunately the little plants couldn't take the cold Irish weather and well, died!! And with the looks of today's weather I don't think a greenhouse will even work, maybe we should move on to the good old cabbage and potatoes?! Easter weekend was great.. We did nothing but chill all afternoon/evening.. Dogs enjoyed it, but probably were wondering where their weekend outgoings had gone.

So what was on the menu this weekend?? I don't remember what was for lunch on Saturday!! I'm thinking hard for a split second here but nothing's coming to my mind?? Oh wait, that's right, due to mistakes we've made in the past, i.e. eating a big fat greasy dirty chipper for lunch and filling our little bodies up with chips and a battaaaa burgaaaa, leaving no room in us for dinner, we've learned that that was not a good option any more, so courtesy of Mrs. C, we had some yummy smoked salmon and brown bread- well Mr. C had that, I was 0.01% more adventurous, I had melted cheese on white bread and smoked salmon. It was delish!! So could that it's making me hungry now. I forget to take photos of it probably because I was too busy eating and enjoying it :P

What I do have pictures of though is what was for dinner- T's special tag with creamy white wine sauce plus extras and half home made chips, half frozen.... Apparently we had a bag of potatoes at home, which meant we had 2 potatoes in the fridge :P

Bo waiting so patiently for some scraps with a big runny noise (note: left nostril)

And of course there was little ole Suki..

"Well I don't know why I came here tonight

I got the feeling that something ain't right

I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair

And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs

Clowns to the left of me *Mr. C* :P

Jokers to the right

Here I am, stuck in the middle with you"

And how could we not forget the good ole dessert, would take the credit if I could but I think it impossible- Superquinn coffee slice and jam donut cream thing.. DELISH !! Better than the ones we got in Mannings last week.. How I want one now, following on from my smoked salmon and melted cheese toastie.. Yum Yum..

Sometimes too good to share, but because I love you, I'll let you have a bite :)

That was Saturday night's belly fully satisfied :)


This was how Bo spent Sunday, spent every morning while Mr. C was in work before getting caught and being told to " GET......." (get down, but once she hears that GET, she's a goner) Bless x

So a bit bored waiting for Mr. C to get off work and seeing Lent was over and chocolate was allowed again, I decided to make him some chocolate chip cookies :P Was pretty simple, but don't think I'd be in a hurry to make them again, although Mr. C did make a very tasty dessert, honey comb ice cream with broken up love heart cookies..... He broke my heart :( So mean :P

The Mix

Before going into the oven

The final product, only a tad bit deformed looking 

So dinner, well since it was Easter we decided to treat ourselves slightly to a rack of lamb. There wasn't any fresh rosemary in the supermarket so we had to improvise with some dried rosemary and thyme, butter and garlic marinade.. It smelt so good even before it was cooked.. Hmmmm I love garlic !!

Mr. C's dinner with peppercorn sauce 

My dinner with mint jelly












So continuing with spoiling ourselves over the Easter :P We went to Ming Court for some lunch- someone had a craving for dim sum and I had to follow :P Here's some pics to show what a tasty meal we had.

The XO turnip was nice and spicy, and beef with broccoli hoi sum..... sorry I mean hor fun but somebody called it hoi sum (meaning happy) so I've that on my head now :P :P :P, so the beef with broccoli hor fun was tasty. I think this dish usually comes with black bean pork ribs, but sometimes spitting out all them bones isn't very ladylike :P :P :P

To finish off, a great weekend, yummy food, and some chocolate eggs to keep the dogs happy x

 As usual Bo pushes Suki away (note: Bo's tongue sticking out already even before the box is open)

Suki: "Please don't touch my mouth and get it dirty"