The Fails of 2010

[I've been needing to update my blog for a while now, but I haven't really had anything interesting enough to blog about :I Quite a few new posts will be up soon seeing as I've found a new favourite place to OMNOMNOM at The Cheesecake Shop.]


Happy belated New Year! :D Yes, I know this is very late but I've been rather busy. I seem to be 22 now, as of January 15th :] But before we go onto 2011, we really should take a look at a few of the FAILS of 2010. 


The Plough Christmas Dinner. 


Seriously, what the hell was that all about? I know we only paid about £10 each for a 3 course meal but it was pretty darn shoddy. We came here for our work christmas dinner and someone who works with me knows the owner so we got a good deal. You couldn't fault the staff and the prices but I'll let you take a look at the food for yourself. 

It started out nice enough, the bubble coated prawns with sweet chilli sauce were really nice, all crunchy and salty goodness. I'm a huge fan of prawns, especially these kind so I also ate the tails. Crunchy goodness. So after the starter I was pretty excited for the rest of the meal. My friend Charlotte unfortunately didn't have the same experience...

Mmm, tempting. Charlotte chose the garlic mushrooms for her starter and we just stared at them blankly for a moment before bursting out into fits of laughter at these sad looking balls. She took a bite out and got squirted with grease, before watching what looked like an eyeball roll out of the breadcrumbs. Fun stuff. 

Next up was the main course, what I was so looking forward to. Well, my steak had cheese on it for some reason, which wasn't on the menu, but hey I like cheese. Until I tasted it. Rubbery mild cheddar makes me so sad. The steak itself was nice, they cooked it rare like I  wanted (much to the gagging noises of my colleagues. :P). The veg was overcooked I'm afraid and the potatoes were soggy, so I was pretty disappointed. But, again there was worse. 

Christmas dinner. Heh. Looks yummy right? :I I don't think I even need to describe this. 


Flipz

I'd been having cravings for these for a long, long, long, long, long, long time. I mean years and years. I'd had these when I was little and always remembered liking them so I tried making my own a few times just by dipping pretzels in melted chocolate and they were always great, I'm a massive fan of saltiness in chocolate. So I ordered some off the internet, thinking I'd get something EPIC to snack on and have something to blog about. I got them from American Food UK and I was really excited but they were all stuck together and had turned white in places. 

So sad. 


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Bruges

Yeah, Belgium was awesome! Gonna keep this one brief because this was a while ago and I seem to have misplaced my food notebook with all the details. </3 These chocolate boobs caught my attention, they were everywhere! Bruges is basically a town FULL of shops. It's amazing. There must have been about 70 chocolate shops in a mile radius, there was way too much temptation.

My beautiful haul of Belgium sweeties and chocolates. The box is full of babelutte chocolates from Babelutte by Bartholomeus which I will blog when I get the chance. Other things in here are some marzipan balls, 3 different hot chocolate sticks, some rock candy (My brother is lactose intolerant, poor kid) and some banana filled chocolate.

How pretty are these chocolates?! They're all numbered and came in a really cute box in a bag. The shop we got them from was all white and minimalistic, and smelled sooo chocolatey. They were 20 euros a box, which is 25 chocolates. So a little expensive but worth it. 

I had a slight inner struggle trying to pick out only 5 flavours because they all sounded so good but I ended up choosing: 

#04 - Dark Chocolate / Babelutte / Peppermint. 

#08 - Milk Chocolate / Gingerbread / Orange.

#09 - Milk Chocolate / Passion Fruit. 

#25 - Dark Chocolate / Strawberry / Pepper / Lemon. 

#58 - Dark Chocolate / Babelutte / Sea Salt. 

Another thing I loved about Belgium was beasty hotdogs for only 4 euros. Ohyes. My kinda town.

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01.12.10 - Mince Pies, Eccles Cakes & Fridge Cake.

Birds mince pies, Birds eccles cake & Sainsbury's refrigerator cake.


It's december! Which means it's officially the month to start eating far too much with the same old excuse of "Tis the season!" until we feel like our stomachs are about to explode. It doesn't sound that great, but it sure is good at the time. I've already been eyeing up the chocolate Santas and other assorted tasty bits and bobs so a blog post was inevitable and when Eddie piled up a plate with assorted cakes it was decided. 

Carnage. Tasty, tasty carnage. 

This picture's after I cut everything in half, trying to get pictures of the various cakes. In that delicious mess there's a mince pie, an eccles cake and a fridge cake. 

Birds Mince Pie

Birds mince pies are extremely popular where I live, loads of people like them. I wasn't really a fan of them until a year or two ago, but they're pretty good. The pastry's nice and sweet with a little dusting of sugar on the top and it crumbles when you bite into it. I usually have to be careful about mince pies in case they have nuts in them, what with being allergic and all that but these ones don't have any nuts in them and are pretty tasty. 

Squidgy yummy insides. The filling inside is sweet and really moreish so it's pretty hard to just have one, so buy a box. ;D 

Birds Eccles Cake

Birds eccles cakes really make me wonder whether I like mince pies or eccles cakes better. Out of Birds cakes I think I like the eccles cakes best. The pastry's really flakey which is something I love, the top's covered in sugar which satisfies my sweet tooth. 

You can't really see inside it because the lighting was so dark but inside the pastry is loads of sweet, gooey currants. Which is why eccles cakes are sometimes referred to as "squashed fly cakes" or "fly cakes" because of how the currants look on the inside. Not a very appetizing name, but they do taste great. 

Sainsbury's Fridge Cake

Just in case some don't know what this is, fridge cake (also known as tiffin) is basically crushed biscuits, currants, dried fruit and whatever else you like, mixed up with syrup and cocoa powder. Sometimes it's coated in melted chocolate after and sometimes people use melted chocolate instead of syrup. It's called fridge cake because unlike most cakes it doesn't need to be baked, it just needs to chill and set in the fridge :) 

This fridge cake was seriously chocolatey. I'm a self confessed chocoholic but this was a bit too sickly for me. The chocolate was a little reminiscent of cooking chocolate but it was still pretty tasty. The biscuit was nice and crunchy hidden away in the soft chocolate surrounding it and a few currants were nestled in there too. They were good, but so rich I only managed half a slice. Eddie was all too happy to finish it for me and he loved it, good times. 

<3

Parrs Real Chocolate Apples

Jeez, it's been a while since I last posted.  I don't really remember how to work Blogspot lol. 


Parrs Real Chocolate Apples.


I'm not really a fan of the chocolate/candy/toffee apples you get around the end of October. Usually the apple on the inside is a weird shade of brown or the chocolate is just awful. The red candy ones are usually pretty good, but under all the sugar and pretty colours there's almost always a sad looking apple underneath. But, when I wandered around Tesco on my lunch break and I spotted these awesome looking apples I couldn't help myself. It was also a total bonus that they'd been reduced from £1.25 to 25p because they were a few days away from the display date.

Pretty, right? The white one looked perfect, but the milk chocolate one's icing was a little on the lame side unfortunately. I was really apprehensive about eating these just because they looked so nice, so I decided on eating the milk chocolate one first. They looked great on the outside, but what about the inside? 

Well, it was pretty good! The apple was nice and green (not that you can really tell in this picture). The chocolate was slightly reminiscent of cooking chocolate but it was still pretty tasty, the apple inside was still crunchy as it should have been. But, it was so huge I just couldn't eat all of it. I took a few determined bites, but it just wasn't happening, regardless of how yummy it was. And trust me, it was yummy. 

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Cadbury Hot Choc Chunks

Cadbury Hot Choc Chunks - £1.50 - £3.50 

(Just a short post)

My chocolate cravings were getting the best of me and while rummaging through the cupboards I found these bad boys. Dairy Milk Hot Choc Chunks. Awww, yeahhh. Basically these are chunks of Dairy Milk chocolate filled with a chocolate fondant center. 

They're all individually wrapped and look quite cute when you open the box and they come tumbling out. 

Delicious gooey innards. I just wish my phone camera could actually pick up on that much awesomeness. I had a sneaky nibble on it and it just tasted like rich gooey chocolate. 

Drop your chunk into your hot milk and do some serious stirring, really, it takes a lot of stirring. And voila! 

Pretty damn good hot chocolate! The fact that you don't get that awful powdery lump at the bottom is great. I think my mug of milk was too big though, because it wasn't as chocolatey as when I had it before. Unfortunately there was no whipped cream or marshmallows in the house or it could have looked a lot prettier. Either way, I'm a fan of these little chunks. :} 

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29.10.10 - Chiquito. Part II

Chiquito, Redfield Way, Lenton, Nottingham.


Alright, I'm just gonna post what Eddie had, for the sake of posting. 

Chipotle Meatballs - £4.95


Eddie has this thing for meatballs, it's a little creepy. If there's meatballs on the menu for a starter there's an 85% chance he'll get it. This was no exception. The meatballs were gone within minutes. I had to ask him how they were. He said they were medium spicey, not too hot. With a great texture, meaning they weren't overcooked or too chewy. The cornbread was interesting, it looked like a slice of cake...and it kinda tasted like it too. It was light and fluffy (I stole a bit) and a little sweet too so it reminded me of vanilla sponge cake when it wasn't dipped in the tomato and chipotle sauce. 

Enchiladas - £10.15


For his main, Eddie had the Enchiladas with the Spicy Chicken. He was having a little trouble with this, because he doesn't like sour cream, guacamole or chipotle mayo. So, he had to scrape it all off into a pile on the side. After he started tucking in, he was still having trouble eating it due to the fact it fell apart too easily, which we've never had a problem with before. There was too much rice inside them and not enough chicken which made them really filling and a little hard to eat. He said they were nice though, just a pain to eat and too much rice. The Spicy chicken was great, there just wasn't enough of it. 

Mini "Shot" Desserts - £1.79 each, 2 - £3.49, 3 - £4.99, all 5 - £6.99

I managed to convince Eddie to get the mini shots as his dessert as he was too full to have a full dessert, and I really wanted to see them. We decided on one each and share the churros (Yeah, we didn't...) Eddie had the Banoffee Toffee Shot which is on the left. When I asked him how it was he just said "Delicious", It was basically toffee syrup with chunks of nice sweet banana in it, topped with cream and chocolate sprinkles with a biscuit base. He finished it pretty quickly. 

My Double Chocolate Minted Mousse was great, the top half was a dense, rich chocolate mousse with just the right amount of mint to make it not as heavy. The second half was a lighter, bubbly mousse which was just as minty. As full as I was, I managed to eat the whole thing. 

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29.10.10 - Chiquito.

Chiquito, Redfield Way, Lenton, Nottingham.


To celebrate my new job, Eddie and I decided to go out for food and then see Easy A at the Showcase cinema. We'd never been to Chiquito and after looking up the menu on the website, I was getting pretty excited over the Mexican food. When we managed to find a parking space I was practically hopping up and down as we made our way over to the restaurant. As soon as we entered the greeter well...greeted us, and gave us one of those devices that vibrates when your table is ready. 


We had a 20 - 25 minute wait for the table so we went to the bar to try out their extensive cocktail menu. I couldn't make my mind up and settled on a Sex on the Beach to start off on which was really fruity and sweet, perfect start to the weekend. After a while of sitting at the bar "people watching" and talking utter rubbish, the greeter came and took us to our table. I didn't really need to read the menu as I'd picked what I wanted the night before. I'll post what I had, then I'll post what Eddie had later, I need to ask him what it was like. 

The dim lighting made for a great atmosphere, but not great pictures. Oh well! Our waitress brought us over complimentary nachos which I immediately fell head over heels in love with. They were just so perfect! Totally flat, cut perfectly and with just the right amount of saltiness. I debated asking if I could buy a bag to take home, but I totally forgot :( 

Calamari - £5.95


Please excuse the blurry picture, I think the cocktails may have gotten to me. For my starter I chose the calamari, because I love it. And I was totally delighted when I notice the usual calamari you get, the 3 or 4 huge chewy rings of it with a little side salad. This had whole tiny squid in a crunchy batter <3 It was so soft, not overly chewy. I could have eaten it again. The chipotle mayo that came with it went untouched because I can't stand mayo. Other than that this was perfect.

Tacos £10.95


For the main course I decided on tacos with beef chilli filling because I'd never had them before, maybe I should have looked up how to eat them on the internet first as I got in a huge mess with them. The 3 shells were perfect, like the nachos from earlier, nice and crispy and not too salty. The beef chilli was great, just the right amount of heat that didn't have my mouth begging for cold water. The rice was a bit "meh" it was a bit bland and ever so slightly over cooked. The cheese wasn't very nice as it was too rubbery and mild, I'm a fan of extra mature when it comes to cheddar. When you piled them all onto eachother with a little salsa and sourcream it worked pretty well, but I got more on me than in my mouth which was a shame. But all in all it was pretty good. 

Churros - £3.99


These churros depressed me. I'd found them on the menu the night before and being the chocolate and cinnamon fan that I am, I was really excited. I think I was expecting something a lot sweeter, because these just tastes like plain fried dough and cinnamon. I was really let down by these, Eddie didn't even manage a whole one, even after he covered it in the chocolate sauce. </3 


Oh and there was random corn on the plate.


Despite the dessert, which I think was fail on my part because I didn't really know what I was having. It was a great meal, and I'm desperate to go back again. I really want to try the tortillas which we saw someone near us order. It came out on a sizzling skillet and smelling amazing. Plus, I want that calamari again! The cocktails were great too. The only thing that let us down was the slow service because we ended up missing the film and waiting a while for drinks. The waitress was nice and apologetic so I couldn't be mad at her. 


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29.10.10 - Broadmarsh Shopping Center 2.

Magic Corn & Muffin Break. Broadmarsh Shopping Centre, Nottingham.

Five hours after the first cup of corn, the munchies started to set in again after a long day of shopping. So I managed to persuade Peri to come back to the Magic Corn stand so I could have some plain with a little extra butter, which was really good. I still missed the cracked black pepper but the whole idea of a cup of corn for a snack is something I'm very okay with.

Magic Corn - £1.50.
Mocha Frappe - £2.79(? I don't really remember)

We had a little time to kill so we had a sit down in Muffin Break while we waited. So I ordered one of my all time favourite drinks, a mocha frappe. Quite a lot of these I've had before have been quite watered down and not very chocolatey. This was fantastic, it tasted like the cappuccino truffles you can buy from Thorntons. Really chocolatey with the right amount of coffee, it was amazing. When she asked me if I wanted cream on top I had a little panic and said yes, but there was too much of it for my taste. Other than that it was great. <3

Cheesecake - £3.00(?)

Peri had a hot chocolate and a slice of cheesecake of unknown origin. We had no idea what flavour it was supposed to be, because the sign simply said cheesecake so I couldn't have any in case it had nuts in it. Peri, being a lover of cheesecake told me it was really fluffy and light. The base wasn't great and we had NO idea what the while middle was supposed to be. It was really rich so she only finished a few forkfuls of it.

We had food and a show because the people to our side got stuck in a lift.

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