FYRP & Some fond Pizza memories

If you're in shock at seeing this post, can you imagine MY shock? Haha! I've been swamped with a myriad of things to do and a bundle of interesting (and one exceptionally painful) experience and so I've been incredibly tardy in my writing.

Anyhoo! Given that I've FINALLY composed a lovely, wonderful and absolutely charming title for my research paper (insert viscous drips of sarcasm), and am now able to breathe a sigh of relief, I'm in the mood to blog.

That and also coz it's my boyfriend's 29th birthday and I'm in cheery spirits and happiness makes me want to talk a LOT. Now since I live alone, you my dear cyber space, are the only thing I can yab at and not feel an inch of guilt. Kekkeke~

So so so! Let's get back to business shall we? This blog has been collecting dust for about a year now and it's time for a good shake up!

Consider yourselves warned - updates galore coming up! And NO, you do NOT want to see the massive backlog of food pictures I've got in my hard drive at the moment. :S Well, I suppose we all know what I'll be doing when I get bored of my FYRP readings!

Now on the the good stuff - FOOD PORN.

I was introduced to this charming pizza parlour (?) - Pizza Provencale - in Clifton Village by the law girlies during a celebratory dinner get-together with Alana and Jas who were on holiday in Bristol for a short few days.

Our first choice was Rustic Vine on St. Michael's but they were mean and lazy and decided not to open their doors to a bunch of hungry and absolutely delightful girls. Consider my curiosity piqued however, as I am DETERMINED to head on to the Rustic Vine at some point to grab a slice of pizza - allergies be damned!

Oh yes! Update! Since the removal of my polyp from my intestine, I am now gluten/wheat intolerant! *SOBS* PIZZAAAAAA is no more!

Oh sigh. Well, at least, I'll always have fond memories of the taste of piping, crusty, chewy hot dough slathered in decandently sumptuous cheese and garnished with an array of marinated ingredients. T^T


Gah! I digress. Ok, back to Pizza Provencale~


Here's what we ordered: PIZZAS -4 of them!


The regulars are about 12" in diameter and according to the staff, are enough to be shared between 2! Since we had a group of 8, and wanted dessert after (why wouldn't we?), we settled on getting 4:

The Diavola - the classic pepperoni!

The Hot Shot - Spiced beeef + Chillis

Today's special - The BBQ Chicken (my fav! It was soooo good! The chicken bits were juicy and succulent! Delicious!)

The Jardin - for yours (vegetarian) truly. I felt quite bad ordering this since no one liked it at all... Didn't know that I'm the only one who dislikes meat that much. :S Sorry ladies!

......Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......

The pizzas were SOOOO good - to be honest, I only had the Jardin and the BBQ chicken - not a fan of meat (and a gag reflex for red meat) so I didn't feel inclined to try the rest. But judging by how fast we scarfed down the pizzas, I'd say the food deserved a 4/5!

Now onto every girl's 2nd best friend (food can never replace diamonds, thank you.) - DESSERT!

*squeals in major excitement*

The chocolate cream pie!

Today's special - Fruit crumble

The banoffee pie!


My boring and overly sweet raspberry sorbet!

Dinner success! Not a morsel left! :X

All in all, I'd say we had a fantabulous night. :D One more time? <3

Chilli Pizza

I've been dying... D.Y.I.N.G. to have Zizi's pizzas for a LONG LONG TIME.

I'm sure most of you would've heard me whine about them by now!

One day, I couldn't take it anymore and so I whipped out my frozen bread from the freezer (yes, that's how I keep my food since it takes me 3 months to finish a loaf), defrosted it slightly in the toaster while I chopped up my fresh chillis (which were not-so-fresh since they were a week+ over due date) with pure excitement.

If I can't get that Zizi pizza. I'm gonna get A pizza.

Watch me.

Defrosted bread slice? Check.

Chillis? Check.

Sundried tomato paste? Check.

Note: Stay away from what stores call "pizza tomato base sauce" or whatchamacallits.

They're rubbish.

Just stick and invest in a pot of sundried tomato paste - the flavour is fuller and it's just divine. I always keep a pot in my fridge.... Even if it takes me 3 months to finish it!!!

Spread tomato paste onto bread; lay chillis out neatly; place a slice of mild mozzarella cheese (or any cheese you like) and pop it into the oven until it looks like this:

Fabulous!!! Who needs Zizi's now!?!?!??! Huh huh???

Now dig in.

*crunch*

So good.

The Beggar's Answer to Croque Monsiuer

Everytime I visit Pat Val, I'm always so tempted to have their Croque Monsieur.... But it's TOO large a sandwich for me to finish and so payin 5quid for half a sandwich just never seemed worth it.

Which explains this beggar's answer to the Croque Monsieur.

I don't think I need to say much 'coz the pictures themselves will speak a thousand words....

Mmmmm.

Look at the cheese! Mmmm.

For my version, I used mild mozzarella slices instead of emmenthal or gruyère cheese (a much cheaper and healthier alternative I assure you) and replaced the ham slices between the bread with spinach (just coz I love spinach so! And am not a fan of... Well, meat).

Not usually one to praise my own cooking (since I hardly eat what I cook), but DAMN, this was GOOD.

So good, I suggest you try it too! xoxo.

My 1st ever English Tea Party (pretty dresses included)

The elections for UBLC (University of Bristol Law Club) are underway and campaigns are in FULL force. Just check out our Law boards and you will understand what I mean.

This year, is special because 2 of my favourite people in law school are running for the elections!

Hena for President and Leen for Vice President.

Honestly, if you've met these 2, you'll understand why I'm a big fan of theirs. Cheery, bubbly, spritely, caring, sincere and so down to earth. So when Jas decided to throw a tea party in honour of their campaigns, I was thrilled!

So thrilled, I baked 2 cakes.

Haha. My twist on the victoria sponges.

Just out from the oven and dusted with icing sugar!

For Hena, the first thought that came to mind was peanut M&M's. I don't know why - maybe it's the yellow packaging; the peanuts and the friendly vibe I get in general from peanut M&M's (ONLY peanut M&M's).... Well, whatever it may be, it inspired a chocolate victoria sponge.

Whipped cream, chocolate sauce and dark chocolate chips.

Leen, on the other hand, is pink-lady defined. I remember she told me that her favourite colour is pink once and so I added a good dash of pink colouring into her cake! Unfortunately, as the cake browned when baked, the colour didn't show! Hahahhaha!

I should've considered that when I decided to add the colouring! Lolz!

Nevertheless, jam is red and is a couple of shades darker than pink, and like pink and Leen, is sweet and fruity and delicious! So for Leen, I was inspired to do a classic victoria - with strawberry jam. Mmmm.

Jam!

I had to walk over to Jas's place for the party and so saved the final touches to the end..... I.e. the Smarties.

Finally dressed and ready to be eaten!

Nyom!

It was a lovely tea party. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland... Just minus the madness.






AND... My favourite...

Such an awesomely cute teapot!!!! XDDDD <3!

Of course, there was no shortage of beautiful/gorgeous people...







AND... *drum roll*


Henry.

Heee heee heee

Peace Dude.

Gah! I had such an amazing time! More tea parties PLEASE!

(Though note to self: No PJs next time! XDDD)

Chinese New Year 2010

Those of you who knew me before I moved to UK will know me for dismissing my heritage vindictively and with much gusto.

So I am sure that this will come as a shock when you learn how oriental I have and have been behaving of late. If you had witnessed my actions, you'd think an alien from Mars had usurped your poor friend and substituted her for an alien Calista-wannabe.

Recently, I realiase that I have not only taken efforts to speak more Mandarin and Cantonese, but I have also engaged in various traditions surrounding Chinese New Year. For example:

1) I trimmed my own fringe in line with the tradition of having to cut one's hair before new year;

2) made 汤圆 (tang yuan = sweet dumplings); and

3) 大扫除-ed (spring cleaned)

And yes ladies and gentlemen, those are Chinese characters on my blog. *chortles* A new addition to my already multifaceted personality. I've just realised how much I love being Chinese and how proud I am to be one.

My dad is extremely pleased. You have NO idea just how pleased and words are inadequate to describe the intensity of his happiness.

MOVING ON!

This post is not supposed to be about my transformation but about my FANTABULOUS CNY's Eve Dinner party (Invite and new gorgeous friend, Makiko-san, courtesy of Xicheng) and subsequent CNY dinner at Mayflower (good times and good food courtesy of Henry)! <3

Lets get the ball rolling shall we?


CNY EVE DINNER

I ended up at this fabulous via pure luck. I had met Xicheng for breakfast one morning and he was kind enough to invite me along to this dinner which he was having with his friends on the condition that I contributed a dish. Since the menu was full of savouries, I decided to bring a dessert.

The initial plan was to make red bean or green bean soup as it was traditional and easy to make.... But I stopped short of doing so as it dawned on me that 汤圆 was/is a MUST. They are after all, a tradition.

So for the 1st time ever, I made a trip to the Asian supermarket down by St. Thomas and grabbed myself several bags of glutinous rice flour and a can of sweet read bean paste (I would have made the black sesame paste but that was too time consuming). Xi Cheng offered to help.


汤圆 is suprisingly easy to make. All you need is flour and water and a lil' bit of imagination.

The set up.

Some water + flour + red bean later....

They look amazing don't they?

We ended up making a WHOLE tray's worth. Like so:

And we only had a dinner for 8!

While we were making the 汤圆, I got to know Makiko-san. She's such an AMAZING person - she's doing her Masters in Music (classical music) in Bristol and will be doing her PhD after her Masters! Not to mention, she's absolutely gorgeous and sweet.

Makiko-san! xxx

After we finished (I totally overestimated the amount of flour needed and have enough left-over to make another 100 more!), we brought the uncooked 汤圆 over to Xicheng's friend's place and was greeted with the following:-

Firstly, a very very talented Chinese painter/Calligrapher. Who happens to be very very happy (as you can tell) and one of the nicest and warmest people I've met.

Asian veggies!

OMG. I miss the cleaver.

Pork. Not a big fan. In fact, not a fan at all! But it was very very fresh as you can see!

Cooking!

Speaking of cooking, I got to see Xicheng in the kitchen! Check it out!

Xicheng: Master chef of the cabbage.

The aroma wafting from the kitchen was incredible and Makiko-san and I were dancing about in the kitchen, pretty much singing/chanting, "It looks delicious" in Japanese.

And boy, was the wait worth it.... Photo spam evidences this. Just take a look!

This was a really interesting dish I've never had it before. But they called it porridge and it comprises of barley, nuts, sweet potato boiled/cooked down.

It was a great dinner and finally, when it got to dessert, I made 2 versions - (1) soup based and (2) peanut/sesame/sugar based..... Basically, wet and dry versions.

Didn't get a shot of the soup as I left it in the massive pot, but I did get this shot:

It looked good and I hope it tasted good! (I didn't have any)

Oh oh!!! Not to forget, Makiko-san graciously shared a bottle of New Year's sake with us! And it was so pretty - it had gold flakes in them!

Pretty - it had gold flakes in them!

So this was my Chinese New Year's Eve and it was great!

Now onto....


CNY DINNER @ MAYFLOWER

Henry told me that Mayflower served Chinese food that closely resembles home.... And boy was he right on that! The food was really delicious albeit a tad too salty for my liking.... Then again, I don't eat rice and so that could be why. The rice may mitigate the saltiness.

Nevertheless, we had a large group of about 20 people! And we started of with fortune cookies (oh how I love them).

I don't know if this suggests something, but I did get this fortune twice in a row.

Me like.

Was not 3rd time lucky though....

TOTALLY diggin' this one!

My favourite dish for the night had to be the prawns - I miss chunky prawns and it has been a while since I had seafood.

(Oh seafood.... <3)>

And then we had red bean soup for dessert!

Which, unfortunately, made it into my tummy before I got a shot! Hahahha!

A group shot:

Big group. Much fun. Awesomeness.

Best Chinese New Year I've had - lack of red packets notwithstanding! =D