Beef balls, frog legs & coconut juice

Hello there guys. Sorry to be a stranger and not have blogged for a very very long time. After my holiday with my family to Belgium and France, college re-started and I started going to the gym everyday and then I also have to work for my mother so I couldn't find the time to juggle between blogging on both my blogs.

But as part of my new years resolution to blog more, here I am blogging for the first time on this blog in the year 2012. I hope you understand why it's so late though.

Anyway, these pictures above are just a snippet of the food we had in Brussels, Belgium during our first night there.

I had beef ball soup with vegetables, which in my opinion sort of tasted like soap and the beef balls were a bit hard. I then had frog legs for the very first time. It had vegetables with it. I thought I'd try it for the first time since I've also decided to expand my food comfort zone and be more adventurous if I want to be a chef, I need to have tried different things.

So, the frog legs didn't taste of chicken, as most people have said it did. For me it tasted bland despite the sauce and the vegetables with it but overall it was alright.

I had coconut juice as well, which was lovely as I haven't had coconut juice in such a long time and it also had fresh coconuts in it which made it extra appealing and amazing. Maybe I will find a coconut juice somehow here in England but I doubt that that'd be easy, I still challenge myself.

So for now, I leave you with this pictures and the next post will be the next lot of food we had during our trip so stay tuned.

P.S . For more pictures during our first night in Belgium, see here.

Adobo

(Adobo)

This is one of my favourite Philippine dishes that originated from Spanish cuisine. These pictures are a quick method list of how to cook the dish. The main ingredients: chicken, ginger, soy sauce, garlic, pepper, potatoes and rice (optional for others but Filipinos usually or almost always has it with rice).

Anyway the quick method: 1.) Put the chicken (cut into big chunks) and ginger (grated) in a deep pan. Ommit the skin off if unwanted.
2.) Add the garlic, pepper and soy sauce.
3.) Bring to boil and then turn down to simmer for 15-25 minutes or until the chicken's softened.
4.) Add potatoes (cut in quarters) to the pan and bring to boil again. Once boiled, bring down to simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
5.) Serve hot with rice or other preferred accompinament.

Crocodile food

Dinner and buffet desserts from a restaurant called 'Crocodile' in France

So I know I haven't updated in so so so long on this blog and I have a valid reason being that I have created a new blog called 'A Melody Of Diaries' where I have been posting a lot because I haven't been muchly active with food during this summer but recently I have been again since starting college and my course 'Catering' which put be back on track with my journey to food and my love for it.

Anyway, here I am getting this blog active again and sharing with you the news that I will be going to Belgium and France after Christmas until just after New Years so I hope to be having some nice Belgian and French food and if I do, I will definitely be taking pictures and sharing it with you all.

About the pictures above, I thought it'd be appropriate to share with you some of the food I had with the last time I was in France with my family and those above are just from one night, I will show you the other foods from France on other posts as it gets nearer to our Christmas holiday.

I just want to say thank you for being tolerant and understanding of my inactiveness and I hope to make it up to you all. For now, enjoy this long post and also if you can, why don't you pay a visit to my other blog: 'A Melody of Diaries' which is more about my style and what I wear for casual days or events and also my life and stuff about it :) follow it if you want :) thank you!

indulge yourself to some holiday food

This is what we ordered at the restaurant by the seaside in Barcelona: seafood paella with muscles and lobsters and other seafood as well that I don't know the name of. Paellas from Spain are the best and I would go back again and again to Spain because of their amazing paellas.

The breakfast we had at one of the cafes in France before we left: hot chocolate and croissant with butter and sugar. If you are going to France you can't not have croissants. The French are known for their amazing bread and their famous croissants and so you just have to taste for yourselves like we did, and we were definitely satisfied with their wonderful soft puffy croissants.

This is dish is what my mother/father ordered at one of the hotel restaurants we stayed in, in France. I don't exactly know what it is called but it is either massive shrimp/lobster without skin on top of salad and sauce.

This is what I ordered from the same hotel restaurant. It is beef with cream sauce (that I don't exactly know of the contents), roasted small potatoes and some salad on the side. It was really good and filling and I would love to have it some time again.

Typical American or British food that perhaps everyone has tasted before: chicken with fries/chips from one of Benidorm's restaurants.

Amazing cool coke lemon drinks from one of the restaurant in Benidorm that we dined in.

I dont exactly know what this is but Im pretty sure that the top bits are nuggets/chicken with salad at the bottom and orange cheese. Anyway, this was ordered by my dad at the Pizzeria Avanti restaurant from Benidorm.

Fish with salad and tomato for side dish ordered by my dad from a seaside restaurant in Benidorm.

The pasta with tomato sauce and garlic bread dish that my sister ordered at the same restaurant (seaside restaurant from Benidorm)

Our drinks from the seaside restaurant from Benidorm.

The hotel's breakfast that was free from the hotel we stayed in, in Benidorm. The bacon looks a little fatty but they were good. There were other more options but this is pretty much what I chose for everyday. There were: toasts, cereal and many more breakfast choices.

A more closer look to the paella we ordered from Barcelona (very 1st picture).

The anchovies starter dish from one of the restaurants we dined in, in Benidorm. It also had lemons with it to add to that salty taste and give it that hint of sourness with the fish.

One of the Chinese dishes that we ordered from the Chinese restaurant we dined in, in Barcelona. I don't really know why we dined in in a Chinese restaurant when were at a Spanish country, I think it might be because it was cheap and it was one of the nearest restaurants from our hotel.

Another one of the Chinese dishes that we ordered from the restaurant.

Chicken wings, thighs and other h'orderves from a restaurant in Barcelona near Sagrada de Familia. We ordered these to help us keep going for the next hours as we were on our way to Sagrada de Familia and we knew that we were going to be taking pictures and be there to look at and analyse the creation for hours.

Another picture of the h'orderves from a Barcelona restaurant.

I don't exactly know what this dish is but Im supposing they are strips of onion rings but instead of rings they are in strips. There's also the bread and fried meat of some sort and salad. I definitely know this is from Benidorm though.


Carbonara pasta that my sister ordered for her brunch whilst we were in Barcelona. This is pretty much what she ordered for the rest of the days we were in Barcelona. The restaurant was one of the nearest restaurants that were there from our hotel besides the Chinese retaurants. The restaurant was also more like a pasta restaurant so my sister didn't want to miss the chance of ordering her favourite pasta dish: Carbonara, whilst me on the other hand ordered a different one everyday so I could indulge in the different types and tastes available.

The dessert that my mother ordered from the restaurant Buffalo Grill in France. Buffalo Grill seems to be a famous restaurant because we saw atleast 5 as we were travelling through France to Spain.

The h'orderves from Buffalo Grill.

The salmon and rice dish that my mum ordered from Buffalo Grill. I don't know what the sauce is but looking at the picture it looks like it might be mustard or cheese with herbs, etc.

The grilled beef with chips and sauce that my dad ordered from Buffalo Grill.

The chilled ham and corn with olives and salad from one of the shops in France.

The pasta we ordered from one of the restaurants in Paris France when we stopped over there for a while. This dish was probably the best pasta dish I have ever tasted and seeing it was from Paris, France, that shouldn't be a suprise.

This year we will be going back to Paris France and exploring the centre more than the last time we were there. We didn't even see the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumph when we went to Paris. But this time we definitely will see the famous creations. And I would definitely take more pictures of the food we will be eating everyday and everytime and also the restaurants itself.

Tagliatelle with Beef and Tomato Sauce topped with 4 Cheese Sauce

Tagliatelle with Beef and Tomato Sauce, which was supposed to be Cream Tomato Sauce but then I forgot the cream so I just had to make the sauce plain, topped with 4 Cheese Sauce, cheeses including:

• cream cheese (I used Philadelphia Garlic and Herb Cheese, just to add a little extra taste)
• stilton cheese (just a little bit, because it has a really strong taste)
• Gloucester Cheese (for sprinkling on top of the dish before baking to give it that orange topped melted cheese look
• Cheddar Cheese (like the Gloucester cheese, it is also used for the top base to crisp the top layer and give the dish that golden brown melted cheese colour

For the 4 Cheese Sauce, the cream cheese and stilton cheese would have to be heated with milk and cornflour to melth them and this would them be poured over the pasta and beef with tomato sauce. And finally, the Gloucester and Cheddar, sprinkled on top to melt in the oven.

Made by Mariel Parton for a school coursework.

for the bits your tongue can't reach

For mum and dads anniversary, we decided to go to the Trafford Centre and have a meal and watch a film; and so we ate at Nandos. It was the first time I have ever eaten at Nandos and I was a bit disppointed because I've heard of people making nice comments about Nandos and how good the food is there but when we ate at Nandos, the food I ordered tasted delicious and rich but comparing to other similar meals I have tasted from other restaurants, Nandos lost. I can say that the restaurant wins at presentation though. Just look at the lovely designs of the their menus and napkins:

And they give out free nuts as well. And don't forget the cute little ice chips for the drinks.