/ LUCY LOVES TO EAT

Spending Ban | January Edit

February 01, 2015

One of the goals I've set for 2015 is to save as much as possible after a very expensive 2014. We bought our first home and spent a considerable amount to make it into our dream home. We also took a trip to Hong Kong in December, so January needed to be a month of recuperation as far as finances were concerned.

A spending ban was implemented; I set myself some rules and documented my daily spend in a spreadsheet to keep track.

January 29, 2015

Back in November, the news of houjicha kitkats on sale at Japan Centre via Twitter had me going gaga.

Japanese kitkats are already such a fun novelty on their own, and combined with one of my absolute favourite teas, I just knew I needed to get my hands on them!

These special little kitkats are only available to order online and so off I went to place my order. With p&p around £6, it only made sense to order a little more since the weight of the package made no difference. Then an offer pops up saying for first time customers, there's a free gift for spends over £45.

I oblige of course, and a shopping spree of noodles and kitkats commences.

January 26, 2015

It's a freezing January day in London, and I'm on the hunt for a soul warming working day lunch.

Ethiopian Flavours at Borough Market comes to mind and I can't think of anything more suited. This is the 3rd time I've had it, and prior to this brilliant little market joint, I had no idea what Ethiopian food consisted of. And now I'm addicted.

I can't get past ordering the beef every time. £4.50 for a medium box serving with prime steak is ridiculous value for money and is served with 2 veggie sides plus rice or bread.

January 22, 2015

Wow, the first award on my blog! Thank you to the lovely Izzy from Daisy Chains In The Rain for nominating me.

The Liebster is an online chain-award given out by bloggers, to other bloggers as a way of recognising new bloggers or bloggers with under 200 followers. I think this is a great way of saying hi!

January 18, 2015

Following on from my previous post on Hong Kong style BBQ'ing where I hadn't taken enough photos, here are more BBQ photos to share. This BBQ was hosted by my husband's family in their front yard in Hong Kong, and we had a TON of food!

The food for a HK style BBQ differs from typical food for an English one. There are no burgers/kebabs/lamp chops, but there are plenty of chicken wings, capelin fish, sweet potato and meat/fishballs!

January 16, 2015

When meeting a large group of friends in Hong Kong, the budget-friendly options I have in mind are either BBQ, Hotpot or Karaoke as they are usually better at accommodating larger groups.

This time, we decided on BBQ. BBQ'ing in HK is very popular and also a very different concept to western BBQ's. In the UK, we are used to hosting BBQ's in our own gardens in the summer and go shopping for all the food, ready prepped or to be prepped later ourselves, and someone is usually the barbie chef.

In HK, there are buffet style BBQ venues everywhere that accommodate hundreds of people with food ready prepped and BBQ gear at the ready, all you do is turn up and pay. And there is no designated BBQ chef, as everyone is their own chef! Grab a BBQ fork, skewer your food and huddle around the barbie to cook. It's slower, but way more socialable and fun.

January 13, 2015

Towards the end of my 2 weeks in HK, my bestie suggested Mou Mou Club [牛涮鍋] for hotpot as they had been to the Mong Kok branch earlier on in the week and loved it.

Mou Mou club is more of a Japanese hotpot - shabu shabu style, rather than traditional HK hotpot style, since paper-thin cuts of beef slices is the star of the show here. There isn't too much of a difference between the two though since these kind of shabu shabu joints adapt to the local tastes.

This time, we tried out the Olympic station branch. It was round the corner from where we were staying, we knew it would be quieter, meaning less waiting time. As soon as the doors opened at 6pm, we were in!

January 08, 2015

It's been ages since I posted a recipe. There's not been too much action in the kitchen for the past 6 months, but now with my new kitchen (my dream kitchen!) in full working order, things are back to the normal.

We were a bit scarce of food in the kitchen right after Christmas day but the scraps I managed to pull together were pretty good. In fact, so good that I am going to make this into a staple dish in our household. The recipe is easily adaptable too as long as you have the sauce and shrimps skins. If you can't find the shrimp skins in your local Chinese supermarket, you can use a bit of shrimp paste in place or omit it completely.

January 06, 2015

New year, new goals. We're a week into the new year and I have rounded up some goals which will give me some guidance for the year ahead. I always feel the need to set a tone/focus for the year, otherwise I tend to feel a bit lost!

I don't make resolutions as such, since I find them too restrictive and I lack willpower.

January 01, 2015

My very first gingerbread house! My sister and I were especially keen to make our first gingerbread house after the fun we had at the Biscuiteer's event earlier on in November.

We were going to buy kits but had left it quite late, and the only option was to bake our own on Christmas eve. I fiddled with some free style drawing on paper whilst my sister made the gingerbread using her favourite recipe. We then placed the cut out paper templates on the dough, cut, bake and trimmed the edges since they expanded in the oven.

We each decorated half the gingerbread house and then stuck it all together. We are so proud of our efforts!

Christmas Day 2014

I'm a little late in posting this, but as with all my Christmases past, I enjoy switching off completely.

Every Christmas involves lounging around in pyjamas all day, watching Christmas movies, opening presents, pulling Christmas crackers and of course, making Christmas dinner and eating loads.

This year was a little different with the arrival of my nephew. We ended up spending a good part of it at the maternity ward, but nevertheless, Christmas must go on!

I hope you guys all had a great Christmas.

LUCY LOVES TO EAT

SLIDER

Spending Ban | January Edit

February 01, 2015

Houjicha Kitkats | Japan Centre Goodies

January 29, 2015

Ethiopian Flavours | Borough Market

January 26, 2015

Liebster Award Nomination

January 22, 2015

A Hong Kong Style BBQ at Home

January 18, 2015

Day Trip to Sai Kung | Buffet Style BBQ

January 16, 2015

Mou Mou Club Hotpot/Shabu Shabu 牛涮鍋 | Hong Kong

January 13, 2015

Fried Tofu with XO Sauce & Shrimp Skin

January 08, 2015

New Year | New Goals

January 06, 2015

Gingerbread House

January 01, 2015

Christmas Day 2014

SLIDER

February 01, 2015

January 29, 2015

January 26, 2015

January 22, 2015

January 18, 2015

January 16, 2015

January 13, 2015

January 08, 2015

January 06, 2015

January 01, 2015

document.write(postDate);