Malta: Part Six

Our final day's adventures took us off to Marsaxlokk, a traditional fishing village at the south of the island. After a fairly lengthy bus journey (and some slight confusion over stops!) we found ourselves walking along the pretty sea front of the village. 

Floating in the bay were brightly coloured, traditionally hand painted fishing boats. Many of these had eyes painted on their bows, which superstition says protects the boats from danger. These little traditional boats provide the fresh fish cooked up in the numerous restaurants spaced out along the sea front.

After wandering the length of the village, we settled down in one of these little restaurants and tucked into some of the local produce, all of which tasted wonderfully fresh! 

The village was incredibly pretty and it was interesting to see how the fishermen still used the traditional boats to catch fish. However, before long, it was time to return to our hotel and hunt down dinner!

That evening (our last evening!) we walked into the centre of St Julian's and chose a restaurant called 'Zest' which turned out to be a real treat! The menu was, as far as I was concerned, perfect. Advertised as 'east meets west', it was full of sushi, Thai curries, Japanese grills and noodle-y dishes. I was in heaven!

We ordered off one of their set sharing menus and tucked in to the mountain of food which then appeared.

Firstly, an amuse-bouche and cocktails.

Then, we started with sushi, sticky chelsea buns, chicken and lamb satay, dim sum parcels and a fantastic glass noodle salad. 

Followed by a trio of thai curries (Lu had another noodle dish as well but I can't quite remember what it was!).

And then delicious deserts which included a fiery chocolate and chilli fondant with raspberry sorbet.  

I just wish I'd had more room to eat more- by the end I was bursting!

Zest was fantastic- the food amazing and the staff incredibly accommodating. They had delivered a truly wonderful last meal on Malta. 

I had a brilliant holiday visiting Malta. Not only was the island beautiful, but everyone we met was incredibly friendly and willing to share something about the island and its fascinating history. I learnt more than I could have expected from such a short stay and I would love to return in the future to find out more! 

Post Exams Freedom: Durham

Last week, I finally got my life back. Exam season had ended, the sun was shining and I was ready to celebrate my freedom. Not only had I finished what felt like a gruelling few weeks of assessments, I'd also finished my university career! I was flooded with relief at the simple fact that I'd survived, but bar that, I felt.... precisely as I had post exams, which was surprising since I'd been expecting to feel magically different. Older? More mature? I mean, I had just completed the last step in my formal education! No matter. This lack enlightenment wasn't going to deter me and so after my first decent nights sleep in months, I hopped onto a train to Durham...

...and promptly realised just how tired I still was. Thankfully, we refuelled at Tango and I was revived by a deliciously succulent burger, far too many fries and a large glug of ginger beer.

The next week passed in a whirl of cooking yummy food, sunshine, Pimms, eating out and afternoon naps (one of life's luxuries I'd sorely missed!). We attended a charity cricket match one afternoon, taking a picnic of summery food with us, full of strawberries, blueberries and cherries, cheese with onion chutney and pita and hummus. Oh and of course, more Pimms!

We also made the short trip to Newcastle for lunch with some good friends at (an incredibly amazing little place called) the Fat Hippo. (I tried to make out that I was excited about seeing our friends but they all knew it was the food I was so enthusiastic about... Apologies for the lack of photos, but take it from me, the burgers are TO DIE FOR!)

Another evening, we popped out for a Thai dinner at the Lotus Lounge where we demolished a table full of food, happily washed down with cocktails.

(Essentially you get the picture, yes?)

In essence, it was heavenly to have some free time: to sit around doing nothing and not feel guilty or cook and eat meals which took more than a designated lunch break hour. More than that, it was wonderful to finally have a chance to catch up with friends... especially one in particular!

My Little Sister's Belated Birthday

This is just a little (very late) post to bookmark the fact my baby sister has finally left her teens behind her and has firmly entered what many people consider to be 'adulthood'. Luckily for her however, I won't be thinking of her as a fully fledged grown-up for a long time!

We celebrated with cocktails and Thai food which is never a bad combination...

Happy late birthday little sis!

P.S: Exams are over, the sun is out and (thankfully!) life can resume as normal. This should also mean I'll be getting back to writing, so stay tuned for more posts over the next few weeks! Until then, adieu!

Durham Part One: Zen

Last Friday, I packed my little suitcase, dug out my thickest pair of tights and hopped on a train to a part of North England I've never been to before, Durham.

Pulling into the station (which is on top of one of the many hills in Durham), I got my first pretty spectacular glimpse of the city spread out below. 

When the train finally stopped, I jumped out of my carriage and excitedly rushed to meet the rather special person who was looking after me for the weekend (more to be said on him later!). We then ambled our way through the city before heading home to get ready for college formal, which is where students who are part of the college dress up in gowns and eat dinner together at their college. After this entertainingly rowdy meal (and rather a lot of wine), I soon found myself tumbling into bed and falling deeply asleep, excited for the next day's adventure. 

The next evening, (the day had consisted of a long lie in, late lunch and lots of catching up,) we headed into the city centre for a wander around some of the sites. The cathedral looked beautiful all lit up and the castle was nearly as impressive! 

However, before long, we found ourselves outside Zen (a gorgeous looking Thai-inspired restaurant), where a table had been booked for our first proper date! We started with cocktails (a chilli mojito for me and a normal one for him) and a bit of people watching (who knew there were so many interesting characters in Durham?!). 

After a few sips, we were seated at our table and started umm-ing and ahh-ing over the menu- the poor waitress had to come back three times! I'm a complete sucker for Thai food and so I found choosing especially difficult! Eventually, we settled on scallops, fishcakes and sushi for starters, followed by pad thai for me and massaman lamb for him, all finished off with chocolate brownies to share. Every course was delicious but I have to say the fishcakes were particularly good- that perfect balance of spicy sweetness.

 All too soon, our food had been devoured and so we rolled ourselves back out into the chilly night air. We walked back through Durham by moonlight, and after one especially magical moment on a bridge overlooking the river, smiling happily to ourselves, we reached home. 

'Chicken Itame' - Chicken and Coconut Soup

When ever I go to Wagamama's, the dish that I order nearly every time has to be the 'Chicken Itame Soup.' That may sound unadventurous to you, but the delicious mix of mouthwatering, light, spicy flavours literally leave me begging for more. So 'more' is what Jossi and I decided to create.

We had a sneaky look at the Wagamama's website to try and work out what we could put together to get a similar result. I have to admit, ours didn't turn out quite the same, but it definitely captured the 'essence' of the dish and was a pretty good home made attempt!

Ingredients:
chopped chicken breast
noodles
garlic
ginger
lemongrass (we used a teaspoon of the powdered type, but the real stuff would be better)
can of coconut milk
one chili (we also threw in some chili flakes)
a red onion
stir fry veg- we used bean sprouts, pepper, bamboo shoots and cabbage
a couple of cups of water
a squeeze of lemon or lime
a twist of salt and pepper

Chop all of your ingredients and heat up a little oil in your pan. Sizzle the chili, garlic and ginger for half a minute of so and then add your chicken. When your chicken is mostly cooked through, add the rest of your veg and stir fry together.

Then simply add your can of coconut milk, noodles (we used fresh ones, but if you use the dried type, cook them first!) and a couple of cups of water to your stir fry and let this simmer. Pour in your lemon juice and sprinkle in the salt and pepper. Joss and I also added a few more pinches of lemon grass here as well.

Leave on the heat for 10 or 15mins just to let the flavours infuse through and there we are, one delicious (almost) restaurant quality dish, made by you!


P.S. I think this would be amazing if you added a teaspoon of thai green curry paste to your veg- if you do, tell us how it tastes!

Sugar, Spice and All Things Rice

When I started this blog, I didn't intend to spend all my time writing about food, but as you may have guessed by now Jossi and I are rather obsessed by the stuff. There's nothing more satisfying than  putting together a whole bunch of raw ingredients, crossing your fingers and ending up with something finger lickingly good!

Anyway, this is something the pair of us rustled up at the weekend- enjoy!

What do you need?
a couple of chicken breasts
some red thai curry sauce (red thai curry paste and some coconut milk should do the same job)
peppers (I used about 3/4 of a yellow one in the end)
red onion
a tin of pineapple
a handful of cashew nuts
carrots
a large chili
garlic
ginger
a pinch of salt and pepper
rice

As you may have seen already, my quantities of ingredients are rarely exact- I tend to taste as I go along and add more as and when I think the dish needs it, Just remember that when you cook veg, it shrivels and reduces so you always end up with less than what you started with!

Start by putting a large pan on the hob and heating up a splash of oil. Finely chopping your garlic and toss it in the pan so it sizzles, then add your chicken, chopped into small pieces . Chop all your other veg and toss it in with the chicken along with the salt and pepper.

I just love how colourful this dish is!

When the chicken is cooked through, pour in your pineapple chunks and the cashews. Turn the heat down low- you don't want to simmer away all that lovely pineapple juice!

While the chicken and veg is cooking on a low heat, start cooking your rice in a separate saucepan. When this is done, pop it in the pan with your chicken and veg. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the red thai curry sauce. Stir through and you're done!

This dish is an explosion of taste and we quickly polished off half the pan before it'd even cooled, although do be careful as the chili makes it pretty hot- we were chasing each mouthful down with a glass of water!

Jossi sneakily tucking in already!