Ooops... this post has been a rather long time in the making... Even without a job at the moment I struggle to get everything I want to get done done! Where do the hours go? Anyway, here's a little recap of my birthday eats. I turned 28...... 28?! I've no idea how that happened, I guess those lost hours from the day must be turning into years at a rather alarming rate... Anyhooo here's the food! I must apologise for the dreadful pictures, my digital camera broke beyond repair so I'm stuck with the blackberry!
For lunch on my actual birthday I walked to town to Barburito to claim my free birthday burrito... hey you can take the girl outta Yorkshire... This girl does not turn down free food, well, unless it's meaty!
As far as fast food goes barburrito is my favourite! I almost always go for a burrito with rice, spicy beans, mushrooms, hot salsa, lettuce, guac, cheese, sour cream and jalopenos and sometimes I like a little extra chilli sauce... no other combinations in there have quite lived up to this combo for me....
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| Please give me some mummy...... |
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| Oh fine you b*tch |
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| Even this wasp wanted in on the action!! |
For tea my I went to Gourmet Burger Kitchen... this was my first birthday in all my 28 years I didn't see my parents but my auntie took me here for tea which was lovely.
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| Monkey nuts while we were waiting... I actually put most of these in my handbag to eat later..... I've just realised, they're still there!!! |
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| I went for The Billy, a panko coated slab of goats cheese served with relish and salad |
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| We shared chips, onion rings and coleslaw... the chips and onion rings were great, I wasn't a huge fan of the coleslaw though, I was in the mood for a creamy coleslaw so although it was nice it didn't quite live up |
Frankenstein Cheesecake
Birthdays must have dessert! Since I didn't have room after barburrito and correctly guessed I wouldn't have room after GBK I made myself some halloween themed cheesecakes... I didn't follow a recipe and my creation wasn't quite good enough to share the recipe but I will share the idea! I made a base with oreo cookies and the cheesecake itself had vanilla, matcha and lucuma in it. The flavours really went well and I loved the green colour! If I was more concerned with the aesthetics I would do a set cheesecake not a baked one as the green would be more vibrant but I fancied baked cheesecake!
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| ready for the oven |
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| yum! |
You could decorate these of course to make them more frankenstein-esque, I didn't prepare ahead so didn't have anything to decorate them with!
The weekend of my birthday week my mum and dad came to visit, they weren't going to arrive until around 2pm so when I woke up to a lovely note through my door from my neighbours I was really happy to be free for lunch! I must have mentioned I'd been having a bit of a rough time so the lovely American couple in my apartment block invited me round for lunch to cheer me up! It really did! How lovely and thoughtful. I truly appreciate it when someone does something they don't need to to brighten someone else's day! The lady's husband was out for lunch so it was just us two... While we were chatting she mentioned she had felt quite shy about inviting me round and I confessed I'd been quite shy about going round, but I'm so pleased I did, the food was lovely and we had a nice chat, about cooking, blogging, America... allsorts
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| Bean and rice burrito |
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| Freshly roasted spiced pumpkin seeds, yummy! |
And.......... The show stopper! My first ever taste of pumpkin pie!! I was most excited about this, I hope she didn't think I was strange for being so excited hehe It was worth the excitement, YUM!
After I'd been to lunch with my neighbours my mum and dad arrived in Manchester to see me and take me shopping and for some food... We had a quick snack in M&S before starting.... I had some cake! Despite not feeling too good about my body right now I'm also trying to continue to enjoy my food and hoping that once my fitness returns my figure will too.... Anyway enough of my body image woes... I know I'm not overweight but having struggled with an eating disorder that started 12 years ago and currently being the heaviest I've been in about 11 years I feel alien, it's very strange!
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| Tiramisu mocha |
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| Chocolate orange cake |
We did lots of wandering round the shops, I tried on some boots I liked in M&S... can't afford them, yet... Tried some beautiful Kurt Geiger stiletto platforms in Topshop... they were reduced, I had a gift card... They were 30 seconds away from being bought when my oh to sensible mum made me try the other foot on.... they only fit on my right foot.... GUTTED!! I did get a lovely jacket from Soul Cal though, a present off my mum, dad, gran and grandad, love it!
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| me and my mama |
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| me and my papa |
We wandered around for quite some time deciding on somewhere to eat for tea... It can be tricky, my mum is a very picky eater, nothing spicy, with garlic, doesn't really eat pasta, rice or noodles... and I'm veggie so it can be tricky to find somewhere we're both happy... especially since I love spicy garlicky food haha... aaaaaaaaanyway, we settled on Giraffe.
My dad and I shared the bruschetta to start...
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| tomato, cheese and pesto |
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| tomato, cheese with a pepper and olive tapenade |
Yummy!
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| Sweet potato fries with chipotle aioli.... WOW |
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| and, tbh... rather terrible food blogger, I forgot what this was called but essentially it was a falafel salad on naan, the falafels were described like something else though so it wasn't what I expected.... |
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| Passion fruit cheesecake... I gave most of this to my dad... food defeated me! |
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| All washed down with one of my favourite lagers, corona :) |
Food Goals
- More wholefoods
- More veg
- Up the protein
- Maintain a healthy outlook on food
- I want to lose a bit of weight but carefully, through eating cleaner and exercise
How do you cope with weight gain? I hate feeling unhappy about my weight... the past few months I've felt huge every single day.. I'm so fed up of it but trying to sort it in a healthy way... it's hard isn't it!
