whatever, whenever, wherever

30 June 2014

It is the last day of June so I though I'd give out a little freebie! I have a small planner that I keep with me but I have been wanting some sort of monthly desk planner that I can keep at my desk to see an overall view on deadlines and plans for the month! I had a look online and there were quite a few monthly desk pads but there was nothing I really wanted so I thought why not just design my own! It saves me some £££ too! 

I wanted something undated so I just had to print the same file and I could use it for any month. I also wanted it to have 6 weeks, this was a problem I found with other planners, they always had 5 weeks and some months just awkwardly fall into 6 in a Monday-Sunday format! Simplicity is a must, I'm all about simplicity. & most importantly it had to have a grid, there is just something about gridded paper!

So I went into illustrator and designed my perfect monthly desk planner and I used it this month & I really love it. I thought I'd share it to you guys & hopefully at least one person will find it useful! 



The download link is here. Enjoy & let me know if you do download it! 

29 June 2014

Another ramen post! The last time me and my boyfriend went to Shoryu was sometime last summer and at the time we didn't think it was anything special. Ever since then we have been having our ramen fix at Bone Daddies so a couple weeks ago we thought we'd give Shoryu another try (just to make sure). This time we visited the Soho branch...


The first thing I usually take notice of at a restaurant is the menu, not the actual food but the design of the menu. Being a design student makes me take notice of these things and usually a well designed menu gets me pumped up and somehow gives me big expectations for the food! I have to admit it is a little silly but I do tend to judge a restaurant by its visual identity, sometimes when I'm looking for places to eat you'll hear me say "hmm, the food looks good but I don't really like the logo" haha. 

Anyway I think Shoryu's visual identity is great so I instantly gave them some brownie points for that!


The restaurant itself is lovely, comfortable seating (we're not too fond of the high stools at Bone Daddies), lots of wood (always a plus) and the right kind of lighting. 

The post-ramen stretch.
We both went for the Shoryu Ganso Tonkotsu, mine with the original hosomen and his with the matcha hosomen. We were expecting them to taste different but they tasted exactly the same to us, the only difference was the colour. 

The first thing I noticed was the noodles, there was something unusual about them and I think it was because they were noticeably harder than the ones at Bone Daddies? I weren't a fan of them though and the whole bowl of ramen itself was just... "blah". Everything just tasted bland which is a shame because it looks delicious! 

Shoryu Ganso Tonkotsu // £11
We also ordered a side and a sushi roll. I found it strange that our ramen came out in about 5 minutes and these didn't come out until we were about halfway through our bowl of ramen. The Gyozas were surprisingly tasty but the "Dragon Roll" was no Dragon Roll. I've never actually seen a Dragon Roll like this before, for the price I was expecting a bigger stuffed roll topped with avocado? This was pretty much a very standard sushi roll and the worse Dragon Roll I've ever had. The texture was also all wrong & it just stuck to the insides of my mouth! The best part about this dish was the ginger, at least there was a best part?

Hakata Tetsunabe Gyoza // £4 & Dragon Roll // £13.50

I was really hoping to like Shoryu but I was left quite disappointed by the food which is a shame because everything else is great. The best part of our entire meal was probably the drinks (any of the Calpico drinks are tasty!). A lot of people do love Shoryu though so maybe we just chose the wrong dishes or maybe it just isn't suited to our tastes but I won't be going back anytime soon. 


Food: 2 / 5
Atmosphere: 4 / 5
Service: 3.5 / 5
Value: 3 / 5


Shoryu Ramen (Soho)
3 Denman Street
London
W1D 7HA


4 June 2014

I love Korean food and over the past year I have learnt to make a few of my favourite Korean dishes. I thought I'd share my easy Korean Spicy Rice Cakes recipe today which is great as a snack or starter. 

This recipe has been adapted from a mixture of different recipes that I have looked at over the year. I don't cook regularly so I like to keep things simple, after trial and error this is the one that I have come up with that is both easy and tasty! (Most recipes use anchovy stock but I just use a chicken stock cube instead because it is easier.)

Serves 1-2 people.


Ingredients:


You will also need:

+ Water (I used about 300ml) 
+ Oil (I used sesame oil)


Method:

1. Prepare your ingredients according to the photo above.

2. Add some oil to your pan and fry the onions, garlic and carrots until they are lightly browned.

3. Add in your water, stock cube, sugar, gochujang and stir until everything has dissolved nicely. 

4. Add in your rice cakes and fish cakes and cook until the rice cakes become soft and spongey and the liquid has thickened. This should take about 6-10 minutes. Remember to keep stirring!

5. Add in your ramen and 3/4 of your spring onions. Stir for another minute or two until the onions have wilted.

6. Transfer to a bowl, top off with your egg and garnish with the rest of your spring onions!

7. Enjoy! They taste best when eaten right away!


Notes:

I. You can use more or less Gochujang, I recommend starting with a little at first then adding more as you taste.

II. You can use more water if you like to have more sauce. I recommend adding in about 100ml and then adding more after you add your rice cakes and fish cakes in. (Remember the water will reduce and thicken).

III. I use demerara sugar, use whichever you prefer.

IV. You can also garnish with sesame seeds too. Unfortunately I ran out :(


I hope you enjoy this recipe & let me know if you do try it out!


Extra notes:

You can find rice cakes, fish cakes and Gochujang at Korean food stores and some oriental stores. Buy fresh rice cakes if possible as these will taste the best. If you are using frozen ones make sure you soak them before cooking & use 12 rather than 6 halved as those tend to be cut to size already.

I buy my rice cakes and fish cakes at Centre Point Food Store in London, which is a great store for Korean ingredients. They have now moved to New Oxford St which is just around the corner from their old location. They also have Gochujang but I usually buy mine from Tesco.

2 June 2014

Two weekends ago me & my family went to Brighton for a little trip. We stayed in a lovely little apartment just across the road from the beach. 


Before we went I did some research on places to eat, the list ended up being really long and we were only there for one full day and night. In the end I decided for us to go to The Creperie for breakfast/lunch and then to The Coal Shed for dinner, however The Coal Shed had no tables left by the time I called to book so we decided to go to Smokeys as it was just a short walk from us. 


I loveee the Creperie's interior, especially the screen prints on the walls!



Most of us had galettes, my sister had a crepe and I ordered the waffle. Everyone's food was fine but my waffle was pretty bad. The waffle itself was overcooked so it was just really dry and made me feel like I was eating cardboard but I still ate most of it anyway.. I just wasn't happy. 
After we ate we headed to the pier for some fun and games with the kids then spent the rest of the afternoon checking out our apartment and just chilling on the beach .





We ordered two platters to share for dinner which came with fries and coleslaw. My favourite was the pork ribs and the sausage, we couldn't finish everything so we took some back to the apartment and made pulled pork sandwiches the next morning. mmm!
After dinner we headed back to the apartment and me & my boyfriend popped out later to catch the sunset. I love beach sunsets! 





It rained the next day so we just walked around the lanes for a little bit and had some smoothies before heading back to London. It was a short trip but it's just nice to be away from the city every now and then. Next time I go to Brighton I definitely want to The Coal Shed and 64 Degrees! 


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