Food Hangover.

So on Saturday I went up to Cannock to the Barn's hotel and restaurant to celebrate my Uncle Barry's 70th birthday.  All I can say is I hope I look that good at 70, and I still have a sneaky suspicion he is lying about his age and is actually 20 years younger than he claims.

It was a lovely evening, and I wore a blue and white striped shirt dress and heels, I've owned it since my 18th, and am pretty sure this was the first time I'd worn it!

But on to the meal, I've been to the Barns a couple of times before and have always had lovely food, and came home feeling very full! On Saturday I originally ordered brie, pesto and sub-dried tomato filo parcels, but they had none left, so had vegetable lasagne instead.

The lasagne itself was delicious, with chunky vegetables, just how I like it.  It was very filling and not overly cheesy, which I can sometimes find a problem when dining out, and I hate when the cheese is overdone because it ends up being too rich and sickly, but this was just right.

The waiters/waitresses brought round a huge plate of vegetables, carrots, green beans and cauliflower, all of which tasted fresh and were cooked very well, for me anyway, my Mum likes her vegetables as practically mush, but I prefer mine a little bite.

The chips as you can see from the picture were huge and there were loads to eat between us and I helped myself to a fair few.  They were delicious, crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.  I could have eaten a bowl to myself (and the were BIG bowls), but I wanted to save room for pudding.

Before going I had told myself I wouldn't order a desert, but others were having one, so I gave in...peer pressure eh?  I had a homemade lemon and ginger biscuit cheesecake:

As you can see it was a fairly big piece of cheesecake, and I must confess I only managed about half of it, the rest was finished off by someone else.  The base of the cheesecake was lovely, crunchy and not overly buttery, which can be off putting and taste a little too greasy.  I've heard before that using ginger biscuits makes for a better base and this is the first time I've had a cheesecake which has, and it was delicious.  The crunchy texture mixed with the creaminess of the topping was divine.  The topping itself was smooth and not overly lemony, but still tangy enough and not overly sweet.  I would definitely have this again, but perhaps just skip the main course and go straight to desert!

I think I slightly over did it on the food as I woke up Sunday morning still feeling extremely full and slightly dizzy and sick, almost like a hangover, though I'd only had two glasses of wine, so I think it was a food hangover...as with any good night out though, it was worth it :)

Harry Potter!

Yesterday I was to see the final Harry Potter film and all I can say is it was EPIC.  Really, it was.  It gave me goosebumps, made me laugh and yes, I'm not ashamed to admit it, it made me cry.
By love for Harry Potter has existing for over 10 years now, I've read the books, listened to the tapes and watched the films, all more than once.  Going to the final film felt somewhat like the end of an era, and saying goodbye to a friend.  A few of the Harry Potter films have disappointed a little, not quite living up to my expectations, or the books, but this one really did.
The special effects were brilliant (at least to my untrained eye).  The battle scenes were exciting with explosions and fire.  Even the ending '19 years later' part wasn't as bad as people had lead me to believe (I had been told by more than one person to leave before the epilogue'.
I'm very glad they included the story of Snape and Lily, as that part of the book really breaks my heart. I feel for Snape, and it really does upset me, you really feel for this man who has been a person you love to hate for the rest of the books, and at the moment I find myself actually loving him.
Anyway this film was simply wonderful and whoever hasn't seen it should go whether you've seen the others or not.

Before the film, me and Michelle went for a meal at pizza express, and I had the Melanzane Parmigiana, without the Grana Padana for the veggie option.  I was dithering between this and a Verdure Leggara pizza with extra caramelised onions and think I made the wrong choice.  But I hadn't had the Melanzane Parmigiana before, and I do like trying different things.  However, whilst it was tasty enough, I found there was too much sauce in relation to the aubergine, and could have done with some garlic bread to soak up the rest of the cheesy tomatoy-ness.  But I had a 50% of voucher so was worth the money.  Which is more than I can say for cinema food.  But I decided to splash out because I hadn't been to the cinema for ages, and as it was a special occasion (yes, the final Harry Potter film does count as a special occasion) I decided to treat myself to a bag of sweet popcorn, managing to munch my way through a medium bag of popcorn, consuming a fair amount before the film had even started.  So all my hard work on the exercise bike yesterday- 60 minutes to be exact!- was wasted.  Aside from the cranberry and white chocolate cookie I had for breakfast (healthy yes?) I've been better today, so hopefully diet should get back on track!

Also, I forgot to say, I'd left my 3D glasses at home meaning I had to pay for a new pair, HOWEVER I am super glad I did, as it meant I could buy these Harry Potter themed ones, which to me are just expressly cool, and I shall be using them for every film in the future.

Peace and love :)

New Blog

So I've just finished my first degree at uni and am about to embark on a new stage in my life, so why not start a new blog to go with this? I do not expect many people to read this, but it shall be useful to me, to write down thoughts and events that I may want to look back on some day.