abzfabz

Zizzi's! (Take Three)

Food posts are back and they are back with a vengeance! I've got a few from the last few months when I went out to eat but was posting blog posts on 'the 12 days of eyemas'. I went to Zizzi's at the beginning of December when my mum came to visit me in Notts. We had a great day wandering around the Christmas market and doing a spot of shopping which ended with a delicious meal.

For starter we shared the aranchini balls and the calamari. The aranchini are risotto balls with mozzarella and peas breadcrumbed to make it crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It was served with a chunky tomato dip which was really tasty and went really well with both of the dishes. The balls were delicious and even thinking about this is making me want to eat my laptop screen. They had so much flavour and weren't too heavy considering it's essentially fried balls of creamy rice. I always go for calamari when it's on the menu and it has to be one of my favourite starters. I was very impressed with these beautiful rings of squid. They were crispy on the outside and really soft when I bit into it, not chewy at all. It was served with a garlic and basil aioli and that was really tasty and went well with both the aranchini balls and the calamari. Delicious! Good choices all round.

I wasn't really fancying a pasta dish so I went for chicken with parma ham and sage, tuscan potatoes and green beans in a white wine sauce. I liked this a lot but it didn't blow me away. The chicken had lots of flavour but the ham was a bit something or nothing. The green beans were cooked nicely and the sauce had a nice flavour but I'd have liked it to have been a bit thicker and creamier. I like the edges of the potatoes where they were really crispy but I'm really fussy when it comes to potatoes and I pretty much only like them if they're burnt to a crisp. So I liked the dish but I just didn't love it.

Labels: 2016, food, love, new year, zizzis

Favourite Friday: Frozen

It has to be said I'm totally in on the hype, but my inner hipster has to confess that I loved it before it was cool. I first discovered Frozen in March of last year by listening to the album on Spotify. I have absolutely no idea what made me start listening to it but I was hooked from the off. I'm pretty sure my flatmates hated going into the kitchen when I was there because 9 times out of ten the album would be on repeat. For christmas this year I was lucky enough to get a baby Sven, Sven from the beginning at the film when he's little, from my brother and he even paid to get a felt tag with my name on it, cute! Definitely one of my best presents! I also got a Frozen charm bracelet from my mum and dad which is one of the best things I've ever seen in my entire life. Try and get this off my wrist! These have seriously sparked my obsession with Frozen again and I'm constantly thinking of quotes, sad but true,

"Olaf, keep out of sight"

"Okay...hello!"

Labels: 2015, blog, christmas, cold, disney, festive, Frozen, love, new year, winter

New Years Resolutions

I've never really been one to make New Years Resolutions until recently because I never had the drive to carry them through. To be honest I still don't have the drive but I'm determined to carry it through! Last year I said that I was going to be more organised and even bought myself a diary, but as per it didn't last very long. THIS year I'm doing a slightly different resolution. For christmas I got two cooking books and my plan is to cook most of the recipes from each. Who knows, I might be on the next series of bake off (or not but a girl can dream). So watch this space because this year I might actually come through on a resolution!

Happy New Year!

Labels: 2015, bake off, baking, blog, love, new year, uk, university, yorkshire

Year Review!

It's getting to that time of year where we are saying a loving goodbye to 2014 and a nervous hello to the year ahead. It's been a really great year and I thought it might be nice to look back over some of my favourite memories the last 12 months (a bit like a best bits), here we go!