Reds!

This was a beautiful thing.

At the moment, myself and the Nottingham Crew are trying to have at least one meal in most of the Notts eateries before we sadly leave in June next year. They're currently adding more places to eat so soon we'll have lots of choice but at the minute we're working with what we've got. Reds has been opened for a little while now but I've still not had a chance to try it out so we put it in the diary and off we went. They have quite dark, 'rocky' vibes which is pretty cool and the table we sat at looked like a giant desk with drawers in the top. It's one of those typical cool places and the decor really fits the food that they do.

The menu was full of loads of different things but I went for the Pulled Pork Switch with skin on fries and onion rings. I'll get the bad bit out of the way first, I didn't like the onion rings. They didn't have much onion in and what onion there was had been deep fried so much that it was non existent. But everything else was literally amazing! Normally with this kind of thing it's all bread and no filling but there was the perfect amount of each. The flavour of the pulled pork was intense, sweet, and slightly barbecue-y and I loved it! The coleslaw was creamy and a nice contrast to the meat and the bread was sweet so added a little something to the overall flavour. The chips were delicious, and I only like a certain type of chip, soft on the inside but super crispy on the out, and they had a nice, well seasoned flavour. The portion size was perfect and I'd happily go back and have this again plus try other things from the menu. Loved it!

How to: Survive on a Budget

Budgeting is hard. Like seriously quite difficult, but if you think about it and really plan it out it gets a little easier. WHY IS BEING A STUDENT SO DIFFICULT! Over the past two and a bit years I've tried all sorts to get my budgeting in order and although sometimes they work, they fade over time. It's like vegetables, got to keep it fresh (wow, don't know what that was but it was awful, let's move on).

In my first year I pretty much had one bank account for my spending money, money from work and rent money, and I'll tell you now, it was hard to keep track. I had to write down every single penny I spent and took it away from the larger total and had to remember what number I was allowed to go down to before I started spending my rent money. Told you it was confusing. What I learnt from this was that it's much easier to work things out with many separate bank accounts. However it was good to write down what I spent because it would show me when to slow down with the spending.

I find it helpful to CONSTANTLY check my finances to make sure I'm not on a mad spending spree. But one way you can kind of go on a bit of a spree is if you get every single discount card you can, like me. I'm currently waiting for the perfect time to use my Boots points and when I do I'll have saved £20. Tell me that's not a good deal. Also if you are a student, not using student discount is criminal. Think of all the money you can save! Want that dress but slightly too pricy? Budget around it. As long as it's not ridiculously expensive and you can live from the remaining money I say go for it. Budgeting important but life is too short not to be happy, and if the dress would make you happy then I say do it!

George's! (Take Two)

Oooh look, back again. You can tell that I like a place when at every opportunity I'll go back, and here we are. Anyway, George's, woo! Go Nottingham. I know I said it in my last post on this place but if you ever visit the wonderful Notts you need to give this place a visit. It's something that is quirky and different but it offers familiar food. Let's get into it!

I went for something completely different when it came to my main, cheese and onion pie. Now for someone that doesn't like cheese that might be a bit of an odd choice but one of my housemates makes a cheese and onion pie everyone once in a while and when she can't finish the crust she'll give me a bit and it tastes so good! That's why I decided to give it a go and I have to say I really enjoyed it! It wasn't overly cheesy yet it gave it a lovely flavour. I love onions as well so that made it super delicious. The only problem I have with the pie was that at the end I found a giant lump of non-melted cheese, but that's just because I chose a cheese pie and I don't like cheese so whose fault is that really! The chips were as good as they were last time, soft on the inside and crispy on the outside but the beans were literally just juice and not really worth eating.

I promise that next time I'll have a different dessert but here we are and you can click here to read my thoughts on these delicious doughnuts.

Las Iguanas! (Take Three)

Back to Las Iguanas I went for a friend's birthday meal (I love this time of year, everyone seems to have a birthday and it's just an excuse to go out for food). I think that they've changed the menu from the last time I've been and streamlined it because the selection was very limited and I found it quite hard to find something that I actually fancied eating. I had a very nice experience but the service at this restaurant (we went to the Nottingham one) was very slow. It took an hour between our main and dessert and by the time they came to take our dessert order we were a little bit over it. That aside the food was lovely so let's get into it.

For my main I finally settled on the South American Dream which was a beef burger with an array of different sauce inside it. There was a tomato and guacamole creamy sauce, pesto and chimicurri slaw on the side. The burger was very nice but I have to say, there were so many sauce inside it and it was still a little dry. I'm glad I ordered a side of aioli because not only was it delicious, it made the burger less dry and more delicious. The curly fries were absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't get enough of them, especially with the aioli. The coleslaw was very nice and moistened up the burger even more and was super tasty. The portion size was perfect and I finished every last bite.

For dessert, even though in the end I wasn't really feeling it, I had the vanilla cheesecake. It came with a dulce de leche sauce and roasted macadamia nuts and I have to say that without these two things it would have been nothing. The cheesecake alone was very bland and had a lot of the cheesecake filling in comparison with the base, but the sauce was delicious and the nuts stole the show! The portion size was good but as I said I wasn't really feeling it and there was too much filling and not enough base, which was a shame because the base was delicious, buttery and the biscuits crumbs melted in the mouth. If I was to go again I'd be tempted by the chocolate cake as on the menu that sounds delicious! Overall a good visit and I had a good time with friends but not my most favourite Las Iguanas visit ever.

Fat Cat Cafe!

Source

                                                                                 This. Was. Insane. 

After walking past this place nearly everyday on our walk into town it was time to give it a try! We went at around half 6 on a Tuesday and it was quite busy, but not so much that it was overwhelming. We had to sit ourselves down and get our own menus, which I don't know if it is meant to be like that, but it was fine and we were seen pretty much straight away.

We didn't have starters so we'll go straight onto mains. I had the smokey 3 hour pork and it was amazing! It took a little bit of time for the meal to come but it was a nice leisurely wait. It was two pieces of tender pork belly with a crispy top, a piece of crackling, cubes of black pudding and an array of small roasted vegetables. Everything went really nice together and the portion size was perfect. The flavour of the slightly salty pork and the sweetness of the vegetables was beautiful and spinach added a little extra. If I had one complaint then it would be that it made me quite thirsty but other than that it was absolutely delicious.

For dessert I went for the cheesecake as I thought it wouldn't be too filling and stodgy after the big main meal. I had the option to have it with cream or ice cream and of course I went for cream, it's the best. It was so creamy and soft with a tasty biscuit base and it was just all kinds of good. The portion size was great for the price although I didn't manage to finish it all as I was stuffed! The berries that came on top were nice and sweet and added nicely to the dish. So good! 

The whole meal came to...wait for it...£8.20. I know, insane! I did just drink water so I only paid for food but it's still a stupidly good price! It was only this much because everyday for students it's 50% off food and 20% off drinks. I think this is a sign that I will definitely be returning. 

The countdown begins!

Birthday celebrations are a go go! Today me and my family took a trip to Leeds to have a meal at Brown's and it was soooooo good! I had asparagus and procutto to start and then chicken with some other stuff for main. With a lovely dark chocolate brownie to finish off, yum! Of course there was also a latte to finish it off! 

               Day seven: Utensils

This day has made me really want some new make up brushes. One day a few weeks ago I went into Boots and nearly had a break down at the new range of Real Techniques brushes that were on offer. All of my will power was used to stop myself from grabbing them all and running to the till. Problem was I was waiting for my birthday money so I'll be really upset if when I'm ready to buy they've all gone! I will get you one day retractable bronzing brush...

Road to University! Week Eight

I'm feeling that this blog may need a name change but then it would 'disrupt the flow' and my OCD tendencies may go into overdrive so I might just leave it as it is. 

My lectures this week were introductory ones to the modules we'll be studying for the rest of the year and it's made me really excited for the course! This week are the start of my seminars so I'll see if I'm still as enthusiastic, but I had one yesterday and I enjoyed it SO much! Is that sad? Oh well. 

My Tea- thought it
was a nice picture

I'm starting to understand two things this week:
1. Why people have money problems.
2. Why people go to a campus university so they are a safe distance away from a city centre to not murder their purse on a daily basis. 

It's good that I am close to the centre as I am only 5 minutes away from my lectures and all the walking means that I don't have to consciously think about doing exercise (which is probably the best perk...I hate exercise). But it just means that if I'm bored I just think "Hmm..Costa is only 5 minutes away, it wouldn't kill my purse, I'll just go and have one small decaf mocha latte". This then turns into a drink, a packet of crisps and either toast or a muffin depending on what time of the day it is. Somebody please stop me.

Venus Fly Trap

Threadbare

I don't improve the money problems by going to a student lock in, into a packed Topshop, grabbing things that I've been eyeing up for weeks and literally sprinting to the till before anyone tries to steal it from me, which would never happen but you never know. Here are my purchase, and before you wonder if I went to any other shops, I couldn't do it to myself.

 I can't explain how much I love this bag. It's just so beautiful and green! In other news the freshers ball was last Sunday and it was really good. My only issue is that my shoes are ridiculously gorgeous but also quite uncomfortable after extreme dancing so it wasn't a late one. But Matt Edmondson and and Wretch 32 turned up and gave some good performances.

So I'm looking forward to another week of learning and working and I'll see you next week! I'll leave you with a picture of Wretch.