The changing normal

I nearly died from my lunch today.

I occasionally forget that starter portions here are fairly big, while mains can be downright enormous. So, I order what I think is a fair amount until the food comes and I end up bursting at the seams – without even finishing everything on my plate.

Granted, we had a late breakfast of pancakes at about 11am, but it was nearly 4pm when we ordered lunch and I couldn’t resist starters that cost just £2 – part of the Carlito’s meal deal where a main is £5.95 and two courses are only £7.95.

We got some chicken tempura – two pieces of tender chicken breast coated in crisp fish ‘n’ chips batter, served with Thai sweet chilli sauce – and gorgeous deep fried brie served with berry compote.

We were happy and satisfied by the very delicious food, until the mains came and we were horrified -they were giant portions! Here’s my Fussilli ala Carlito’s – pasta in white wine cream sauce with chicken, mushrooms and peppers:


I looked at it, wondered how I was going to finish everything, but plunged on anyway. The pasta was even better than it looks, and somehow the combination of cream, mushroom and chicken made for an extremely tasty sauce. I wanted so very badly to consume every last bit of it, tried my very best, but failed anyway – it’s been 3 hours since lunch but I’m still feeling the effects of overeating :S

I was very surprised that the food turned out to be so good, as Carlito’s is in the middle of Botanic Avenue – a very studenty place which is full of cheap eats. I thought it was gonna be pub grub – which is pretty good here anyway – but the interior looked nicer than I’d imagined and the food far surpassed my expectations.

But the above review of Carlito’s is a long introduction to thoughts that have repeatedly occurred to me since I came – that what was normal back home is far from what’s normal here. And I don’t mean the quirks of the country, but what things like ‘fast’ and ‘average’ means.

For example, I’m considered a big eater back home. Everyone I know can attest to the fact that I eat a lot for a girl, and my appetite is often joked about among my former colleagues. I used to be hungry all the time and out-ate everyone on my team – but it seems like I can’t eat much more than a main course here. And it’s not like the women here don’t eat much. Head out and you’ll see them order starters and mains and finish everything on their plate – and it’s not because they’re bigger than I am, as I’ve had the opportunity to see a girl smaller than me eat a lot more.

Also, I’m considered to be a fast walker (also frequently joked about), a fast eater, and the owner of a loud voice. Unfortunately, when I came over I realised that my walking speed is very slow in comparison, that I don’t eat particularly quickly but am actually on the slow side, and I struggle to be heard over club music when other girls don’t seem to face a similar problem. Again, I don’t think it’s to do with me being smaller in built than most others – there’re many people my size here as well.

I suppose it’s welcome to the ‘real’ world, as someone joked, but it’ll be interesting to see where other Singaporeans - whose appetite, walking speed, eating speed and voice volume are ‘normal’ or ‘below average’ - stand when they come over :)

The Dirty Duck Alehouse

Good food has to be shared – and The Dirty Duck Alehouse is definitely one of those.
We dropped by the Dirty Duck the other day after a trip to the transport side of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. The alehouse is a large but busy place; it was nearing 3pm but it was still full of customers.

We were seated upstairs by the window. E settled for standard pub fare – the Dirty Duck Angus burger (£9.25), which was a large, juicy burger with generous toppings.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t but order seafood given our view overlooking the sea. As I’d been completely off seafood (apart from fish) for more than a month, I jumped at the chance to have Crab Claws (£10.50). The crab claws are actually on the starter menu, but I love that restaurants here tend to offer some, if not all of their starters in main-sized portions.



The crab claws were absolutely divine – no points for guessing that the reason why there isn’t a picture of the Angus burger is because I was too absorbed in and excited about my meal! There were so many crab claws that I actually got a bit tired eating them at one stage, and – to my own disbelief - gave at least 4 of them to E. I estimate that at least 12 crabs gave their lives for my wonderful meal.

The ciabatta was a brillant touch. It soaked up the flavours of the garlic butter-infused broth, and complemented the textures of the tomato and leek perfectly. The portion of bread was just right too – I dipped it in the broth, scooped up leek and tomatoes with my fork and placed it atop the bread, and dunked bite-sized bits of it into the broth at the end to absorb all the garlicky seafood goodness. E teasingly offered to get me a spoon – but who needs spoons when you have ciabatta!  ♥♥

Be prepared to get your hands dirty when you have this dish – as there’s no way to eat crab claws without using your fingers – but the warmth in your tummy and your garlic seafood insides (yes, I do love the combination) will make it more than worthwhile.

The Dirty Duck Alehouse
2-4 Kinnegar Road
Holywood
Co.Down
BT18 9JN
Tel: 028 9059 6666

Best friends

When I hung Totoro up, I wished I'd bought more Ghibli souvenirs when I was still in Japan.

*Bitch alert*

I wonder how some people can be celebrity bloggers when their writing style is nothing to shout about, the topics they blog about range from the mundane to the inane, and – of all things – every other photo of theirs is a blurry shot, and it’s not even blurry for artistic effect.

Surely there has to be more going on here in Belfast.