New pastures

Hi everyone, I've since moved to Wordpress, so please check out my new blog here!

Mourne Seafood Belfast - Take 2

Mourne Seafood comes highly recommended by so many people, and I joined the crowd when I visited it for the first time last October. Each of our party ordered a starter, main and dessert; the food was absolutely delicious and came up to just £26 per person.

Most of our spread, from top left: Seabass with chorizo; queen scalloprs with pumpkin risotto; crab linguine; salmon cakes; sticky data pudding; peel-and-eat langoustines; seabass with citrus dressing

It was thus with excitement that I headed there again last weekend, ready to indulge in another round of good seafood – and I’m disappointed to say that I wasn’t as lucky this time.

I started with the pan-fried crab claws with chilli butter (£7). Still having vivid memories of the Dirty Duck’s unbeatable crab claws, I wondered if I’ll have a similar experience at Mourne Seafood. Unfortunately, the crab claws served did not come cleanly off the ‘bone’, and had a mushy texture associated with slightly overcooked and less-than-fresh crab meat. The dish was also somewhat bland, with barely a trace of chilli or butter.

Quality aside, the crab claws came in a good value for money portion, although the winner for this category has to be the Mourne Mussels. The medium pot (£6.75) is massive and is guaranteed to fill you up – although the white wine, garlic and cream sauce was described as (and verified to be) rather salty.

Fuelled by the moreish queen scallops and pumpkin risotto we had on our first visit, I went for the seared scallops and linguine in saffron cream sauce (£17) this time. Sadly, my immediate thought upon seeing the dish was “My, that’s a heap of pasta”, and the scallops weren’t as plentiful. The sauce was also a tad too eggy even for an egg lover like me, although there were just enough chopped tomatoes and wilted greens for me to eat it all (I was hungry).

Look at this risotto - chock full of scallops and mussels all over its top - and tell me that the scallop linguine doesn't look sad in comparison! If i recall correctly the risotto was about £17 too.

Thankfully, the delicious sticky date pudding (£5.25) I had previously was just as good the second time. Served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drenched in fudge sauce, it was warm and moist, with finely shredded flesh of dates mixed evenly throughout the pudding.

Despite the somewhat disappointing second experience, Mourne Seafood is a place I’d eat at again. Our flawless first visit and its stellar reputation could not have come by chance, and its specials menu guarantees that you’ll never eat the same dish twice unless you want to. While dinner at Mourne Seafood always takes a while (at least 2 hrs for 3 courses), its service is impeccable and doesn’t feel slow. I’m just hoping that it’ll be third time lucky so that I can gush about it again.

Hello Spring!

Spring is here, even though it feels at times like it's still too cold - like this morning.

The afternoons have been mostly sunny and warm, and the Easter weekend was simply glorious - three days spent sitting outside in summer wear just soaking it in.

My daffodils have been in bloom for some now, and the rest of the garden is sprouting. I've grown some lettuce and rocket (these are showing promise), as well as scattered flower seeds in the bed at the back (still waiting for them to show). I've also planted 25 freesia bulbs - Poundland is a great place to shop - so hopefully there'll be more flowers when summer comes around.

I don't know what this weekend will be like yet, but will, of course, be keeping my fingers crossed for more sun. People are already walking around in t-shirts and spaghetti tops even though it's nowhere near being that warm (What then will they wear in summer? Just underwear?)!

More pictures of the garden to come, I think :)

4 scarves in 16 different ways

Someone shared this on Facebook - incredibly useful!

Back to ballet - my rehabilitation experience

Today, I had my 3rd ballet lesson after a 10 week hiatus following my horrible ankle sprain this New Year. I'd forgotten how gratifying it was to end the week by working those muscles and stretching those limbs, and am so glad to be back at the barre.

There's some catching up to be done. My turns, which were never good, have gotten even worse on both sides; the ankle is still a bit iffy too and I don't quite dare to turn on it yet. My balancing is also slightly off and I think my core has gotten even weaker.

Apart from those, however, I have to admit that I'm pleasantly surprised by my current form. My back is actually more supple and stronger than it's ever been - my back bends are deeper and I'm holding my best ever attitude balance on demi-pointe. I think my developpes from fondue are as high as, if not slightly higher, than they used to be - which is also fantastic given that I've been away from the barre for so long.

I think I owe my form entirely to the yoga and exercises I did during my rehabilitation period. After the initial few weeks, I started doing some yoga and stretching exercises for at least 30min twice or three times a week, as well as simple barre work to maintain the muscle memory. I mainly practised the RAD Grade 8 barre work - purely because it wasn't difficult and I was familiar with it, which made it easier to focus on working the injured ankle while keeping the good ankle fit.

For yoga itself, I mainly did the two sun salutations - I think they were key to strengthening my back. I also did some half-moon poses, as well as full locust, and bow poses. The balancing stick pose was especially fun (and challenging) to do  as well. I fully admit that my yoga practice was very haphazard - I would probably benefit more from a class in terms of preventing injury and having a more holistic yoga experience, but I liked being able to do poses that targeted key areas as a dancer.

Once I was warm, I went on to stretching exercises - including side splits while lying on my back and penches with palms on the floor for support. I'm quite keen to keep up this yoga-stretching combination in between classes as they seem to have worked great so far, and hopefully motivate myself to throw in some thera-band exercises to push me further too!

Remiscing Japan

I needed to choose a photo for a workplace newsletter the other day, so I promptly went onto Facebook and started scrolling through my picturer and further down I went, until I realised that I'd hardly any pictures of Osaka, Kobe, or several other places in Japan that I'd been to and loved.

Facebook in the past couple of years has become, for me, a great platform to remember and reminisce about the past. Looking back on where I've been and what I've done helps to bring to mind happy times, beautiful places and wonderful friends. When I'm down, it reminds me that I've had some great experiences and that there will be more to come; when the weather is - quite literally - putting a damper on my mood, I am reminded that even Ireland can have lovely weather and that I'll be ready to enjoy it when it comes.

I therefore decided to dig up photos of my time in Japan and post a selection on Facebook, so that they'll be just a few convenient clicks away when the mood hits. I was struck by nostalgia browsing through the photos of my neighbourhood in Osaka - it's the simple things and once-familiar places that threatened to bring tears. The sight of my apartment brought to mind smells of the tatami and the feel of the cool kitchen floor; the shot of clear skies over the Yodogawa evoked clearly the sense of freedom and peace that I felt when out on my bike, cycling around the neighbourhood on restless evenings and quiet weekends.

Yet, I was surprised and disappointed that there were so few photos of the city I love so dearly and once called home. There were none of the touristy shots of frequent haunts like Shinsaibashi, Namba and Umeda. Nothing more than my memory of the Glico Man, the Dotonburi crab, the plastic food figurines in Sennichimae, the HEP 5 ferris wheel, JR Osaka station, Yodobashi camera, LoFT, Crystal Nagahori, Namba Parks... nothing from the cycling route from Sagisu into Umeda (like the mural at a junction and the long slope that was so scary yet thrilling to go down; the wind in my hair and adrenaline in my veins); nor the Ebie junction; nor the Fukushima-dori; nor even Nodahanshin itself or Jusco.

It scares me to realise that I have nothing tangible of Osaka - even if the memories I have are so real and so clear. I don't know why I didn't take many pictures then, when I spend so much time photographing bits and pieces of my life here - the food, the city, the everyday. Maybe it would've been different if Instagram had existed back then. But now that I know I will one day be looking back on photos of my life, I'll bear in mind to continue snapping away as I go through the days.

Weight watching and healthy eating

There has been some discussion on the Guardian about weight and health issues lately, with two articles posted yesterday.

The first by Juliette Jowitt sought to uncover why more than half the UK is overweight, even though official figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) suggests that UK adults consume less than the recommended calories per day and most meet the suggested activity levels. The second, a commentary by Alexandra Jones, described Jones' experience as the fat kid at school and how it took a visit to the GP to teach her about food discipline.

Weight and health issues seem to be popular topics, going by the number of comments (more than 500 each) on the articles. Among many other comments, it was pretty much establised that the respondents in the HSCIC's survey probably under-estimated their caloric intake while overreporting the amount of physical activity they received in the 4-week period of observation.

The recommended daily intake for an average female is 2000 calories - pictures of its equivalent that I found online suggest that I consume more than that on a daily basis, and many have commented that those are generous caloric estimates as well.

As for the 150min of moderate physical activity per week (or 75min of vigorous activity) - I used to hit that with 2 x 90min of ballet a week back home, but even then I was gaining weight due to lots of eating out with friends and several-course working lunches and dinners. Now, due to my injured ankle, I clock about 105min of brisk walking a week, 25min of beginner's swimming lessons and another 60min or so of gentle yoga and ballet exercises. I've lost weight since coming here, but I owe that to eating out less as much as I do to getting more exercise.

Reading the articles and comments brought forth some thoughts about food and eating habits here.

The first is the amount of bad food on sale, namely sweets, chocolates, cakes and crisps. The variety and amount of such food in shops and supermarkets in the UK and Ireland is simply staggering - I was stunned the first time I walked into an Apple Green service station and still gawk at the rows and rows of tasty cakes and chocolates each time I'm at Tesco. The past week has mostly involved me walking into a store, staring at cakes and treats on sale and thinking, and thinking, and thinking about whether or not I should buy a packet of something - I finally caved in yesterday with a packet of mini lemon cakes.

Which brings me to the next thought about how thin people also think about their weight and how much they're eating. Some of the commentors who've since lost weight identified with how Jones treds the fine "line between willpower and obssession" - while I perhaps don't obssess over my weight as much as they do, I'm constantly thinking about it, despite having always been about a size 8. I really love food, talk about it all the time and make such an event out of eating - but I spend a lot more time resisting temptation than giving in. There're always thoughts about whether or not to have one more piece of chocolate, wehther I should buy some cake, whether to have KFC or make my own dinner, whether I should have sugar with my tea, whether I should eat this now that it's after 10pm, etc.

I think it helps to know how much is too much and stop before, for example, you finish the entire tub of ice cream. Which brings me to thoughts on portion sizes. Chocolates here come in massive bars - a regular Snickers is twice as much chocolate as what I'd eat in one sitting. I probably have my mum to thank for having always cut down Cadbury bars into two-square blocks and putting them in a container, as a portion of chocolate has always remained around that size to me. Even today, my practice is to pop one portion of chocolate into my mouth, enjoy that, then pause to think whether I want another (yes, always), and whether I can or should have another. It definitely helps in controlling the amount I eat, compared to if the habit was to wolf down one huge Mars Bar and, still feeling dissatisfied, reach for another sweet treat. Let's not forget either that starters here can come in main-sized portions, while the large mains are accompanied as well by half a plate of chips or mash - too much food even for a big eater like me!

In addition, the ingredients used in food require examination too. While consuming fat doesn't neccessarily make you fat (see the Business Insider's excellent piece on nutrition myths), the consumption of cream, cheese, and butter on top of all the sugar, carbohydrates and oil that we eat adds up - I can't bring myself to use many recipes as they call for cream and double cream or lots of butter. The teaspoons of sugar in the cups of coffee and tea we drink throughout the day can accumulate to a fair bit too.

Even supposedly healthier alternatives to snacks can be more unhealthy than we'd think, as evidenced by the below packet of Tesco dried fruit. One serving contains a whopping 22% of our daily intake of sugar due to the cranberries and blueberries having been sweetened with syrup and concentrated apple juice! Fruit juices also seem to be consumed in place of water a lot more over here, and reports have illustrated just how loaded with sugar they are.


Half a packet of this would almost max out your daily intake of sugar 

How can I not mention alcohol consumption as well? It's common knowledge that beer and wine are loaded with calories and sugar. Spirits are also mixed with sugary bases like Coca Cola and a night out almost always ends with a fourth meal of extremely unhealthy but oh so delicious things like a kebab, pizza, fish and chips, deep fried goujons, a Chinese stir fry (have you actually noticed the amount of oil and MSG in a packet of fried noodles??).

Moreover, lunch choices don't seem to help much either. Many people opt for smaller meals like salads or sandwiches for their mid-day meal, perhaps to avoid the post-lunch slump, when in fact dinner should be the smallest meal of the day as you'll have less time - as well as do a lot less - to burn off those calories. Also, salads are only healthy when they're not laden with high-caloric dressing, and a quick look at the nutrition guide on a packed sandwich should be enough to make you reconsider picking up that sandwich for lunch - really, something that leaves you hungry in less than 3hrs but with the caloric content of more than a third of your daily intake is not worth having.

There we are - just some thoughts that have been churning about from those discussions. Happy eating and healthy living! (Or at least try...)