The Sizzle

Thanks to Niall and Kelly at the lovely Belfast food blog Chilli and Chocolate, I won tickets to the May Bank holiday food festival in Botanic Gardens, called The Sizzle. We walk through Botanic going to and from work everyday so we decided to go to the festival straight after work. It was another weary week so cooking was not going to be on the agenda tonight anyway!

Unfortunately, it really wasn't a pleasant evening for sitting around outside, and consequently it was very quiet at the festival, but it was only the first evening, so hopefully it will get busier over the course of the weekend, because of the food was excellent. Rather selfish of me I know, but it was quite nice not having to queue for ages for the food and had our choice of seats so we kept out of the rain. We started at the Balloo House stand- I had pork and celeriac slaw 'bruschetta' and my boyfriend had the salmon and guacamole tortilla.

I then tried BBQ chicken with curry mayo and cucumber on pitta from The Lost Society and the Mr tried the halloumi and veggie skewer with bean salad from Uluru.

Dessert was a sugar feast of of butterscotch cupcake and ice-cream from The Loft in Moygashel (we used the last of our 'food vouchers' to take home a chocolate cupcake each), his was a delicious rhubarb and custard cheesecake from The Barking Dog- we also got a very nice 10% off voucher, so hopefully we'll get to go there again soon- it's always been really tasty.

We finished up with a hot drink (coffee for me, hot chocolate for him) as it was getting pretty chilly! We had a fun evening and for marquee found it was really delicious. It was actually sad to see such a small turnout because the chefs had obviously put a lot of thought into the food and I'd hoped more people would come out to support Northern Irish food producers and chefs, maybe over the rest of the weekend.

So if you're in Belfast over the weekend, grab a warm fleece, a raincoat and wellies and head to the The Sizzle!

It's Bunny Day!

Happy Easter everyone:)

The weather has been pretty awful in Northern Ireland this week, we had an ice storm on wednesday and some people were without power until the weekend. Thankfully, the weather has improved drastically today. I saw this cool cloud formation on the way to my parent's this morning:

It looks like the remains of a tornado or something!

Dad indulged my dark chocolate lovin' with a Lindt chocolate bunny.

Mum also gave me bunny-themed things, but not food, as I think she's given up trying to work out what I eat or don't eat. I always gets bunny-themed things, even when it's not Easter. I've always loved rabbits, in fact I have a little pet bunny called Drizzt (named for the hero in R.A. Salvatore's best known Forgotten Realms novels).

I always bring tons of food with me when I go to my parents. Usually two or three mini jars of grains, some seasonings like nutritional yeast or a savoury spread like pesto or hummus, and a big pile of veggies. We normally go out for Easter Sunday dinner, but this year we're not, and I'm glad, because it means I can stay dressed down, and I don't have to go through the whole palaver of ordering vegan food from a set Easter sunday menu. Last year my sister got interrogated by the waiter for not ordering dessert, so I can just imagine what replies I'd get for wanting animal-free food.

So today I'm having more or less what I had last night, a bed of quinoa, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, dressed up with nooch and sunblush tomatoes. Yum. Then the Lindt bunny will be seeing the inside of Dukka Girl, hehe.

As I mentioned in my last post, I went out last night. I did have a drink, but just the one, a daiquiri. I had water and ginger beer after that. Even the one cocktail had my head spinning a bit. That's the problem with cutting down on booze, you turn into such a lightweight. I'll probably have a nice glass of Rioja with dinner today though, but I have gone from being quite a red wine drinker to not very fussed at all. I've got hooked on the clear head the next morning, being able to get up and go for a nice walk instead of waking up late, dehydrated and with a dodgy tummy.

Dukka Girl ventures out in Belfast

I've been doing some munching away from home over the last few days. And it's been good, but not outstanding. Yesterday evening, I met my mum and brother for clothes shopping (for the little bro) and then we went for an early dinner at Tedfords. I told them I was vegan, and the waiter got it straight away. When he brought bread, he told me without having to ask that it contained dairy. I was brought a simple salad, just mixed leaves and sundried tomatoes, but the tomatoes were the best I'd had in a long time. For the main, I just pointed out a few parts of the mains from the menu; I ended up with carrots in curry oil, steamed brocc and pak choi in a sesame ginger dressing and coconut rice. Dessert was caramelised banana and some nice sorbets. It was all very tasty, and light, which was good, as I wasn't in the mood for something heavier, but I doubt they would have been able to do me anything more substantial...still, it was pretty good for a restaurant that didn't even have a veggie main course option (the risotto had parmesan, which is made with animal rennet).

I made up for the lightness today with a filling burrito at lunchtime, at Boojum. I had mine with pinto beans, salsa roja, peppers and onion, and guacamole. Yum! Very filling, so I just had apple and some leftover potato for dinner.

My next stop will be Bo Tree Thai, although not any time soon as my dining partner has been struck down with a flu thing and is resting up, poor wee thing. I reckon by the time I'm done with there I'll be fed up with eating out!

I've made some headway this week with finding a nutrition course. So far I hadn't come across anything that hit all the right buttons. The one college I liked the sound of didn't run courses anywhere near me, but they're starting in my city this autumn! I've been in touch with one of the admissions people and I'm feeling pretty positive about it! So watch this space:)