Weekly Update!

Soft Shell Crab, Dim Sum & Banana Bread!

This week was the first week of the school holidays where I had some entertaining to do! On Monday we went to Sealife (see previous post) and in the evening I babysat so we got a Chinese takeaway from Man Zen. On Tuesday Aum was pretty tired so we had a chilled day before his swimming lesson in the evening, and then we ate at the country club. I tried a starter, which was actually big enough for a main! It was deep fried soft shell crab which was served with a wasabi slaw; the crab was beautiful but I wasn't a fan of the slaw - far too strong and spicy.

On the Friday after I finished work (an easy day spent watching Planes!) I drove to Wilmslow and caught a train to London to see Abi. She met me at the tube and we went to Hampstead to a restaurant called Dim T for some food. It was a really cute little restaurant, we were sat at a small table in the corner, and had some tasty cocktails whilst we perused the menu. I went for one with prosecco and apple, whilst Abi's was rum and coconut.

The restaurant is well known for its Dim Sum (hence the name) so I felt I had to try some, so went for the scallop and prawn dumplings which were amazing. You got 3 in a reed basket for £3.50 which I thought very reasonable, and I followed this with Nasi Goreng, a rice dish with chicken and prawn that I have had a few times at Wagamama so knew I liked it. We got the tube home afterwards and got an early night as we were both shattered from working all week!

The following day we went to a little cafe for brunch called Ginger & White, where I opted for the toasted banana bread with vanilla cream cheese and fresh raspberries, drizzled with honey. It was nice to have something a bit different for breakfast, and the flavours complimented each other gorgeously, I could have eaten another portion! 

Afterwards we went to an arts festival in Hackney (see next post) and after some really nice fish and chips for tea, Tasha arrived in the evening and we got ready for a night on the town. We had a few predrinks and then went to Electric Ballroom in Camden which was a really fun night, great dancey music which was perfect for a girly night.

Today we had a later start, packed and went for brunch again; this time to the cafe next door to the one we'd tried the previous day. I had poached eggs with toast and prawns - sounds like a weird combination but actually worked, and filled me up for the day. I took the chance whilst I was in London to catch up with Danielle from uni for a coffee before catching a train home this evening. Was such a fun weekend, and really nice to get away and do something rather than being stuck as home doing the usual!

Summer Views...

Planes - 2 stars **

Today I took Aum and his friend Max to see Planes, the latest Disney Pixar offering. It tells the tale of Dusty Crophopper (voiced by Dane Cook), a small plane built to dust crops in the countryside, and his dreams of winning the prestigious Wings Around The World race tournament. After originally failing to make it past the trials stage, a place becomes available when one contestant is found guilty of using an illegal fuel and is disqualified. The space in between Dusty's disappointment at not making the grade, to him gaining a place took all of ten minutes, so there wasn't much empathy there to be honest.

There are all the usual set backs; a few planes dislike the fact that he isn't a racing plane, and try to bully him out, he has a fear to overcome (a fear of heights) in order to succeed, and his hero (Skipper, a supposed naval hero) is found to have lied about his accomplishments, causing Dusty to doubt himself at the last hurdle. I think the overall story in Planes left a bit to be desired, it was quite predictable, and was basically the same as Cars but with a different mode of transport. This was particularly noticeable with the characters, as there is a clumsy and stupid sidekick (Brad Garrett), a self righteous leading female (Teri Hatcher) and a 'baddie' with a big ego, all of which are dominant in Cars.

However, the visuals in this film were really good. As the competition takes places all over the world, many countries and cultures were shown, which was really interesting and good for children seeing it to learn about international destinations. The two I took to see it complained that it wasn't long enough, which is unusual, so they obviously enjoyed it!

A sequel is planned for release in 2014, which I may be dragged to see, but my expectations won't exceed a carbon copy of Cars 2, with planes!