september: what i ate

Sticky Toffee Pudding at The Barking Dog

Once in a while, when I feel like having a treat, I pop into The Barking Dog. C and I had a wonderful meal a few weeks ago and topped it off with their delicious Sticky Toffee Pudding. The portion was small, but it was just nice after a two-course meal. I do wish that their serving of the honey-flavoured ice cream was more generous though.

Roasted aubergine risotto from Canteen at The MAC

Canteen at The MAC is one of my favourite places to have lunch. Mainly because they don't open for dinner, unless there is a show on. They also do a lovely brunch. And they change their menu every season, so there's always something to look forward to. I had their roasted aubergine risotto over the weekend and it was delectable. The amount of cheese was just right. Pleased as punch.

Home made sumo nabe

 I've really been in the mood for miso-based soup this month and have made the sumo nabe (chanko nabe) many times. You can get the recipe here; almost all of the ingredients are available in asian supermarkets.

Alton Brown's garden vegetable soup

If you're in the mood for a different kind of soup, try Alton Brown's garden vegetable soup. Easy to make in a pinch and very tasty. I usually skip frying up some of the hard vegetables first but I do add in a bit of EVOO for a stronger flavour.

september

A beautiful row of trees sits behind a barbed wire fence

Am I the only one who sees Mondrian at work here?

Ducklings at play in Boucher Road

Waiting for autumn

September felt so long and even now it's still not quite over. Anyway, things that have been keeping me busy this month:

Reading The New York Times online. I caved in and paid for a monthly subscription and I love it!

NYT is an appropriate segue to this beautiful interview of Alber Elbaz.

And onto my next obsession, this wonderful documentary on Bill Cunningham. It's rare to have an opportunity to see into someone's life, and what makes them tick. I loved watching him so much that I wish the film was twice as long.

Also something else that I've been following is Vogue.com's YouTube channel's whimsical series, 73 Questions. Respondents have about 6 minutes to answer 73 questions, no hesitations, minimal editing only.

Reruns of Sex and the City. Now that I'm in my 30s watching a show about women in their 30s, I wonder why I didn't notice how annoying and idiosyncratic they were.

Here's a monthly health tip, watch Doc Mike Evan's YouTube channel.

And here's a giggle as we go into October, Bad Lip Reading's take on Game of Thrones.

Tara!

culture night belfast 2014

I made it to the Culture Night 2014, woot! I popped into The Northern Whig for dinner last Friday before hitting the Cathedral Quarter. The festival was even bigger this year, with more events and performances. I didn't manage to stay the whole way through though, so here are just some of the programmes and acts that I managed to catch.

The Dog Ruff String Band

Caught The Dog Ruff String Band just outside The Northern Whig who were jamming bluegrass music. They were really good and entertaining.

Yarn bombing at Buoys Park

I was looking forward to more yarn bombing at CNB14 and what they did at Buoys Park was really cute. I was hoping to catch the roller derby girls but no luck.

Flowers in Cathedral Gardens

Inside Established Coffee

Love these quotes seen inside Oh Yeah

DSNT

I was actually looking forward to DSNT's installation this time round. But it was a smaller one this year and there wasn't much place for us to stand around or explore. Also, waiting for the lift to take us from one floor to another was also a bit of a pain.

Seen on the ceiling of Belfast Print Workshop

My favourite stop of the night was a tour of Belfast Print Workshop. A guide, Chloe, showed us the etching process and another guide, Neil, talked us through the printing process. Really nice bunch of people and a great place to create art.

Overall, it was a great way to spend Friday night. Looking forward to CNB15!

six songs of me

I was really excited about the Six Songs of Me project when I read about it on The Guardian a couple of years ago. And recently my friends and I have been tagging each other about books, music and movies (all the stuff that are important!) and I fished this great project out to do with my friends.

Just by looking at what people read, watch or listen to gives me an idea of what kind of person they are. If I find out that someone loves Jonathan Franzen as much as I do, in my head I'd imagine us as BFFs already. Haha. Anyway, to give you an idea of the kind of person I am, here are my selections for the Six Songs of Me (tag):

1. What was the first song you ever bought? Electric Youth by Debbie Gibson.
I remember standing for ages in the music store, clutching this cassette tape over and over before deciding to buy it. I loved Debbie Gibson and I used to dance along to all her music videos.

2. What song always gets you dancing? Paper Planes by M.I.A.
My good friend has a theory that we all get restless at about 4pm at work every day. And every day, we'd do something at 4pm to break the monotony of work. Usually we'd be playing this song really loud and displaying some fancy footwork, ha.

3. What song takes you back to your childhood? Billie Jean by Michael Jackson.
I listened to a lot of Michael Jackson when I was growing up. He has so many awesome hits but Billie Jean really stood out. I used to watch this video over and over because I had no idea what was going on, other than it was so cool that the pavement would light up every time he stepped on it.

4. What is your perfect love song? Mayonaise by Smashing Pumpkins.
Actually C (love of my life) is responsible for turning me on to Mayonaise. I just love the opening riffs.

5. What song would you want at your funeral? Beautiful Life by Gui Boratto.
I guess a bit of house/techno wouldn't hurt. And there are very little lyrics in this track. I think the title says it all.

6. Time for the encore. One last song that makes you, you. Say It Ain't So by Weezer.
I picked this track even though the one that I would randomly belt out from time to time is The Sweater Song.

Now, tell me about your selections...