Tag Archives: Food

Nox hotel Galway

20 Tuesday Feb 2018

Posted by in Food / Eating Out, Travel

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The lovely people at the Nox hotel Galway contacted me a couple of months to see if I wanted to come and stay for a night. Obviously I said Yes! I do have a bit of love for Galway and seem to go for a visit every year. Last year I was there twice in the space of a month, for my mams birthday and the Connemarathon half marathon. So after trying to work out a date, it was pretty busy couple of months with getting married and Christmas 😂we settled on visiting last weekend.

Location

I didn’t know a huge amount about the Nox Hotel and presumed it was a bit out of the city but actually the location is pretty good. After we checked in when we decided to go into Galway for a look around. We ordered a taxi at reception which arrived in seconds and it was €7 into Eyre Square. As it was a dry evening (surprisingly since it is January!) We decided to walk back to the hotel, and it only took about 20 minutes strolling.

Food

Where do I start, the food was really good! I am still thinking of my main course 😍

For starters I went for the chicken wings in cajun spices, and my other half got the Caesar salad.

For mains I went for the Supreme of Chicken, with black pudding & potato terrine (with a sneaky side of chips) and he had steak (love the plate!)

We didn’t opt for dessert and just enjoyed some cocktails 😁

We also had breakfast the next morning in the hotel, this was a buffet in the bar/restaurant and there was also a breakfast menu you could order off. We stuck to the buffet option, and has some emm coco pops before our fry… We had lovely cappucinos as well, I definitely feel that they can be a bit hit or miss on hotels, either too hot or not enough foam but these were lovely and you can see for yourself.

Decor

I loved the hotel decor, not going to lie most of our conversations involved the decor and what we could do with our new house. The hotel is a gorgeous mix of blue, grey, gold and yellow. We are currently decorating our house and every room is pretty much these colours, with a bit of rose gold/copper mixed in.

Bar area

Entrance to the ladies toilets

Reception seating area

Double Bedroom

Another reception sitting area

Service

The staff in the Nox hotel are all amazing. I am not just saying that because I was invited to stay. Yes we recieved some pretty amazing service but I did observe the staff treating everybody else the same. At the buffet breakfast, I presume a lady had been waiting for some bacon, the waiter found her at her table, gave her bacon directly from the kitchen and checked everybody else was ok (it was pretty busy when we went down but the food was constantly being refilled)

Even the reception desk were great, they booked taxis and had maps of Galway available for everybody.

I will definitely be back for a visit, the location is pretty good. Yes you can go stay in Galway city centre but you will pay a lot more. The food is great, the cocktails are great and the service is brilliant 🙂

Amanda xxx

Bauknecht and Kevin Thornton Demonstration

03 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by in Food / Eating Out, Lifestyle

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Recently I went to a Bauknecht event in Arnotts, Kevin Thornton was doing a cooking demonstration. I was greeted by prosecco in arrival, couldn’t complain. 😍

He made a ravioli of Antrim lobster with baby spinach and a lobster bisque. He steamed the lobster with fish stock in a bauknecht steam oven. I was very intrigued by a steam oven, the same as I want a plate warmer/prooving drawer after watching the Great British Bake Off 😂

Kevin Thornton kept us entertained for the hour with making homemade pasta and using the Kenwood attachment for the electric pasta maker. Definitely need to consider getting more attachments for my Kenwood mixer.

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Here is the recipe and method for anybody who would like to give it a try.

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He also had some macroons that were made earlier and filled by one of the staff members from Arnotts, fair play to the poor guy! I wish I wasn’t allergic to almonds and got to eat macaroons 😓

I want to thank Relvole PR for the invite, it was a great way to spend a Saturday. Thank you to Kevin Thornton for keeping us entertained and serving some amazing looking food. Also a thank you to Arnotts for a great service.

Amanda xxx

Healthy Living – Low Carb Option

15 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Healthy Living

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This weeks Tuesday fitness update is a bit different, I haven’t anything overly different exercise wise over the past week.  I am still keeping up with the walking most nights.

I have decided this week to share one of the low carbohydrate menus that I love, it hasn’t really got a name Chicken Pepperoni 🙂 . It is such an easy recipe:

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Ingredients:

  • Chicken fillets
  • Low calorie cheddar cheese (or your favourite cheese)
  • A mixture of spices and herbs
  • Pepperoni

I chopped a chicken fillet into strips and covered with a mixture of Paprika, Cajun spice, Garlic and Parsley.  I tend to just throw a few bits from bottles that are in the press, anything that I like really.  I put the chicken in the oven until the chicken is about 5 minutes from ready (obviously this depends on the amount of chicken you are cooking and your oven).I then put the pepperoni on top of the chicken and then put it back in for another 5 minutes.  After this I topped it with the low calorie cheese and then put it back in the oven until the cheese was melted.

I made up a quick caeser salad and had this with the chicken.  It is a pretty nice dish and really tasty!

Amanda xxx

Fitness/ Diet update 18th August.

18 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by in Healthy Living

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I have gotten into a bit of a routine of doing a fitness update on a Tuesday, so I am going to do my best to continue doing this.

Since my update last week I haven’t done a huge amount of exercise, I volunteered the Dublin Fashion Festival launch night last Wednesday (see post here) and I was exhausted after it, I spent my night running around taking pictures, filling goodie bags and cleaning up after.  It was as good as any gym workout as I was sore after it! I met friends Thursday and Friday after work and then came down with a sore throat and cold at the weekend.

My blog post this week is a little bit different, I have blogged before about my diet and how I followed a low carb diet.  I put up recipes for low carb lasagna and pizza and diet updates about what I ate and I started this diet in April.

Anybody who follows me on Snapchat (@chatterboxdiary) will see I have been very ‘bold’ over the past few weeks and posted pictures of carbs  including chips, pizza, crisps and everything else.  The past few weeks I was sick of it, I tried and had a mixture of low carb meals and not so low carb!  I decided last week to quit the low carb diet and start eating a balanced diet. I am not necessarily going to go and eat all high carb meals but I am going to eat more fruit, vegetables and pasta etc if I want it and not feel guilty about it.

I am going to see how I feel over the next few weeks and if I might go back onto a low carb diet in time.

I will still post some of the lower carb meals I eat, and hopefully these will help somebody out there 🙂

Amanda xxx

Cleaver East – The Burger Challenge

01 Monday Jun 2015

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Last night we went to Cleaver East in the Clarence Hotel, I had heard of the #Pornburger and couldn’t wait to try it! The pornburger changes on a monthly basis, the May burger was call ‘The Italian Job’ it consisted of bolognese flavoured beef burger with a mornay and arrabiatta sauce, deepfried mozzerella and ricotta lasagna topped with garlic bread…amazing!!
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Lets not forget the starter, I first tried dumplings in Australia and have been struggling to find them in Ireland, especially nice ones. These prawn dumplings with oriental mushrooms and lemongrass broth were amazing!!
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The cocktail menu looked amazing! I was away for a hen party and only back in Dublin about an hour so my body needs a bit of time to recover. Definately getting one next time I go and the ‘Bramble’ cocktail is first on my list.

Here is my outfit, ignore the cheesy face it was a very last minute photo running for a taxi and the sky had just opened into a torrential downpour!! Braving a crop top but had the long shirt over to cover a bit and I had the option of closing it if I felt uncomfortable.
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Crop top – Penneys
Shirt – Penneys
Jeans – New Look
Boots – New Look
Bag – Stradivarious

It is horrible that I am able to wear boots in June!! Sun please come soon!!

I know my last post was on low carb lasagna and this post clearly shows that I eat carbs. I do have some cheat meals, I usually only eat low carb meals Monday to Friday and then have some treats at the weekend. I lost a bit of weight when I started doing low carbs and now my weight is balancing as I have had a few bad weekends.

Amanda xxx

Tenerife – Destination Guide

08 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Travel

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This is my third time in Tenerife, twice in the past two years and before that I was 12 🙂 We were pretty lazy this time, we wanted a sun holiday in May and the Canary Islands seemed the best option, so we booked our flights and even the same hotel again because we liked the area.  We are staying in Los Christianos in a Sol hotel who are part of the Melia group, its worth joining when booking as they do great rewards for discounts on bookings.  We booked half board as they give you the option of breakfast and lunch, however at check in they got us with an upgrade to all inclusive for €10 each a day.

I decided to split this blog in two, one on the destination, food, drinks and shopping. The second blog will be on what I wore.

Restaurants:

Even though we are all inclusive in the hotel we still enjoy eating out at night. My favourite restaurants include:

1. Melrose restaurant, it is an amazing steakhouse! The staff are very friendly, the kitchen is open and you can sit near it which makes it impossible to decide what to order. I had the ribeye steak and it was huge!

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2. Hacienda Merenda is a mexican restaurant. The food here is great, I am obsessed with nachos and these were definitely worth the trip. The portions are huge, we got fajitas as our main and struggled with these after the starters.

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3. Emperor Chinese, this is a small chinese in Los Christianos, we went here because of a recommendation and it was definitely worth the visit. The staff were friendly and helpful, food was great and really tasty and great wifi (the first place I had full bars). Really can’t fault the place, a lot cheaper then other places for great food and cheaper for our normal wine aswell.

4. Oriental Garden is an asian restaurant that offers a huge range of dishes. They also give all tables poppadoms with mango chutney, veg and mint sauce. Think I overdid it on these and struggled with my dishes.

Restaurants 1,2 and 4 are part of a group called Gourmetland, when you eat in one they give you a voucher for 10% off in all of the restaurants.

Drinks:

I could be considered boring as I am not really into mad nights out on holidays. I enjoy going out for dinner having some drinks with dinner and a few after. I can’t deal with being hungover in the sun.

My favourite wine that we lived on for the week is San Valentin, a Spanish wine that is part of the Torres group.

For cocktails I love Vilaflor in Playa de las Americas, my reason for this could be because the cocktails are huge! There are mixed reviews on Tripadvisor about this place as they don’t have prices on the menu. Our cocktails were €8.75 which is dearer then a lot of the places about but they are also easily double the size, along with great staff, free snacks to munch on and a rose with the bill I think it is worth it.
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Feeling all fancy with my little bottle of cava and bucket:

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Shopping:

Most of my favourite shops are here, Zara, Oysho, Stradivarious and Pull and Bear. The shops are all huge and have a great selections and the huge plus it is cheaper then back in Ireland!

So on that note I am going to go and enjoy my cocktail at the pool, by the time you will be reading this I will probably be back home as I have no internet to upload 😦

Amanda xxx

Low Carb Diet

30 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by in Lifestyle

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I know people have different views on low carb diets, its not healthy, you will put the weight back on straight away when you start eating carbs again.  I am currently doing a no carb diet, I don’t  think any of  the above views are true. Like any diet if you start eating the same as you did before you started the diet you will put on the weight.  Also you don’t have to just eat frys every day.  I have started doing low carbs for about 10days before I go on holidays.  To work out the carbs in food I deduct the fibre from the carbs to get my net carbs. Here is a breakdown of what I eat on a daily basis on this diet:

Breakfast:
During the week I am limited enough and normally have a slimbo with ham and cheese.  Slimbos have approximately  15 net carbs depending which type you buy.  Obviously you put what you want into these including bacon 🙂 Brennan’s do a low carb bread ‘Brennans Be Good Wholemeal’ that was about 8grams of carbs per slice!

Lunch:

Not going to lie, I have struggled a bit with lunch options.  I do have access to a canteen in work and normally stick to a salad and cold cuts of meat.  Some days I have the option of a chicken breast, roasted meat or an omelette. Mushroom soup is also quite low depending on the brand.

Dinner:

Dinner is probably one of the easier meals, I have been eating a lot of Caesar salad.  I have been trying Caeser salad with chicken and chorizo and it is so good!!
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Another dish I have tried is courgetti courgette stripped with a julienne peeler so its like spagetti) with chicken and a creamy pesto sauce.  The chicken was in a marinade which explains the colour, I can’t say if marinade is allowed but I am not being overly strict on my carb count.
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Another meal I am enjoying is omelettes, you can throw anything and it is quick and easy!!
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Snacks:

So for snacks I am having sugar free jelly, peanuts and some chocolate.  Not the healthiest snacks really!

So for anybody who wants to do a low carb diet, I am only giving information on the diet I am currently following.  I am not a nutrionist or now much about diets, I am following this in the healthiest way I think fit.  I am drinking as much water as I can and also doing a bit of walking.

Amanda xxx

Early Birthday Celebrations – fun in Dublin

22 Sunday Mar 2015

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Hey, hope everyone had a great weekend!! I went out for an early birthday dinner because next week is a busy weekend and I have my first race in over 2 months. Back to doing a bit of training this week so hope my shin splints are better!!

So this is what I wore out last night for my birthday dinner:

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We went to FX Buckley for dinner, love the place, had steak, prawns, cocktails and wine!!
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I love FX Buckley, it is my favourite steakhouse in Dublin!!

After dinner we went to Xico on Baggott street, for anybody who doesn’t know, this is the new name for the Baggott Inn. I was very surprised when I heard that the Baggott Inn closed down. Xico appears to be a Mexican themed pub, with worn wood and steel bars like a prison cell underground theme. I got a cocktail and they have a pretty good menu.
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I got the Jalapeno Business, I should have known by the name that it was going to be spicy!! But the ingredients looked so good, Absolut Vanilla, Elderflower, Pineapple, Passionfruit and Lemon. Still can’t figure out how it was spicy, but it plumped up my lips a bit 😛

I also had my first proper taste of Guinness :O
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After Xico, we went to Balfes in the Westbury Hotel. Had a really nice time here, it is relaxing and the staff are brilliant. It was very easy to get served and it also very easy to get their attention. The food looked amazing as well, I had prosecco and then was bold a bit later and got a portion of chips 🙂 Being classy like always 😀
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Having a very relaxing today and watching loads of comedy movies on Netflix 🙂

Amanda xxx