what i ate in london: buffets are my and my mum's favourite places!

So, in August last year, I went to London as my mum came over from Australia to visit! There are so many cheap buffet restaurants in the centre of the city, you have no idea (unless you go to London a lot, in which case I'm sure you have a pretty good idea...)

I was only there for two days, and we had lunch at two different buffet restaurants - a Chinese place and a pizza/pasta place. Behold, what I had on my first plates from each day (believe me, I have more than two plates of food at buffets!)


Chinese: Spare ribs, chow mein noodles topped with corn, steamed broccoli.


Pizza/Pasta: Ham and pineapple pizza, penne with a tomato-based sauce, potato salad, beetroot and cucumber topped with cocktail sauce.

Thankfully, I gave up on Atkins a couple of days before - so was able to indulge in as much noodles, pasta and pizza as I wanted, haha.

fancy-schmancy (not really, but it looks it!) tuna salad

Still on Atkins at this time.

Oooh, look at me, going all food-photographer on you! Haha.

This tuna salad is a lot simpler than the plants in the background make it out to be. Romaine lettuce (I hate Iceberg), cherry tomatoes, sliced dried apricots and cucumber for the basic salad. For the tuna: tuna mayo topped with a cheese and chive dip from Sainsbury's, and (greedy!) Philadelphia cream cheese.

beef steak and simple sides

Still on Atkins at this time.

Thin beef steak with spices mixed with olive oil on top (can't remember what I used, sorry!), broccoli and cauliflower topped with a mushroom sauce, cherry tomatoes and halved baby radishes with butter and Philadelphia cream cheese.

pizza without the pizza base

Still on Atkins at this time.

I had major cravings for pizza but obviously couldn't have the carbs involved with such a thing. So, what did I do? I chopped up some ingredients I'd have on an actual pizza base, throw on lots of grated cheese and a swirl of tomato sauce, and pop the plate under the grill for a few minutes!

The "toppings": Avocado, cherry tomatoes, sliced bacon and pork sausages, mushrooms, courgettes, mayonnaise, tomato sauce and cheddar cheese.
Trust me. This was good. And satisfied my cravings well enough!

new year, new posting habits! (and a protein-filled breakfast)

I haven't posted since October? Of last year (weird how I can say that!)? Outrageous! Sorry about that, all -- I'm sure all of you have missed seeing delicious food on your screens every other day (hem-hem).
Anyway, happy new year! I don't really know what happened to my enthusiasm for this blog. I even considered shutting it down and just making Feast Fancies a feature on my main blog, The Feather Den but then I thought, why not just continue with it as well as make it a feature? Haha! So that's exactly what I plan to do.

Now, today's post will be the beginning of a backlog of all the photos of food that I took and didn't end up getting round to posting on here. I did a style summary on The Feather Den, so why not do a food one of sorts right here? Because there've been quite a few, they'll be scheduled as one month per day - and seeing as though I'm scheduling them, I definitely shouldn't "forget" to post, haha.

And on we go!



Still on Atkins at this time.

A protein filled breakfast! Pork sausages, slices of bacon and sliced mushroom with cucumber, cherry tomatoes and Philadelphia cream cheese.
Fascinating comparing the breakfasts I had while on Atkins (which lasted about two months, if anyone's interested) to what I have for breakfast these days! What I'm saying is, today I didn't have my first meal, a bowl of cornflakes, until about 3pm. Yeah. Hopefully the new year will bring back my good eating habits, eh?

chilli con carne with courgettes and LOTSA CHEESE(!)

Had this some time in August.

Richard's sister made chilli con carne and, upon realising we didn't have regular beans in the house, used baked beans instead. It tasted really good! Again, I replaced chips with a lower-carb substitute of courgettes. Mmmm.

roasted mushroom, pepper and avocados with tuna mayo