Nakitt
A tale of love conquering the whole world…

This morning we woke up and watched the F1 qualifications in Malaysia together, the seemingly latest development in a streak of racing addiction. All week we’ve been glued to the television every night whilst playing Grand Turismo 4, a racing game on the Playstation 2 and the epitome of our battle of the sexes. So far, men are losing. Badly.

This fit of all of things fast has been a long time coming, however. Kitty loves to sprint through the street with my hand in hers head long towards the park in a crazed frenzy of excitement, and has done so for as long as I can remember now. Our local park has been closed lately though for a sort of “rehabilitation” exercise, something which in actual fact has begun to resemble the site of a major nuclear accident, what with all the digging and the workman in their fluorescent boiler suits. Their aim is to have the park reopened for Summer, a goal which whilst I remain optimistic, is still far from their contorted grasp. Touch wood though, I’ve been looking forward for an excuse to have another picnic with my girl.

I’ve been a bit estranged lately as to what to get up to during the day, and whilst trying to give myself ample opportunity to simply just take this laptopless [sic] opportunity to relax, I do find myself sitting with my head between my hands, elbows on table, bored as the child within lacks mental stimulation.

I’ve always had an interest in cooking, and I love having the opportunity to cook for Kitty when possible, so maybe this is the opening I’ve been looking for to try some new recipe’s out on my test subject? We’ve been having mozzarella and tomato paninis a lot lately, which always go down a treat. I’ve included the recipe below if you’re game; they’re extremely simple to make, hardly taking any time at all to prepare and cook, and they taste divine.

Mozzarella And Tomato Paninis

1. Take the panini bread and slice it in half. Using a pastry brush, lighly cover the inside of the slices with some olive oil.
2. Cut a fresh tomato into thin slices, and spread evenly over the inside of the panini bread.
3. Slice some mozzarella cheese into slices, and spread over the tomatos on the inside of the panini bread.
4. Place both slices of panini bread inside up in a grill or oven at approximately 180-200°C, and cook until both slices are lightly toasted, and the cheese is melted to taste.
5. Leave to cool for 2 minutes before garnishing with basil, and adding salt and pepper to taste. Press both slices firmly together, slice into manageable pieces, and serve. Recipe makes 1 serving.

Well, there’s the recipe! Off to make some now for my love. =]

The days have been gloriously warm and sunny here. It was the warmest day of the year yesterday, and it’ll only go up from there. It is all just so exciting, we can finally pull out our summer clothes.

Today has been lovely. We woke up and the Sun was shining. I worked as Nathan dozed in and out of sleep. I went to Uni and got a Pass Plus mark for this term. I was so scared about a fail, but they passed me right through. I was overjoyed and I still have that tingling feeling in my bones. Nathan and I bought chocolate and strawberry milkshakes and walked in the late afternoon sunshine. It is nearly 6.30 and it is glorious to see that the Sun is still up. The clocks change forward in a few days time.

So now I am free for a month, and I am so excited by all the possibilities of fun we can now have! This means we can sit outside and drink tea, bike riding in the park, tennis, picnics and trips to the beach. The list is endless.

We also have tadpoles. I think they’re really adorable. We saved some of them from a puddle which was being swooped by crows, so now they live in our garden. We have about 400 of them, so I’m going to have to start dispersing them in the pond and buckets. Gosh, no wonder the frog parents run off afterwards, who could cope with 400 children?

That would be all for now.

Its that time of year when everyone comes down with the sniffles. We all suffer from the Winter blues with the grey skies and bitter winds on our cheeks. Lately I have been a little tea-maker and have discovered the delicious flavour of ginger tea. Nathan has been a bit poorly, so I’ve been making it religiously every day and have decided to share my little recipe with you. It is so simple to do.

What you need:
1) Ginger root (you can buy these at any supermarket).
2) A saucepan.
3) Honey.
4) A mug.

What you need to do:
1) Firstly you need to wash the ginger root and then peel off the outer skin/layer. Next you slice it into very thin slices, the thinner you get, the better!

2) What I tend to do next is to boil the kettle before I put the ginger slices into the saucepan. I then fill the pan with the boiling water and put it on the hob.
3) Leave the pan of water with ginger to “steep” for 10-15 minutes. This means just put it on a low heat and continue to let it boil. The longer you let it boil, the less spicy it will be.
4) At this stage I add a spoonful of honey to the boiling water to add a sweet taste to the tea.

5) When you are ready, bring it off the heat and sieve it into your mug and voila! Enjoy!

Well, I think I can officially say that winter has begun. The trees all around the house are shaking and twisting with the hard winds that are absolutely battering the house; it sounds more like a hurricane is taking place outside than the beginning of winter, but that’s the way these things go! The sky keeps threatening to rain on us, but it seems to be more full of tease than fact right now, and only the tinniest spits of water are actually falling on the slowly withering garden. Oh, daffodils, why did I plant thee only a week ago?

There’s a lovely post over on (one of) Kitty’s favourite blogs, Paper Pony, about how the authors are celebrating their 4th anniversary! Thus indeed, only a few days ago on the 20th, we celebrated being together as a couple for 17 months, and although that’s a far cry from the 48 those two have racked up, we still have trouble keeping score and remembering all the way back to the beginning. It felt like it was only just yesterday in a way, but when I cast my mind back to all the millions of different, individual events that have happened since that day, it makes it seem so distant in the past!

Anyway, romantic rambles aside, I made a lovely pasta bake today for lunch for Kits and I today, which was absolutely killer good! I’ve popped the recipe below, so if you’re feeling pecish, and you want a quick and easy meal, give it a go!

Pasta Bake Recipe:

Ingredients
300g x Pasta
200g x Grated Cheese
100g x Tomato Paste OR 200g x Tomato Passata (Pasta Sauce)
1 x Onion

Method
1. Preheat oven to 220°C, 200°C if fan forced.
2. Cook pasta on stove plain and drain.
3. Combine the tomato paste with water, adding and stirring until it looks more like sauce. Skip this step if you have your own sauce.
4. Dice finely an entire onion, or half to taste, and mix with sauce.
5. Stir sauce through pasta, and stir 150g of cheese through the pasta before pouring into an oven proof dish.
6. Top pasta with remaining cheese, and bake for 15-20 minutes at 220°C, 200°C if fan forced.

And that’s it! The results are delicious, and it’s as easy as pie, maybe even easier?

Inamo is a brand new, high-tech restaurant nestled within the West-end of bustling London. With Japanese cuisine, it already is at an advantage, but it comes with a twist. It puts you in complete control of pretty much everything (just apart from the cooking!)

After admiring the wonderful decor,

and craning our necks up at the projectors above our table,

we gave the interactive menu a go.

And we got our starter dish of asparagus and beans in a sesame sauce. Pretty messy and hard to eat with chopsticks, but definitely worth it!

Afterwards, we checked out the limits of what our table could do.

Changing the table’s ambience really did set the mood for the meal.

Or we could just play a game of Battleship together whilst we waited for our next course.

Our main course would’ve been the Red Curry which was full of butternut squash. It was the only vegetarian option for us to go for, and it was certainly no let-down! Once again, one of the messiest and hardest things to eat with chopsticks, but it all added to the fun of it!

Time for another colour change after ordering dessert. Don’t our plates look sparkling clean?!

And so we busied ourselves in a game of slider as well as watching the live webcam feed from the kitchen! Yep, that would be correct, you can actually watch the chefs in the kitchen making the food from the convenience from your seat!

And we won!

Nathan ordered the crème brulee which was absolutely delicious. It was a true crème brulee and it even had a touch of “water cubes” which were seriously yummy!

I on the other hand, went for the sorbet. It was wonderful, but the flavours were very different. I was convinced that the green one was kelp!

All in all, Inamo was a great night out and worth every penny. The service was fast and the staff were very helpful and friendly – they even asked if we’d be blogging on them! It was an incredible experience and definitely a restaurant which will become a more regular outing! We’re no food critics, but this restaurant definitely gets a positive 10/10 from us!