Birmingham Shopping Haul

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

It's very rare I post my shopping haul's now, so what better reason to post about then my trip to Birmingham a couple of weeks ago.

This trip to Birmingham had 2 reasons food and shopping, which todays post will be focusing on the latter.

One of the stops we made was to Primark, we had another reason to head to this Primark and it was one of the reasons we headed to Birmingham, but that's for another post.

I couldn't resist when I saw this Powerpuff Girls tote bag, it's really cute and the perfect size for shopping with.

£3.00

Also from Primark, I got myself  some Naruto socks, I got these socks from the kids section as they didn't seem to have any Naruto products in the women's section and my feet are small enough to fit into kids socks. I'm a UK 3 and they fit me perfectly.

£3.50

The first stop we made on this trip was to Sokollab, we go here a lot when we head to London, so it was obvious that we'd head to the new Birmingham store, the staff were so friendly and happy to chat all things K-pop.

I bought myself both versions of KINGDOM's History of Kingdom: Part V. Louis. KINGDOM are one of the few groups that I make sure I buy all versions of each album, so I can have the logo on the albums spine when all together.

£26.00 Each

We came across HMV in the Bullring shopping centre, so we obviously had to have a look, we went in the hopes of them having Tomorrow X Together's album on release and we were in luck, so I got my hands on the Nightmare version of their new album, as well as the Lullaby version.

Nightmare £27.99 & Lullaby £12.99

We also went into Waterstones, my main goal was to get my hands on the 2nd volume of Alice in Borderland, but instead it was Xie Lian and Hua Cheng that found their way into my hands with Heaven Official's Blessing Vol. 4.

£16.99

The final shop we went to was the Day In Oriental Supermarket, the main reason was to get out hands on more Soju.

I got a few bags of Mochi, I love this Mochi and I often buy it from Kenji in Meadowhall, I love the milk mochi, so I got 2 bags, and decided to also get a bad of the red bean mochi too.

£1.95 Each

I also finally got another bottle of Soju and this time went for Peach flavoured as we had tried it at a restaurant.

£5.95/£6.50

All in all, I think I had a good shopping spree in Birmingham, I'd definitely recommend it for a shopping trip and I think you definitely need a good few days to see everywhere.

Have you been on any shopping trips recently?

What did you buy?

Let me know in the comments below.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye

Shopping Haul!

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

It's been a while since I shared with you all a shopping haul, it's very rare I go on major shopping splurges now, while I obviously still buy K-pop, it's rare I buy them all in one go like I used to, the bonus of buying K-pop now is that I don't just have to buy to online and I can actually buy it from my local HMV store, but it can be a little hit or miss on whether they have any of the albums I'm wanting to get my hands on.

During the Easter holidays, I had a week off work with Skye, so I decided it was time for us to spend some time together and go shopping, my main reason was to surprise her with a trip to her favourite food place YO! Sushi, but our first stop was to HMV, to see if there was any K-pop albums that we were wanting.

While my bank felt better for not buying any K-pop, I didn't come away from HMV without spending any money.

I've been wanting to introduce Skye to Supernatural for a while now, and while I do already have the first 5 seasons on DVD, I had to rebuy us season 1, as my copy is missing discs since lending it out a few years ago, we're now about to start season 3, so you could say it's been a hit with her.

Supernatural Season 1 Boxset

£12.99

Lastly from HMV as you can see was Spider-Man No Way Home, which Skye had already seen, we pretty much have most of the Marvel movies, so I had to make sure the new Spider-Man was added to our collection.

Spider-Man No Way Home DVD

£9.99

After HMV we headed over to YO! Sushi, and I love the new system they have now, I think it's so much better than it was before Covid, I think it's so much easier, especially when it comes to ordering and paying for your order.

I had Mega Korean Chicken Gyoza, Crunchy California Rolls and a California Temaki and washed it all down with a Coke.

Skye had 2 lots of Cucumber Maki and Chicken Katsu, and washed it down with some Orange Juice.

What I love about YO! Sushi is that even though the portions seem small, they're still incredibly filling.

Our next stop was to Kenji, I love this shop and it's now become one of Skye's favourite's too, she bought herself a really soft plushie and in with my purchases, I also got her a ghost light, which was only £3 and it's really bright, so definitely a bargain. I mainly love Kenji for the drinks and snacks, it's my go to place for Asian treats.

Not all the snacks I bought are pictured as I only took a picture of the snacks I got myself. As well as in the picture, I bought Skye some Hello Panda biscuits and some Jujutsu Kaisen gummies. What I mainly love about the snacks is that a majority of it is 3 for £5, which if bought separately would probably cost more.

I couldn't resist buying these Ocean Bomb Sparkling Water cans as it was Sailor Moon related, even though I don't like sparkling water, I couldn't resist but I was left pleasantly surprised as both flavours were really nice and refreshing, I'll definitely buy them again if they're still there when I go again.

Next we have another Ocean Bomb drink, but this time it's Bubble Milk Tea, I got a can of this from a friend at Christmas and I loved it, so when I saw it was still available, I had to buy another can, it's sweet but really nice, the perfect Bubble Milk Tea.

Next we have a Korean Morning Rice Drink, I thought this drink was really nice, the taste kind of reminded me of cereal, while I did think it was an odd drink at first, I'd definitely try it again to see if I really do like it.

Lastly from Kenji, I got myself some limited edition Pocky, from the smell the surprise flavour seemed to be bubblegum and it honestly didn't take me long to eat these, they were so tasty and would love to get my hands on another box.

After Kenji we head over to Waterstones, it's been a while since I've had a nosey in Waterstones, especially at their manga section so it had to be done and on our way over I couldn't help but notice a familiar face in the window, which made me even more interested in checking out their manga section. Stood in the window was none other than Naruto Uzumaki

Once in the store, I was in love with the new manga section, they had plenty of manga, there was so many I wanted to buy as well as having plenty of other goodies like Naruto character figures, as well as the Sailor Moon Monopoly that I own, as well as the Naruto Monopoly that I bought Skye for her birthday.

I did make a purchase in Waterstones, one of which was a book for Skye as she was wanting the first book in The Witcher series as she is a fan of the show and the 2nd book I got was the Chinese BL novel Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, I became familiar with this story from the donghua (Chinese animation) on Netflix, so I didn't need much persuasion in buying the novel. Just the artwork alone is absolutely stunning.

Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

£15.99

Well that was my little shopping haul from over the Easter Holidays, and what we got up to on our little mum and daughter day.

Have you treated yourself lately to a shopping day?

What did you buy?

Let me know in the comments below.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye

Ramen

Hello

안녕하세요 

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは 

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

I love trying new recipes and today I'm sharing with you another recipe from the Pinch of Nom Everyday Light recipe book, this time from their Stews and Soups section.
Let's get cooking!

Ingredients:
200 g tenderstem broccoli
low-calorie cooking spray
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated
2.5 cm piece of root ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 fresh chilli, finely chopped (or a pinch of dried chilli flakes)
1.2 litres chicken stock ( 2 chicken stock cubes dissolved in 1.2 litres water)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp fish sauce
9 tbsp soy sauce
300 g chicken breast (skin and visible fat removed)
100 g spring green cabbage , trimmed and shredded
2 nests dry egg noodles
For the toppings:
4 eggs
2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin strips
1 red pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
bunch of spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
lime wedges, to serve (optional)

Start off by trimming the florets off the broccoli, place to one side and thinly slice the remaining stems. Now spray a wok with low-calorie cooking spray and add the onion and broccoli stems and stir-fry for 1 minute. I only did the onions as I misread the recipe and chopped off my broccoli and then threw the stems in the bin.

Next add half of the garlic, three quarters of the ginger, and the chilli, and continue cooking for another minute. Add the stock, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce and 8 tbsp's of the soy sauce, and bring to a boil.

Add the chicken and reduce the heat to a simmer, then poach the chicken for 15-20 minutes, until it's cooked and there is no pink inside.

While the chicken is poaching. boil the eggs for 7 minutes, while the eggs are boiling, prepare a dish of cold iced water. When the timer is up, plunge the eggs into the bowl of water. Carefully remove the shells and cut in half.

\When the chicken is cooked, remove from the broth and shred, keep to one side.

Add the shredded cabbage to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes.

In a separate pan, stir-fry the broccoli florets, with the remaining garlic, ginger and soy sauce.

Cook the noodles in a pan of boiling salted water for 4 minutes, then drain.

Assemble the ramen. Evenly distribute the noodles between your bowls. Spoon over the cabbage and broth. Arrange the carrots, pepper, spring onion, shredded chicken and stir-fried broccoli on top. Top each bowl with two egg halves and serve, with lime cheeks for squeezing over if desired.

Both myself and Skye are fans of ramen, so I knew I had to give this recipe a try as soon as I saw it. I've never poached chicken before, but I was surprised how moist and juicy the chicken still was, even after shredding it. I loved the broth it tasted really nice and worked really well with all the vegetables, I'd love to be able to buy some sort of device that will help make make the thin little strips of the carrots, pepper and broccoli stems, but I still found them really tasty. Once everything was mixed together it was even more delicious, I'd happily cook this again and I was even surprised by how much it tasted like ramen from our usual haunts Wagamama's and Yo Sushi! I'd even go a step further by saying it was slightly better.
This recipe I think is a perfect recipe to create while we're stuck at home, while the restaurants are closed, nothing can be some good home cooked Japanese inspired food.

If you're interested in any of Pinch of Nom's recipe's then you can buy the recipe books in all major supermarkets as well as online retailers Waterstones and Amazon.

See you soon!

안녕
(Annyeong)
さようなら
(Sayonara)
再见
(ZaiJian)
Bye