How Does Your Weekend Go?!

Friday started with work at 8.30am.

I got a Kinder egg for Amy and myself, gotta start the day right don't you!

This was my face for the day.

I had mascara and blusher on and just some baby lips lip balm.

My necklace is from Milady's in South Africa. My shirt is from Yours.

We met Daisy after work at 1pm and made our way to Amy's place to meet her cat.

Then we walked to the Riverside. I had a Southern Fried chicken burger and some cider. 

Casual pub selfie! As you do! 

We then made our way to the Fat Cat and sat out in the sun with Blackberry win spritzers.

Then we popped over to the Ship Inn which did a bottle of Prosecco for a tenner.

So we naturally partook!

Aaaaaan 4 bottles down and this is happening!

I must admit, we were all VERY merry at this point so it was time to get to the station to go home!

I picked up a meal deal from M&S and this juice was my saviour on the train!

I had one of my donuts when I was home and opened some post that had arrived.

I had a parcel from Asos which was a top I'd purchased for Pride.

Saturday was a nice relaxed day, we went for breakfast and grocery shopping.

Then I dyed my hair blonde in preparation for the pink.

Later that evening we had a lovely dessert of strawberries, cream and pavlova.

Sunday was a relaxed morning with a bit of cleaning, breakfast at home and Skyping my brother and his wife and kids in South Africa.

Then we went for lunch in Sheffield.

We went to Piccolinos, a name you hear often on this blog. We love this food joint, it's got a great vibe and who doesn't love sitting out in the sunshine for Sunday lunch?!

I had a glass of sparkling rosè, I felt like I needed some fizz for a Sunday! 

For starters I had a Caesar salad and mum had ribs. 

Dad had the calamari, I normally have this but I felt like a change again. 

For mains my mum had Dover Sole and I went for a Quattro Salumi pizza. 

I haven't had a pizza out in forever and I'm glad I took the plunge cos this was a beaut! 

Dad went for his fave, Carbonara pasta. 

Piccolinos do the best pasta in my opinion!

We then had coffees and desserts. 

The cheese board was lovely, my dad had this and I munched away at some of the cheese and was pleasantly surprised.

Just look at this view.

So that was how I spent my weekend.

What did you do on your weekend?

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Celebrating at Piccolino's

As a lot of you will know, I am from South Arica. I have lived in the UK for 10 years as of April 2016. I'll not bore you with the semantics of it all but I recently sent in for British Citizenship and on Saturday 14th May 2016 I received a letter saying I had been granted Citizenship. 
So naturally my parents and I went to Piccolino to celebrate. 

We are very fond of this restaurant as it has quite a high standard of food, service and a great atmosphere.  It is a bit pricey but it's well worth it if you love Italian food and that Italian charm too!

You always get some fresh bread for the table and usually a bottle/jug of water for the table too. 
I love their olive focaccia. As with most Italian joints, the table is set with olive oil and balsamic vinager for your bread. I'm not so much a fan of olive oil but I do love to drizzle the balsamic over the bread. I could honestly eat bread and balsamic vinegar till I was blue in the face!

I opted for a glass of rosé with my meal, we normally have a bottle of Prosecco but my dad opted for a G&T this time. 

For starters I had Calamari with a garlic mayo.
It's rare that I get to eat calamari as so few places do it here in the UK, so when I get the chance, Im all over it! This was fresh and delicious!

For mains, my dad and I shared a steak board. The meal is for two people, as you can see, that's a lot of steak! This came with roasted potatoes and a sauce of choice. We chose a peppercorn sauce. It was very tasty. 

The steak we had done medium-rare and it was perfection! The right amount of char on the outside and perfectly pink on the inside!

Finally for dessert I chose the chocolate fondant cake. In all the time's I've been to Piccolino, I've never had this. I don't know why because it was glorious! 
It came with caramel ice-cream which is different but was very complimentary of the rich dark chocolate oozing from the cake.

I got a nice little surprise from my parents too whilst we were out celebrating, a Union Jack charm for my nomination bracelet now that I am a citizen. It was a very sweet touch from them. 

Where is your "go to" place to celebrate?

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An Italian Affair with Piccolino

At the weekend we decided to go for a nice meal for lunch.
We are pretty picky as a family when it comes to eating out because we have ran our own food restaurant before so we have a certain standard we expect. But we certainly don't mind paying for that standard.
So we went to Sheffield city centre, went for a nice walk through town and through the Winter Gardens and when we came out we stumbled upon Piccolino.
Its an authentic Italian joint, this is made very clear by the smells as you walk into the place, and the old style bread cutting machine, olives being handed out and the charming Italian waiters walking around humming and being jolly.

The Iconic Sheffield Silver balls just out the front of this place help top add a special touch to the look of this place.

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The place is very open and bright which is always great, the huge floor to ceiling windows catch the light of the sun so wonderfully.

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We got a bowl of fresh cut rustic bread, it was still warm from the oven, it smelt delicious, covered in herbs. There's a little bowl ready for your olive oil and balsamic vinegar, I couldn't wait to dig in and get dipping.  I love anything that gets dipped in balsamic vinegar so this ticked the boxes for me!

We ordered a table starter of Calamari which we ate so fast I didnt get time to take a decent pic.

It came with about 10 rings, which is surprising. We all chomped away whilst talking to one of the waiters about Italy and the village he grew up in.

For mains I had a chicken dish called Pollo Alla Valdostana.

It's Chicken breast with Prosciutto and Fontina Cheese, battered in breadcrumbs and friend in light butter. It was served on a bed of peppers, tomato and onions with capers and a pesto sauce.

It was sublime!

Dad had a steak and Mom had a veal cutlet.

For dessert I had a Coppa Di Ciocolata which is a Sundae really. 

Made with a mix of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, hazelnuts and chocolate sauce with champaign infused pears and biscotti.

I love hazelnuts so this was a nice treat for me. The pears were a surprise, I didn't realise they had champaign in them but it really worked well with all the flavours.

Some more of the interior.

I am so happy to have found this place.
It cost just shy of £100.00 including a tip but its so worth it for the exceptional service and hospitality shown. AND to finally find somewhere that serves Veal.  I know it's not everyone's cuppa tea, almost everyone in this country does not agree with veal at all, but for us veal is a firm fave.

I think we will definitely return here.

Have you found any new hidden gems of the food world?

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