WIAW- Birthday Carbs

Hi guys! Its time for What I Ate Wednesday. The sky is so dark this morning, miserable weather. I'm here drinking my green smoothie while writing this.

If you've read my last few posts you would know that I've put myself on a Lean Challenge; intense workout 5x a weeks and no white carbs. The challenge ended more or less on my birthday which was on Friday.

I went out for a birthday lunch with my family at my favourite Il Mascalzone, an Italian restaurant in Edgware. They are my favourite because their food are delicious and also their dishes are different, you won't find similar dishes at Bella Italia, Ask or other franchise Italian restaurants. I love their black ink quid spaghetti and the al dente texture.  See the photo below; black ink squid spaghetti with lobster, homemade Italian sausage and mushroom risotto, some vegetable pasta dish (I forgot the name of it), and the dome is meant to be some sort of pizza. Inside the dome are some rocket, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. This wasn't that special but the bread nice and crispy.

Last night, went out for a belated birthday dinner with my best friend, I had Italian again. Yes, I love Italian. We went to a newly open local Italian restaurant, called Nonna's Kitchen. Sorry, I don't think it's Italian, I think it's Sicilian. I had tagliatelle with prawns and zuchinnie. It was yummy, the portion was just right. We didn't have starters as we wanted to have space for desserts- team sweet tooth!

We chose  a variety of 6 mini cakes, my favourite one is the ricotta cheese (the tube thing in the middle right), and the hazelnut cream puff (bottom right).

We also ordered a slice of pistachio cake with cream. This was a bit too rich for me.

And...yes there's more and it was just the two of us lol. We also ordered a slice of pistachio ice cream sponge cake. I had a great night eating! 

I made some mussels in tomato white wine sauce on Monday night. My parents and my brothers loves the way I make it lol. I realised that sprinkling parsley on the top of  any dish makes it look very professional. 

I got to show off one of the breakfasts I had this week. Do you like the way I decorated it? This mung beans, red beans and quinoa porridge, topped with blueberries and figs. Very nutritious and high in protein. 

There's more birthday dinners coming up with other friends, so more carbs on its way. October is a fatty month for me =p . 

Thanks for reading! 

Do you like Italian? Which restaurant do you usually go to? Are you a sweet tooth?