de-cluttering day at Marilyn's

Cor, blimey, Marcus had lots to clear his DVDs, CDs and books. When he left the chapel where he used to live on the border of Suffolk and Essex, he took some of his clutter to his mum's. (Thanks, mum, that's what mum's for! cheeky...)

We were thinking of doing car boots sale, but never got round it. When we sorted, some were broken, scratched or out dated etc, so decided to take them to charity shops. Some, I've put them on amazon and eBay, just waiting for some notifications. 

De-cluttering makes me feel good. Feels like I'm actually doing something, clear some space for more, new things to come in. This is how I feel after de-cluttering: "Just been to the toilet, I was constipating for a while, and spending 20mins sitting on the toilet, finally I was able to release...", that kind of feeling. if you are eating food, please excuse me. :-)

Actually it was quite inspirational for me to de-clutter mine too. When I got back, I did a bit, because I quite often take my clutter to charity shops, I don't really have much. Well, at moment...

My friend Russell and Vicki love doing car boot, they are already planning to do some more this year. You know what I said when he told me their plans for this year, "Again? how much more clutter do you have???" It puzzled me. How one can own so much stuffs? 

Well, easily done, I used to be a collector (not a hoarder), I collected, collected, and collected so much clutter. When I got rid of 80% of them (which I didn't need), I felt much better. Felt like finally dealt with some old stuffs (both physical and emotional), felt new "me" was born! Now, I got my flat, not cluttered, but I got lots of: clothes, books, Cd's, cooking/kitchen stuffs and stocked up cupboard...I reckon (it's not an excuse) I don't have as much as some of my friends, so, I'm alright. (I hope) 

After spending a couple hours clearing, Marcus and I drove up to the local tip in Saxmundham. It was tidy and quiet. Unlike one in Sudbury, it's usually need to queue for long time.

By the time we went back to Marilyn's, bless her, she made some lunch. It was really lovely surprise, and finished our day with delicious salads and soup. 

 Avocado salad

 Kidney bean and puy lentil salad

 Carrot and beetroot coleslaw

 Yummy Greek olives!

Locally picked apples 

 Artichoke soup with toasted German rye bread

Aaaarh, I feel hungry now, what shall I cook tonight?

Day in Norwich with my friend Emma

This time I went up and stayed overnight with Emma at her flat. We had lurvly 2days. We spent all day y'day going round charity shops in Norwich, this time we did about 20 shops. Last time we did 13 shops. Cor, blimey I never been to so many charity shops in a day. Had fantastic buy, time and laugh! Felt like I was on holiday. I have now lots of nice clothes to sell on eBay for next week. I can't wait. Hopefully I can do a bit better next time, it's been really bad.

We also popped into lovely organic food store with cafe attached, we bought vegan sos roll, oh, man, it was delicious. What i liked the most was very light pastry, and of course, wasn't buttery either. I think I will try to make it with gram flour and lentil filling, might do that this week.

Vegan sos roll, yummy!

4th of Feb

After pottering round on charity shop tour, we went back to Emma's flat, left shopping there, and went out again into the town. We went to "king of hearts" cafe, and again, we had yummy cake. I had gluten free orange cake, Emma had yummy almond and raspberry cake. They were delish. Of course, I had my cake with lapsang souchong tea. Aaaarrr, it was heaven.

In the eve, we were going out for dinner, but feeling a bit tired, so, i cooked some quick pasta and salads. Just simple penne with lentil sauce, daikon and carrot sesame salad and tomato and okura salad with soy ginger dressing. Nice and light dinner, booja booja chocolate truffles ( small packet ones) after. Yum yum 

I realised later, this booja booja chocolate hazelnut one contained sugar, but raspberry one didn't. I'm pretty sure they never had sugar before, they used to be our regular treats as Marcus doesn't do sugar very well, we always went for sugar-free option... We don't have them anymore.....

5th/ Feb

Today, I hooked up with our friend Steve for coffee while Emma was gone for her badminton class at the hospital. Then she picked me up at 11am, we went round a few charity shops, then off to lunch.

Cor blimey, I hadn't had such a lovely food for long time. Maybe since when I was in London (apart from Japan, of course!). The cafe bar restaurant was called "workshop", food was Turkish ish, Arabic ish food, my kind of food. Easy to eat, lovely to look at, exotic ingredients and super delicious. 

Yum Yum, Emma!

 Plantain chick pea cake with sour cream dip

Halloumi cheese and wilted spinach

Veggie Pizza

It was delicious. Loved the pizza very much. i hadn't had pizza for good a couple of years (or more), this home baked pizza reminded me of pizza we used to make in one of restaurants I used to work. We used to make lovely pizza (we used to serve home baked breads) for staff meals! They were delish, I missed it very much. I think I'll make gluten-free crunchy pizza soon....

 Orange and pistachio pancake with mascaporne and Turkish honey

Girl who was working behind the counter, she was working really hard, told her she should get pay rise for amount she was working that day. I felt it was under staffed in front of the house. 

Since then, I still sometimes dream about the food. Can't wait for the next visit. I'd love to have their hummus and pitta bread.


 Workshop cafe bar  

53 Earlham Road 
Norwich
Norfolk 
NR2 3AD 

Tel: 01603 615853

- Open: Mon 5pm-11pm, Tues-Sat 10am-11pm, Sun 12pm-10:30pm

- Vegetarian options: Plenty

- Wheelchair access: Yes