Hungrie Norie's nik-naks--- Dinner in Madeira

21-29/March/2016

They are collection of our holiday food photos. 

In the local supermarket, we found some jars of red pepper and chili paste, red pepper paste also cannellini beans etc. So, those were very first items we purchased looking local products. We tend to look where those came from, and if they were local, we defo purchase. Also, we love buying anything looking lovely vegetables and fruits. Food shopping is the one of activities we do the first after we check into our accommodation. 

Villa we stayed in was also for sale, cute looking villa under the very steep hill. It had upstairs room, huge and empty, it looked like storage space, I attempted to practise my yoga there. 

Part of the garden, full of spring onions!

My travel yoga mat was very slippery, I was not able to practise what I wanted, so, in the end, I did in the kitchen where calor gas stove was and warmer. I did yin yoga and went down nicely especially after our long walks.

Anyway, when I looked at garden, there were full of parsley, spring onions, and fennels. So, I picked some, decided to make some onion and parsley soup. 




Also made some "red pepper chili hummus" made with cannellini beans, ate them with corn cakes. 
We also bought lots of fruits, so, we had some fruits for afters. Felt very cozy. Although it was March, it was very chilly in the evening. Calor gas stove was on quite a bit in the evenings and mornings. 

Marcus made us some smoothies for our breakfast. We took some protein powders with us, and with yummy fruits we bought made us lovely breakfast!

Smoothies for breakfast!

When we are on our holiday, we do like to eat out. Even lunch or early dinner after walks. So, we managed to find a restaurant with chips and yummy salad. Simple foods like these are usually enough for us. vegetables themselves taste much more delish than we eat here. That is why, some Mediterranean countries have very simple dishes, if ingredients are good quality and taste that vegetables, don't need much cooking or sauces. That is me, anyway...

Cannellini bean paste

Our dinner

Parsley and Spring onion soup

Our early dinner at the cafe after our walks♥️

Also, same place, they had freshly squeezed orange juice. OMG, it was beautiful. I do love orange juice, but I don't often drink it here, gives me funny tummy. Too acidic... but, orange juice in Madeira or Greece, never give me funny tummy. 😍 Hooray!

Hungrie Norie's Nik-Naks--- Me and Portugese Custard tart in Madeira

21/March/2016


It was our first holiday of the year. Madeira sounded old ladies' holiday destination... I know Marcus's ladies love going to Madeira. I am sure some ladies even have holiday homes. 

Portugal, what first came in my head was, of course, Portuguese custard tart. When I was in London, long time ago, I used to live on those one point. All I ate was pastries. Nothing else. Of course, I was not in good mental state, as you can imagine, sugar and white carbo do to your brain and body is horrendous. Anyway, I still do love my pastries and cakes, just i don't eat them as often as I used to. I hardly eat them these days, unless, I go on holiday. I always want to try local products and eat their bread and pastry. Sometimes, even eating breads, it doesn't affect me as much as when I eat them here in U.K. Not sure why, how wheat and sugar affect me in different countries. This is a mystery... 

Anyway, as soon as we got to the destination, we went out to the beach, there were shops,bakeries, and bars. All we interested in was supermarkets, where we could purchase our groceries. We don't drink, so not interested in bars, Marcus and i only could eat certain things, so, usually restaurants were out. Unless finds chips and salad, of course!

When I found a Portuguese custard tart, I was so excited. I went into the shop and bought it without hesitation. I had anti histamine tablets, so I was well prepared. I was willing to pay the tart by me feeling ill or not able to sleep etc, I was ready to rock!

 Huge custard tart♥️

One lead to another, I had a few custard tart whilst in Madeira. They were deep filled and so yummy, much much delish than last one I had in U.K.

Since then, I haven't had any Portuguese custard tart. I will eat them next time we are back to Madeira.

Apparently, someone now flies from Stanstead Air Port now. When we went there, we flew from Gatwick by Monarch. And returned with Eazyjet. 




Oh, by the way, strong black coffee and custard tart went well together. I had them in a restaurant in the mountain.  It was after our long walks, so , I didn't feel guilty about eating it! 


Yum Yum. 😊

My yoga practice--- OM Yoga Show in London

Yey! My first time EVER "OM Yoga Show" in London. 

I really enjoyed it. This yoga show was on 21-23/10/2016 in the Alexandra Palace in London. 

Originally, I was going down there with my friend Jo on Friday 21st. I thought I was doing the morning shift... So as you can imagine I was really looking forward to going there with her after work. I already planned the day in my head, Marcus bought us tickets.... Then, When I turned up at the work, I realised I lost my flat keys and was told I was on afternoon shift. To make matters worse ( to me...😓 ) it was raining and COLD.... When I found out about my shift, I was really hacked off, someone who wrote on the white board at work, put my flippin' name down in the AM shift... 😱  (Noooooooo!) Well, partly my fault too, I did not look in my diary... Anyway, I cried and I had to tell Jo I was not able to make it that day. She was very kind and lovely, told me to got there on the weekend with Marcus. I told her, "I wanted to go with you!" She replied calmly, " we can go next time to weekend workshop somewhere together. You enjoy there with Marcus." She is lovely, she is my another yoga buddy and I love her company. That was why I wanted to go with her. Nice, being with your girlfriends, rather than with your boyfriend to visit places like that. We could chat chat chat, and eat lovely food.....

Me and Lovely Alessandra

Anyway, I told Marcus what happened and, long story cut short, he took me there on Sunday. It turned out even better. Apart from we got lost in London, we were driving.... Anyway, we managed to find the place, parked our car and walked up to the venue. It was huge, never been there before.

As soon as we went in, I knew there would be a class (free one) I wanted to attend. It was on Vita CoCo "open-studio", I was the head of the ques. I told Marcus to meet me in 45mins back there.

It was lovely Alessandra's class. I once attended a workshop facilitated by her at my local yoga studio, The Boiler House in Bury St Edmunds, and I absolutely loved it. Very different and she did some qi-gong like yoga too. She spoke about meridians and all sounded familiar to me and felt a bit at home. Anyway, it was only 30mins tester class by Alessandra, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was fun. 🤗

Thank you Esther!

We pottered around until afternoon I wanted to attend lovely Esther Eckhart's 30mins tester session at the same open-studio. I was so excited to seeing her in live. I only saw her on youtube, she was tiny! AND she was lovely. 😍 I had to ask her for photo shoots (thanks to my new yoga buddy who had her mat next to me) and again, Esther was great. Although it was super noisy place, she managed very well, I felt the connection between us, participants and Esther, she hold the class till the end. I had anxiety around "too many people in here" then, got really stressed inside, but Esther helped me to take that away. I had to thank her for doing it, just a short class in noisy, busy place but I realised yoga practise is what you put in and how you make it. I really felt this that day. It doesn't matter how noisy and busy the environment you are in, you can always find peace inside. Once you find it, get in there and feel it. No one can take away from you. It's yours. Even off the mat or outside the studio, it's always there. After the session, I felt much calmer inside. Thank you Esther. 

Esther is doing workshop next year in London, I am planning to attend, wherever it is, I will be there!

Hungrie Norie's Raw Nik-naks---Chocolate!!!

Cor, blimey, it's been over a year since my last blogging. I have been really busy completing QCF3 Health and Social Care for work. Yes, I am still a support worker for people with adult learning disabilities and I enjoy my job 😄 . Hard work, but one of the best job I ever had. (yes, cheffing was the best one so far...) Due to the job, I just had not got time to doing anything. I was super stressed out, moan moan, moan (lots of them) with my friend about the course (QCF3 H&S). AND, it got worse, shortage of staffs, new staffs never really stay (still the same probs here) with us, doing way too much paper works (like updating yet another support plans, charts, and reviews etc)!!! 
I want to moan again 😔 , why us, support workers have to do so much paper works to complete, on the top of that, I, we were doing team leaders jobs too (still do...). Never enough time to spend time with clients. Lovely clients, who have learning disabilities with sweet personality, the most our clients have on autism spectrum too. I have been learning so much about myself as well as ... well, life really. They've taught me possibilities in life and encouraged me to do things (even though they think they are doing nothing), abilities I thought I never had to discover with me... Sounds a bit me me me, but I can only talk about myself here, because I am not them....

Anyway, I feel a bit more relaxed and inspired with things around me. I started attending my local yoga classes, 3-4 times a week now. I feel much happier that I started seeing my yogi friends and talk about yoga... I really missed it. I was practising at home nearly every day, which I loved and still do. 

Home practise and doing yoga with yogis in a studio are really different. I said that before, collective energy I love, I feel it, I see it and I can talk about it later with my yogi friends! How wonderful. I love my home practise too. I can explore in the different ways from when I am in a class. I can stop anytime and feel the pose, feel what I am feeling and I can on savasana as long as I want. Arh, yoga is wonderful. I feel different every time, my body feels different every time, and when I go beyond my yoga mat, I have got no words to explain how I feel. Just Magic.

Well, I made some raw chocolate and gave them to my yoga teacher and my friend, Cath, who just had 60th birthday. I haven't had heard from Cath, but Jacqui loved them. Must be really good I take it.... Well, I love them too, the best one so far.

mixed my cacao butter mix (cacao butter, coconut butter and smooth peanut butter) with hemp mills, cacao powder, yacon syrup. Them pour into the moulds and topped with some yummy dried fruits. They are not sweet, and I like it that way. sometimes, chocolate can be too sweet and interfere with my blood sugar levels.... Sounds like an old lady..... Oooopppps! 😅