Thursday, March 21, 2013

Family heirlooms, a free lunch and low syn noodles...

Really now, there aren't many things better than a free lunch? Especially a surprise free lunch from The Bay Tree in Holywood! I was all set for boring old Ramen Noodles for lunch when a courier van pulled up outside our office and delivered two brown bags filled with yummy goodness - one for my Editor, and one for me!




I have just scoffed this extremely tasty triple decker BLT on farmhouse bread...


And am about to tuck into this absolute divine looking slab of malteaser square...




The Bay Tree is located in the lovely little town of Holywood and is open seven days a week. That lunch was just DELICIOUS! I wonder if I could convince my work to relocate to Holywood?

Anyone who is friended with me on Facebook, knows all about my nan's glass door bookcase that was headed for the charity shop until I rescued it! I was in two minds about whether to have it shabby chic'd, or leave it as it is... so far I've left it as it is, and I think it looks quite well!


As you can see, we are in the middle of re-doing our living room (as much as we can in a rented place) so the walls are a bit bare! I'm forever throwing things away and it drives J mad, but I can't stand to have clutter ad mess around me...


But I think this antique unit really adds a little bit of character to this bare corner! And it's a great place to store all the little nick-nacks we pick up on our travels, and packs away books and DVD's neatly - I've just given about 60 books to the charity shop, I couldn't stand to have them cluttered on shelves around me! this little unit means the ones I did keep can be packed away neatly and don't bother me at all!

Last night J and I sat down to watch a bit of TV - Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners was on... I love that show! I can't believe the state of some peoples homes! Anyway... one lady was talking about how she started hording after some very traumatic events in her life - first, both she and her husband were stabbed in their shop... then their son died. I am the complete opposite of this - I used to hoard loads of crap, and I mean I would have piles of junk in my bedroom, things I would never use or need in a million years, but after Karl died in 2009 I literally stopped collecting things and now I can't stop throwing things away, I just can't stand to have any kind of clutter of mess around me - sometimes I have even thrown out things that we actually use, just because I can't stand to have them sitting around.

I used to have a collection of literally hundreds of books, but I threw half them away when J and I moved into the apartment a year ago and last weekend I got rid of the rest... this little unit and another very small bookcase in the dining area hold all that remain after the cull! I have just done another cull on shoes and handbags too... not that I've bought many new ones, just that I'm throwing more and more away... J says I'll end up with nothing left, lol, and he is probably right! Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a word (apart from mental or mad) for a person who enjoys throwing things away?

I also promised to share with you pictures of the low syn noodles I eat... I'm a big fan of Ramen and I love Curry Noodles. These are the lowest syn ones I could find -


You can find the ones above in the Chinese section of your local Tesco's. These are the chicken flavoured ones, but Tesco's also stock the Beef and Sesame flavoured ones. If you can, go to Camseng, the big Chinese superstore just off the Lisburn Road - down Lower Windsor Avenue, you will find lots more flavours there - I bought the pork and veg ones and also the duck ones to try this week. Each packet made up as directed is 3.5 syns - I checked this with the syns calculator online.


These noodles are found in the Polish food section of Tesco's (I go to the one in Newtownards) - they are delicious and only 1 syn per packet.

Both the ramen and the noodles make great lunches or snacks, but sometimes for a quick slimming world dinner, I will fry up some value stirfry veg and some thin sliced chicken to eat with each. For anyone who hasn't heard of ramen before, it's basically a noodle soup - lots of tasty noodles in a tasty broth - it's a really filling dish and it only takes 3 minutes in the microwave to make.

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