Tag Archives: food

The No Spend January 2026 Challenge: Week 1

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It isn’t an entire week, but today was the first food shop of the month and the final weekend before The Bloke and I go back to work on Monday, so I am including my spend for the last three days as the first week of January as part of my No Spend January 2026 Challenge.

Points to note:

I am not including my mandatory expenses for the month (rent and bills) in my No Spend Challenge, So far already this month, I have paid off the last of the Council Tax for the year (the next annual bill will start again in April), my rent, and the TV license for January. I will put the money that I would normally spend on Council Tax into savings instead at the beginning of February and March.

The first two days of January were spent watching movies, sleeping, eating and tidying up as we were still in holiday mode, so there was nothing to tempt me to spend money on. I didn’t have to go anywhere or do anything, which isn’t representative of a normal week.

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2024: A Year in Review

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Over the last few years I have added a ‘Memories & Highlights’ double page into my Bullet Journal. This serves as a reminder at the end of the year of all the positive things that I’ve been lucky enough to experience over the last twelve months, and is extremely helpful during times when things are tough. 

Perhaps the most challenging part was at the start of the year when we moved house, and what followed was MONTHS of individual battles with various companies including SCS and So Energy (that went on for nine months until I lost my temper and started leaving negative reviews – amazing how a 1* review on Trust Pilot suddenly makes a company pay attention). We quickly realised that neither the landlord and the property management company weren’t interested in helping too, which hasn’t been great.

However, 2024 (despite all the challenges and annoyances we’ve faced this year), has in fact been pretty great for the most part. 

The Bloke and I have again been extremely lucky to watch numerous shows at the theatre. My favourites? Book of Mormon, &Juliet, Hamilton, I Should Be So Lucky, Here & Now and Dear Evan Hansen – many of which were on my bucket list. Additionally, I got the opportunity to meet STEPS at their press launch, and I don’t think I blogged about it at the time, but I met Pete Waterman TWICE. I won’t go into detail now as this post is already going to be a lengthy one, but I was so overwhelmed by meeting him that I cried when I got home. 

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A Day Date in Camden

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The day after going to a Silent Disco at The Natural History Museum in London for my friend, Helen’s birthday, I found myself with a day off.

This wasn’t the intended plan when I booked tickets in March – I was going to travel down to London on the day of the disco, stay in a hotel overnight and then come home. As it transpired, work commitments that appeared later in the year meant that I would be in London not just on the day of the disco, but on the day before and for five days afterwards. I had to book a separate hotel reservation for the remaining period of time, and ended up with a room near Euston, which made travelling easier.

The Saturday after the disco was the only free day that I had, so The Bloke got on a train and joined me in London. We decided to have a day date and go to Camden – it was one tube stop away, the weather was glorious and neither of us had been there in years.

A day out in Camden - exploring Camden lock and camden market

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A Spontaneous Day Trip to London

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Yesterday morning – Saturday on the Easter Bank Holiday weekend – The Bloke and I were awake early. It was a rare day where both of us had the entire day to ourselves, so I suggested that we take advantage of the beautiful weather and go out somewhere.

The conversation about a day-trip to Solihull quickly turned into a trip to Worcester. We got ready and got on the bus…

… and ended up in London. 

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Celebrating the New Menu at Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill

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I have visited Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill a number of times over the years, and even had the opportunity to interview the man himself back in 2019. I like it – it has always been a place to visit for spectacular views of the city and a nice cocktail in a relaxed atmosphere. I’m a big fan of several of the dishes – my favourite dessert in Birmingham was the Chocolate Mousse from MPW.

However, the prestigious restaurant, situated on Level 25 of the Cube, has recently undergone a refurbishment, and we were offered the chance to have a sneak peak at the new changes and get a taste of the new menu. As I was unable to attend, I sent a friend in my place to have a look…

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2022: A Year in Review

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At the beginning of 2022 I set up a double page spread in my bullet journal titled ‘Memories and Highlights.’ This created a space where I could record all of the individual exciting things I experienced throughout the year and served as a reminder that this year hasn’t been as bad as I thought. 

Because let’s face it, in terms of the year from a national perspective, it’s been a dumpster fire with a dose of accelerant thrown on top. Three prime ministers in a year, the worse economic position in decades, food, gas and electric prices skyrocketing to the point where people are having to choose between heating their house during the winter or feeding their children while utility companies boast about record profits, workers from our postal service, trains, nurses, paramedics have been forced to strike… and to top it all off our Queen died. So many of us are tired, worried and angry. 

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Date Night in the City

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Part of my Happiness List for July is Date Night – spending time with The Bloke for no other reason than just because. An opportunity presented itself recently to go out into Birmingham and do just that.

Those of you who have followed the blog for a long time will be aware of my obsession with the musical RENT. It has been something that has been a big part of our relationship – he has ‘No Day But Today’ engraved on the inside of his wedding ring, we walked back up the aisle to ‘I’ll Cover You’ after we got married, he even went along with it when I wanted to go and find Antony Rapp when we went to watch it in London in 2016 (read about the whole adventure here). While it’s our favourite show it’s rare that we get the chance to see it, so when an ad appeared on Facebook that there was a performance at the Blue Orange Theatre in the Jewellery Quarter that evening we booked tickets and decided to turn it into a pseudo-spontaneous date night. 

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Taking It Easy

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After spending over a week down south, I returned home for a few days and then travelled up north to Manchester.

The main purpose of the trip was to catch up with a group of friends that I have known for nearly 25 years. It has been two years since I last saw them – they were the last social event I had before the pandemic hit the UK in March 2020, so I was looking forward to it. 

I was staying with my mum for the weekend and we had a bunch of things planned around it. I was feeling quite smug when I left the house initially due to being somewhat organised for once, only to discover when I arrived that I had forgotten a whole bunch of stuff including socks, make-up and a phone charger. Who forgets to pack socks??? 

Socks quickly acquired, we went for a meal at our favourite Chinese restaurant on the Friday night. We’ve been going there for decades – I remember having my 18th birthday celebration there, I turned 40 last year and I couldn’t count how many meals our family has had there in between. I was delighted to see that one of the staff members, George, who greeted us during our earliest visits, was still there. There is one particular dish – a sharing platter for two – that both mum and I are obsessed with, so instead of ordering a starter and selection of mains we decided to treat ourselves and had one each without mains. It was fabulous – I couldn’t help but laugh with sheer excitement as they were brought out – but I was so full by the end I thought someone would have to roll me to the car afterwards.

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Great Foodie Instagram Places in London

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I love London. I’m lucky in that I live 90 minutes away on the train and, when booked in advance, tickets are pretty cheap. The Bloke and I used to visit three or four times a year before the pandemic, usually staying overnight. We would take a section of London that we had never visited before and I would map out ideas of things to see and do. 

Now that there aren’t any more restrictions, I have very tentatively started to visit again. Our last trip was last September for my not-quite 40th birthday, and I went on a shorter trip with my mum a little while ago. 

I have noticed a huge difference in the last decade of how Instagram has become an integral part of the marketing strategy for many cafes and restaurants. Flower walls, neon signs, even highlighted sections on menus advertising ‘Instagram-worthy’ dishes and drinks have appeared. 

Suzie Speaks London Foodie Instagram Places

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2021: A Year in Review

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The Bloke asked me the other day of my opinions of the last twelve months. Admittedly, my initial thought was to respond with “dumpster fire.” On a general day to day basis it has been tough. Working from home sometimes means that it is difficult not to get into your own head and can feel like you’re spending 24/7 within the same four walls, and during moments of extreme stress there is little escape. However, amidst the lows there have been a number of highs.

The start of 2021 was indeed a dumpster fire of epic proportions. Within the first month The Bloke got covid (this was before the vaccinations were available) and was incredibly ill for weeks while being quarantined upstairs, two family members had heart attacks (both are thankfully doing okay), the roof in the kitchen started caving in after five years of asking the landlord to fix it and when I lost my temper he put our rent up in retaliation. A few weeks later I had to have a tooth removed – a small filling fell out just before covid hit in 2020 and dentists were closed for months – and after a year the tooth became so damaged the only option was to take it out. 

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