Category Archives: Feasts & Fancies

Using senses instead of scales.

Saint George’s Day @ Chocolate Notes

Posted on April 28, 2024 by Scribe Doll

(23 April 2024) One of the local pubs is displaying white flags with the red cross of Saint George.  I suddenly feel the need to be in an international environment and can’t think of a better place than Chocolate Notes, … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES @ CHOCOLATE NOTES

Posted on March 16, 2024 by Scribe Doll

Of Writers and Rice I push open the door of Chocolate Notes and do a double take.  Two well-known, award-winning writers – one of whom I’ve met before – are sitting at one of the large corner tables.  After a moment … Continue reading →

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Feasts & Fancies: New Year’s Eve @ Chocolate Notes

Posted on December 31, 2023 by Scribe Doll

The weather is true to this time of year in Norwich: undecided between rain and tentative sunshine, and temperature with mood swings.  A gust of warmth and coffee greets me as I open the glass door to Chocolate Notes.  And … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES @ CHOCOLATE NOTES: EARLY WINTER TEA LOAF

Posted on November 12, 2023 by Scribe Doll

I have always felt comfortable writing in cafés.  I have never been able to focus on any kind of work in libraries, not even when I was a student.  I find something distracting about the silence, perhaps because libraries aren’t … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES: HALLOWE’EN @ CHOCOLATE NOTES

Posted on October 31, 2023 by Scribe Doll

At Chocolate Notes, there are no polystyrene cobwebs on the glass front door, no hairy spiders climbing the walls, no plastic bats swinging from the ceiling and no pumpkins with macabre grimaces.  Unlike in many other shops and cafés, the … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES: BAROQUE PORRIDGE at CHOCOLATE NOTES

Posted on October 15, 2023 by Scribe Doll

My body and mind are having some difficulty adjusting to Norwich after a few days in the  south-east of France.  My muscles stiffen against the North Sea wind blowing ruthlessly across the Fens and Broads, my skin feels uncomfortably cold … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES: Equinox at Chocolate Notes

Posted on September 24, 2023 by Scribe Doll

There’s a wind blowing and I can feel its chilly breath on my bare toes as it weasels its way through the gaps in our French windows despite the thick draught excluders.  You’re never very far from meteorological elements in … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES: Back to Basic Tomato Sauce

Posted on August 13, 2023 by Scribe Doll

When I am run down emotionally I find preparing food very healing.  I choose the word preparing deliberately. Healthy and healing cooking involves preparation. Preparing the ingredients, the utensils, the table. Preparing the dish as a whole. Preparing yourself first … Continue reading →

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Chocolates Notes is Temporarily Closed

Posted on July 23, 2023 by Scribe Doll

It feels so strange not to have been able to drop into Chocolate Notes these past two weeks. Fiamma is on a mini concert tour, Jan has gone to visit his parents in Antwerp for a few days and Chrystelle, … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES @ CHOCOLATE NOTES:  Chocolat Cocktail à la Menthe

Posted on July 2, 2023 by Scribe Doll

After a difficult week, the feeling of grey heaviness in my heart is immediately dispelled by the opening bars of George Gershwin’s overture to Oh, Kay! J. S. Bach reminds me that the world makes sense and Gershwin makes me … Continue reading →

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