Cooking from the Plot: Courgette and Tomato Pasta Sauce

Posted on August 14, 2018 by nicdempsey

It’s August and at some point in August, you can guarantee there will be a post about how to use up a courgette. We got one on Tuesday and five on Saturday, which isn’t an excessive amount but they were big, I think the rain we had this week did the plants some good.

This wasn’t even my idea, it’s very similar to Courgette Caviar but quicker and less fuss. It’s also not a good way to ‘hide’ courgettes for the courgette averse. I do understand, I have a nephew that refuses to eat peas or tomatoes and I am a very recent convert to raw tomatoes (and still won’t eat one from a supermarket by itself!). I understand fussy eaters, I’ve been one for years but this isn’t a good way to encourage anyone to eat something they don’t like. I think of this sauce as adding something to a tomato sauce and that’s great but I don’t think it’s going to convert someone who doesn’t love courgettes!I diced two small onions and started to brown them in olive oil, then I grated a large courgette and added that with six cloves of garlic to the pan with the onions.I added a large pinch of salt and let everything cook down and the water in the courgette evaporate. Then I added two tins of chopped tomatoes and let it all cook down.

Anyone else with masses of summer squash to use up? What are you doing with it?

 

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Monday Miscellany

Posted on August 13, 2018 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday!

Today is special for two reasons, I’m back at work this morning and it’s International Left Handers Day (I said it was special that did not necessarily mean it would be special to you!).

Yes, I’m left handed, as is my brother, it must come from my Grandad who was also left handed. No one else in the family is but I have hopes of the littlest nephew! Approximately 10% of the population is left handed, I’m technically cross dominant, I write with my left but I do a lot of other things with my right, which honestly I just thought was because I everything is built for right handed people and so I’ve learned to cope! Other fun dominant hand knowledge, populations of animals that are more co-operative are generally populations where handedness skews one way or another, in un-cooperative populations handedness is more likely to be 50-50. 

If the pictures on this post are looking a bit random, I’d like to introduce you to two of my current favourite things, poached egg on toast and homegrown tomatoes on bread with mayonnaise and basil.

So plans for this week? Mine are to get back into the work groove, my boss is on holiday for pretty much the rest of August, so I’m booked on a first aid course, Wednesday to Friday which as luck would have it is a five minute walk away from home. Three days of having to sort out emails, meetings etc before and after a first aid course is inconvenient but that’s more than made up for by not having to commute for three days! But other than that I want a really quite week, I’m quite peopled out right now and my introvert’s soul needs quiet time!

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Sunday Music: Why Does the Sun Shine – They Might Be Giants

Posted on August 12, 2018 by nicdempsey

So yesterday in the news, they were talking about the Parker Solar Probe and I started to sing “the Sun is a mass of incandescent gas” and I binned today’s Sunday Music so I could put this on instead.

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Recommendations: Altruist Sun Screen

Posted on August 11, 2018 by nicdempsey

I have talked about how much I love this sun screen before. It is the magic unicorn of sunblock. Altruist covers UVA and UVB, hypoallergenic, fragrance free, water resistant, can be used on the face and body (doesn’t cause you break out in spots), it absorbs quickly and doesn’t leave you sticky.

I generally apply this in the bathroom covering my face, hands and arms, so I’m covered in white stuff and but the time I’ve finished and move to the bedroom to get dressed, it’s all absorbed.

It comes in SPF 30 and SPF 50, as a cream or a spray. I have the cream (I recently bought the SPF 30 in the one litre size and that will pretty much be my sunblock for the year) and the spray which I use as a top up when I’m walking with Sarah and Fred or on the allotment.

UVA levels are consistent all year around and UVB increases the sunnier it is, the UVB gives you the Vitamin D and The British Association of Dermatologists recommends that you use SPF 30 every day, even in winter. If you’re worried about Vitamin D levels, you should take a supplement (NHS recommends that we should take a supplement from October to March) or look for natural sources in your diet (oily fish, red meat, egg yolks, liver, fortified foods) and wear the sunblock!

Sunblock is a big deal for me and I’m so glad that I’ve found something that is all purpose and that really works. If all of that wasn’t enough, every time you buy, Altruist donate 10p to Under the Same Sun, a charity that helps people with albinism in Africa (which has a higher rate of albinism, 1 in 1,400 in Tanzania compared to 1 in 20,000 in Europe). So it’s not just helping your skin!

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Friday Links

Posted on August 10, 2018 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday! I have had a lovely week off. I’ve made cake, cocktail cherries, had dinner out, seen friends, tidied the cupboard of doom and am about to have a relaxing weekend.

This week, despite a holiday, I did manage to post this week. Since the last Friday links, there was a Saturday Recommendation, a Sunday Music post, the usual miscellany, a quick recap of my reading in July, a short allotment update and finally some pictures from my afternoon at Ham House.

Here are this week’s links….

Here is the one way to end Teresa May’s Brexit gridlock. In all of this, I still feel that there isn’t enough blame assigned to David Cameron or George Osborne.

Jennifer Aniston is a symbol of the pressure cooker all single women are forced to live in. This, so much this. I get lots of questions as to why I’m still single, or whether I’ve considered internet dating. I’ve been single for over 10 years now and generally I’ve squashed those questions (I am single, there aren’t any men that I’m interested in that are interested in me and no I will not try internet dating – honestly, I can’t deal with that type of rejection) and I don’t often get asked them but still..

There are very few things that any of us will ever have in common with Jennifer Aniston. We will not co-star in one of the biggest TV shows of all time, we will not have our hair used in thousands of advertising campaigns, we will not go over to Jimmy Kimmel’s house to make margaritas. But we will attend weddings alone. We will break up with long-term partners and have everyone wonder what our role in the downfall was. We will be set up on dates with men who are much, much older than us, because the men our own age only want to date 25-year-olds. So many of us will experience the vast tapestry of being a single woman over a certain age and have our own small-scale versions of the “poor Jen” narrative in our own social circle

Cameron may blame ‘lunatic’ Gove but he – and Eton – have a lot to answer for in the Brexit story of decline. This is so worth reading…

Air pollution is a lethal plight that shames our politicians. My breathing has been so off this summer…

It’s no coincidence Boris Johnson has discovered strong views on the burqa. I’ve read the article that it’s very clever and calculated. He’s made a liberal argument but used offensive ‘dog whistle’ terms and so he appeals to the UKIP faction and stays in the public eye, which he needs if he want to try for the leadership of the Tory Party. He’s a calculating little shit (I’m sorry it is bad language but he is more than deserving of it) and nothing he does is anything to do with a genuine belief or hope of what is good for the country, it’s all about what is good for him. More fool the idiots who fall for his spin and God help the country if it ever puts him in charge.

As Brexit looms, stockpiling food seems the only sensible response. This. I’m trying not to panic but we are getting closer to a date and no closer to any answers about what is going to happen. I’m very glad to have the plot and really want that other half plot!

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Ham House

Posted on August 9, 2018 by nicdempsey

On Sunday, I went to Ham House. Jo and I didn’t know what to do, Jo wanted to do something ‘National Trust or museum-y’, so I suggested Ham. I’d suggest it’s our age but Jo and I together have always been fairly sedate, less parties nowadays but eating and talking have always been our thing.  I’m very fond of Ham House because it was one of the houses I studied for GCSE, the development of the country house. I’ve been to the gardens but I haven’t been inside the house since.I decided to join the National Trust while I was there because there are more NT properties in my part of the world than there are English Heritage sites and this way I have them both covered! If you join at a property, it gets a special credit which in the case of Ham pays for the approximately £850,000 it costs to maintain it.

We wondered around the house, looking at the portraits and fancy décor. Houses like this are always a good reminder of the different attitudes to hygiene and privacy and education that shaped the past. The most private room in my house is my bedroom but the main bedrooms in this house weren’t the most sacred rooms.

Jo and I really liked the below stairs part of the house with the still rooms, kitchen, scullery, beer cellar and bathroom.I really liked the legs of the counters in the dairy.The café is in the orangery and has a kitchen garden. After a cream tea, we wondered around the gardens for a bit.It was a lovely afternoon, and I throughly recommend it!

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Allotment Adventures: Visit from the family

Posted on August 8, 2018 by nicdempsey

It’s been so hot. So there has been a lot of watering! On Sunday, I had help from the nephews and my brother. Joe also ate all the ripe tomatoes and the allotment rang with Joe asking for more “Grandma ‘matoes”

Oli is looking forward to the corn! And I have to confess, I’m pretty excited too!We got leeks in the ground, decided not to sow beetroot and replaced one of the kale plants that didn’t make it.

So for the winter we have three beds of leeks, two beds of kale and one of chard. They are doing their thing and in October we’ll look at overwintering garlic, broad beans and onions. So we’re all set!

I’m writing this on Tuesday night and right now it’s so hot, they are promising that it will break today and we might get to doing more than harvesting and watering. For now and I can’t remember that it will ever be cool again!

 

 

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What I’ve Read – July 2018

Posted on August 7, 2018 by nicdempsey

July was busy, I read quite a bit but it didn’t feel like I was reading loads. My pick for the month is And and I Darken and the rest of the trilogy…

How the French Won Waterloo – or Think They Did – Stephen Clarke

I bought this for Ma for Christmas, it was funny and a little bit French baiting but it was interesting because it explained more English/French cultural difference and I was strongly reminded of my trip around the Legion d’honneur museum in Paris!

Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik

I read and mostly enjoyed the Temeraire books but I really loved Uprooted and the same goes for this. Novik seems more confident when she’s using Eastern European influences than she is with an alternate world Napoleonic war, it shows. Halfway through this I was struck by how the women of the story were changing everything, just as they tried to survive the incompetence and cruelty and pride of the men around them.. It’s a lovely book and worth reading.

Taming Eliza Jane – Shannon Stacey

I like Shannon Stacey and bought this ages ago on special offer. It’s a departure to set it in the West. It’s all a bit handwave-y but I like that Eliza is as she is because of how she’s been treated and I like that the hero accepts this about her, despite the threats of spanking. I also like that Eliza is right but maybe going about change or being misunderstood. It was fun and I finished it in a day while travelling to and from Southampton…

And I Darken – Kiersten White

Now I Rise – Kiersten White

Bright We Burn – Kiersten White

I’m going to take these three together because trilogy. These are a retelling (reimagining of Vlad the Impaler) and they are great books and by the end I want to strangle Leda, because my God she’s an idiot. Full disclosure I have a problem with rulers who can’t do balance and politics and while I knew why she was doing it, she was an idiot. I think her brother was the better ruler/politician/human being. however these are beautifully written and the story is compelling and centred on a region that I don’t know much about. I also appreciated the way that Islam was portrayed as a sane and reasonable alternative to the confusion that Radu found in Christianity. It’s not my view but it was good to see it as a better choice for once.

The Accidentals – Sarina Bowen

So this is Bowen’s YA book and yeah it hits some of those points and I enjoyed it but I guess as someone much older, I want a companion novel that deals with the father and what the hell he’s doing..

After Tonight – Erin Nicholas

I love Nichols’ Sapphire Fall books and this was no different.

Man Card – Sarina Bowen and Tayna Eby

This was better than the first one and the book was also a great ‘travelling to Southampton’ book…

Dirty Rowdy Thing – Christian Lauren

I sort of liked this but I had issues that I didn’t have so much with the others. I was uncomfortable with the age difference in the  which then made me go back and feel uncomfortable with the others. And I didn’t like the heroine because she was ridiculous, being worried and protective I got from the other books but I didn’t feel that her complete over-reaction problem was protectiveness.

Wicked Sexy Liar – Christina Lauren

This was the last of the four and I really liked that the guy was examining his behaviour but other than that it was pretty much straightforward get over yourself.

Stay – Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

This was a fun easy read, I really wish they’d done more than this and Good Boy!

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Monday Miscellany

Posted on August 6, 2018 by nicdempsey

It’s my birthday!

Yes, I do make a fuss about it although I’m not sure that being halfway through my 40’s all that exciting

We had family lunch yesterday, it’s the first time I’ve seen the boys since Easter, everyone is on fine form, J got a bit hot after our trip to the allotment. (sitting in his pants, just like his grandfather!)

It was lovely to see them.

This week has been all kinds of exciting for new things. I bought a bread bin (I’m in my 40’s, it’s a thing!)Then on Saturday, finally I found chairs for the kitchen. In the local charity shop for £10 each. It’s only taken me 9 years to find the right chairs, we did try before, but now we’re done, and I need to thank Ma who helped me carry them home, in two trips and bashed her face on one of the trips!Today we are just arsing about as it traditional for birthdays. Tomorrow, I’m going to bake and take the take to Christina and Fred for tasting. Wednesday is for theatre, Thursday is for seeing Kathy and the Baxters babies (although they aren’t at all babies anymore) and Friday we are in London for museums (I think!) it’s a big week!

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Sunday Music: Happy Birthday – Stevie Wonder

Posted on August 5, 2018 by nicdempsey

You’re probably already tired of hearing it, but it’s my birthday tomorrow.

I may have mentioned before that Stevie Wonder was a car tape once Ma had her own car. So this is a song it feels like I’ve always known….

In the US, this is the black Happy Birthday song, and so I’m going to apologise in advance for the cultural appropriation but its the first thing I thought of for today’s post, even I can see that my birthday shouldn’t be a national holiday, although I am having the entirety of next week off to celebrate it!

 

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