So last week I was on holiday and there was no food budget but I thought I’d show you some of what we ate while we were away!
We’d brought wine, a bottle of gin, tonic, limes, butter, homemade bread, coffee and marmalade with us. I also brought up flatbreads, hummus and frittata (part of my clear the fridge efforts).
We have a G&T holiday tradition…
On Saturday night we ate fish and chips. 
Breakfasts this week were mostly toast, marmalade and coffee
On Sunday afternoon during our walk around Amble we went to Spurellis for an ice cream, this was seabuckthorn and gingerbread!
On Sunday night we ate steak but I forgot to photograph it! All the meat (and pies) we ate this week came from The Amble Butcher, which I can throughly recommend.
Monday night was a pork chop (they were massive) roasted with onions and peppers with mash and green beans.
On Tuesday in Newcastle we went to Bryon for a burger (and rootbeer for me!) 
Wednesday night was for sausages with leeks and mash, which was delicious and I didn’t photograph (again)
Thursday night I ate the steak that didn’t get eaten earlier in the week, with a salad. Ma opted for a pie! 
On Friday we went back to Spurellis for a knickerbocker glory
And pizza for dinner because some things don’t change whether I’m on holiday or not!
The plan was Alnwick for the rest of the food shopping and 
I wondered around and chose some books and I still have credit for next time! I love Barter Books, it’s full of books, has a tea room and proper fires…
By the time we got back from Alnwick, the weather had improved and the sun was shining, though still really windy, time for another walk!
We tried to alternate driving with non-driving days so on Tuesday we decided to go into Newcastle on the bus. The weather was the worst with ‘wintry mix’ a combination of rain, sleet, hail and snow.
But it was changeable, it cleared up and then rained again…
We headed to the 
Thursday morning dawned bright and sunny so we headed off early to Craster for a walk to Dunstanburgh Castle!
The rest of Sunday was busy, a quick trip to the library, a visit to the grandparents (sort of!)
And I finally got to meet baby Noah!
He’s lovely and Ryan and Claire are doing well, though completely shattered!
If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it would be that. I’m a solitary person and that’s a valid thing to be. It’s in my nature to live a little bit more in my own head than it seems other people are (and as I get to know my mother as an adult, I finally get where that comes from). My brother has all of my father’s charm, he’s effortlessly funny and charming. I am not but that does not mean that I’m without charm.
If I’d learned that earlier, I would have been much happier, much sooner. Because there have been times when I’ve been lonely and felt unloved and unwanted and it was horrible. When I look back at that time, I realise that I felt like that because I was trying to be someone I wasn’t, trying to feel something I didn’t. When about eight or so years ago, I lost a whole bunch of people I thought of as friends, as family, I was still dealing with the repercussions of Stef dying and I thought I was devastated. I should have been devastated. I was devastated about Stef but not by those other people. Now I look back and I think maybe it was self preservation. Perhaps, the grief I was dealing with was also my way of blowing it all apart. When I think of those relationships now, all I feel is a giddy joy that I never have to deal with it or them again. I hope that they’re in a good place, I never want to be there with them. I never felt more alone than when I was with those people, in that group.
I’ve learnt that it’s a good thing to be happy in my own company. I’ve learnt that I’m a solitary person. I’ve learnt that it’s good to let people in but they have to want to be there. I’ve learnt to cut my losses and leave if they don’t because I don’t have time for that nonsense.
Nic Dempsey 