Nic Dempsey

Food This Week – 18 to 24 October 2014

Posted on October 18, 2014 by nicdempsey

Well last week, I managed to completely ignore the plan for the week due to being sick. No matter, nothing went to waste and this week is a new week, with no mistakes and no poorly Nic in it!

Saturday

Breakfast – Yoghurt and fruit

Lunch – no plan

Dinner –Pizza because there are vegetables to use up and dough in the freezer!

Sunday

Breakfast – Pancakes

Lunch – No plan, if I get around to it probably soup!

Dinner – Mushroom Stroganoff from Amuse Your Bouche but probably using yoghurt instead of sour cream because I refuse to buy a tub of sour cream for one recipe!

Monday

Breakfast – Breakfast pots, because I am a creature of habit

Lunch – Leftovers from Sunday

Dinner – Greek Turkey Burgers, (I made last week and put straight in the freezer) which I will probably eat with stir fry

Tuesday

Breakfast – Breakfast pots

Lunch – Leftovers from Monday

Dinner – Aubergine Stew with olives and capers, another Amuse Your Bouche recipe, really good

Wednesday

Breakfast – Breakfast pots

Lunch – Leftovers from Tuesday evening

Dinner – Black Bean and Corn Tacos, easy and quick and I have all of the ingredients to hand. (and I still haven’t taken a better photo of it than this one!)

Thursday

Breakfast – Breakfast pots

Lunch – Leftovers from Wednesday

Dinner – No plan, but probably something from the freezer. There’s a ton of taco chilli that I made a couple of weeks ago.

Friday

Breakfast – Pain au raisin

Lunch – Leftovers from Thursday

Dinner – No plan, out to see OCMS

Snacks

Yoghurt and pear honey
Fruit
Veg and hummus

Posted in Food, How I Live | Tagged Food for the week, how I eat, menu plan, what I eat | Leave a comment

Friday Links

Posted on October 17, 2014 by nicdempsey

Because I spent most of this week in bed, not reading anything much because my head was too swimmy (swimmy is a word, I’m sure of it!), this week’s links are short and sweet.

1) Divided by a common language.

2) Sometimes only chocolate will do. The perfect flourless, chocolate cake.

3) Notes and queries ventures into Archers territory.

4) Jay Rayner on his recipe for cheese on toast and on food habits that we shouldn’t tell other people about. Christelle and I had this dinner involving minced beef, mozerella, leeks and oxo cubes. Dirty food, it was so good and I haven’t eaten it since we stopped sharing a flat…

Posted in Links | Tagged American English, cheese on toast, chocolate cake, Felicity Cloake, Jay Rayner, Maraithe Thomas, notes and queries, the Archers, The Guardian | Leave a comment

Sipsmith 100 Martini

Posted on October 16, 2014 by nicdempsey

I’ve been missing in action, over the last couple of days due to the virus that would not die. I could say cold, it was a cold but on Monday I had a very sore throat and felt awful, Three days in bed followed, I don’t think I was awake for longer than 2 hours at a time! Not fun, I am almost restored to full health and back at work. So hello, little blog!

Last Friday, Ma and I went to Kettners for 2 hours of the Sipsmith 100 Martini. I was hoping the gin would cure the cold and although that didn’t work out, Ma and I really enjoyed the experience.

On arriving at the Apartment, we were taken to our seats and handed an ipad to make our selections. After going through the tongue in cheek question, (eg which Boris do you prefer, Becker, Johnson or Yeltsin), you were given a choice of three drinks, you could choose one or start again. I decided on a Zaza and Ma chose a Klondike.

Then a nice man called Scott arrived with a trolley to make our drinks

The Zaza was half gin, half dry vermouth with a dash of cognac and triple sec and a cherry for garnish. I really enjoyed it.

Ma’s Klondike was a very classic dry martini with an orange twist. She liked hers more than mine..

There was more. This was the Suffragette, Ma’s pick with sloe gin and dry and sweet vermouth (for ‘perfect’ cocktails). I’m really looking forward to trying this with the plum gin I’ve made for Christmas!

And the Angelus, which is quite complicated but delicious..

I’m really keen on Sipsmith as a brand, I love that they are local and I’m always interested to see what they’re up too. Last Friday, was a really good opportunity to try new drinks and stop me from becoming too set in my cocktail ways (I so often default to a gin martini or a manhattan).

Posted in How I Live, London | Tagged cocktails, gin, Kettners, LCW, LCW 2014, Sipsmith 100 Martini | 2 Comments

Food This Week – 11 to 17 October 2014

Posted on October 11, 2014 by nicdempsey

This weekend is going to be ridiculously busy. I was out last night, I’m currently on my way to Jane’s for a haircut, which means I won’t be home until about 3pm and I’m out to the theatre this evening. On Sunday, I’m in Watford for family lunch for my brother’s birthday. Which means leaving before the shops open and getting home before they close. I did a mini shop on Thursday evening and that and the freezer is going to have to get me through…

Saturday

Breakfast – Pain au raisin. It’s haircuts so I meet Ma at Clapham Junction armed with pastries from Papillon!

Lunch – Soup.

Dinner – No plan, at the theatre

Sunday

Breakfast – Smoothie

Lunch – Out

Dinner – Nothing, I’ll be too fun of roast dinner and birthday cake!

Monday

Breakfast – Egg cups – a repeat from last week!

Lunch – Soup

Dinner – Greek Turkey Burgers. I’ll have one for dinner, cook one to be part of lunch and the rest go in the freezer.

Tuesday

Breakfast – Egg cups

Lunch – Leftover turkey burger and salad

Dinner – Freezer soup. It’s not pretty but it’s the easiest dinner in the world..

Wednesday

Breakfast – Egg cups

Lunch – Leftovers from Tuesday

Dinner – Rice bake. Mix the leftovers from the freezer soup with rice, bake, Say hello to dinner.

Thursday

Breakfast – Egg cups

Lunch – Leftovers and salad

Dinner – No plan, raid the fridge!

Friday

Breakfast – Pain au Raisin. It’s why Fridays were invented

Lunch – Leftovers or standby soup

Dinner – No plan, out on Friday night

Snacks

Yogurt and pear honey
Dried mango – I have to portion this out into 35g bags, because I could happily eat all the dried mango all the time!

Posted in Food, How I Live | Tagged Food for the week, how I eat, menu plan, what I eat | Leave a comment

Friday Night Cocktail

Posted on October 10, 2014 by nicdempsey

I know it’s been a while. Mostly because I can’t get my act together enough to make a cocktail, photograph a cocktail and drink a cocktail on the weekend so I can post it on Friday.

I’ve been thinking about this cocktail a lot since I first tried it when Matt took me to the Gibson, in DC. It’s not common here and I’m such a creature of habit. Ma’s first reaction when I told her about it was “It sounds like a less simple manhattan, a manhattan is perfect, why would you want anything else?”. She has a point. I also don’t have absinthe, however, I’ve covered that before by using Pernod and I did the same this time.

The Maine we’re supposed to remember is the USS Maine a dreadnought that exploded in Havana in 1898. The US claimed the Spanish did it and declared war, the popular catchphrase of the time was “Remember the Maine, the Hell with Spain”. Catchy.

I like it, I’m not sure that it will replace the manhattan as my favourite cocktail, however, the Heering and the Pernod add a complexity that I really like. It’s a keeper.

The recipe I used came from Imbibe, which in turn came from ‘The Gentleman’s Companion’ by Charles H. Baker, Jr. If you like manhattans, give this one a go!

Posted in Booze | Tagged Cherry Heering, Friday Night Cocktail, Pernod, Remember the Maine, Rye Whiskey, sweet vermouth | Leave a comment

Friday Links

Posted on October 10, 2014 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday, I have a cold that is sort of dominating my existence at the moment. It won’t kill me, it just kills any desire I have to do anything useful or social. This weeks links, if you read one this week, scroll down the post and read Robert Webb writing about grief and dead parents and growing up.

1) What we talk about when we talk about YA. Or any kind of fiction that isn’t deemed worthy but especially romance…

2) If we’re cutting benefits how about cutting the ones that go to corporations?

3) Is black pudding a must eat food? Yes, yes and yes!

4) Tina Beattie on the Vatican. Pope Francis has called an extraordinary synod on the family. So a group of celibate men are going to talk about the impact of Church doctrine on families. Can you see a flaw? This month, Catholic Women’s Ordination (CWO) held it’s AGM in a church hall in Bristol. In September, the parish priest was contacted by his bishop, who’d been contacted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). I think that Francis is a good man. I think he genuinely wants the Catholic Church to have relevance and meaning to all its members but Francis is a ‘son of the Church’ and he has a privileged place in it. Until he understands that and acts accordingly, I don’t think anything will change.

5) Map error hastened Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.

6) Robert Webb on being a man and dead parents. Funny, wise, sad.

Posted in Links | Tagged Aditya Chakrabortty, black pudding, Friday Links, grief, growing up, Napoleon, parents, Pope Francis, RC Church, Robert Webb, The Guardian, The Spectator, The Telegraph, Tina Beattie, Waterloo, ya | Leave a comment

2 new things

Posted on October 9, 2014 by nicdempsey

I’m not a terribly creative in the kitchen but fortunately for me, other people are and these are new food things I’ve discovered recently from two of my favourite food bloggers…

The crispy egg from Smitten Kitchen

Because I’ve never really like fried eggs, my preferred egg cooking method is poaching or hard boiled. This though is fantastic, just try it. I’ve been having them on top of quinoa hash and I think they’d be great on top of the spinach and chickpea thing.

Taco chilli from Back to Her Roots

I made this on Sunday. Seriously good and perfect given my slightly hungover state.

I did make a couple of changes, some of them were US to UK language and measurement issues. Tomato paste is tomato puree. I used 800g (the size of the packet) of turkey which is slightly less than 2lbs. I also used chickpeas and black beans instead of kidney beans. Finally, I used half chilli powder/half smoked paprika (need to buy some more chilli powder!)

Having said that, this ticks all the boxes. Simple, lots of favour, doesn’t require difficult ingredients and makes loads for the freezer. I ate a bowl straight with yogurt and cheese on top but this would be good with rice or really anything you wanted to throw at it!

Posted in Cooking, Food | Tagged Back to Her Roots, cooking, crispy fried eggs, eggs, food, other peoples recipes, smitten kitchen, taco chilli | Leave a comment

Who needs sleep…

Posted on October 8, 2014 by nicdempsey

Me. I do! I need huge amounts of sleep and I don’t ever really get enough. I’ve always been like this, needing lots of sleep and being really awful when I don”t get enough. Sleep is my answer to a lot of issues. Grumpy? Have a nap. Sick. Go to sleep. Talking to much. You’re tired go to bed. (There was a really bad time when I was about 2, when I didn’t sleep and Ma still has nightmares about it!)

So having established that I’m genetically half sloth and daily living exhausts me. Having problems staying asleep makes it hard for me to live with me, a lot of my life is spent being tired and thinking about my bed and being asleep in it.

My inability to stay asleep, gets really bad in autumn and continues through to spring. I’ve always attributed it to grief and stress because this really started the year Stef died. I remember my GP telling me that it might never be totally normal again. So autumn comes around and although I like to think I’m emotionally healthy and have moved through the really bad phase of grief and stress, every year around this time, my body forgets how to sleep. I’ve always assumed that this is the last manifestation of that loss, when my sleep cycle goes from mildly difficult to absolutely, bloody awful, I’ve always assumed that it’s my mind being a drama queen. It’s always felt like it’s my fault, that somehow if I could be more sensible and less angsty, then this wouldn’t happen. I would be able to sleep like normal people.

However, over the weekend, I had an a-ha moment. That maybe the reason my issues with sleep intensify in autumn is because of autumn and how my body copes with it getting darker. It might have nothing to do with my mental health but more about SAD.

Perhaps the depression and angst is just easier to access because I’m tired and my thoughts just go down the well worn routes of grief and depression because I’m seasonally affected and it’s harder for me to be positive and sunshiny, when I’m experiencing mild depression.

If that is the case though, what’s my strategy?

I have no idea, it’s still a working theory and hopefully thinking of it as a biological reaction instead of assuming that it’s emotional, will just make it easier to deal with. It’s not me, I’m not directing this in any way. Like the PMT migraines this is not something I do to myself but something that happens. I can do stuff to reduce the impact but I’m not sabotaging anything.

I do know that yoga helps with my sleep and I’m doing that every evening and all the stuff that I try and practice in during the winter will help. I will have at some point to cave and take a sleeping pill because 5 hours sleep a night is not enough and that’s what I’ve been averaging over the last couple of weeks.

Posted in How I Live, Whining | Tagged not being able to sleep, sleep deficient, sleepless of ealing | Leave a comment

Belsay revisited

Posted on October 7, 2014 by nicdempsey

Holiday was ages ago but here are the pictures from Belsay..

Posted in Photos, Things I Like, Travel | Tagged Belsay Castle, Belsay Hall, English Heritage, favourite places, holiday, Northumberland, photos | 1 Comment

Last week

Posted on October 6, 2014 by nicdempsey

It was not a great week. On Tuesday I had a migraine which knocked me flat and I spent a lot of the rest of the week feeling tired and spaced out. I was also really unhappy about Autumn really being upon us and everyone in the world being obsessed with pumpkins and pumpkin spice lattes. I refer you to this post and this one. Clearly I have issues…

Autumn, days get darker, my sleep patterns go crazy and I can't wear flip flops. It is not a fun, happy time.

— Nicola Dempsey (@nicdempsey) October 2, 2014

Stop telling me how wonderful pumpkins and pumpkin spice are. They aren't and you only think they are because the rest of Autumn sucks..

— Nicola Dempsey (@nicdempsey) October 2, 2014

I also thought about what I need/want/have to do in October and got to the opticians

There was good news this week, Ma is moving. She’s been in her current flat for over 10 years and she’s very fond of it, with all it’s strange quirks, but last year the new landlord whacked up her rent and it’s left her feeling insecure and it’s been a stretch financially. She’s been on the housing list for sheltered housing for a year and has finally got a flat with a housing association. It’s near where she is now, one bedroom and although it needs a carpet and some kitchen equipment, it’s good news because it gives her an assured tenancy and some real security. This is where I point out why social housing and security are important…

So on Friday we celebrated that in the traditional Dempsey fashion, with champagne…

On Saturday night Mike, Christelle and I chatted, drank wine and had a dance party in the kitchen..

On Sunday, I went home and recovered from all that conviviality with a quiet afternoon, some knitting and chilli.

How was your week?

Posted in How I Live | Leave a comment

Nic Dempsey

Food This Week – 18 to 24 October 2014

Friday Links

Sipsmith 100 Martini

Food This Week – 11 to 17 October 2014

Friday Night Cocktail

Friday Links

2 new things

Who needs sleep…

Belsay revisited

Last week

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