Birthdays

Posted on April 1, 2014 by nicdempsey

Two of my favourite people have birthdays today.

My lovely sister in law, Laura

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And Sarah

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I’m incredibly lucky to have these two people in my life and my family. Laura is the only woman in the world who could live with my brother without wanting to kill him! (I love him but I think we’re both in agreement that we should never live together ever again) She is also amazingly clever and she makes our family less spiky.

Sarah is one of my ‘dead stripper’ friends (you wake up in a hotel room with a dead stripper and no idea how you got there, who do call?). She’s my slightly nuts voice of sanity and although she’s always busy, I know that if I really needed her, she’d be there in a heartbeat.

Having a birthday on the same day is not all they have in common, Laura and Sarah are the mothers to two of my favourite boys, Ryan and Oli. Their generosity in letting me part of their life is hugely important to me!

Happy Birthday. guys!

 

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Last week

Posted on March 31, 2014 by nicdempsey

Like last week I’m going to talk about the various things I did in the week just gone.

There were blue nails..

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Turkey burgers

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Some sunshine

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Thursday night wine (it was that kind of a week, wine was necessary!)

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A Friday team lunch at Wahaca

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Mother’s Day lunch with the family on Saturday!

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And lunch and general silliness at Ma’s on Sunday..

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Things not photographed include, a catch up with Kathy and a request for my baking skills, listening to Oli tell jokes, the world’s longest bus journey (ok not actually the longest it just felt like it!) early nights, reading and just general getting on with life!

What did you do last week?

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Sunday Music

Posted on March 30, 2014 by nicdempsey

Today is Mothers Day in the UK so Sunday Music had to be for Ma.  So I picked a song from her current favourite album, which is Divided and United, it’s songs from the American Civil War and it’s grown on me because I’ve heard it about a million times already!

Here’s a video about it.

This is Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel

 

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Weekend Tasklist

Posted on March 29, 2014 by nicdempsey

It’s Saturday and I’m feeling behind with everything, I have packed weekend and a dirty house! Next week, I’m having friends over so the house needs to be clean because, well just because! So this week’s list is the same as every week, but I actually have to do it all!

Kitchen

  • General clean (sort out the recycling and rubbish, mopping the floor and general cleaning)

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Cooking

  • Food prep for next week.

Bathroom

  • General clean (mop floor, change towels, empty bin, clean bath, sink and toilet)

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Bedroom

  • General clean (sweep floor, change bed, dust, general tidy)

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Living Room

  • General clean (sweep floor, dust, tidy sofa, put things away etc)

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Hall

  • Hoover

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General things

  • Shopping
  • Washing (clothes wash, white wash, towel wash)
  • Ironing
  • Wash make up brushes
  • Wash hair brushes
  • Water plants
  • Back up laptop
  • Charge kindle, ipad and camera batteries
  • Handwashing

What are you crossing of the list this weekend?

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Friday Night Cocktail

Posted on March 28, 2014 by nicdempsey

The Rickey is a DC drink and Green Hat gin seems to have been made with it in mind. So I had to try…

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What

Juice of half a lime

2oz gin

Soda water

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How

Squeeze the lime juice into a collins glass. Add gin. Fill the glass with ice, top with soda water and garnish with a lime wedge.

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Friday Links

Posted on March 28, 2014 by nicdempsey

1) Maybe we’re not as busy as we think. I’m not really, I just bitterly resent all time that has to be spent doing things I don’t want to do, like working and housework…

2) How often do you call your mother? I speak to Ma everday, weekdays I call her when I leave the house and then when I leave the office. Weekends generally she calls me around 10am and sometimes in the evening. Ben calls her at least twice a week. We are possibly a bit weird but we’re happy..

We also text. This week there was a lovely text discussion about how (not whether but how) she would kneecap me if I bought her cookware for Mother’s Day. Feeling the love over here!

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3) Barry Lyga is wise. Adults should not have relationships with teenagers. I don’t care how mature the teenager seems to be, they are still children and just no. He followed this post up later on with another, which is also full of sense.

4) The idea of teenagers having sex (with each other) becomes more disturbing to me as it gets harder to remember what being a teenager felt like. However, if they are going to have sex, it needs to be safe. So more access to contraception is a good thing and handwaving about promiscuity isn’t.

5) An interview with Kermit!

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Things right now..

Posted on March 27, 2014 by nicdempsey

Current nail colour…very blue

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I’m thinking (and making lists) of all the things I need to do this weekend. It’s Mother’s Day and Laura’s birthday and there will be people in the flat next week so it has to be tidy!

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I do get to see this chap on Saturday and he can tell me about his swimming lessons..

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Wondering what to buy/make Ma for Mother’s Day. I know what not to buy her but it’s tough to think about! She has told several people that I’m really good at buying presents, which sort of adds to the pressure.

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Wishing I was in Northumberland. April time is when we normally go but it was all rearranged due to my DC trip being changed so we won’t go until September this year.

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Thing I have never understood

Posted on March 26, 2014 by nicdempsey

The expression ‘You can’t have your cake and eat it’.

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What in the name of all that’s holy is the point of having cake if you can’t eat it? Cake is supposed to be eaten, it’s entire reason for being is to be eaten. Cakes can look beautiful but if they are inedible they are failure cakes.

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If you have gone to the trouble of making or acquiring cake, it’s probably because you want to eat some damn cake. So why can’t you?

I’m assuming and it’s a big assumption that this saying is meant to convey that you can’t have everything you want. So maybe, ‘you can’t wear two pairs of shoes’ would express that meaning the same way.

Because if I have cake, I’m bloody well going to eat it!

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Food this week

Posted on March 25, 2014 by nicdempsey

This weekend was a bad weekend for being organised. I had a huge case of the ‘can’t be bothered’ and as a result I didn’t do food shopping over the weekend. I knew I could get through Monday with what was in the house and after a rummage around the freezer, decided that I’m only lacking vegetables and yohgurt so yesterday I bought those and this what I’m planning on eating this week.

Waffles with roasted rhubarb and yogurt for breakfast because I made too many at the weekend and might as well eat them.

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I made these turkey burgers last night and they are really good. I made some minor adjustments, I didn’t have any dill so used 2 teaspoons of oregano. Also for those of you not in the US, British measurements. 500g turkey mince is slightly more than a pound but that’s how it’s sold here, 200g of feta, which is a pack or about 4.7oz and 150g drained black olives roughly equals a cup.  I also made them a little smaller and got 9 out of them, which makes 8 for the freezer.  The picture is them uncooked but don’t judge them harshly because of that!

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Also making a comeback to the dinner rotation are lentils, ok so actually they never went away but stir fry with lentils and grilled halloumi did and is back this week. I know it doesn’t look pretty but tastes lovely!

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Other meals this week are fishcakes or what you do with left over mash = answer you add vegetables and a tin of mackerel to them, cover them in breadcrumbs and put them in the freezer! and a batch of lentil bolognese eaten with pasta or maybe just vegetables.

Lunches will be leftovers or these baked falafel with salad

Over the weekend, there will be Friday Night Pizza, then on Saturday I’m out for family lunch to celebrate Mother’s Day and Laura’s birthday and on Sunday I’ll be cooking lunch for Ma (she’s already specified the menu!) Leek, Anchovy and Goats Cheese Tart, new potatoes and salad, for pudding I’m told that something with ginger and rhubarb would be good, so if you have a killer cake recipe with those two things in it, let me know!)

What are you eating this week?

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Last week

Posted on March 24, 2014 by nicdempsey

I had a very low key weekend, so rather than just write about that, I thought a brief review of last week was in order.

This week I…

…bought flowers

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..watched the Veronica Mars and the second Hunger Games movies.

..saw King Lear at the National Theatre. If you can get tickets go or do the NTLive thing because it was very, very good.

…admired my living room, anybody else have that ‘I don’t spend enough time in my living room’ feeling? During the week, I hardly go in there at all, which at least keeps it tidy! (and yes I need to spend some time removing the melted candlewax from the fireplace!)

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….ate pizza (spinach, leak, pepper and mushroom, with some of the leftover black bean, corn and squash taco filling)

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and a Friday pain au raisin. Which may have been the only reason I got into work on Friday and yes bribery works even when you’re 40 and you have to buy you own bribes..

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…drank cocktails at the OXO. They were essential to revive our spirits after the tragedy of Lear!

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…finally sorted out photos from my holiday and put them in a set on Flickr

 

 

 

What did you do last week?

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