Friday Night Cocktail

Posted on January 25, 2013 by nicdempsey

Yesterday, I gave you 4 non-alcoholic drinks from the archives. Today I wanted to give you something that works both ways for drinkers or non drinkers and something that feels a little special.  I saw this a while ago and filed it away for the summer, I love hibiscus and bissap so didn’t need any persuading that this would work.  I am also really missing the ritual involved in drinking and decided to drink this from a flute which made it feel a bit more special.

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Once you have the basic syrup, you could top it up with fizzy water or tonic (as here), fizzy apple juice might work too. On the alcoholic side there’s champagne, fizz or maybe sparking cider would work.

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Ginger Hibiscus Syrup (adapted from The Kitchn)

What

4 and half cups of water

1 cup dried hibiscus flowers

2 inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced

1 cup of sugar

4 cups ginger ale

How

1) Rinse the hibiscus flowers throughly.

2) Put hibiscus, water and ginger in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

3) Turn the heat off, stir in the sugar and leave to cool.

4) Strain (I strain through a muslin cloth), add the ginger ale and chill.

5) To serve, half fill a glass with the syrup and top up with fizzy water or sparkling wine.

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Friday Links

Posted on January 25, 2013 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday..bit of a mixed bag this week and not all the links are from the Guardian…

1) Redundant. I’ve been here and remember it well. Go read this..

Then trading started, and all I remember is being shouted at by angry people who couldn’t use their gift cards. If you know anything about companies who go into administration you will know that gift cards immediately become invalid. It is not the choice of the staff. Let me say that again. IT IS NOT THE CHOICE OF THE STAFF YOU ARE SHOUTING AT. If you are the kind of person who would get angry about that, then think about this. You have just lost your £10 gift card. The person you are screaming at has just lost their livelihood.

2) Eating well is hard work when you’re poor. Wise words.

It’s not just about the cost of your food budget. It’s about the value of your food budget. So yes, you could pootle off to your local butcher (if they still exist) for some beef shin that costs about £2 for 2 people, but how much is the added cost of cooking it? A couple of hours in the oven all adds up when money is tight and that budget meal eats in your resources elsewhere. Sometimes that’s doable. You can do a bag of baked spuds at the same time and if you’re on quarterly bills there’s time to put cash aside before the Big Six put the costs up again. But if you’re on a prepayment meter for the electricity and you need to wash your hair and the kids’ school uniforms before the money runs out, then microwaving some hot dogs seems like a much better idea.

3)How to write a recipe. I’m just not enough of a perfectionist!

First came an overarching muffin philosophy: Muffins are not cake. “I have a lot of opinions about breakfast baked goods. And I feel like although muffins are pretty much cake that we pretend is okay to eat for breakfast, I insist that this good is on the breakfast side of the line, I feel like it should have breakfast ingredients in it and it should be lower in sugar and … it shouldn’t be as buttery as a cake.”

4) The snow is not responsible for a recession.

Supporters of government economic policy, which includes the large majority of City economists, have begun to suggest that the recent snowfall may cause an unprecedented “triple-dip” recession. The problem with this idea is that GDP in the final quarter of 2012 will also have been very weak and may have contracted. That was long before the weather disruption.

5) Has anti abortion campaigning lead to a rise in single parent families? Interesting.

In Red Families v. Blue Families, we pointed out the irony that blue states, despite their relatively progressive politics, have lower divorce and teen birthrates than red states. In fact the college-educated middle class, partly by postponing having children, had managed to better embody the traditional ideal: that is, a greater percentage of children being raised in two-parent families.

6) Girl drinks. I’m not a fan of super sweet drinks but this is quite interesting.

If the Pink Lady were a piece of household hardware, she would be a floral-print hammer—

7) Photos of fire fighters in Chicago where it’s really cold!

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Four Things

Posted on January 24, 2013 by nicdempsey

This Monday was ‘Blue Monday’ which is apparently the day we all crack with our resolutions and go wild eating and drinking everything we’ve said that we wouldn’t at the beginning of the month.

To help me stay on track, I’ve been searching for inspiration from other times when I gave up booze and I’m surprised how many non-alcoholic Friday Night Cocktails there were (although in fairness a lot of them are all about gingery things). To help you stay or get back on track, here are 4 non-alcoholic drinks that taste great and are good for you…

1) The Raspberry Ginger Fizz

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2) The Apple Grapefruit Mint  combo in this post.

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3) Bissap

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4) The Ginger Orange

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Cauliflower Cottage Pie

Posted on January 23, 2013 by nicdempsey

As I pointed out last week, it’s hard to be enthusiastic about food when you’re tired and it’s cold. One of the reasons that menu planning works for me, is that it means I do a lot of prep work on the weekend, so when I get home from work, the effort in getting dinner ready and in my stomach is minimal. Cottage pie is exactly the kind of food I’m thinking about here. All I need to do is put in in the oven, cook some peas and dinner is ready. It’s a home made ready meal.

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However, January is also the time when everyone’s thoughts turn to healthy eating so I wanted cottage pie but I wanted to feel better about eating cottage pie. I’ve been eating a lot of cauliflower recently and mashed cauliflower is great when you want the feeling and texture of mashed potatoes but not the calories that mashed potatoes involve. Cauliflower mash is also a place were I use frozen vegetables. Anyone else snobby about frozen vegetables? I used to be, I didn’t like what freezing did to the texture of the vegetables and for anything that you’re planning to eat as nature intended, with the honourable exception of green beans and peas, I still still prefer fresh. However, with anything that I’m planning to mash or soup or stew frozen vegetables are fine. They are normally cheaper (£1.30 for a head of cauliflower and the same price for 1kg of frozen cauliflower) and you don’t have the same issues with them going bad.

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This is another recipe that isn’t a recipe. Take some meat sauce, spread it in the bottom of a pie dish (I used my dinky little one person dish!), boil some cauliflower in stock and puree it in a food processor, spread on top of meat sauce, add cheese. When you’re ready, bake in oven for 25 ish minutes and dinner is done.

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Snow….

Posted on January 22, 2013 by nicdempsey

As I mentioned, we had a bit of snow over the weekend. So I went to the park to take pictures. So here are far too many pictures of the snow!

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The Weekend

Posted on January 21, 2013 by nicdempsey

Work for me stopped on Thursday, on Friday I spent the day indoors waiting for the BT to arrive and install a new phone line. He did come but it didn’t go smoothly and by 6pm, I had no phone line and cabin fever. However, it was too late to go and admire London looking white and pretty.

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However, I decided to be thankful that I hadn’t cancelled the other line until Feb and consoled myself with Friday Night Pizza and Father Brown on iPlayer, much to my surprise, I’m really enjoying Father Brown, though it’s the least realistic setting for a Catholic Church in 1950’s England that I can imagine. Though expecting reality from series about a crime solving Catholic priest is really a fools game!

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Saturday morning started stupidly early so I could be really for BT part two and this time the engineer got the line working. Once I’d sorted out the phone, I got on with housework and shopping and planning dinner for my poor kitchen deprived mother, she’s spent the week ‘cooking’ in the living room!

Ma arrived on Saturday night and we ate dinner (roast chicken, mash, brussel sprouts and roasted cauliflower), watched The History Boys and listened to Brain of Britain. It was very rock and roll…

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On Sunday morning, we woke up to find that it was snowing again. After breakfast, Ma went off and I spent the morning lying about reading. It was still snowing at 3pm when I ventured out for a walk in the park.

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That was the weekend and provided that the trains don’t collapse tomorrow morning (we are totally rubbish at dealing at with snow in England!), it’s back to work..

How was your weekend? Did you have snow?

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Sunday Music

Posted on January 20, 2013 by nicdempsey

We’re at the third week of January. Resolutions that people started with are being abandoned with speed. Somebody (my mother!) had a lot of January resolutions some of them I wasn’t sure she’d make. This is for her and everyone else struggling with mid January motivation…

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January Goal Update Two

Posted on January 19, 2013 by nicdempsey

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Hello, how are you? Had a good week? I’ve found this week really, really difficult, I have not felt much like the firework I chose as this months goal symbol at all! It’s not that it was amazingly busy at work or at home, I had Friday off work and was forced to stay indoors to wait for my new phone line to be installed. It was more frustration and sloth, I had to stay in just as we had the first proper snow and I wanted to go and take photos etc.  I couldn’t find my get up and go at all so bitterly resented having to be a grown up and do stuff. make I did it but not with a good attitude.

As I have said already this week attitude matters, so I’m just going to be happy that I got through the week, still met my goals. I’m going to remind myself that I’m a very lucky person, re-read Krissie’s post on being a brat and remember not to be!

1. Drinking. There 31 days in January and aside from the New Year’s Day champagne, I’m not going to drink in any of them. 

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18/18 – It’s hardest on a Friday but I’m sleeping better and although I’ve had to turn done an LCS night, I can deal with that!

2. Food. I will take a packed lunch to work every day and I will eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

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Lunches 12/12 – I had a hard time this week, making my lunch for the next day felt like such a chore but I’m doing it and it’s so good for my budget.

Five a day 18/18 – I always hit more than 5 a day Monday to Friday and really have to make it happen on the weekend. I find myself adding vegetables to my soup or adding an orange or carrot to my breakfast in order to get to five!

3. Coffee.  I’ll drink it three days a week for January (probably Friday, Saturday and Sunday!). The other 4 days of the week I’ll drink herbal tea!

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11/11 – I’m actually finding this harder than no booze! Which I think is because it’s part of my morning routine, (which alcohol most certainly isn’t!), I don’t miss it, haven’t had any caffeine withdrawal and apart from in the mornings don’t really think about it. I met Christelle for a ‘coffee date’ this week and had peppermint tea instead. Biggest change is how much I really appreciate coffee on the three days a week I do have it. It seems to taste better, if that makes any sense.

4. The messy cupboard.  By the end of January it will be tidy. It will have new shelves, I will be able to find things in it!

1/1 – Done. It’s still tidy..

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5. Sleep hygiene. Sunday to Thursday sleep rules are. No computers after 9pm. In bed and ready for sleep at 10pm.

12/12 – Again this week I found myself really resenting this goal and getting a bit whingey about it, but I have stuck to it and I’m so glad I have. This is one of the best changes I’ve made in January, I do sleep better, lights are out at 10pm, I’m normally asleep by 10.30pm and do feel better for it.

6. Self Care. I will moisturise every day, I will remove hair weekly and I will look after my feet!

18/18 – Skin feels great, it is a bit of a hassle but so worth doing, I wrote about it on Tuesday and the change it’s made to how I feel about myself, which can only be a good thing.

So that’s my week.  I have to admit, even though it’s been a ‘bad’ week for attitude, I’m feeling really good about doing so well.  It’s making me more determined to do as well for next week. Including today, there’s only another 13 days to the end of the month and I’ve got this!

Your turn! Talk to me, how are you doing?

 

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Friday Night Cocktail.

Posted on January 18, 2013 by nicdempsey

It’s the third Friday of January and the third Friday for me without alcohol. Friday nights are the only time that I really miss it. Somehow a cup of tea or just plain water doesn’t feel celebratory enough for the achievement of making it through the working week. So when Friday comes around I’ve been trying to make my drinks a little more interesting.

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I’m very taken with the Morello Cherry Cordial by Bottlegreen, which I’ve used before in an alcoholic cocktail, the Cherry Beer, it’s good and I’ve been drinking it with fizzy water. However, last Friday, I forget to get any fizzy water and used tonic. I often drink a G&T minus the gin so using lime seemed to be the way to go.

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Cherry Lime Tonic

What

1.5oz cherry cordial

6oz tonic water

half a lime

ice

How

1) Fill a highball glass with ice

2) Squeeze the juice of the lime into the glass, add the lime.

3) Pour in the cherry cordial.

4) Top up the glass with the tonic water and stir gently to combine.

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Friday Links

Posted on January 18, 2013 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday, it’s more than halfway through January, yay..

1) The Back to Her Roots planner. Sometimes I wish I was a graphic designer…

2) The rise of Quinoa and how it’s affecting Bolivian diets. It’s a very Guardian article, but I hadn’t really thought about the impact of my eating habits on anyone but me.

Averaging $3,115 (£1,930) per tonne in 2011, quinoa has tripled in price since 2006. Coloured varieties fetch even more. Red royal quinoa sells at about $4,500 a tonne and the black variety can reach $8,000 per tonne. The crop has become a lifeline for the people of Bolivia’s Oruro and Potosi regions, among the poorest in what is one of South America’s poorest nations.

3) The differences between Jennifer and John. Sexual discrimination is real people..

The results were stark. Jennifer was ranked less competent than John and was offered a median starting salary almost $4,000 lower than John. In addition, the faculty was less willing to mentor Jennifer, but, strangely, found her to be more likeable. All this from a piece of paper. I should point out here that there was no statistically significant difference between the responses from male or female faculty, nor were there differences between levels of faculty, suggesting this is not a hierarchical bias.

4) Austerity or class war? I vote class war…

This assault on an entire social contract, says Malcolm Sawyer, a leading expert on Kalecki, is what his subject warned about. “The argument for dealing with budget deficits has provided cover for attacking wages and benefits.” And austerity is just code for the transfer of wealth and power into ever fewer hands.

5) Meaningless accidents. For anyone not in London or the UK, there was a helicopter crash in Vauxhall yesterday, two people died, others are injured, Londoners are grateful it wasn’t worse.

Some sense may come of all this. But not in a day. And not in a few weeks, either. Somewhere, I expect there are people with red eyes staring blankly at each other and taking in the unbelievable news that a loved one has been killed in so random a way. The narrative order offered by the reporters and columnists will probably not help them make deeper sense of Wednesday’s events. And no, I am not implying that God is the ready-made answer. For me, God is the question. A question that will not leave me alone. Back here, the community gradually returns to life. Tesco in Vauxhall is open, but only a few people are out shopping. I finish the day with a prayer. In the midst of life, we are in death

 

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