Nic Dempsey

Dunstanburgh

Posted on October 19, 2011 by nicdempsey

More holiday photos. An 8k walk from Craster that took in Dunstanburgh Castle, amazing views and sheep. We had the best weather.

Ma contemplating the sea

Posted in Family, Travel | Tagged castles, craster, dunstanburgh castle, holiday | 1 Comment

Family Lunch

Posted on October 18, 2011 by nicdempsey

This Sunday, we went to lunch at The Grove to celebrate Ben‘s birthday.

Lunch was good, Olly still isn’t talking to me, his Grandma or his great Nan, but the weather was beautiful, the gardens are lovely and the wine was flowing!

Ben and Laura

Olly can’t resist a strawberry

Not sure that the artwork is supposed to be interactivePlastic flowers

I really liked these, can you tell?

Ben balancing, quite a feat…

Olly decides not to copy Daddy…

Hiding..

Posted in Family | Tagged Ben, birthday, family, Laura, Oli | Leave a comment

Lentil Soup

Posted on October 17, 2011 by nicdempsey

I came late to lentil party. I don’t remember eating them when I was little and as a result never really used them in my cooking. Then in my late 20’s, I developed a taste for Tarka Dal but that has been as far my lentil eating went. More recently, I have started to eat a puy lentil salad and a yellow lentil soup. Both of these are adaptions of things I ate at Tina’s, so I should both blame and thank her! The soup has the advantage of being cheap, easy to make and really tasty, I am more than a little obsessed with it!!

The recipe below is more of a guide than anything else. It makes a really thick soup, but if you like soup thinner then use more stock, if you prefer soup chunky don’t blend it! The same applies to the spices and the lime, I like it this way but don’t be afraid of adding more or using less. I think it’s best served with seeds (my preference is the three seed mix of pumpkin, sunflower and pinenuts that I use in bread, and a spoonful of linseeds) and a dollop of natural yogurt. Although, I reckon some bacon crumbled on top or some ham would also be good additions, if you have to have meat too.

What

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons of cumin seeds

2 teaspoons easy ginger

2 large carrots, peeled and grated

1 large onion, diced

1.5 litres vegatable stock

150g yellow lentils

juice of 1 to 2 limes

How

1) In a medium sized pot, fry the cumin seeds and ginger in the olive oil until the seeds start to pop.

2) Add the carrots and onion and cook on a medium heat for a further 5 minutes or so

3) Add the lentils and stock and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes until the lentils are soft.

4) Blend the soup, adding the juice of the lime to taste.

5) Eat!

Posted in Cooking, Food | Tagged cooking, food, lentil soup | 8 Comments

Sunday Music

Posted on October 16, 2011 by nicdempsey

Pomplamoose, because they make me smile, the videos are great and I just love them…

Another Day – “if you told me I was perfect, I’d assume you had too much to drink”

Expiration Date – “When did you start complimenting in past and future tense ”

September (with dancing Grandma! and hang on for the talking puppet at the end…)

Edited to add: Don’t write posts at 1am and set them up to post without previewing them first to check the bloody links work properly!!

Posted in Music | Tagged pomplamoose, sunday music | Leave a comment

Little Brother?

Posted on October 14, 2011 by nicdempsey

A long time ago somebody told me that they couldn’t think of Ben as my little brother, but he is and today is his birthday!

Nowadays our relationship is pretty straightforward, it didn’t used to be. As we hit our 30’s, it got easier and Oliver put the seal on it. As Ben says that he can talk about Olly’s fabulousness all day and as I agree with him, there’s no fighting!

That’s not entirely true but Ben is a great Dad and being a father seems to have made him more relaxed about other stuff, including his bossy big sister!!

This year Ben and Laura went through something really horrible, they coped and are coping in a way that I’m not sure that I could have.

So happy birthday Ben, hope this year is better than the last!

Posted in Family | Tagged Ben, birthday, Oh brother | 1 Comment

Books read in September

Posted on October 13, 2011 by nicdempsey

54. Starcrossed – Elizabeth Bunce

I need to stop reading Bookshelves of Doom. Generally, if Lelia liked it, I will and it will make my bank manager cry and Amazon happy. Loved this, loved Digger and how she changes over the course of the book but at the same time, how her changes aren’t out of character. Looking forward to the next one.
55. Pink Sugar – O. Douglas

I found this in during T&C’s move, Tina has a couple of copies of it. O.Douglas was John Buchan’s sister and like his books this is very of it’s time. I could see the end coming from a mile away but enjoyed it all the same.
56. 0.4 – Mike Lancaster

Godson no. 3 read this (he’s 10 so it’s a bit ahead for him) and loved it, because “it’s a really creepy idea”. It is and it’s one for the boys.
57. Warm Bodies – Issac Marion

More zombie novels. I really enjoyed this, not in the way I enjoyed The Reapers are the Angels, it didn’t make me cry but I loved the idea of the inner world of the zombie.
58. Dead Until Dark – Charlene Harris

This is the first of the True Blood books. It’s like fast food, I liked it while I read it and I wanted to read the next one but I can imagine that the writing style gets old quickly. (I bought this in an omnibus with the next two books, so I’ll let you know!) The ideas are great but the execution is pedestrian. One thing happens, then another, then another and then it ends.
59. Lola and the Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins

This is sort of a sequel to Anna and the French Kiss. It was lovely but I didn’t enjoy Lola as much as I enjoyed Anna. Lola as a heroine felt a bit more made up, whereas Anna’s film reviewing felt like her, Lola’s dressing up felt a bit contrived. I think it’s great that the guys in these books aren’t perfect physical specimens and are human beings who make mistakes and muck up, I’m not sure that even, or especially, for teenagers I like that this books sells an idea of getting together at school and being that couple for the rest of your life. (Yes, I know there are people who get married young and have long and happy marriages but not many and it’s not easy.)

Ok, October so far has been light and fluffy, but I’m back on a history binge (all those castles last month).

Posted in Books, reading in 2011 | Tagged books, September 2011 | Leave a comment

Autumn is not a happy, fun time…

Posted on October 12, 2011 by nicdempsey

…or if one more person tells me how lovely it is to be out of summer and into autumn, I will scream. Even the interwebs isn’t free of this, Christina has been going on about grass being jewelled in autumn, which I don’t even pretend to understand, people are talking about chill and pumpkins, it’s wearing me down…

Sorry, I just don’t get it. I do accept that I have particular issues with this time of year, involving the anniversaries of some people I love dying and general SAD related stuff. However, even if you don’t have those issues and, in fairness, the run up to Christmas is also the time that nephew, mother and best friend all have birthdays so it’s not all doom and gloom, what is appealing about things being cold and dark and wet? That’s not fun, surely people don’t think that being cold and wet are reasons to celebrate. I’m no advocate of nakedness but I don’t like wearing layers of clothes and the cost of heating the flat just doesn’t bear thinking about!

Are people really excited about it not being light until 8am and dark at 5pm? Excited by the idea that it will be really cold and may snow? Well they might be, right up to the point that it happens. London doesn’t function in snow and then all my American friends from Boston and Chicago, will tell me how ridiculous it is that everything stops for 5 inches of snow and I’ll have to agree with them while (in a very Chalet School turn of phrase) wishing them at Jericho….

If you are truly that nuts, please for the love of all that is holy, don’t tell me. You see, I’m in deep mourning for the light days and warm-ish weather, for the joy of not having to go to bed with a hot water bottle, for the nice fruit (strawberries, peaches, cherries, melons). You telling me how great it’s going to be for you is just making me feel worse about it and intensifying my need to hibernate until spring.

Until spring, expect me to be very grumpy indeed…

Posted in Whining | Tagged grumpy, not loving autumn | 9 Comments

Sunday Music

Posted on October 9, 2011 by nicdempsey

Jurassic 5 – Concrete Schoolyard.

It just popped up on the shuffle and I remembered how much I liked it.

Posted in Music | Tagged Concrete Schoolyard, Jurassic 5, sunday music | Leave a comment

Amble

Posted on October 8, 2011 by nicdempsey

Posted in Travel | Tagged Amble, Northumberland, northumbria, port, sea | 3 Comments

Alnwick

Posted on October 7, 2011 by nicdempsey

2nd castle of the holiday. Unlike the other castles, not a ruin. Alnwick is still owned and run by the Duke of Northumberland and is (as they like to point out..a lot) still their family home. I could live with views like this..