I met Ned a couple of times and he’s that perfect combination of knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject. Watching Ned taking about cheese is very soothing in this imperfect world. If you haven’t bought the book, you really should because it’s excellent.
So go and watch and subscribe to Ned’s channel and learn about cheese. For my family who have no cheese manners, there is a video on how to cut cheese.
Happy. Friday! It’s been quite the week, I feel we could have improved relations with the US if we’d sent our election officials and counters from Newcastle and Sunderland South (for those that don’t know, they are the two constituencies that declare first!). But last night Trump went over a line of decency. We’ll get to that later but I’ll start with local stuff first!
Here are this week’s links…
Lord of misrule. Rory Stewart with a beautiful article on Boris Johnson and why he’s ruining public life…
Perhaps it is envy. Johnson is after all the most accomplished liar in public life – perhaps the best liar ever to serve as prime minister. Some of this may have been a natural talent – but a lifetime of practice and study has allowed him to uncover new possibilities which go well beyond all the classifications of dishonesty attempted by classical theorists like St Augustine. He has mastered the use of error, omission, exaggeration, diminution, equivocation and flat denial. He has perfected casuistry, circumlocution, false equivalence and false analogy. He is equally adept at the ironic jest, the fib and the grand lie; the weasel word and the half-truth; the hyperbolic lie, the obvious lie, and the bullshit lie – which may inadvertently be true. And because he has been so famous for this skill for so long, he can use his reputation to ascend to new levels of playful paradox. Thus he could say to me “Rory, don’t believe anything I am about to say, but I would like you to be in my cabinet” – and still have me laugh in admiration.
Opinion: Alastair Campbell What Johnson and Corbyn have in common. I always felt that the New Labour project was flawed on the issues that mattered (housing, making work actually pay) and it’s solutions were sticking plasters (PPI and Working Tax credit). That’s before we deal with the disaster that was Iraq. All that to say, that I’m constantly surprised to find myself agreeing with Alastair Campbell, and here is another example…
Captain Hindsights always insist that whatever just happened in an election was both totally foreseeable and proves their theory. But this election is not proving any theory, other than that the US electoral system is, yet again, not fit for purpose, when a candidate can win millions more votes and still not necessarily win.
This is actually called Squash and Sweet Potato Chipotle Stew with Cheese Dumplings but that is very long and it was very hot. Chilli hot not temperature hot, my wimpy English tastebuds, found it delicious but so very hot (and I only used 3 teaspoons not the stated 3 tablespoons of chipotle paste!) Ma was with me for this one and instantly started calling it ‘hot stew’ and so that is now its name.
I did make some changes, I did not use chilli black beans, I used plain black beans and chickpeas, which is what I use for chilli usually. I used 3 teaspoons of chipotle paste but actually I would half that next time! I served it with kale and I ended up adding yoghurt to my serving to cool it down.
But as a wholesome, filling veggie dinner, this is a good one and even better this was pretty much homegrown and store cupboard for me.
I should note that Ma liked it enough to make it at home the week after and used 2 teaspoons of chipotle paste and said it was still too hot. We are English and we apparently can’t handle the heat of it but we still really liked it, with yogurt!
So every time I left the house last weekend, I got rained on. Fortunately for me, Ma decided that we’d start early so we did get two of the compost bins on the plot. We couldn’t assemble them because someone (who wasn’t me, lost the screws she insisted that she take for safekeeping!). Then the heavens opened.
The new beds
There was wood chip, so the next morning, Ma left early and I went to the plot to do a little light weeding and some re-upping of the paths, I was doing alright and then the heavens opened.
I really need to paint the shedHalf built compost bin
So we are in lockdown from tomorrow and Ma hasn’t really decided if she’s comfortable travelling over on public transport, so I’m planning on being a man down and not being able to work on the plot before or after work.
So next week, I’m going to plant shallot and onion sets, and then work on weeding paths and if there’s woodchip, carrying on with the paths. I have a loose list of moving the gooseberries, ripping out the summer raspberries and, when they arrive, sowing broad beans.
Honestly, I think that’s a pretty good November list. If it ever stops raining, I’ll paint the shed!
2020 has been a horrible year. November is my least favourite month in the year and to add to the suck, this November I’ll be in lockdown. So I’m bringing back the November Thankful/Happy habit. Every week, I will list the little things that made me happy/thankful/grateful or just lightened a dark day.
Before I start, I need to point out that this is not about making anyone else in a different situation feel worse. I do this because it helps me. Studies have shown that this kind of practice can help with mental resilience, but it isn’t going to cure severe depression. If you feel that you’re slipping into that, make an appointment with a GP or a therapist. Get help now. Yes, this along with exercise, yoga, mediation, diet and maybe even having a hot bath every day, can all help but so can anti depressants and therapy. They all work together. You know what else helps? Knowing that your job and housing are secure and you can feed your children.
All that to say that nothing that’s happening this year is good and you’re allowed to find this difficult wherever you fall on the spectrum of circumstances and you’re allowed to ask for help. That’s not weakness, that’s strength and it’s healthy. Depression is not dealt with just by thinking happy thoughts and doing yoga!
That said things that have made me happy in the last two days:
1st – Slippers
I bought some slippers, my feet are now warm and cosy. This my friends is what three years away from 50 looks like!
2nd – Christmas Elf
It’s been an interesting year work wise, one of the things I never thought I’d do as part of my job is make team Christmas boxes, but here we are. It’s been a really lovely distraction to know that I’m organising something fun. And I got to trial ornament making!
Bonus October happy from last week.
The little nephew and his many halloween costume changes
The joy of perfect yorkshire puddings (I still have it!)
I made these
What can you find to make you feel a tiny bit better in this hellscape of a year?
Well it’s Monday and it’s all pretty shit. As of Thursday, we’re back in lockdown, schools and universities stay open and you can meet one person for a socially distanced walk. Support bubbles remain in effect but my support bubble and I can only see each other via the medium of public transport, as I don’t drive and Ma doesn’t own a car. She can hire one but that’s expensive. So.
I’ll see Ma on Wednesday, and maybe on the 14th Nov. This is not the end of the world. Ma will miss the allotment (and me), I’ll miss Ma. We’ll both miss Ben, Laura and the boys.
The thing that is really pissing me off, is that there doesn’t seem to be a plan. I’ve been working from home for eight months (and I’m one of the lucky ones that still have a job), I was in lockdown from March until July this year. During that first lockdown, the government did fuck all to devise a strategy on how we would cope, it did, to quote our current prime minister, ‘spaff money up a wall’ on a test and trace system that didn’t work and giving our money away to it’s mates and donors, while refusing to feed school children. Government is a shambolic shitshow in this country AND we have a no-deal Brexit around the corner. Meanwhile the PM is moaning because 150k a year isn’t enough money to live on (presumably because you have to support an as yet undisclosed number of children). Morally bankrupt, I expect from the Tories but unable to plan, strategise or even to get to press conference on time with a decent powerpoint presentation or a bloody clicker, I do not. I didn’t like Tony Blair but at least he was fucking able to run the god-damned country.
I know five people who are actively planning not to follow lockdown guidelines this week (I’m not one of them) because they can’t see what they are doing it for. If we get to the 2nd of December and they extend lockdown there will be more people that can’t see the point. This is partly the Cummings effect but it’s also because no-one has any idea of what strategy is for the end of lockdown. We don’t have a common purpose, the government is supposed to devise the strategy so we have one. They have failed on every measurable level but they have managed to divert taxpayers money to THEIR friends and family. It’s corrupt and disgraceful and they feel so little shame. They called a press conference for 4pm and didn’t fucking turn up until 6.50pm. People are dying, losing jobs, going hungry so they can pay their bills AND they can’t even get their shit together to turn up to a press conference when they say they will.
Other than my extreme anger about this complete shower of a government. I’m trying to work out how to survive the next couple of months with any of my marbles intact. It’s the struggle to retain meaning and optimism when everything is uncertain. I know I’m in a luckier place than others, but a first world problem is still a problem..
I’ll let you know if I find anything that helps.
This week, I’ll be frantically working out how to sent party packs to the team for Christmas, when I can’t go into the office and the expenses deadline is 30 November, onboarding an new member of staff, listening to the US election coverage, trying to hold on to my sanity AND trying to source sanitary towels and selection boxes in the midst of panic buying…
Because of Brexit and the lack of care that the government is taking to preserve our food standards, I’ve had a year of thinking more carefully about the food that I buy and eat. I get a lot of food from the plot and knowing how your food is grown has become more important to me, so I’ve decided to try and eat less, better sourced meat.
I’m lucky that I only have to feed myself but even so my food budget isn’t ever expanding, which means I need to expand the amount of vegetarian recipes in my cooking arsenal. Unless a doctor demanded it, I’m not ever going to be a vegan. I’m open to eating more vegan food but I’m not generally a fan of food that pretends to be something else. I don’t want fake cheese or bacon, I’m really not sure about the vegan pretend burgers. But I’m happy to use plant based food, where they work well.
Bolognese and chilli are great places to start. I’ve used this red lentil bolognese before and it’s still really good but I wanted it for Saturday night and so it needed to be really hands off because I come back from the allotment tired and I need to clean and sort out all the vegetables that we bring home. So I have limited kitchen patience on Saturday but I’m also not just feeding me, so although I know that Ma wouldn’t object to cheese on toast, I want to serve something I’ve put a tiny bit more thought and effort into!
It’s a slow cooker meal, so I just started it before we went to the plot. I chopped all the veg in mini chopper that came with my hand blender. Because I was making it using the slow cooker function on my instant pot, I did saute the chopped veg before I added the other ingredients.
I did make some slight changes, I added some worcestershire sauce (it’s not vegetarian but neither am I – if you are, some Hendersons Relish or mushroom ketchup would have the same impact) and a little bit of balsamic vinegar. Finally because I didn’t have a full cup of green lentils, I used half green and half red.
It’s really good with a real depth of flavour and would be great anywhere you’d usually use bolognese or mince, I’m thinking on top of a baked potato, in a pasta bake and I’m sure you could adapt for chilli.
I’m still waiting for my compost bins to arrive and it was quite rainy on Saturday. So we finished building a bed and built another one.
Collected produce and weeded. Then it started to rain and we went home.
Next week I will hopefully be building another bed, some compost bins and tearing out the autumn raspberries. Or I’ll be trying to clear the grass from around the blueberries…
The clocks went back on Saturday night and it was so lovely on Sunday morning to wake up and have it be light. I know there has been a campaign to keep us on BST but I think we should all be on GMT all the time. I prefer lighter mornings to darker nights, and this time of year is always a bit ‘dead cat bounce’ for me winter is still coming but it’s a tiny reprieve to be able to wake up when it’s light.
the weather has turned distinctly autumnal
We’re also about to go into the worst part of the year without having any real solutions or a plan about how the country copes with COVID. I’ve been working from home since March and am likely to stay that way into next year. I’m not going to pretend it’s not hard or that there aren’t advantages or that I’m not aware of how much more difficult this time has been for others. My history of SAD and of having a period of depression has really given me coping strategies and I do feel like I’m in a good place but I’m back in therapy because prevention is better than cure. For the moment that’s every other week, right now it’s just a check in but there are some things I really need to work on for me, the exercise, I have in hand but I am missing my people.
This time of year is the time I see more of the family, we have five family birthdays from August to December and Christmas, so we’re together for birthdays and babysitting and Christmas. I miss it. I love my family and the eldest nephew is about to enter teenager-hood, the youngest is at my favourite age and missing out on that time is tricky but I also miss my brother and sister-in-law and the times we’re all together just hanging out (and I’m missing out on the new puppies cutest stage!). Add to that, I haven’t seen Sarah or Christelle for ages, and under the current Tier 2 conditions, if Jo does come home, I probably won’t get to see much or her or T. I do see friends nearer to home but it takes arranging and I can’t offer any help to some friends who have had the most rubbish year and are without family help right now. Usually, I would babysit for them and they would do Thanksgiving next month but that’s probably out. I also have a couple of friends who are about to spawn and cards, baby clothes and pictures can be sent via the post but baby cuddles can not. To add to the horrorI probably won’t get a haircut before Christmas either!
My birthday celebrations
These are absolutely first world problems, I still have lots to be thankful about and having established the habit of counting my blessings until I’m blue in the face, I know it has, and continues to help, my resilience in the face of a miserable time but I am sad for the things I have missed this year.
One of my coping mechanisms is this blog because it gives me some structure and something to do, so let’s change the subject and talk about that! If you didn’t see them last week, I wrote about a book series I adore, the allotment and Sausage and Kale Stew. There was also the usual links post and some music.
This week, I’m going to work on spending more time outside the house when I’m not working. I’ve canned 6 kilos of tomatoes and I’m pretty much done with serious pressure canning for a while, I may do the odd batch of chicken stock but that’s about it. I have a batch of chilli jam to make but then I think I’m done until January/February when (assuming we can still get seville oranges) I’m up for a couple of rounds of marmalade making!
I’ve seen people preserve more!
This week is also a time for some work, work thinking about Christmas. I know it’s a sin to think about Christmas too soon (the earliest it’s permissible is 5th December!) but it’s that kind of year. Usually the work Christmas party is already booked and I’m just collecting menu choices but this year we are having a virtual party and there are goody bags to send. So last week, I ordered 23 sets of cookie decoration kits! I can say no more, I don’t think anyone I work with knows that I blog but just in case, my lips are sealed!
Nic Dempsey 