Garden & chicken

And still the sun shines. We’ve had quite a spell of dry, sunny weather. I’ve been out to do a bit in the garden these last couple of days. I’m trying to get on top of the celandine that is determined to strangle the lavender. In the process I’ve become aware just how dry & dusty some of the soil is. This seems very strange to me. In the old garden the soil was more like a mud patch than anything else. It might dry out superficially but the moisture was always just below the surface. The new top soil, spread during the garden makeover nearly two years ago, is quite different, more pleasant to handle.

The continued sun has brought out the lilac & the peachy coloured rhododendrons. The plant that has caught the Fox’s eye is a beautiful scarlet azalea. It has to be on the far right hand side of the garden of course.

However, today my main attention is on the chicken I’m roasting with a little spicy orange flavouring. We haven’t had a roast for a few weeks so we’re really looking forward to this one. I almost think chicken is my favourite roast. In my childhood we had it alternate weekends & I became quite blasé about it, even though I always enjoyed it nonetheless. These days we have it less often, but always with relish. Roast gammon I love too, but I regard that as more of a treat, a special occasion meal, possibly because we never had it roasted in my childhood.

So far I’ve got as far as parboiling the potatoes for some roasties – the other delight of having a roast. I’ve given the pan a good shake to roughen up the outside edges to give that delicious crisp exterior to the soft fluffy interior of the roast potatoes. The next job will be to mix some spices with butter to put under the chicken skin, along with some orange slices, to keep the flesh moist & flavoursome. Mmm mmm…