ramtops

We have some friends coming over for supper tonight – we only met them quite recently, and we’ve never eaten together before. I asked Linda if there was anything she didn’t like, and she said “I don’t like spicy food – I just like things plain and bland”.

Aargh – I don’t do plain and bland, as a rule. I tend to tip the contents of the spice shelves and other larder ingredients into whatever I’m cooking, and absolutely none of my stock supper dishes could count as plain and bland.

I asked my friend Moyra, and she suggested a roast chickie! – perfect. So there’s a 5lb free range chicken in the oven, with half a lemon inside it, the other half squeezed over it, liberally sprinkled with sea salt, ground black pepper and good olive oil. I put three bay leaves in the roasting dish from my beloved bay tree, which accompanied me from Somerset, and now lives outside the back door.

And [whispers] just a bit of garlic into the tray. Not much, honest. And there are mince pies and cream for pudding; shop bought, but at least from the local bakery, not a supermarket.

Food price note: free range chicken from the butcher at the top of the road is £1 per lb – amazing.