Sunday and we had friends round for a late lunch. There has been a change in the dynamic since the older children went off to university. The ones who have been left behind are less willing to watch as their parents argue out the fag end of the afternon.

We ate a slow roasted shoulder of lamb that had been coated in a spice mixture made out of ground cumin, coriander, cinnamon and  ground up dried hibiscus flowers. The recipe said dried rose petals but I wasn’t sure anyone would notice the difference, as i ground up the hibiscus flowers they gave off a very faint cloud of pink dust.

The lamb took four hours to cook and we had it with rice, orange and radicchio salad and billowy flat bread.

Yet again we had found ourseles eating out of the the Persiana cookbook. This time we listened to Dexy’s and more of Perfume Genius.