So far as I can tell my first memory of David Bowie is the cover of Aladdin Sane in the window of a reord shop in West Kirby. I can remember the shock of the bright red hair, the zig-zag lightening streak across the face, the androgyny and pink make up.

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A few years letter someone at school had the album and then there was the shock of the word “wanking” – although nowhere near as shocking, and satisfying as New Boots &  Panties.

Someone else had a compilation album which I think was called Changes and a black and white cover. That album had all the songs on that I needed to hear and even now it is the songs I heard on that I am drawn to.

I can remember him doing Boys Keep Swinging on Top of the Pops.

The first album I bought was Scary Monsters and in some ways it was the last one I bought as well. After that I picked up over the years most of what he released during the 70’s and I have accumulated a few other waives and strays along the way. But Scary Monsters was the only one I bought as it came out. It is 35 years old now and almost unplayable. The sound could be coming from the depths of a deep pond. Over the years I have meant to pick up a clean copy but have never got round to it.

The start of Station to Station is still extraordinary. We had it on this evening and the kids were lost wondering just what that noise was.

Three years ago we were lying in bed listening to the Today programme and there was a real jolt when they announced that David Bowie had released a new album. Somehow I haven’t got round to buying it yet.

There was a greater jolt when we were lying in the same bed and listening to the same programme to be told that he had died.

Looking through the records I am surprised at how few I have got. But there has never really been a need to have them. The music is always so embedded it is there anyway especially those songs from the Changes compilation.

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Years ago I remember that if you wanted a good chicken for roasting it had to come from the Marks & Spencer food hall. It is a while since I have had a chicken from Marks & Spencer, and I am sure they will still be good, but for now there is no better chicken than than the one I buy once a month at the Farmer’s Market.

If I am around I try to buy one every month they are there. There is nothing much to do to them but follow the clear instructions set out by Simon Hopkinson in his book about roast chicken.

I rocked the boat slightly today and made a stuffing of garlic and parsley. The garlic came from the garden and two bulbs were cooked in milk until soft. Once they Wee done the remains of the milk was infused with the last of the saffron I could find in in the back of the cupboard. In the meantime each clove of garlic was squeezed to give up its pungent flesh. This was then stirred back into the saffron infused milk to which was added a good tablespoon of ground cumin and a bunch of chopped parsley.

Once this mixture was done a hand was put up the back of the chicken. There is something satisfying in the way that a few fingers can turtle there way along and pick out a pocket for stuffing between skin and flesh on a chicken. I briefly thought about keeping my hands clean and doing the stuffing with a spoon but after 2 seconds realised that it it would all work better getting my hands dirty.

Chicken stuffed it went into the hot oven for a little under two hours.

We had it with roast potatoes and carrots glazed with orange juice and pomegranate juice and a whole cauliflower head in a yogurt and tahini sauce.

Sat here now listening to Ton Waits and waiting for him to ‘shiver me timbers’.

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The pork chops looked so good in the Farmer’s Market I came home with four of them.

Back at home they seemed like a good excuse to get out a book on Belgium cooking that had come my way via an Oxfam bookshop  a year or so ago.

At home the chops looked bigger than they appeared on the butcher’s slab so in the event we only had three of them.

They were salted and peppered and then doused in flour before being fried in butter in oil until a good brown. The chops were taken out of the pan for a while and sliced onions stirred in. They cooked until golden.

It is always important to have your onions golden.

Once they were the chops were laid on top together with some good beer and allowed to cook.

We had them with chips.

Early Saturday morning and I was down The Farmer’s Market in New Ferry. The grocer had some fat parsnips and they looked too good to resist for a quick Saturday lunch.  A soup would also provide a good opportunity to try out the hand blender I had been given for Christmas.

Back home a chunk of butter was melted in a big steel pan. As it melted two  onions were chopped. They were given time to sizzle and soften in the hot butter. As they did so I cut up the parsnips into more or less equal sized chunks before adding them to the butter and onions.

I left them heat through for five minutes or so. I didn’t want them to burn but I did want them take on some caramelisation. Once they had done so I stirred in a good teaspoon of fiery curry powder and some plain flour and plenty of salt and pepper.

Once it had all cooked for another couple of minutes I tipped in a litre and a half of water. It came to a simmer and I left it until the parsnips were soft and giving.

We then introduced the blender. Within seconds there was a good spattering of soup over walls, toaster, radio and jumper.

Once we got the blender under control the soup was very good. We ate it with bread, listening to Boz Scaggs. There was a lonely tall Christmas tree in the garden.