The sun has been out today and after thirty minutes sawing up logs and then digging over half the veg patch my shirt was off and I was down to my t-shirt.
The warmer weather has stoked up the compost bin and when I pull off the lid the underside was covered with worms. They fell to the ground as I tipped in the bucket from the kitchen that has been filled with the last weeks potatoes peel, used teabags and egg shells.
Half an hour later an alert black bird was stalking the base of the bin picking over the worms that had not been quick enough back into the ground. He moved on to the turned earth of the veg patch and another blackbird took its place which was then followed by a robin.It was obviously rich pickings for the birds. There was even a wren that flitting out briefly from the back of the greenhouse.
Inside a ragu has been cooking all afternoon.
Yesterday in Liverpool I managed to pick up a signed copy of Simon Hopkinson’s Second Helpings of Roast Chicken, a sequel, of sorts, to Roast Chicken and Other Stories. It was the recipes for mince that caught my eye. I was reminded of a bolognese sauce I saw cooking many years ago on a hob somewhere near Rhode Island in the States and being told how important it was to leave it, cooking slowly, just ever so slowly, for hours on the lowest heat you could get the gas down to. So that is what it has been doing for the last few hours a barely perceptible bubble just breaking the surface. I added chicken livers as well. It should be mighty fine with a large bowl of spaghetti. While it cooked I kept myself refreshed with glass of juice squeezed from two blood oranges.
Sheep's Head Food Company 