be merry and bright

Have yourself a very happy day.

summer reading

This is the list of my summer reading.
Of course I will not read them all, but I will give it a good go.  I never know what I feel like reading so I like to have a big selection.  Variety is important and nothing too strenuous over the summer break.  I have mostly sourced the books from the library that I have requested over the last few months.  I have compiled my books from recommendations, book reviews, some old, some new, fiction and non fiction.

The elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery

D.V - Diana Vreeland

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Birds of Paradise - Diana Abu- Jaber

Scandalous Women - Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

Me before you - Jojo Moyes

A tree grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Stiff - Mary Roach

Defending Jacob - William Landay

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt - Beth Hoffman

The bungalow - Sarah Jio

11/22/63 - Stephen King

Prayers and lies - Sherri Wood Emmons

Bel canto - Ann Patchett

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

Audrey Hepburn, an elegant spirit - Sean Hepburn Ferrer

cheap easy lazy chicken dinner

 I was working yesterday so I just grabbed some vegetables and some chicken drumsticks from the butcher in greenlane on my way home.  This is
just a throw together dinner and I know it looks like it too.

For this dinner you will need - feeds 5

• 2 kg of chicken drumsticks (that equates to about 15)
• 10 carrots ( at least, peeled and split in half)
• 5 onions (red or brown will do chopped into quarters)
• a bunch of asparagus
• a bag of beans
• lots of salt and pepper

Put the carrots and onions in the bottom of a large roasting pan with lots of salt and pepper.  Put the chicken on top with more salt and pepper and a little bit of olive oil.

Put it in the oven at about 190c for twenty minute episodes.  Pull it out and give it a toss in the fat that is rendering from the chicken.  Nothing really comes together for at least and hour.  I think I did another 20 minutes as well.  Just keep going until it looks the way you want it too.  The chicken is just releasing  its juices and creating a delicious sauce.

 When the asparagus is so thin and fresh like this I just pour on boiling water to cook it and it stays in the water until I am ready to use it without over cooking it.  For the beans I steamed them for 4-5 mins and then blanched them in ice water.
To assemble, find a large platter lay down the chicken with the carrots and onions followed by the greens and then pour on the pan juices.  Then add more salt and pepper.  This dish would so not do when I was a kid because I had very strong views about not allowing my different food groups to touch.  I would be horrified if that came to the table like that.  Anyway I have grown up now.
This is a really simple and easy satisfying dish.  The time is in the cooking so put it on early.

 Dinner was followed by strawberries and icing sugar.

summer

source

Official first day of summer...yay