Thursday, October 11, 2012
The day of the chicken
This morning saw the end of the record breaking chicken we bought at Manor Green Road against last weekend, a chicken weighing in at the impressive 6lbs 10oz and said to be outdoor reared - in which connection one needs to be mindful of the fact that some chickens prefer to be in the shed than out in the wild woods. Something in their genes telling them that wild woods are apt to host wild animals. There was the impressive example somewhere along the A303, recorded May 3rd 2010.
Roast and hot provided the first two meals. Served with the first brussels sprouts of the season, possibly the first since the bumper purchase last Christmas, recorded December 24th 2011. Satisfactory.
Roast and cold - with hot vegetables - provided the next two. Oddly, even better than hot,something I have noticed before with pork but not with chicken, often finding cold chicken rather dry and clogging (in the throat).
Stewed up, with the judicious addition of orange lentils and Portuguese bacon, amongst other things, for the next two, Served with boiled white rice and more brussels sprouts.
Soup, made by boiling up the carcase with various fresh, dried and pre-owned vegetables, for the next one.
Balance of the stew, with Costcutter noodles, for the penultimate and antepenultimate.
Balance of the soup, augmented with some water in which some posh potatoes had been boiled, for breakfast for one this morning. The end.
So 10 meals from this chicken, around £1 per meal; rather dearer than Sainsbury's but then he does not sell m many chickens of this size. And the bigger the better seems to be good for chickens: flavour coming with age and size.
While yesterday was another day for 'Hedda Gabler', viewing the 1981 YTV production featuring Diana Rigg from the Avengers and Mrs Hudson from Sherlock Holmes: rather to my surprise this seemed to be the only version of this popular play that Amazon sold, apart from versions in strange US flavoured formats which I don't think our DVD is flashy enough to play.
But it was very good with a strong cast, although I had actually only heard of Diana Rigg and Mrs Hudson. The former did well as the coldly beautiful Hedda and the latter did well as the kindly family retainer, also known as the maid.
A minus point was it took a few minutes to adjust from the Old Vic cast to this one. Another minus point was that I found the set a bit too sumptuous. Would a brand new PhD with prospects spend quite so much, even if besotted with his new wife? A plus point was sticking to the script, not so much of the paddy freelancing in this version. Another plus point was the way that Diana Rigg got across that while Hedda was a rather dangerous & needy person, she also had a point when she explained that the reformed alcoholic needed to go to alcoholic parties in order to prove to himself and others that he was free of the addiction. The problem was her doubtful motives and her timing.
All in all, after making due allowance for it being on the small screen rather than under the arch, every bit as good as the Old Vic production.
Roast and hot provided the first two meals. Served with the first brussels sprouts of the season, possibly the first since the bumper purchase last Christmas, recorded December 24th 2011. Satisfactory.
Roast and cold - with hot vegetables - provided the next two. Oddly, even better than hot,something I have noticed before with pork but not with chicken, often finding cold chicken rather dry and clogging (in the throat).
Stewed up, with the judicious addition of orange lentils and Portuguese bacon, amongst other things, for the next two, Served with boiled white rice and more brussels sprouts.
Soup, made by boiling up the carcase with various fresh, dried and pre-owned vegetables, for the next one.
Balance of the stew, with Costcutter noodles, for the penultimate and antepenultimate.
Balance of the soup, augmented with some water in which some posh potatoes had been boiled, for breakfast for one this morning. The end.
So 10 meals from this chicken, around £1 per meal; rather dearer than Sainsbury's but then he does not sell m many chickens of this size. And the bigger the better seems to be good for chickens: flavour coming with age and size.
While yesterday was another day for 'Hedda Gabler', viewing the 1981 YTV production featuring Diana Rigg from the Avengers and Mrs Hudson from Sherlock Holmes: rather to my surprise this seemed to be the only version of this popular play that Amazon sold, apart from versions in strange US flavoured formats which I don't think our DVD is flashy enough to play.
But it was very good with a strong cast, although I had actually only heard of Diana Rigg and Mrs Hudson. The former did well as the coldly beautiful Hedda and the latter did well as the kindly family retainer, also known as the maid.
A minus point was it took a few minutes to adjust from the Old Vic cast to this one. Another minus point was that I found the set a bit too sumptuous. Would a brand new PhD with prospects spend quite so much, even if besotted with his new wife? A plus point was sticking to the script, not so much of the paddy freelancing in this version. Another plus point was the way that Diana Rigg got across that while Hedda was a rather dangerous & needy person, she also had a point when she explained that the reformed alcoholic needed to go to alcoholic parties in order to prove to himself and others that he was free of the addiction. The problem was her doubtful motives and her timing.
All in all, after making due allowance for it being on the small screen rather than under the arch, every bit as good as the Old Vic production.
# posted by Jim @ 12:24 AM 
