Monday, May 01, 2006
Roast Chicken on a Miserable May Day
I should not have mentioned the other day that I had finally got used to Dublin and had nothing left to moan about. I jinxed myself. I must have jinxed myself, for today was one of the most bitchable days I have had to live
through here. It all started in the middle of the night - I would say around 3 a.m. - when I was woken up by the doorbell. I know that the kids in our area do all kinds of stupid things for amusement, so I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. But then they rang again and not just our bell, but somewhere else in the building too. So Lofty got up to see who it was. And guess what? The idiot (believe me, at the time I did not use such a mild word) next door had locked himself out and his girlfriend was not answering the door. So he decided that it was a good idea to wake us up and ask Lofty to come down to let him in. He was lucky that he did not get me on the intercom. I would have told him in no uncertain terms where he was going to spend the night. But Lofty actually got dressed and went down there.That was a miserable start to an even worse day. It took me forever to get back to sleep and when I had finally dozed off again it was time to get up to go to work. Yes, go to work - on Labour Day. I admit I had sort of volunteered. Our office is always open on bank holidays, but as long as someone works we don't all have to be there. I didn't mind that really. What I did mind though was that the canteen was not only closed, but locked, which meant that for lack of crockery and tables we had to eat takeout at our desks. And of course there was no coffee to be had anywhere. Luckily, one of my colleagues saved me from coffee withdrawal by sharing her instant toffee coffee with me. There was no milk to make it perfect and we nearly ran out of toilet paper towards the end of the day, but luckily nothing really bad happened.
The way home was grey and dull and the ambiance was tense, as if the skies were about to open. I made it home just before this actually happened but on the way passed one last reminder why I am not entirely sure that I live in the right area. A brand new building has just gone up on the corner of our street. The flats and one of the shops are now occupied, the other shop is still empty. Not too long ago someone broke the main window there. I know this should not concern me, but it annoys the life out of me. Vandalism really gets to me. Break-ins and theft I can understand, but vandalism? In my opinion people who destroy what belongs to others purely for the sake of it are ... (the word that fills the blank depends on my mood and fluctuates between "in need of counselling" and something I'd rather not repeat in public). The latter is what I felt when I passed the shop tonight and found a huge pile of glass on the sidewalk and a gaping hole where the new window had been. "*@%*!!!" I thought followed by: "Time to get out of here. Suddenly the high rent in better areas seems a small price to pay for the comfort of being far, far away from the antisocial idiots that currently surround us.
When I got home I found Lofty cuddled up on the sofa wrapped in a blanket and looking decidedly pale. He had started to feel rough around mid-morning and basically spent his day off lying there being ill. All this misery inspired me to make the ultimate comfort food: roast
chicken. I don't generally cook whole chickens - it seems like an awful waste to roast a whole bird just for the two of us. Normally I cut it up into breast fillets for stir-frying, legs for roasting and the rest for risotto or pasta sauces. But this chicken was just so nice and plump it felt wrong to chop it to bits. So I made a very traditional English Sunday roast. Chicken stuffed with onion, garlic, fresh thyme and lemon wedges accompanied by baby potatoes roasted in garlic butter and a mix of cauliflower and broccoli. My plan worked. The crispy chicken skin and the smooth, garlicky potatoes mashed into the rich pan juices made us both feel better. Lofty got some of his strength back and I am starting to relax and forget about the miserable world out there. I should really do boring comfort food more often.Christine at 10:00 pm
