Chicken and pecans

I was given a night off in the kitchen. Mirinda offered to roast a chicken. Actually, I seem to remember that the last time she offered to roast a chicken, I ended up making it…however, today she managed to do it herself.

It was Flotilla up the Thames day and, to celebrate, our vet decided to throw a party just up the road. However, it was not to celebrate the Queen’s 60 years, but his own 30 years in the Farnham practice. I’m convinced he didn’t know the two dates coincided.

There were a few stalls and flowers priced at prices that Mirinda could not walk by…which she didn’t. There was also a petting zoo with pigs, geese, rabbits, a Shetland pony and two pigs called Bacon and Eggs. Best of all, however, there were goats.

Baby goats for petting

The weather was rubbish though, with showers every few minutes interspersed with grey gloominess and the occasional flicker of shy sunshine. I’m sure anyone who watched the flotilla on the Thames will realise what a wet day it has been. Still, the garden loved it.

We were (sort of) planning to go into Farnham to check out the Gostrey Meadow festivities but the weather put us off. And so I made a pecan pie to have after the roast chicken. I’ve never made one before but think it turned out pretty good.

All it needs is some vanilla ice cream

I’ll let you know what it tastes like later…it tasted very, very good.

So, instead of going into Farnham, we sat and watched the flotilla make it’s way up the Thames. At some stage, Mirinda was texted by the Thames Clipper (the ferry she gets to and from work) to say they wouldn’t be running any ferries today. How good is that? She’d never have known.

The flotilla was a bit of fun and we enjoyed all the pageantry and also the views that Mirinda gets every day. The commentators kept saying how London hasn’t seen anything like it for 350 years. We tried to spot who from facilities was on the top of her building but the camera never zoomed in enough.

I’m not sure who advised Kate to wear red. Did she not know the upholstery on the Queen’s barge would be red? The poor thing looked a bit like a floating head – a lovely head, mind you. The Queen, on the other hand, looked lovely in white and, quite frankly, I think she enjoyed it all immensely.