It's June, Jim. But not as we know it..........

I seem to remember, not long ago, being told by the Met Office that we were due for a scorching summer. The weather today, yesterday AND the day before belie that and today sees me indoors with the doors firmly closed, wearing jeans, sox, jumper and an old lady shawl. The sky is leaden, the wind is whipping the treetops into a perfect frenzy and everything has a completely downcast and dejected air about it.

Being hermetically sealed indoors, there's no escape for the cooking fumes - the house smells slightly of a rendering plant, due in no small part to the slow cooker-ful of meats confiting down in duck fat. There's pork hock off the bone, guineafowl and chicken, thyme and bay from the garden and tons of garlic, all gently stewing away to unctuousness and destined for a pate of gargantuan proportions and yumminess. Once cooked, I've got an idea for finely mincing the porky bits with a bit more seasoning (perhaps a blade or two of mace) and layering that up in a Kilner jar with the roughly chopped bird meat. A bit of stock to moisten and a topping of duckfat to seal it all in and I'd call that pretty damned good, in a rillettes sort of a way. I feel the call of toasted bread and cornichons with......

The Runts are coming for lunch on Sunday, along with Lord and Lady Grangefield of Aldwick. The Pa was 70 on Sunday, so lunch is by way of celebration for that. L and L G were official 'Lookers after of Boy' whilst I was away last year, so it's partly a gratitude lunch as well. The Boy is planning a garden produce showcase extravaganza, so whatever else we have, there'll have to be lettuce, peas, courgettes, cucumber and strawberries with it.

I have a sort of plan involving a trip to Shoreham Farmers Market this weekend - if we can get some good fish, the menu will go something like: stewed peas and jamon in Little Gem cups, herb and ricotta fritters, hot chorizo (as hapjes with fizz)), the rillettes as above, three sorts of warm fishy dishes - I'm hoping for mackerel, whiting and trout so that I can do semi-soused mackerel with black olive sauce, trout with orange, white wine and fennel and whiting with stewed onions. Dish of warm new spuds. What's not to like? After, a cheese course (hopefully a nice local sheep cheese, shaved thin, served with salading, raisins, nuts and a bit of balsamic glaze) and finally, blueberry, strawberry and lemon cheesecakes. Good enough for Jazz.

The Boy is cooking tonight. He will be wrestling with guinea fowl.