AS ALWAYS, CLICK ON ANY IMAGE YOU WISH TO ENLARGE. REPEAT IF REQUIRED
Keeping out of the kitchen this morning was just not an option. The enticing aromas of tonight’s dinner would not permit it. Preparation of Jackie’s delicious chicken jalfrezi was under way. The spicy fragrance and enticing colours of food from the Indian sub-continent would, if necessary, compensate for lack of taste. They don’t even have to think about that, for their flavours are second to none.
Initially I resisted, until the bubbling sauce got the better of me;
and the tomato puree added rich colour.
Jackie normally likes to fry the chopped chicken pieces separately, but they had not been defrosted in time, so
in they slid,
and the tempting mixture continued cooking, until,
with the addition of ample chicken stock, the pan simmered away the early part of the afternoon,
until the lid was removed to release the condensed liquid and allow the meal to thicken up.
Heavy overnight rain and a thick cloud layer rendered the garden an inverted version of the pan lid. When the precipitation ceased
a bedraggled fly still sought shelter among the liquid drops on the crab apple blossom;
our first large blue clematis bloom had taken a battering;
and the first offerings of an early rhododendron,
rose Shropshire Lad,
and tree peony, were all somewhat soggy.
Early this evening the weather was dry enough for us to sit in the rose garden for pre-dinner drinks. The higher and brighter notes of the small birds combined with the deeper ones of the wood pigeons, against the repeated refrain of The Needles lighthouse fog warning.
A weeping Madame Alfred Carriere had popped out during the day,
in time to catch the mist rolling in from the sea.
Meat samosas, egg fried rice, and paneer in a curry sauce, were served with the aforementioned stependous jalfrezi. Sticky toffee pudding and cream was to follow. Jackie drank Hoegaarden, and I started another bottle of the Cotes du Rhone.
Love that last shot! So Monet 🙂
Thanks very much, Rachael
Yes Yes! That was a special one for sure – I was going to say it but you did first!
Thank you, Jodie. It was an afterthought to go out again for that one
Ha Jodie. Indeed it was a real magic photo 🙂
So worth the effort, Derrick! Lovely!
Thank you, Jodie
Oh my that looks lovely!
Thank you, Lynn
Lovely meal and I am really enjoying your garden. The last photgraph of the stylised arch is really beautiful 🙂
Many thanks, Geetha. I thought that might appeal to you 🙂
Yes it does. In fact very much so. Thank you for your thoughtfullness 🙂 I always enjoy your posts after the day’s work is done
A day of beautiful flowers and an evening of culinary delights. Life doesn’t get much better!
Thanks, John
We’ve just had two earthquakes this morning, and now your pictures have got my tummy rumbling.
I trust they weren’t bad ones. Thanks, Bruce
Oh yum; curry for lunch then 🙂
I like catching ‘raindrops on roses’ too, or dew.
Thanks, Mary
I love your food photos and commentary as I eat a quite limited diet–they are my vicarious savorings, each an imagine surfeit of deliciousness!
And I’ve seen a few rose Shropshire Lad blossoms around here and didn’t know its name. Or, at least I think it it the same, so thanks. The last photo is a bit romantic and how nice it is. (Tow pictures after Jackie putting in the puree did not open to a photo: “no file found”.)
Thanks, Cynthia. I’ll see what I can do about the missing pictures.
Done now
Oops–I mean “two” not “tow” photos, that would be another scenario altogether.
Yum! That looks nice and spicy. 🙂 I love the mist shot, Derrick…so beautiful.
Thanks very much Jill. The mist shot turned out rather well for an afterthought
Wow!
Thanks, Ann
I too have an issue viewing two of the photos Derrick but the rest are lovely – but is that a slug in the middle of the Shropshire Lad rose? It shouldn’t be I know but it is all I can think of when I look and the closeup doesn’t make the issue go away……. I don’t like slugs! 🙂
The ‘slug’ is a husk off one of the newly opened beech tree leaves that have covered the rose garden in the last three days, an amazing transformation of a tree, from winter to summer. I really don’t like slugs either!
Good to know! 🙂
Thanks, Pauline. I had to check it first, otherwise I would have left it. Jackie has explained
I love Indian food (although I stick to the vegetarian options), but I can almost smell the aroma through your photos. The flower photos are sensational, and that last photo is lovely.
Many thanks, Merril. I hope the cooking pictures didn’t upset anyone
No, it all looked delicious!! 🙂
So lovely, Derrick – When I click for a close up they are even more so.
Thanks, Jodie
Nice to see one of those dinners in the making. And the Shropshire lad is a handsome dog.
Many thanks, Lisa
Chicken jalfrezi looks divine! Beautiful flowers you have got. Hope the weather is good and you have no fog. I am enjoying a great weather here in Utah, so needed after that long rainy winter.
Many thanks, Inese. The fog warning out at sea is still going, but we just have rain here
Oh I wish I could share the sunny weather we are enjoying. So different from the British Isles.
Sunny now
Oh that chicken dish! And then served with all those other dishes! The crab apple blossom is so beautiful. And I’ve never heard of a tree peony!
Beautiful shots. You have made me hungry and it is getting late. 🙂
Thank you, Joseph
Honestly! You must weigh a ton with all that good cooking. (Jealous? Who, me?) 🙂
Thanks, Yvonne. A little more than I used to.
Love the food pictures! Jackie is some cook. Beautiful flowers, too.
Many thanks, Laurie
Jackie needs to write a cookbook, her dinner recipes are quite the collection. The chicken jalfrezi looks delicious – wonderful cooking essay of photographs Derrick!
Many thanks, Mary. She doesn’t do recipes. She just does!!
I liked the bedraggled fly and all the dampened flowers, Derrick. Something different to look at, this time. I enjoyed Jackie’s savory pot of feast!
The mist photograph was enchanting, simply lovely, dear friend. 🙂
Very much appreciated, Robin 🙂
Your life sounds so pleasant.
Thanks, Kim. We’ve got there in our old age