Don't allow your spuds to be boring.
Nicey slicey potatoes

I don't know why slicing the potatoes in to coins makes them taste and cook better than chips but it just does.  Any type of potato works.  These are new potatoes so I didn't even have to peel them.

Slice potatoes in to rounds, approx. 5mm thick.
Place in a roasting dish and coat with olive oil.
Roast at 200 degrees until they begin to colour - about 20-30 minutes.
Add a little rosemary and salt and pepper at this stage. (I find adding salt at the begiinning makes the potatoes sweat, go soggy and stick to the tray.  Nobody wants that).
Return them to the oven for another 10 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, fry a few whole chestnut mushrooms in a hot pan on the hob until soft.
Add the cooked mushrooms and a handful of cherry tomatoes to the roasting dish and return to the oven for a final 10 minutes. 
(Total cooking time for the potatoes is about 45 minutes).




Around the grounds
Reach for your Shears

Can you feel the sap rising?  Your woody shrubs can.
This is a good week to trim the branches, as much as you dare.  The warm weather will bring a flush of new growth and you will have vigorous bushes again.
You can attack leaf-less specimens and evergreens alike but be a bit more gentle with the leafy ones.  Cut-leaf elders respond really well to being pruned right back.

From this...

...to this

Calling all students;
Pan-lid toasties

Everyone loves a toastie and you don't need a toastie maker to make a toastie.
Just a frying pan and a pan lid.
Assemble your favourite incredients in a sandwich, usually including cheese, butter on the outside in the usual way for a toastie.
Heat a dry frying pan and then apply the sandwich.
Squash down with a pan lid until the cheese gets melty and then turn.
Cook on the other side for a couple of minutes until golden and then apply to your face.
Delicoius.

Fillings to try before you die:
      Salami and mozarella
      Mars bar and chopped nuts
      Banana and crunchy peanut butter

Funny of the Week

Lovely topical comedy by Radio 4.

Newsjack

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01cws31/