Mmmm...smells like delicious!

Okay, apologies for the rather poor grammar in the title. But the reason for the salivating is that when I returned home from church this morning, I opened the door to the stomach pleasing smell of roasting chicken.

You see, I've had my cousin staying with me for a couple of days, to show him what a university life is like (for me anyway). His mum and dad came round yesterday to join us for the Open Day the University was running and, as thanks for me putting him up, they very generously gave me a package of sausages, bacon and a whole chicken.

Unfortunately, due to timing and the unseasonably warm weather we seem to be having in Winchester at the moment, the meat was defrosting in the car throughout yesterday as I had not had a chance to put it in the freezer. So I have had to cook it today.

I was a little apprehensive, I won't lie to you, as this is the first time I have ever roasted a chicken. But with the expert advice from my uncle - this particular specimen took two hours min - it has come out perfectly.

I hope this doesn't offend any vegetarians, so I'll generalise a little here. What better smell is there than that of food cooking - any food cooking? Be it chicken, pizza, roasted vegetables, fish...you name it, I love it. It's one of the great things about our bodies, that our sense of smell contributes so much to our eating pleasure. The whole house is now full of the aroma of chicken, which is buried under a large sheet of foil and will soon be cut up for sandwiches and salads for the coming week. Whatever you eat, wherever and whenever you eat it, bon appetit.

Loving Father, thank you so much for the wonderful gift that is food, and thank you for the joy and pleasure we can take in eating and cooking it. Help us to always remember how lucky we are, how fortunate most of us are, and how needy and unfortunate others are. Let those who will rarely have as much food as we do be always in our thoughts and prayers. Amen.

Laters.