Calamity Shazaam in the Kitchen

It's April here in the home of the bean and the cod, only you'd never know it because the weather is just complete crap. Today hail and snow, tomorrow sun and locusts, unless it's hail and snow. The only reasonable and civilized way to cope with this rotten weather is lots of wine and things you have to cook in the oven, preferably on high. Roast chicken goes perfectly with wine. The recipe in this lovely cookbook is so easy (you can find it here ), and the only exra step I make is to pop the roasting pan (a cast iron skillet) into the oven to pre-heat. Oh and I borrow a step from the beloved Laurie Colwin and rub the birdy all over with paprika and a sprinkling of coarse salt. Reader, I ate it. Reader, it was delicious. Reader, this weather can just go to suck an egg.

Happy Easter. On account of ONE of us in the family being diagnosed with celiac coeliac (the British spelling makes it seem like a smarter diagnosis) the sacrificial Easter lamb cake is brought to you today by the letters "gluten-free cake mix". As Americans are wont to do, rather than give up gluten, we create gluten-free gluten. I am pretty sure that normal people would be like "oh well, how about berries and sorbet for dessert?" but not us. Also, it's the damn SACRIFICIAL LAMB CAKE, how would Easter be complete without this cake? Without the lamb cake, it's just Sunday dinner. Which would be fine by me since I am not a believer. I know it looks like it's already been slaughtered, but no, it's just taking a lie down. Turns out a lamb cake without gluten is basically like an actual lamb without bones - kinda floppy. I don't want to freak everyone out by serving a headless cake, so a lying down cake it is. Or maybe it will resur