In the pix: The lovely garden and staircase to the house; Barry (left) and Roger, in the lounges, building the base for their eventual savage tans (or savage pinks, as the case may be); Bill and Roger, celebrating their anniversary; last night’s dinner.

Wish y'all were here! (Well, maybe not quite *all* of you...) I'll try not to be too lazy this week. Maybe. Actually, no I won’t. Let’s talk next week.

And now: Recipe corner!

Step one after settling in at the house the other day was, natch, a trip to the market. The fruit was overripe, but the chicken was very fresh, and they had good herbs. Check it out:

Roast chicken with lemon zest, rosemary, garlic and sage

Serves 2 to 3 people; easily doubled for more eaters

1 whole chicken, preferably free-range, 2-3 pounds

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 sprig fresh rosemary

1/2 fresh lemon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Rinse the chicken under cold water, and pat dry.

Place chicken on a rack in a roasting pan in the middle of the oven and bake, uncovered, about 60 to 75 minutes. When browned and cooked through, remove from heat, let rest 10 minutes, and carve.

While that chicken is cooking, make this decadent puree. Soooo nice. This is a good substitute for mashed potatoes, and cauliflower is much lower in carbs. Then again, I don't know anything about the carb content of celery root—besides, any healthiness in this dish is pretty much wiped out by the butter and blue cheese. Who cares? We're on vacation!

Cauliflower and celery-root puree with blue cheese

Serves 4

1 head cauliflower

1 celery root

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons Danish blue cheese, or other blue or gorgonzola, crumbled

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Peel the celery root and cut into 1-inch chunks. Pull the leaves off the cauliflower and cut out the core in a kind of cone-shaped section. Then pull the florets off the head with your fingers, using a knife when you need to. Break or cut the florets into a smaller, regular size (about 1-1/2 inch) pieces. Place the celery root chunks in a steamer insert, and steam, covered, over boiling water for 10 minutes. Then, add the cauliflower and continue steaming, covered, another 15 minutes, until you can poke a paring knife into the stems and you can feel that there’s still a little texture there (but not much). Stir the cauliflower well a few times while it’s steaming so that it cooks evenly.

Dump about half of the veggies into a food processor or blender. Measure out 3/4 cup of the steaming liquid, and pour in about 1/4 cup; purée until smooth. Now dump the rest of the cauliflower on top, add about 1/3 of the remaining liquid, and purée again. You’ll need to stop and scrape and stir the purée a few times; add more liquid as you need to with the understanding that you really want to add as little liquid as you can get away with. With the motor running, process in the butter, cheese, salt, and pepper through the feed tube. Taste for seasoning and serve hot. (You can reheat over low heat in the same pan if you’re not eating immediately.)

Note: Cauliflower is an excellent canvas for other flavors. I like things spicy and I love mustard, so I sometimes do this puree sans cheese, with a tablespoon of Colman’s, the amazing English mustard; you might also add curry powder, grated Parmigiano, crumbled blue cheese, or a chopped fresh herb.