agua fresca

Blend 4 or 5 cups of watermelon chunks (no rind, but seeds are fine) along with a a cup (or less) of water until pulverized. Strain. Add 1/2 tsp (or less) of salt, maybe a tbsp or two of lime juice. Chill. Drink!

roast chicken with potatoes and gravy

I am starting to sound like a broken record here, with lots of chicken and lots of roast vegetables, but I can't help it. They're good, they're cheap, they're certainly not rocket science, and I'm hungry!

Ingredients:

• chicken
• potatoes
• lemon & onion (good but not necessary)
• salt, pepper, butter, & oil

Pre-heat the oven to 450 F. Rinse, pat dry, butter, salt, and pepper a chicken. Put the chicken in some kind of pan in the oven and, a few minutes later, turn the oven down to 350 F. No need to dress or truss! Cook for about 20—25 min per pound, or until a meat thermometer in the thigh reads 180 F (okay, maybe that's rocket science).

Put large, olive-oiled (or buttered or bacon-greased or chicken-fatted) chunks of potatoes into a separate pan in the oven for the last hour of roasting.

While the chicken is in the oven, boil the neck and a bit of onion in a cup or two of water to make weak broth in anticipation of gravy.

When the chicken is done, remove it to a platter and let it stand. Pour the pan juices into a glass and let them separate (clear fat rises to the top). Put a few tbsp of the fat back into the roasting pan and, in the pan on the stove, cook a few tbsp of flour into a brown "roux", stirring constantly. Slowly add in the broth, and maybe the liquid from the platter the chicken's in, and maybe the liquid below the fat in the glass, boiling it on the stove, stirring, and using it to "cook off" the burnt stuff from the bottom of the pan. This, with a tiny bit of lemon juice, vinegar, or wine, and salt to taste, makes beautiful gravy (and cleans the pan).

Carve the chicken and serve with the potatoes, gravy, and a green vegetable or salad. Also try mixing the potatoes with beets, parsnips, turnips, or carrots. Don't forget to save the bones and scraps and table scraps (yes, even the table scraps) for chicken broth, and put the extra skimmed fat in the fridge for roasting vegetables the next time.