Another Sunday lunch and a new barbecue recipe...

So the sun shone again and a Serb won Wimbledon.

What was not to like about today! I always plan for rubbish weather at the weekends and had a large chicken sitting in the fridge for a more traditional roast. But with these temperatures and a husband offering to man the barbecue, I decided to divide up the chicken and marinade it first thing.

The breasts which you can see here were marinaded in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic puree and the killer ingredient, fennel seeds. Putting the whole lot under cling-film in the fridge for the entire morning made the chicken so creamy and tender and the mix of flavours so delicious, it beats anything you can get out of a bottle, believe me. I can't lay claim to making my own sausages but these little small babies are from the Asda Extra Special range and are really meaty and not too spicy. Demolished in seconds.

Here is my herb patch which I simply can't live without. Although you can see the earth is pretty typical London clay and a bit stony, the herbs have thrived this year - it must be because of the sunshine and heavy downpours we've been having. The patch includes oregano, mint, chives, sage and of course, my favourite, rosemary which I put into all sorts of dishes.

And here is my veg patch which is a mad mix of curly kale, potatoes, sweetcorn, tomatoes, french beans, garlic, radishes, lettuce - and all in a plot 8ft by 8ft or thereabouts. Can't take credit for any of this, husband does it all, but I do enjoy picking and cooking with it all...

After lunch we wandered down the hill to our local park to support a festival in aid of the Pro-Cancer Research Fund. Although the Wimbledon final was on there was a fantastic turnout with everything from alternative therapy tents to live music and Zumba. This is a splendid example of  what local people who want to make a difference can do and have been doing for a lot longer than the Governments Big Society bandwagon jumping would lead us to believe. This has been going on for a few years now and goes from strength to strength. And they always seem to get good weather so someone is on their side!