SouthseaScene

This rapid coq au vin takes only half an hour to make. For two people, the ingredients are: 2 bacon rashers, chopped 1 medium onion, roughly chopped 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 4 chicken thigh fillets, boned and quartered 1 tablespoon plain flour 150 ml of red wine 200 ml chicken stock 250 grams chestnut mushrooms, quartered a sprig of rosemary Do all the chopping and cutting. Cover the chicken pieces in the flour. Heat the oil in the pan and cook the bacon and onion for 5 minutes, add the chicken pieces and cook for another 5 minutes. Then add the red wine and bubble vigorously for 5 minutes before adding the stock, mushrooms, and rosemary. Simmer for 15 minutes until the chicken is well cooked. I tend to serve this with steamed rice, but it's also delicious with mashed potatoes, served along with some steamed carrots. Crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy!

As we're now on Coronavirus lockdown and supply is getting low, this simple recipe that uses very few ingredients might be helpful (if you can find pasta!). Prawns - 150 g pack serves 2 generously and 3 at a stretch Linguine - 75 g per person Garlic - 1 clove, crushed and diced Red chili - 1 medium, diced (substitute with 1 tsp dried red chili flakes) Butter - 25 g (or 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil) Sliced spring onions, if available - it just makes the meal a bit more moreish Parmesan - 25 g, grated Half a lemon to add zing, but also optional Boil some water in the pan and add the linguine. Set the timer to 10 minute as it takes the linguine 8-10 minutes to cook. Then melt the butter in a pan and add the spring onions, garlic and chilli. Fry it gently and as the timer shows 3 minutes to go, add the prawns and salt and pepper and drain the linguine into the pan with a little of the water to keep everything moist. Only cook the prawn for 3 minutes so it rem...

We have lots of great parks across the city - which are open for people to use for their daily exercise with their family - whilst observing social distancing advice. We're working hard to keep our parks well maintained so that people can enjoy using them and use the space nearest them. Our work includes mowing the grass - as it grows rapidly at this time of year - keeping sites free of litter, maintaining our grounds and trees and daily visual inspections to make sure they're safe to use. The welfare of our grounds maintenance staff is our priority and we've implemented measures to ensure they keep at a distance from colleagues and the public, both when working in the open space and within welfare areas and that welfare facilities and PPE are available. Cllr Steve Pitt, Deputy Leader, Portsmouth City Council said: "We're all encouraged to take exercise daily to get out and enjoy parks and open spaces with those in our household. It's so important t...

There's an eerie quietness as I walked to work this morning. The streets which are normally crowded with kids going to school, parents pushing younger siblings in prams and gossiping in groups, were empty. It's as if Southsea is in a lockdown already. In some sense it has. Restaurants and bars, which a week ago were sending messages of taking good care about cleanliness, now are saying they are closing their doors. The Guildhall is closed, museums such as the Mary Rose are closed, libraries and the council offices are closed. All day at work we were preparing to close the office and work from home. My colleague brought home the 21 pots of plants from the office to look after. We practiced using Google Hangout and put a daily meeting online for the weeks to come. For how long, we don't know. While we rant against those who swiped the supermarket shelves clean of loo rolls and pasta, I secretly worry that there will be no supply in the weeks to come. Friends nervously l...