Happy Victoria Day!

What an insanely gorgeous long weekend.  Here in Canada, Victoria Day is the official kickoff of summer.  It's not always as summery as it is this year, mind you.  This weekend has been downright hot compared to many years.  And consistently so.  Temps in the mid 20's all weekend, with nary a cloud in the sky.  There's a huge Food Truck event happening nearby, as well as a carnival, and I imagine both are benefiting tremendously from the amazing weather.

Here at home it's been great.  Hubby has been off since Friday, and is still off tomorrow.  We bought a spinning composter, lots of good manure, and 9 tomato plants from Tree And Twig Heirloom Veggie Farm.  Save for 2, they're all cherry varieties (yard snacks) and are all going into pots. The garden space is reserved for cucumbers, melons, beans (LOTS of beans) and root veggies this year.  We've been sharing our raspberry canes with friends, in an attempt to thwart any plans the thorny plants have for neighbourhood domination, and I've harvested a few purple radishes already.  The peas that we planted during an unseasonable warm spell in March are a few feet high already, and our late season planting of horseradish is really looking good.  We have yet to buy any flowers to pretty up the front yard.  Priorities and all that.  LOL

It's a bit of a lazy afternoon here.  The yard is in full sun now, with the morning shade long gone and the evening shade many hours away.  Hubby is playing with his audio gear in the basement and the kids are glued to a Phineas and Ferb marathon.  I've been blogging, prepping and cooking/smoking a chicken.  We're breaking in the rotisserie tonight.  So I soaked the bird in a mixture of 1C kosher salt, 1C sugar and about 16C of water.  Then I took it out, rinsed it and let it dry well on a rack in the fridge. 

Resting before the big spin

Given the salt in the brine, I didn't salt my seasoning mix very much, or add sugar to it like I would for a normal barbecue rub.  Instead, I eyeballed a blend of garlic powder, onion powder, sage, allspice and paprika, and added just a pinch of salt.  The allspice may sound unusual, but I've found that it is really nice on grilled poultry (and also amazing with pork).  I rubbed the chicken with olive oil and sprinkled it with the seasoning mix.  Then I set foil packets of dry and soaked wood chips on the outer two burners on my grill and once they began smoking, we got the rotisserie turning.  Later the bird will get a basting of honey, white wine vinegar and a dash of bitters.  It should take 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  I can't wait.  I can smell the smoke as I sit here in my kitchen.

From this...

To this...

To this gorgeously lacquered bird that we will be eating in a few minutes.