Call it a trial run for Thanksgiving dinner.

That's what Sunday supper seemed like today. What a great way to spend a chilly, dank Sunday. Invite a few friends over, those who appreciate hearty, home cooking, plenty of good wine, fires in all the fireplaces.

My proposed menu: roast chicken; pureed parsnips made into delicious clouds of puff when I add that incredible heavy cream from Post Family Farms that Royal River Foods sells; roast carrots; sauteed spinach; salad with roasted julienned beets and pecans and an extraordinary apple cake.

I keep on finding stacks of produce that I store in the cold room in the cellar, leftovers from the Farmer's Market. So when I spied a a few bunches of Chantanney carrots in a corner I knew I had to do something special to them. The basket of apples that I have would figure in the menu, too. The only thing that didn't survive were a few stalks of brussells sprouts that grew soft and pappy. Bags of baby spinach that I bought a few days ago were in the refrigerator and still fresh.

Good ingredients should be prepared simply. I'll just roast the carrots -- then add a little olive oil, glazed at the end with balsamic vinegar. The spinach will be sauteed in garlic and olive oil.

I hardly ever encounter parsnips on anyone's menus, either at home or in a restaurant. What a wonderful vegetable. Perhaps the bland trappings of British cooking have cast a bad taste on the root.

One hardly needs a recipe. But I found an intriguing preparation by British food writer Sally Clark. She instructs to boil them in a mixture of water and milk.

I've made them ahead. The cooking liquid is as thick as custard and the color of buttercups. I mash them up, into a rough puree, add some of the delicious cooking liquid, a good snap of butter and the Post Farm heavy cream. Then I add plenty of salt and pepper.

Perhaps parsnips are an acquired taste: sweet and earthy, thick and rich. I think these will be a hit. A hit? They're otherworldly.

Several weeks ago, I was searching for an apple recipe. I didn't want to make a pie or a crisp; I've had my fill of those. Maybe a cake or torte.

I went to the foodtv.com site and searched apples.

I found one called The Apple Lady's Apple Cake, from Patricia Wells'The Paris Cookbook

It worked out really well. So well in fact that I bought the book.

Today, I turn to the recipe and see that it's pretty different from the TV version. It bakes at a higher temperature, and the ingredients are different. This one calls for lots of lemon zest in the batter, which the other didn't. I guess the Food Channel saw something it didn't like. I think the Wells version is much better.

It's a great recipe, really. Apples are folded into a sweet batter that barely covers the apples and set to bake in a spring form pan. After it's nearly done, a topping of sugar, eggs, butter and lemon is poured over the top.

It's like a cake covered in lemon candy.

I thought I might as well really gild the lilly and make vanilla ice cream for the cake. After all, with so much heart-stopping heavy cream on hand, how could I resist? Should I hand out tablets of Lipitor because I'm going a bit overboard?What the hell. I don't do this every day.

The ice cream recipe is a really good one, also from Sally Clark. One of the annoying things I find in making vanilla ice cream is having to scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod. It seems to go everywhere but in the custard. Her solution is to process the sugar and pods in a Cuisinart, which extracts the seeds simply. A real time saver.

It's nearly midnight. Everyone has left. Dishes are stacked high to the ceiling.

I sit down for a moment to reflect and give myself a sort-of dining review. By all accounts, it was a really delicious dinner, a really enjoyable evening.

We take for granted the ways in which to roast a chicken but the method I've used for years works out perfectly every time, as long as one keeps an eye on the bird so that it doesn't get overcooked and dry.

My method for roasting chicken is to roast it in a very hot oven for the first hour, then at 375 degrees until it's done. I stuff the cavity with a whole lemon and insert garlic slivers and fresh tarragon under the breast skin. These were Mainely Maine chickens, which I've decided are about as good as you can get anywhere. Yes, they're free-range, naturally grown. Whenever I drive up Route 1, past Moody's diner, I see the farm and all the chickens are skipping around looking quite cheerful.

If I don't write down recipes, sometimes they go astray. Herewith:

The Lady Apple's Apple Cake, adapted from Patricia Wells in The Paris Cookbook

Mix together 1/2 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, pinch salt, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 2 large eggs, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1/3 cup milk and the finely grated zest of l lemon. Mix in 6 thinly sliced apples(a mixture of Cortlands, Macs and Jona Gold work well) Set into a 9 inch well buttered spring form pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes, lower heat to 400 degrees and bake for another 12 to 15 minutes or until cake is pretty firm and lightly golden.

Remove from oven and pour over the topping of 1/3 cup sugar, l large egg, zest of 1 lemon and 3 tablespoons melted butter that is all mixed together. Bake another 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing sides.

The local ingredients that I used for this included Caldwell Farms unsalted organic butter, White Orchard Farms whole milk, both made from unpasteurized cream (available at the Whole Grocer) and Maine apples.

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