I blog
because it lets me share…
…my food…
…my thoughts…
…my garden and…
…my family…
with
…my friends.
What began as an exercise in positive thinking has grown into a community of visitors, friends and fellow bloggers. You’ve all been incredibly supportive and kind, and I’m grateful to everyone of you for reading along over the past couple of years.
This week, Fig Jam and Lime Cordial had its 500,000th hit and to celebrate, we’re having a g1veaway. Or more precisely, five g1veaways!
I’d like to invite you to enter by leaving a comment below.
Please tell us:
- what your all-time favourite kitchen appliance/gadget/cookware/thing is. I’m currently besotted with my Emile Henry pots, but my 90cm Smeg oven would have to be my precioussss…
- whether you’re based in Australia or overseas, and
- which pr1ze(s) you’re interested in.
Please feel free to leave as many comments as you wish, and tell us a little about yourself, if you’re so inclined – we’d love to get to know you better!
We’ll take comments until 12noon, Friday 19th August 2011 (Sydney time). Good luck!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Bread Bakers
We’re offering two pr1zes for those of you interested in baking your own loaves – one for our fellow Aussies, and another for our friends abroad…
#1 : For Australian residents only:
- a copy of Dan Lepard’s The Handmade Loaf (paperback)
- a 1kg round cane banneton
- dough scraper
Set #2: For International visitors only:
- a 500g oval cane banneton
- a tin of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial Book Darts
- dough scraper
. . . . .
Garden Lovers
For Australian residents only:
- an autographed copy of Linda Woodrow’s The Permaculture Home Garden – the blueprint for all our garden adventures to date.
- a tin of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial Book Darts (not shown)
. . . . .
Chinese Lantern Kit
- 50 Chinese New Year Angpow wrappers
- decorative beads, flowers, string and 3 tassels
I’m happy to post this kit anywhere.
All you’ll need to supply are scissors, staples and glue. There are sufficient wrappers in the kit to make any of the Chinese lanterns I blogged about (somewhat obsessively) earlier this year. Instructions for the basic lantern are here.
. . . . .
Chocolate Lovers
For Australian residents only:
- 500g Callebaut (Belgian) 811 Fairtrade Chocolate callets (dark 54%)
- a copy of Mrs Fields’ Best Ever Cookie Book! (now out of print)
- a Golden Ticket chocolate mould
. . . . .
Bits and Pieces
For Aussie and International visitors, all of the following as one pr1ze:
- Two colourful mini bags
- Egg snipper
- Swarovski crystal angel
- a tin of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial Book Darts
. . . . .
And the winners are…
Breadbakers #1 – Vita
Breadbakers #2 – Gill the Painter
Chinese Lantern Kit – Just A Little Piece
Garden Lovers – Tracie
Chocolate Lovers – Larissa
Bits and Pieces – C from Cakes, Crumbs and Cooking
. . . . .
Thank you again for all your support!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I knew I’ve been hitting you pretty hard, but 500 thousand is mind-blowing! ;-)
I am overseas, later today I’m headed for Brazil, but that is overseas too as far as Australia is concerned
if I am a lucky winner of your generous give away, I guess you won’t be too surprised to find out I’m interested in the oval banneton, which I never know how to spell correctly and the spell checker won’t help out either.
Congratulations on 500,000 hits, dear role model!
And “The Cloud” is all the happier for your blog, thank you Celia.
Here’s to your next 500K hits {:<)
Congratulations darling. Please don’t enter me in your giveaway I have been the beneficiary of so much love and kindness from you in the last year that is more than enough for me xx
Congrats and to the next 500,000. I do enjoy your blog and you are very generous with the give away. Too bad I live in the States and cannot benefit from your kindness.
Your blog is an inspiration to do more baking, as gardening in the hot midwest is fruitless this year. With the cooler, fall weather, I am looking forward to new baking adventures! I still love my Le cruset dutch oven for its many uses, but have now put a wish list out for the Emile Henry cookware you so lovingly described :)
If you consider me for a gift, I would love to use the cane bannetone. And by the way, we have become avid users of the book darts! My son uses them to mark important areas of his college books, rather than underlining.
Half a million! Outstanding timing really. I discovered your blog when I came across Genie’s Zucchini Slice. As it happens I am eating it right now after a gig and pleased to see so many others have found your excellent kitcen! I don;t chat much here, but I am on the mailing list and love popping in to see what’s happening! So many good ideas, so many great recipes…and mostly so much joy expressed it is a delight to watch it happen. May you hit the million even faster as you deserve it! Keep up the good fun ;)
500,000 is impressive, but I’m not at all surprised because your blog is one of my favourite. Well done to you, and here’s hoping that there’ll be many more posts for us to enjoy in the future.
Congrats Celia – I thought at first that the 500,000 referred to the amount your publisher was offering for your next book! But, hey, 500,000 hits is quite an achievement – let’s see, at my current rate, I ought to see that when I’m 243.
My fav kitchen tool is any of the Microplane graters/zesters – love ’em. Love bannetons too.
Oh congratulations, that’s an amazing milestone! Very inspiring!
I’m a grand ditherer so narrowing down to one thing is hard but we’ve really got a lot of use out of our Magimix 5200 food processor, far more than the old one we had before. More expensive than the old one by a large factor but definitely worth it. More recently, the kitchenaid has contributed massively by doing the kneading work for home made bread, of which Pete makes plenty. And we made our very first home made pasta with it too, using the kitchenaid pasta attachments we were gifted recently.
In terms of items I’ve been sent to review, I love my blender, I call him Robust Robbie, he’s from the Philips Robust range, hence his name. But his extra-strong motor and the way the two rotar blades go in different directions so no more stuck gunk, it’s brilliant.
And my Gaggia ice cream machine, I am dreading the day they call to have it picked up again!
If I am lucky enough to win I’d like any prize that includes a tin of your book darts. I’ve singularly failed to order more after you sent me the pack of 12 before, and I love them, so a whole tin would be an incredibly fabulous prize indeed. I’m international, though I know you know that! (HINT: come visit LONDON and deliver any prize I might win in person)
:)
Oh Celia, I just had to enter this one! I have been after a proper dough scraper for some time now – I’d be happy just to win that! All of those I have looked at online are either incredibly expensive or I am not sure if they will be too springy and not right thing …. however I have been admiring your bannetons recently too, which are completely new to me. Here goes…
My favourite kitchen applicance? (I know I will probably have other ideas once I have written this) but my first thought was my much use (and three times replaced) rice cooker. Not an essential I know – at least that’s what I thought when we were given it as a gift by my brother & sister in law (he’s Chinese, so knows a thing or two!) but now I would not be without one. The cook and keep feature is so useful. Perfect rice every time – wonderful!
Congratuations on your 500,000th hit – I’m getting there but a long way behind! Please keep up the good work – it is good to be in touch over such a long distance.
hopeeternal
‘Meanderings through my Cookbook’
Congratulations Celia, As one of the first bloggers I came across some time ago, we’ve travelled along together through many seasons. I always enjoy visiting your blog and your inspirational baking skills. I have the opportunity to say at this time that yes, I’m DownUnder and will be from now on. I would certainly enjoy an opportunity to use any of your darling gifts but I’d love the challege of #1 Oz style. My personal things and kitchen gadgets are in boxes at the moment but if I could use anything to whiz a storm it would be my Sunbeam Mixer which has seen better days and all of my silcone cake moulds. Congratulations again x.
Woot! 500,000 and counting!!!! I’d have to say I can’t live without my french press. Out of all the things I cook and beat up. Nothing puts up with more than my french press every morning! <3 the Chinese Lanterns Congrats!
Congratulations!!! My kitchen aid mixmaster is my favourite for sure. It saves my poor little arms and performs my least favourite chore, grating, with ease! I don’t know what I did without it!
Congratulations! They are visitor numbers to be proud of! I’m based in the UK and have only been subscribed for a few weeks (found you via Zeb Bakes). My favourite kitchen thingumybob is my little pot of sourdough starter – does that count? If that doesn’t count then it would have to be my Le Creuset casserole dish. A one pot wonder. I’d love to win #2 – the bread kit! Fingers crossed!
Congratulations Celia!
I have a web site and a facebook page and I can appreciate the joy of reaching a milestone. I’m sure that your success comes from your generosity and willingsness to share both from the kitchen and from the heart. Well done!!
I have been quietly enjoying you blog for quite a while now and I fell in love with that crystal angel last Christmas. I am a real Christmas decoration tragic :)
My culinary skills are basic but I would have to say that my favourite utensil is a silicone bowl scraper that I have had for years now and it just keeps on keeping on.
<3 Mimi
Congratulations sweetie! Just think, that’s 500 000 smiles you’ve bought to 500 000 faces, how many other people could say that?
My favourite appliance is my brand new Thermochef, a gift from my mum, but otherwise my big Kenwood chef mixer, or my 900 oven, or my castiron pots, or my……… don’t make me choose between my babies Celia, the others might ger jealous!
Very privileged to have been part of those amazing statistics. Congratulations and here’s to the next half a million. I’ll keep reading your wonderful posts, admiring your chickens and peeking in your kitchen without a reward but if you’d like to send a cane banneton to Dubai, it might help me with my (as yet) unattained goal to make a decent sour dough loaf.
Congratulations on reaching 500,000!
I am relatively new to your blog and have loved going back and reading over older posts when I find time…
I can’t live without my microplanes graters! They were a gift from a dear friend and I don’t know what I did before them… A tip from a friend, keep ginger root in the freezer and finely grate how much you need each time, makes it so much easier and all the beautiful flavour stays in the gratings, not dribbling down the grater!
As a Aussie new to baking, (partner and daughter have in the last year gotten rid of a couple of pesky allergies – eggs, gluten and dairy… yeah for us!) I would love the Bread Baker #1 pack to try my hand at making my own!
500,000 hits WOW! I’m heading for 200,000 – way behind. I’m sure I’ll never catch up to your lovely blog. Keep up the good work.
I just love to read your blog and I wish I had the time to make all the yummy things there.
My favourite utensil is too hard to choose, I’m addicted to all things kitchen gadget related. But if I have to choose it would be my Breville Mixer.
I would love to go in the draw for the permaculture garden book, I have been looking at this book to buy for ages, it is on my christmas wish list.
I’m in Australia,
Congratulations on 500,000.
Tracie
Dear Celia, congratulations on a wonderful achievement. You are inspirational and on a personal note, have been a wonderful mentor and source of encouragement to me during my short-lived blogging life.
I would have to say my Magimix 4200XL is my most prized appliance because I worked so hard to get it and it has not disappointed.
Having recently been bitten by the bread-baking bug, I definitely need guidance so I would love to go into the draw for #1. Thanks!
PS forgot to say that apart from the obvious I.e. My cook’s knife, I adore my microplane grater
Hi Celia, Good work on your 500 000! I found your blog a month of so ago on my quest for a sourdough bread recipe to try (I have just gotten the bug!). Your’s was the first one I cooked :) (and comparing it the subsequent loaves I’ve made I still think that first one was the best!). I’ve noticed I tend to be hanging out for your next post (I had never really read a blog till I found yours. I’m hooked!) and am steadfastly making my way through previous posts and gaining inspiration all the time :) Still haven’t tried the mint chocolate, hopefully this weekend :)
My favourite kitchen doovelacky is….hmm I’d probably say my kitchen aid: Pasta, Icecream, Cakes, Pizza dough….Though I do love my knives. And my mortar and pestle! Oooh and my pepper grinder. Everything tastes better with pepper. It was my Graduation present for Uni “A tasmanian blackwood pepper grinder please mum..” (she thought I was nuts!) The bread kit would be wonderful as you were part of my sourdough journey, though the choclate might help me try those mint crisps! (I live on that little island south of Australia ;) Tassie!)
Keep Blogging, We love it :)
congratulations celia..that’s a well deserved achievement..your posts are inspirational and your replies to comments are so warm and encouraging..jane
Here I am again, to properly comment for the contest… sorry!
My favorite kitchen gadget is simple, a Microplane zester, love it, use it all the time, for lemons, limes, oranges, cheese, chocolate, even ginger
nothing works quite like it! See? I am a simple woman after all… ;-)
And I have to pipe in with a congratulations too! And the link back to the Year of Being Present post was truly inspiring.
Its hard to choose from all my kitchen items (its like picking your favourite child haha. But I think if I HAD to choose, it would be my KitchenAid. After saving for forever, we finally got it and havent looked back. It does everything and is the smartest thing I know ;) lol
Im in Sydney Australia and would love the Bread Bakers prize. I still havent made perfect bread. Its like we dont get along but Im hoping to get a spark soon and enjoy a life long friendship :D
Hooray for you. What an amazing effort. I think its well deserved. You do such a great job to inspire and educate.
My favourite gadget at the moment is my really basic stick blender with a processing attachment. Its really simple, but great for quick jobs like making pastry, crumble mix and chopping onions and the whole thing can be chucked in the dishwasher. I love it!
I would LOVE the bread making prize. Its my next project.
All the best.
Congratulations Celia!
I stumbled on your blog through Not Quite Nigella. I always enjoy finding out what’s in your kitchen each month. Both your blogs have encouraged me to get in the kitchen a bit more and try something new.
As a keen hobbyist cake decorator I can’t live without “big red” my kitchenAid! I absolutely looove it! (and got it at a bargain price through kitchenware direct) (i’d love the chocolate lovers pack or the bits & pieces).
Congratulations, Celia!
You are like a super star in the blogging arena!
My favorite gadget- that is such a hard question- like asking who is my favorite child. Right now, I’d have to say my microplane grater- I love it’s versatility- and it is so easy to clean up- AND what it does for Romano cheese is like a little bit of fairy magic!
I’d like the banneton- then I’d have a matched pair- but really I’d be happiest with a tin of darts. Because I’m always searching for something to hold my place- and I’d love to have it be something from you.
Thanks, my friend, thanks for your generosity and good advice and friendship!
Wow, that’s amazing!! Its hard to imagine that many hits. I hope you receive that many, and much, much more in the future. Your blog deserves all those hits. I have so thoroughly enjoyed your posts and feel incredibly blessed to be able to learn baking/cooking skills (and life skills) thru reading them. It is hard to pick my favorite kitchen gadget as so many of them play a vital role in my cooking and baking, but I’d have to say that my kitchenaid mixer started it all, and without it I probably wouldn’t have started on my bread baking journey. As you know, I live in the USA, and reside in Lexington KY for the time being. If I were chosen as a recipient of one of your very generous giveaway items, it would have to be the oval banneton and book darts. I only have a round banneton now and the book darts sound like they’d be extremely useful in the kitchen and would take care of eliminating my scrap paper bookmarks strewn all over the house. Thank you Celia!!!
How fun- big and well-deserved congrats on so many blog readers. And thank you for writing such a fabulous blog!
My two favorite kitchen tools are my pink Kitchenaid stand mixer (and yes, I am very certain it is that much better because it’s pink!) and silicone spoonulas. You know, the spatulas that have a bit of a scoop edge to them. They’re spoons and spatulas and just have a zillion and one uses. Oooh and if I may pick a third, it would be kitchen scissors. I have several pairs and use them nearly daily. I find chopping up raw meats like chicken are easier with good kitchen scissors. And tiny veggies like scallions and chives are easier for me to cut with scissors too.
If I could pick one prize it would be the Bread Lovers Set #2 because I live in Upstate, NY USA.
Congrats on your FIRST half million hits and cheers to millions more!!
KK
Many congratulations Celia. Your blog is the most marvelous resource and I’m always impressed by your generosity with your time and help. I’ve been making your pizza dough recipe lately and the last couple of times I’ve produced thin, crispy, bubbly pizza bases which have made me feel good about myself! I’m with Dr Fugawe – I’d buy your book if you ever produced one. I won’t put my name down to be a winner because I already have my lovely little angel dangling in the window in front of me, but my ‘happy’ gadget is my micorplane zester – I love using citrus zest and the zester is so good at getting every little bit of it.
Congratulations Celia ! With those numbers there must be lot of lurkers, like me, who read but don’t (shame on us) contribute.
My favourite kitchen implement is, wait for it…a cotton pillowslip. I have salad spinners in two sizes, but often reach for the pillowslip. It uses human power to whip it in an overarm bowl and gets any greens much drier than the spinners do. Also limbers up the muscles tight from garden or computer usage.
If I haven’t left the greens to drip sufficiently in a colander, its best to take the pillowslip-full outside as water will fly! If I need them dry enough to dress or stirfry, I reach for another cotton pillowslip and transfer them into there.
If you’re not going to use the greens straight away, just roll them up in the moist pillowslip, pop into a supermarket bag (holey ones are fine) and pop it into the fridge where the slightly moist pillowslip keeps the greens fresh and crispy!
I’d love to say I discovered this simple implement, but my husband remembered his former partner doing this. He remembered it when he saw me doing multiple batches of stirfry greens in a spinner. The pillowslip did the lot in one hit!
My choice of gift, if chosen is the Dan Lepard book. Bread is the only thing I enjoy baking. I bought Linda’s book years ago as well as Book Darts (aren’t they great?).
My only issue with Book Darts is they work as advertised; If you use them in library books you need to count them because they are so fine it is easy to overlook a couple when you return a book!
Polly
That is a terrific milestone Celia – well done!
I am like Intolerant chef – don’t make me choose a favourite amongst my ‘toys’ for fear of inciting disharmony in my kitchen.
Wow! Congratulations on 500 000! Mind you I’m not surprised – your blog is on top of my reading list – full of info and gorgeous piccies to drool over! I have made a lot of your recipes and while mine taste delish they look nowhere near as beautiful as yours!
My favourite kitchen gadget (if you can call it that – it’s not really a gadget, more an essential) at the moment is my oven – though given that it died a sad and horrible death the other day I’m a lost woman. :( It’s amazing all the things I want to bake now that I can’t.
My second favourite gadget is the stainless steel masterpiece of a breadmaker that Santa brought me last year (go santa!). Closely followed by the slowcooker (it is winter after all!).
My pick of all your wonderful giveaways would be the Dan Lepard book – your posts have inspired me to start to push the breadmaker to the back of the bench a little more often and have a go myself from scratch (shhhhh…..don’t tell the breadmaker!). My local library doesn’t have Dan so I feel I’m missing out on some secret, important step known only to the chosen few but I hope to have him in my life one day…..one day!
Thanks for your wonderful blog – it brightens my day :)
PS I’m in oz :)
good morning Celia, from “your friend in the UK”.
You said that in a comment a couple of days ago to Drf about me, and I liked it.
I liked it a lot.
Almost as much as my favourite kitchen gadget.
It has to be my first Global knife. I didn’t know what slicing was all about until I got one for a present. Chop chop chop.
I was only commenting to Joanna that I don’t have a baneton basket. She has such an impressive collection of all things breadly in her kitchen, it makes you smile warmly. So if the chicken pecks my name out of a hat, that’s the prize for me.
I warn you, I never win anything.
Oh.
And congratulations on your comments result. I’m not the least surprised.
Thank you all so much! I don’t want to clutter up the comment stream, but I really do appreciate all your kind words…
Celia xxx
the prize for me is having found your blog! My favourite kitchen appliance is my husband LOL. Have a lovely weekend Celia :)
Congrats on the big milestone! I’m not a big commenter, but you’re one of only a handful of blogs I read and I just love your back-to-basics approach to food and your resourcefulness is an inspiration! I am also always keen to read about your trips to Chefs Warehouse! (I love that place!)
I am weirdly obsessed with my spatula- it is just a flimsy, white, plastic thing with a handle, but nothing else flexes or gets into the curves of the Kitchenaid bowl quite like it! If lucky enough, a Willy Wonka inspired mould would probably get me practicing my chocolate tempering pretty quick!
Wow– contrats on reaching half a million hits. I love visiting your blog and reading of your baking adventures. I’m about to start my very first attempt at sourdough and have found your website to be a wealth of information!
I’m overseas (just barely– New Zealand). I’m still establishing my kitchen so at the moment, my favourite thing in my kitchen is my ninja-bread men cookie cutters (silly, I know!). My partner bought them for me–although I think they were more to satisfy is obsession with ninjas than my desire to have cool cookie cutters. The prize I’m particularly interested in is the bread set. I’m thinking of buying a banneton soon so this is very appealing. I first encountered them on your blog and they seem to give amazing results!
Congrats on this great milestone I have recently found your blog and think it is great Thanks for all your hard work I live near Brisbane on 2 acres and have started growing our own fruit and veggies, eggs and some meat. If I win I would love the bread book ect. Once again congrats and thanks
All time favourite is the ancient Moulinex coffee seed and herb grinder, as I cannot eat wheat I use it make stuff with all other kinds of seeds and grains. All flours and ground seeds are made fresh on the spot and there is no cleaning required. Its all in the order you grind. Oily stuff first like sesame and sunflower then dry stuff like oats or buckwheat or chia. NO CLEANING EVER the Moulinex is the best. I’m in Australia and eying off the chocolate!
YAYYYY for you! Congratulations on your wonderful milestone! :D
My all-time favorite kitchen gadget? That is a really hard question, I love my citrus squeezer, my tiny garlic mandolin, my Calphalon pots and pans, my cheapy twenty dollar crock pot, my plastic tubs that I make bread dough in… I guess my absolute favorite is my Shun chef’s knife. I love it. I love opening the drawer and lulling it out and chopping things up.
I would love any of those fine prizes but I am fascinated by the cane banneton. I have a bag of rye flour ready to go. :-)
Congrats, my friend for a half a million visitors. And thank you for making the world a better place. Big hugs, Maz
Hey hey hey well done on reaching 500k. I’m not one bit surprised as your blog is pretty darn good!
My favourite gadget in the kitchen … my spatulas of all different sizes but scraping down the sides of a bowl is just made 100 times better with a decent spatula!
Hi Celia
I love your blog. I always check on it a few times a week and have baked a number of your cakes/slices and jams (i think my kids would vote the butterscotch bars as a favourite). I have had a go at the breadmaking and would like to try it again. I have also borrows a few books from the library and have the Bourke St bakery here. Some success and some failure
Like you I live in Sydney, have chickens and a vegetable garden. We have been in our house for 18 months and have put in lots of fruit trees and experiemnting on the best positions for the vegetables (which are protected from the possums/ my son’s soccer balls and the chickens. I also love when you refer to shops in and around Sydney.
My favourite gadget would be my semi-industrial kenwood mixer. My mum brought it for me when my grandfather passed away as part of her inheritence – i was about 22 years old and baking cakes/puddings for the markets whilst paying my way through university. I have continued to do the markets over the years inbetween work and having 3 children and my mixer has made 1000s of cakes and puddings to sell, to celebrate birthdays and for lunch boxes. I probably make biscuits, cakes or slices a couple of times a week and very popular with my children’s friends and family (we are always asked to bring along dessert).
I would be interested in the bread book or chocolate making stuff. Congratulations on reaching 5000k – keep blogging !
I have just discovered your blog today, sigh, yet another blog to add to my list of ………….have to read. Fancy finding you on such a momentous occasion, congrats.
I find it difficult to name one favourite kitchen thing, as I love to cook. So to narrow it down I will go with something I use everyday and that would be my Globe chefs knife. I had always considered spending big bucks on something for the kitchen a waste of time and money. Not anymore, a sharp knife makes things so much easier, I can even cut like a masterchef now thanks to my knife. I unfortunatly have a passion for lots of expensive cookware, gadgets now….
If I was to be considered, I would love the Bread Bakers or Garden Lovers Prize.
I am a sandgroper over here in little old West Australia.
Congratulations! I have only been reading for a month or two – but eagerly await new posts. I am trying to be as self sufficent as I can be on 1/2 acre in Sth East Qld. my favourite kitchen item – I recently bought the kenwood tri-blade stick mixer thingy … love it! all of your prizes are awesome.
Ally
Congratulations on the milestone! My favourite kitchen item would have to be my Braun Multisystem food processor – I love that it does everything – mixes, whisks, chops, blends, kneads….
All your giveaways are wonderful, it is very hard to choose between them! I am in Australia, so I am very tempted by the Bread Baker’s #1, and the Chocolate lovers giveaways (but would also be very happy to get one of the packs with the book darts!)
Congratulations Celia! Like so many others, I find your blogs inspirational. Reading them has encouraged me to attempt some projects I keep putting off. I love reading about the chooks. People change when they get chooks, don’t you think?
As for my favourite kitchen “thing”, I have to admit that I love my tea towels! ! I have been hoarding them for years, the drawer is overflowing. I love the feel of the linen ones especially when wrapping freshly baked scones or throwing over a cooling cake. They come in handy when squeezing out grated zucchini and drying things, of course.
I look forward to reading more about the things that matter to you and your friends.
Hi Celia,
Ok, I admit that a cup of tea and a bit of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial has become my unwind after work, and wow the lunchboxes and small fry around here will thank you for it! Congratulations on your big milestone – may you have many more for I have discovered many things through your pages that line up with my own philosophy of homemade and handmade and being part of a sharing community. I will happily keep reading!
Anyway, my favourite kitchen gadget – if you could call it that- is the piece of marble my husband inherited when his grandmother passed away. It sits on our bench and is used frequently to knead all sorts of dough. It has helped us produce so many handmade breads, pizzas, scones etc. with a velvety smoothness, and every time I use it I feel as if I am connecting to the woman who shaped my husband so much but who, sadly, I never got to meet.
It’s also my excuse to step out of the modern world and be at peace in my favourite room of the house. Shaping dough on it has become therapy of the most sublime order! I have been using it for 15 years now and I hope that we’ll be able to pass it on to our kids/grandkids who will (if I have my way) all be interested in creating yummy breads!
Should I be lucky enough to win a prize, I’d have to say the Garden Lover’s pack. My garden is my favourite outdoor room of the house! Though the chocolate one is mighty tempting too…
Thanks again for sharing your journey and experiences with the big wide world. All the best,
Ray in Canberra
Congratulations on half a million hits! Although it’s unsurprising – your recipes are delicious and always work.I love checking out the mouthwatering photos and hearing about what’s going on in your kitchen and garden. Thanks so much for all your hard work! Here’s to the next 500,000!
As for me, I love my wooden spoon and chopping knife (does anyone else have a favourite knife?), but my most useful piece of kit is my Tala cook’s measure. It measures both English and American cups and gives imperial and metric weights of sugar, flour, rice, lentils, barley, cocoa and loads of other ingredients. It saves me so much space in my small London flat – I don’t need a set of measuring cups and I’ve never had a scale. My Tala does it all! I’ll admit the chocolate lover’s set looks amazing, but since I’m overseas, please put me in the running for #5.
Hi Celia,
Wow what a wonderful achievement! Congratulations, you bring so much joy, knowledge and warmth of spirit to us all and every time I log onto your blog it is with excitement wondering what wonderful things you have to share. You truley brighten my day.
I am still in training for the perfect loaf…ho hum…. so for me if I was to win a prize it would have to be the first including Dan Lepard’s The Handmade Loaf.
Celia, I hope you are well and sorry I haven’t made contact lately but life has been incredibly busy with my big boy in the midst of HSC Trials and many other family needs pulling me in all directions.
Keri x
PS my absolute favourite kitchen gismo at the moment would have to be my shiny black Kitchen Aid which was a family gift for my half century milestone! I love it & my boys also use it so it’s turned into a family favourite. I must say it’s very cool to have teenage boys who cook from recipe books to produce wonderful food… mainly sweety dessert things but we are definately not complaining!.
x
Congratulations! I enjoy reading your blog, sounds like a lot of others do too :)
My all time favourite kitchen appliance is my Kenwood k-mix stand alone mixer. I love to bake and it’s so great being able to turn it on and then do something else!
I’m based in Australia and would love to win the Chocolate Lovers pack. Thanks :)
I love my spatulas. I love being able to get EVERY LAST TRACE of batter out of the bowl!
I’m in Oz and would love to get my spatulas into the callebaut choc!
Congratulations on creating such a beautiful, warm, safe space that is a pleasure to visit most evenings. I get some riches from your blog every day, and you inspire me to be a better mum, a better cook and a better gardener! My favourite appliance are my little electric handbeaters. While I save up for my lovely retro-styled Sunbeam mixer these help me to make yummy pineapple upside down cakes and your blueberry coffee cake (a big hit at preschool!)
Congratulations Celia! Its no wonder though. You have such a wonderful way with everything you post and I was hooked the first time I stumbled upon your blog. :) You’re also very generous! I would love any of the fabulous gifts you’re offering, but that cane banneton would be to die for. :)
I’m not at all surprised at the number of hits Celia. Its so inspiring and a pleasure to visit. Since finding your blog, I’ve enjoyed browsing around and have been keen to start baking bread, which I’m doing successfully with your great instructions. I’d love a copy of Dan Lepard’s The Handmade Loaf or to try using a benneton – haven’t yet been able to source one up here in Newcastle but found the biscuit stamp the other day. Yeh!
My favourite kichen appliance would have to be my kettle. Can’t get through the day without a cuppa, alone or with family and friends. The thermomix has been great fun if not a bit indulgent – the kids love it.
Well, off to make another cuppa, to ease the shock of discovering we had a dawn raid thismorning. After working all day in the garden yesterday, we went out thismorning to find the place decimated by, we presume, a flock of cockatoos. Wish I had a blog – just love to post the pics. Nature – you just can’t beat it!
Now you are giving us a prezzie?!! I love your website, but…… I am finding it so hard to drag myself away from the laptop when I receive notice of another of your lovely blogs ……. and there are jobs to be done.
Oooooo pick me!!!!
What a fabulous giveaway Celia :)
My all time favourite piece of cookware in the kitchen is my lovely, glorious, bright orange Le Creuset set. It makes everything taste fabulous and is just quality through and through. AND, it has a wonderful history, because this set was handed down to me. It was originally given as a wedding gift in France way back in 1974 to some dear friends of mine, and when they received a new set for their 30th wedding anniversary they passed the old one on to me. So the set is near on 40 years old, and still in superb condition. I love my le creuset and the sentimental value of it is priceless.
Ooo and for my prize I would love, love, love Linda Woodrow’s book, I think you recommended it to me a while ago. I really enjoy her blog and I am sure I’d be able to say the same about her book… and if I don’t win it I will probably go and buy it anyway :)
Good luck to everyone and thanks so much for such a fun giveaway Celia.
Take anything out of my kitchen but leave me my 35+ year old Chinese cleaver. The blade is a little knicked but it stays sharp and cuts anything.
I’m In Australia and even though I bake huge amounts of bread I don’t own either Dan book or a banneton, so that would be a great win. For second choice–one can never have too many gardening books!
Congratulation on a half million hits and counting. I’ve enjoyed adding my share to that number.
You know, just lately I was wondering why different people blog. Thankyou for sharing! Please don’t enter me in your generous giveaway, you have been generous enough already. I just wanted to pop by and say congratulations on this milestone!! :)
Congrats Celia! I haven’t missed a blog post since I discovered it.
I would love to enter your g1veaway, am in Australia, and would be very interested in the Dan Lepard et al. I have made many of your cakes and cookies, but still haven’t ventured into the bread making, though I’d love to.
Your yogurt cake has been my go to recipe for about a year now, particularly since I learnt how to make my own yogurt – from you too :)
Therefore, I’d have to vote my laptop as my current favourite kitchen tool!
Cherie x
Congratulations Celia – I love your blog and have never once failed when making your recipes. I find your recipes so well written and thorough and appreciate the way you test them so thoroughly.
I am sure I will ‘hit’ your site many more times – so keep the interesting posts coming!
Congratulations Celia, on reaching such an amazing milestone! You deserve all of the lovely, lovely comments that everyone has left for you here. I enjoy reading your blog so much for so many reasons – it inspires me to try new things, brings another perspective to my world and makes me smile to know that there are amazing generous and thoughtful people around the world. We don’t hear enough about the good things in this world and reading your blog makes me think of the good things.
i think that probably my favourite kitchen ‘thing’ are my microplane (or pretend microplane!) graters, a popular choice it seems. Although my most used grater is a tiny little thing that is not nearly as sharp, but is perfect for grating cheese (I use a lot of cheese :-)) meaning I can run my fingers down it to get the last bit of cheese through without injuring myself!
If I were lucky enough to be the recipient of your kind generosity, I love to receive either the lantern kit because I love origami type work, or the book darts, to stop all the bits of ripped paper in my recipe books making them a mess!
Here’s to a million!!!
Very glad to have contributed to those 500,000 hits.
I live in Ireland (and yes it’s raining!!!!!!) and would be delighted to recieve the bread or bits and pieces giveaways.
Thank you so much.
Congratulations Celia,
It is great to know that so many so often have received a welcome and inspiration to an honest and nourishing way of life. Thankyou, thankyou.
I’d like to paraphrase Dan Lepard and say that my own two hands are my favourite kitchen gadget, but to select a seperate gadget, I’ll go for my handmade (not by me) timber chopping board.
Thankyou and Congratulations,
Craig
Congrats! Having only found your blog recently – it’s been great going back through all your archives!
Well done on a fabulous record of delicious food, a wonderful garden, and amazing looking bread!
My favourite kitchen item(s) have to be my set of cast iron skillets. Indestructible and always produce delicious meals.
Looking forward to more wonderful posts in the future :)
Cheers,
Hannah
Thank you again for your kind and interesting comments – it’s been wonderful to hear from you all! :)
Congratulations! The world of blogging is so wonderful, I’ve met friends like yourself and have gotten terrific advice and ideas. The permaculture book is what I’d go for – but really it is just wonderful to have you as a blog friend. I’m so envious of your smeg oven!! Is it just the best?
My favourite kitchen gadget is definitely my kitchenaid. Hard earned but worth every penny…or my Le Creusset! Lasted me 20 years until I broke the lid! (and they are hard to break)
I have your blog bookmarked on Google Chrome and must visit it at least 3 times a week! I must be responsible for at least 200 of those hits! I find it a great source of inspiration and must admit that the cane bannetone is what attracts me most. I tried making my first sourdough a few weeks ago and quickly realised how much easier it would have been with a bannetone!
Living in Botswana, with very bad growing conditions, I struggle with growing but I do try. My children and I just picked our first peas of the season on Friday…it was a very exciting day!
My favourite kitchen gadget has to be my Microplaner. I bought it in 2003 when I was a student in Sydney, at Le Cordon Bleu in North Ryde, and have cherished it ever since. I had to save up for it because it cost a fortune at the time, and had to go searching in the basement of the Queen Victoria Building on George Street.
I am currently a stay at home mom but have started out a little business making and selling homemade preserves, cordials and jams/marmalades. Not a huge money spinner but I do get to stay at home but still make a little money doing what I trained to do. I also love it! I love going to the markets and talking to people about what I am passionate about. A lot of the things I make use ingredients that either grew in my garden or in my friends and I am sure that is a huge attraction for most of my customers.
Celia, 500,000 is a mind blowing number. Congratulations and I’m not in the least surprised you are so popular; you have a fabulous blog. Here’s to the next 500,000.
My favourite piece of kitchen equipment is my little kitchen devil serrated knife. I’ve had it for at least 20 years and use it for everything. With all the many fabulous knives now available, I haven’t come across one I’m happier with. Having said that, my silicone cake moulds come a close second. I still remember the agony of having to line tins and still getting cake stuck on the bottom or the sides or somewhere inconvenient.
Your giveaways are always such fun. If I was lucky enough to win, really I most want a tin of your darts. I’ve been envying them from afar since you first posted about them.
Congratulations Celia!
What a wonderful achievement!
My favourite is my mixer. I don’t know what i did without it. It makes everything so simple! I would love prize number 1 or the chocolate pack.
Well done Celia on so many hits. Greetings from Perth W.A.
I stumbled onto your blog last year when I was trying to make yoghurt out of UHT milk and just can’t stop coming back for more. I have just made the owl scrolls on the weekend and they came up a treat.
My favourite piece of equipment is a ladle made from half a coconut and a stick. Simple but effective.
I would be interested in the permaculture book if it is on offer.
I feel like a bit of a voyeur visiting your site so often but I can’t help myself. Keep up the good work.
Congratulations! I always look forward to reading your posts. They are inspiring, fun, and the recipes great!
I have many favorites, but right now during canning, my pressure canner tops the list along with my 16 Liter stainless steel stock pots. I can everything from fruits and vegetables to meat and fish.
Your Chinese Lantern Kit really caught my eye, but I think that all the prizes are lovely. I’ve had fun playing and reading all the comments. I’m overseas, by the way, in Canada.
Have a great week!
Congratulations on your HUGE milestone. I came to your blog via Linda’s, and now you’re the first place I look when I want a recipe, an idea or help. The first things that came to mind that I love in my kitchen are my ceramic farmhouse sink and the skinny pullout cupboard next to my stove top that holds all my spices, cooking oil etc….just had my kitchen done. But if it must be an appliance, the gorgeous Cuisinart breadmaker my son bought me for Christmas, so I could still make bread after breaking my arm.
They’re all great giveaways, and thanks for your generosity, I’d love Linda’s book, I feel she’s almost a neighbour as I live in the northern rivers too, in Murwillumbah and have been thinking of buying it since I found her blog.
Hi Celia. I’ve been reading your blog for ages and have wanted to send you a comment for some time:-) Not looking for a gift though … your blog is my gift.
You’re so positive, enjoying the little things, so talented and happy to share – I’m full of admiration! My husband and I now live in Perth but are originally from Sydney and former academics and farmers. We’re enjoying resurrecting and improving on the sustainable lifestyle we had on the farm and your blog gives us wonderful encouragement – plus some great shopping tips. When we visit my parents and our friends in Sydney we make sure to bring home a suitcase full of Callebaut chocolate and other goodies:-) More power to you Celia – you’re a force for good in a world that really needs it!
Hey Celia go you, 500,000 is a super achievement.
As I suffer from Celia-kitchen-envy, I have to say my Japanese Miki Scales are my current favourite gadget, so I can make the beautiful bread you taught me to make :) …particularly the latest “power” loaves…Ciabatta…I am trying to use my power for good…really!
I currently have 2 round sourdough loaves (25% rye) cooling on the bench, and a bowl full of ciabatta on the rise, and a fresh bowl full of starter…it’s very hard to start the starter at the mo! I’ve just popped in to Harkola and found Semolina flour (2kg for $3.60), and some spicy broad beans that almost didn’t make it home in the car….but Harkola’s not really a kitchen gadget.
I’d also like to be groovy enough to say…”you’ve spoilt me enough no pressie for me thanks”…but I can’t. Would love love love that banneton! x
Ooh, loads of comments already, but I guess you’ve got to be in it to win it, so…
My favourite kitchen appliance is my 80s Sunbeam Orbit, that thing has been used in my kitchen (and previously, in my mother’s) at least once a week since new. It’s amazing, we mince meat, mix cookies, grate cheese, EVERYTHING.
I’m in Aus, and I’d love the Garden Lovers, because we’ve just bought a small acreage south of Sydney (got the keys last weekend) and we’re planting apples and other fun things this weekend, and we sure could use the inspiration!
Thanks!
Wow. …..what a fantastic milestone. Bravo !!
…..You have such a wonderful blog so not surprising you are that popular!
Congratulations.
congratulations my dear celia!
i remember that i discovered your amazing blog with the kind help of marilyn scott-waters, that proposed to us her beautiful paper easter baskets filled with your chocolate eggs! thank you for all kindness, generosity, inspiration you and your family convey to us through your blog!
in my kitchen i have various favourite kitchen cookware & gadgets, however being a chocoholic greek person, i ‘m particularly fond of my silikomart choc moulds!
should you consider me for a gift, please feel free to consider me for any international generous give away of yours.
greetings and love to you!. :)