In my kitchen…
…was a selection of baked treats from Patisserie Cocotte – the latest venture by our friends from the local French bistro. We popped in to visit their new store in Top Ryde shortly after it opened three weeks ago. Everything was delicious and light…
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In my kitchen…
…are two salts. One is the fancy Fleur de Sel de Carmargue, which I bought on special in the US for $8 a box ($64/kg). The other is Olsson’s Australian flossy sea salt, which cost me 20c a kilo. They look nearly identical in terms of colour and grain, and both are naturally evaporated sea salts. Can you guess which is which? Big Boy couldn’t and they taste the same to me. I won’t be buying fancy salts again! (PS. It’s flossy on the left and fleur on the right)…
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In my kitchen…
…was our first yee sang, prepared for the 15th night dinner (to celebrate the end of Chinese New Year). My neighbour Maude and I prepared it together and then, as is traditional, we all tossed it in the air with our chopsticks for good luck!
As well as the yee sang, we also had roast duck and various side dishes. The leftover duck went into a red Thai curry the following day…
…and the leftover curry became a noodle soup for lunch the day after that…
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In my kitchen…
…is maple water. According to Google, this isn’t just water dripping from a tree (as the photo implies) but rather the sap of the maple tree before it’s concentrated into syrup…
It wasn’t overly expensive (about $1.50 a litre) but it wasn’t overly impressive either. It tasted like water with a quarter teaspoon of maple syrup dissolved in it. Which I guess is effectively what it was…
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In my kitchen…
…is a gift of magnificent purple garlic from my friend Alison…
We kept a few bulbs for eating and broke the remainder up into cloves, vac sealed them, and then stashed them in the freezer to see us through the rest of the year. If you’re interested in freezing garlic, here’s a post I wrote about it a few years ago…
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In my kitchen…
…was dark chocolate rocky road, a birthday gift for my friend Kevin. It was filled with white marshmallows, roasted hazelnuts, cranberries and Buderim naked ginger. We ate the trimmings on the plate for dessert that night…
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In my kitchen…
…is a gift from Pete’s sister Katey, who recently returned from Patagonia. Dulce de Leche from Argentina tastes just like caramel fudge!
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In my kitchen…
…there is always sourdough bread. When I’m tired and the thought of making dough feels like a chore, I remind myself that it’s (quite literally) ten minutes of work and so much easier and cheaper than driving to the shops. These loaves were made following our high hydration overnight tutorial…
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In my kitchen…
…is an exciting gift of sea buckthorn powder, sent all the way from Finland by lovely Laila. I adored the hand drawn ammonite fossil card her son made for me…
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In my kitchen…
…were deep-fried school prawns. We ate them whole – heads, tails and shells on!
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Finally, in my kitchen…
…were rainy day dumplings, made with free range pork mince, grated ginger, spring onions and baby broccoli raab from the garden…
They were simply boiled and served with black vinegar and homemade chilli oil…
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Tell me, what’s happening in your kitchen?
If you’d like to write an In My Kitchen post, please do so by the 10th March and send your link to Liz of Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things. Thanks for hosting Liz! x
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
it all looks so lovely –
That’s interesting about the salt Celia, I’ve often wondered. Your dumplings sound delicious, they are like the last frontier for me, I’ve never tried to make them but I love to eat them. I’m in awe of your 5 loaf batch of sourdough.
Wow what a Celia. Lovely to see the line up of what’s in your kitchen. Those dumplings look fantastic and oh how I love black vinegar
Oh Celia, those pastries from Patisserie Cocotte look so divine. And I could dive into that dish of prawns right now, even though it’s breakfast time. Interesting about the salt… who knew, huh!? And I did not know you could freeze garlic, but I do now, thank you darling. Happy March to you and thank you for the very kind shout out xxx
Beautiful things in your kitchen sprinkled with a pinch or two of honesty. I love your salt comparison and the reminder to all who make bread that it’s easier and faster to mix up a dough than drive to the shop. Not to mention how much better it tastes. I would be lost without your high hy recipe. Xx
OH THE DUMPLINGS! Sorry for the caps but I love them SO much.. c
You said you has three wwoofers coming soon : why not teach them and eat whilst working and freeze: methinks these may be Shanghainese ???
My OH My!
hi celia
i too freeze my garlic when i buy good old aussie stuff in bulk. but i don’t vacuum seal it. it just gets broken up into cloves (with skin on) and shoved into the freezer. it lasts for a year that way. love your rocky road and the dumplings and the bread and and…:=)
The garlic looks amazing, Celia. Lucky you having a year-round supply!
Nice post, never seen maple water. Does it have a maple flavor?
Another lovely post. I love the evolution of your meals!
I will try freezing garlic. I bottled mine in olive oil which worked ok (and gave lovely flavoured oil) but it’s always good to try new methods.
My bread is your recipe. I agree it’s quicker to make than find good bread to buy.
Your kitchen is always filled with good things but those dumplings are really delicious sounding.
I’ve always wondered what that maple water tastes like – think I’ll stick with maple syrup!
Fabulous! What is sea buckthorn powder? Those prawns remind me of some that come from Cádiz (called Camarones) that are teeny tiny and made into the most amazing deep fried pancakes called tortitas de camarones. The hugely famous (at least, if you like flamenco music!) Gypsy Flamenco singer El Camarón was called this because he came from Cádiz and was short and petite 😀
Lovely it is to see into your delicious kitchen,Celia. I was interested in your comments on flossy salt. I was thinking of seeking it out to see what it’s about. I had a wonderful gift of 12kg of Demeter Mill stone ground flour and have had to learn how to work with it. My last loaves were better after I had soaked the flour in the measured water overnight.
love all your bread and dumplings and hearing about how you breathe new life into leftovers. I wish you lots of fun with the sea buckthorn (never having been near any) and am curious about your salt taste tests and wonder if I should do some myself.
As usual, I had nothing going on! Your stuff always looks amazing.
I would LOVE to be in your kitchen! :)
I have had some maple water in the pantry, bought on a whim. I will try it but doesn’t sound like anything very interesting. Wonderful new things in your kitchen, as usual!
The dumplings look delicious. Great garlic harvest!
That garlic!!! I’m afraid everything else paled for me when I saw the garlic 😍😍
Those pastries look incredible! I suppose it’s a good thing I can’t find such a good pastry selection nearby, my waist is thankful for that. Everything in your kitchen always looks delicious, I don’t know how you get it all done and still enjoy your morning walks.
Those pastries!
Celia, I can’t think of a more fun way to “toss” a salad than flinging your yee sang! Thanks for your sea salt comparison and garlic freezing tips, too. I love visiting your vastly varied kitchen. xo
Hi Celia
Would your sourdough bread bake ok in a Le Creuset casserole rather than the Falcon?
Yes, but you might need to preheat the pot? Also be careful that the high heat doesn’t discolour the enamel – apparently that can happen (which is why I use cheap enamel! :))
I have had maple water. It tastes good and does not taste like ordinary water. I suppose it depends on who is packaging it and other factors. My litre costs $4.00