Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

A headsup to my fellow Sydneysiders – Haverick Meats have half-legs of ham to give away this Saturday, free with any purchase of $150 or more (while stocks last). That’s a fantastic bargain, and was more than enough incentive for me to drive over to Banksmeadow in the rain last Saturday. (Please excuse the dodgy low-light photo, it was pouring!)

The piece I was given with my purchase was huge, and surprisingly lean. We glazed it with quince jelly and baked it in the oven for forty minutes, then served it with homemade mayo and mountains of mashed potatoes.

I’ve just emailed Havericks to ask them if the offer would be on this Saturday as well, and they’ve confirmed that it will, so I’m passing the information on to you. I have no affiliation with the company whatsoever (other than being a very happy customer) – this deal is just too good not to share!

PS. If you’re going on Saturday, take some extra cash, as they’re now also stocking Pepe Saya butter and Little Generals olive oil. Here’s the post I wrote on Havericks a couple of years ago, and the one by lovely Lorraine which inspired me to visit in the first place!

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In my kitchen…

…is more Tupperware! As you might recall, my old friend and 500-partner Carol gave me two containers for Christmas…

Well…last week I popped in for a cup of tea, and she announced she’d bought me NINE more pieces at a garage (yard) sale. Half were brand new, the others very lightly used. Pete moaned a bit about storage, but that didn’t stop him from immediately filling up the cereal container with his homemade muesli.

Carol’s big concern was whether or not they’d match the pieces she gave me for Christmas – I adore that woman…

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In my kitchen…

…is more Cuban bread – this time I tried using lemongrass instead of leek leaves to form the split, and it worked brilliantly (thanks for the tip, Spice Girl!)…

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In my kitchen…

…is a gift from our lovely neighbours Nic and Pete. They went skiing in Japan and brought me home this stunning bag – the panels are made with fabric recycled from old kimonos. Nic knows my weakness for a red handbag…

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In my kitchen…

…are the last of this season’s snake beans. They’ve had a glorious run…

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In my kitchen…

…are two new purchases from Harkola. The dried Greek sage was bought on the recommendation of the Spice Girl, who crumbles it into all kinds of savoury dishes…

I adore Linden tea, and usually buy it in Turkish tea bags, so when I saw a bag of the loose dried leaves and flowers (for under $3), I couldn’t resist. The tea is pale, lightly flavoured and stomach settling…

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In my kitchen…

…are extra bits and pieces for my mixer. Robyn’s Kenwood mixer died after more than a decade of use, so she very kindly gave me her accessories. It’s the first time I’ve had a splash guard to fit my D-shaped mixing bowl, and it’s proven to be incredibly useful already. And as all my fellow bakers know, having a spare mixing bowl is such a bonus…

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In my kitchen…

…was this gorgeous piece of papercraft. Monkey Girl (Big Boy’s girlfriend) came over to teach me how to make her Chinese lanterns. “Let’s make one each..” she said. Her design uses twenty-four ang pow wrappers, and she had to stick the fringing on for me, as I’m completely rubbish with a hot glue gun.

When we’d finished both lanterns, the darling girl said, “The one I made can be for Mah-Mah…” My mum was incredibly touched to receive such a precious, handmade gift…

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Tell me, what’s happening in your kitchen this month?

If you’d like to do an In My Kitchen post on your own blog, please feel free  to do so. We’d love to see what’s happening in your kitchen this month!  Please link back to this blog, and let us know when your post is up, and we’ll add it to our monthly listing. We ask that all posts be uploaded by the 10th of each month, please.

Here are this month’s posts:

Bernice @ Dish ‘n’ the Kitchen (Calgary, Canada)

Mel @ The Cook’s Notebook (Brisbane, QLD)

Kim @ A Little Lunch (Oklahoma, USA)

Fiona @ TIFFIN – Bite Sized Food Adventures (Brisbane, QLD)

Andrea @ Shabby Chick (Cotswolds, UK)

JJ @ 84th & 3rd (Sydney, NSW)

Andrew @ Andrew Faith (Blue Mountains, NSW)

Denise @ Magnolia Verandah (first IMK post! Melbourne, VIC)

Rachi @ Le Bon Vivant (Canberra, ACT)

Ella @ Mulberry and Pomegranate (Sydney, NSW)

Zirkie @ Pink Polka Dot Food (Cape Town, South Africa)

Maureen @ Orgasmic Chef (Sunshine Coast, QLD)

Catherine @ Cate’s Cate (Melbourne, VIC)

Linda @ The Witches Kitchen (Northern Rivers, NSW)

Glenda @ Healthy Stories (first IMK post! Melbourne, VIC)

Claire @ Claire K Creations (Brisbane, QLD)

Fran @ Life in the Food Lane (first IMK post! Houston, Texas, USA)

Pat @ A Yorkshire Cook (Yorkshire, UK)

Laila @ Table of Colors (Finland)

Julie @ Once in a Blue Moon 17 (Southern California, USA)

Rebecca @ The InTolerant Chef (Canberra, ACT)

Nancy @ Jamjnr (Shanghai, China)

Johanna @ Green Gourmet Giraffe (Melbourne, VIC)

Marian @ Apricot Tart (Adelaide, South Australia)

Sally @ My Custard Pie (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

Judy @ Savoring Today (Colorado, USA)

Selma @ Selma’s Table (first IMK post! London, UK)

Anne @ Life in Mud Spattered Boots (Essex, UK)

Smidge @ Just A Smidgen (first IMK post! Calgary, Canada)

Clare @ The Life of Clare (Geelong, VIC)

Joanne @ What’s on the List? (Adelaide, South Australia)

Francesca @ Almost Italian (Melbourne, VIC)

Lisa @ Gourmet Wog (Sydney, NSW)

Ladyredspecs @ Please Pass the Recipe (Melbourne, VIC)

Diane @ Photographs and Recipes (Massachusetts, USA)

Tania @ My Kitchen Stories (Sydney, NSW)

Charlie Louie @ Hotly Spiced (Sydney, NSW)

Debi @ My Kitchen Witch (formerly Transplanted Cook, Sheffield, UK)

Tandy @ Lavender and Lime (Gordons Bay, South Africa)

Mandy @ The Complete Cookbook (Sundays River, South Africa)

Lisa @ I’ll Be There With A Fork (first IMK post! Brisbane, QLD)

Liz @ Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things (Canberra, ACT)

Tania @ The Cook’s Pyjamas (Perth, Western Australia)

Leah @ Sharing the Food We Love (Brisbane, QLD)

Jane @ The Shady Baker (Broken Hill, NSW)

Jason @ Don’t Boil The Sauce (Melbourne, VIC)

Glenda @ Passion Fruit Garden (Perth, WA)

Misky @ The Chalk Hills Kitchen (West Sussex, UK)

Sally @ Bewitching Kitchen (Kansas, USA)

Kari @ Bite-Sized Thoughts (Western Australia)

Heidi @ Steps on the Journey (Ohio, USA)

Ardys @ Ardysez (Alice Springs, Northern Territory)

Joanna @ Zeb Bakes (Bristol, UK)

Siobhan @ Garden Correspondent (Ulupinar, Turkey)

Choclette @ Chocolate Log Blog (late Feb post – Cornwall, UK)

Jennifer @ My Blissful Journey (late Feb post – USA)

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A random assortment of recent happenings…

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We’re planning some changes to our fish tank soon, so we’ve been visiting local aquarium shops to see what’s on offer. Labyrinth Aquarium in nearby Campsie has the most amazing range of incredibly healthy fish that I’ve ever seen for sale.

In one corner of the shop sits a gigantic tank, filled with huge breeding pairs. The cichlids in the photo below were easily 20 – 25cm (8 – 10″) long, and they were attempting to guard their tiny fry from all the other equally large predators hiding behind the rock. As my friend Amanda commented, it’s no wonder that they look worried…

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On Thursday night, I made Hainanese chicken rice with Beth McMillan’s magnificent Burrawong Gaian chook. I had enormous fun tweeting Beth with photos along the way – it’s wonderful that technology now lets us interact directly with producers in such a rewarding way!

This method of cooking treats the bird with great respect – the fat from the bird is rendered down and used to fry the rice, the meat is very gently poached to allow its full flavour to shine, and the resultant stock is used to cook the rice. Nothing goes to waste…

Best of all, there were six containers of amazing leftover stock for the freezer…

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I have a new umbrella.

Pete rolls his eyes at me – he thinks I’m bonkers, because I keep raving on about it – but I love my baby umbrella. It’s made by Boston Umbrellas (an Australian company, despite the name) and when it’s folded up, it’s tiny.

I bought my first Boston pocket umbrella nearly a decade ago, and it’s been in my handbag ever since. In fact, it’s outlived many bags, and is still working well, but it’s now grotty enough for me to justify buying a new one.

To give you an idea of how small the umbrella truly is, I took a photo of it next to my glasses case. It weighs just 175g (6oz) and measures 17cm (6½”), but it opens out to a full-size canopy. Can you see why I’m excited? It’s such a clever, well executed design, and it’s one of those little things which makes my life better…

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My beloved Small Man, whiteboard marker in hand, spent half an hour trying to explain to me the chemistry behind how metals combine. I struggled to wrap my old brain around alloys, malleability, conductivity, elements, outer energy levels and delocalised electrons. I tried to look cool and interested, but inside, I was so happy I could cry…

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The amaretti have been going down a storm, and they’ve proven to be a great way to reduce our egg glut. I ran out of almond slivers for the last batch, so I tried making them with roasted blanched hazelnuts instead.

These were so good. The roasted hazelnuts added a deep, almost caramel-like flavour, and the centres were crisp and brown. I wonder what sort of cookies other nuts might produce?

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Hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend!

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