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Archive for the ‘In My Kitchen’ Category

In my kitchen…

…is an elephant tea caddy, a gift from my dear friend Tezza some years back.  It now holds all my herbal tea bags…

In my kitchen…

…are authentic Malaysian prawn crackers, brought over by my cousin Doreen on her last visit.  They’re completely different to the little coloured ones that come with crispy skinned chicken in Chinese restaurants.  And believe it or not, the small dried crackers on the left expanded to the huge ones on the right when deep fried…

In my kitchen…

…is our old cast aluminium waffle iron. There is so much history in this piece of kit.  When we were twenty-one, Pete and I were living in a small apartment and we didn’t have any cookware.  What we did have was $100 to buy some stainless steel pots.  I was busy that day, so Pete went to the kitchenware store on his own … and came back with the waffle iron.

He was so excited!  It cost a fortune even back then, but he insisted it would last forever (and it has).  It had languished on the shelf for so long that the woman who owned the shop gave him a stainless steel saucepan for buying it. To this day, whenever we use it, I just smile and shake my head…

In my kitchen…

…are preserved limes.   They’ve been in salt for six weeks…

…and are now glossy and translucent.  I’ve figured out that I only need to make a small batch each time – I never get through more than a jar every few months…

In my kitchen…

…is Australian Bloodwood honey, bought recently from Richard the Bee Whisperer at Flemington Markets. It’s dark, tangy and not overly sweet…

In my kitchen…

…are straw spoons, a new find from Chefs’ Warehouse.  I love sipping hot chocolate through them, although I have to be careful not to burn myself. Pete thinks sucking hot liquids through a metal tube is an idiotic idea, but I think it’s great fun…

In my kitchen…

…is today’s harvest of chillies, waiting to be turned into harissa sauce

In my kitchen…

…are self-sown yellow pear tomatoes, grown from seed which originally arrived as a gift from Chris at Slow Living Essentials.  They’re nestled in the beautiful, long fingered hands of our firstborn…

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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.

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Here are this month’s posts…

Amanda @ Lambs’ Ears and Honey

Christine @ Invisible Spice

Pam @ Grow, Bake, Run

Shelley @ All Litten Up

Misky @ Misk Cooks

Christine @ Food Wine Travel

Sue @ Sous Chef

Sally @ Bewitching Kitchen

Claire @ Claire K Creations

Shirley @ The Making of Paradise

David @ Cookbooks Anonymous

Pamela @ Spoon Feast

Heidi @ Steps on the Journey

Anne @ Life in Mud Spattered Boots

Cecilia @ The Kitchens Garden

Lizzy @ Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things

Jane @ The Shady Baker

Tandy @ Lavender and Lime

Mandy @ The Complete Cookbook

Barbara @ Winos and Foodies

Glenda @ Passion Fruit Garden

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In my kitchen…

…are belated birthday gifts from Nic, including this gorgeous Donna Hay ceramic colander, which now occupies a coveted spot on the bench…

…and these incredibly cute Dunlin tasting spoons, made in six different timbers (rosewood, robles, mamales, coconut, mahogany and bayong)…

In my kitchen…

…is a basket of our neighbour Mark’s lemons.  The wet weather played havoc with their skins, but the juice is fragrant and plentiful…

In my kitchen…

…is a pinch of Ian and Diana’s homegrown saffron!  They only grew a tiny amount, and I was so touched they wanted to share it with us…

Pete used it that very night in a magnificent chicken and ocean trout paella…

In my kitchen…

…are more flavoured salts uncovered in Adelaide by our intrepid foodie friend, Moo.  The rosemary has become a staple here, and the citron made a lovely addition to our tabbouleh salad recently…

In my kitchen…

…are treasures from the lovely Lorraine, including blood plum finishing vinegar, an incredibly flavoursome mint sauce and a tin of Nomu spice rub.  After hearing about the Nomu rubs from my South African blogger friends, I was pretty excited to get my hands on some…

We rubbed a generous amount over chicken marylands and roasted them in the oven until golden brown.  Absolutely delicious…

In my kitchen…

…are Ikea bag clips, our preferred method of resealing bags. They work brilliantly, even after an extended period in the freezer…

Finally, in my kitchen…

…is my new food processor.  It has been sitting on the bench sit it arrived, so Pete finally capitulated and found it a permanent spot to live!

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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 use this format, and to leave a comment here linking back to your post.  We’d love to see what’s happening in your kitchen this month!

. . . . .

Here are this month’s posts…

Johanna @ Green Gourmet Giraffe

Claire @ Claire K Creations

Shirley @ The Making of Paradise

Sally @ My Custard Pie

Pam @ Grow Bake Run

Roz @ Taste Travel

Charlie Louie @ Hotly Spiced

Christine @ Food Wine Travel

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

Ozoz @ Kitchen Butterfly

Misk @ Misk Cooks

Sophie @ A Good Year

Lizzy @ Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things

Sue @ Sous Chef

Anne @ Life in Mud Spattered Boots

Mandy @ The Complete Cookbook

Heidi @ Steps on the Journey

Shelley @ All Litten Up

Glenda @ Passion Fruit Garden

Tandy @ Lavender and Lime

Jane @ The Shady Baker

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In my kitchen…

…is an easy mid-week dessert – meringues with microwave custard and frozen raspberries…

In my kitchen…

…is treasureCape Grim beef ribs purchased at the markets for a song (they were surplus from an export order)…

A slow four-hour bake transformed them into sticky, tender perfection…

In my kitchen…

…is a large slab of salmon, smoked by our neighbour Ellen. The Neighbour Ware is not only coming back, it’s coming back with food on it…

And speaking of the Neighbour Ware, in my kitchen…

…is the latest addition to the set, from the Johnson Brothers Born to Shop range…

…the plate came with a matching teacup and saucer that says Dieting is Wishful Shrinking.  So true, so true…

In my kitchen…

…are dark and light Muscovado sugar. They add a treacly note to my baking…

In my kitchen…

…is Wednesday’s harvest – carrots, Tuscan kale, a perennial leek, white kohlrabi and three eggs…

…and Thursday’s harvest – self-sown endive, cucumbers, a patty pan squash and lots of small eggplants…

In my kitchen…

…are black mussels, cooked with soy, ginger and chilli. An easy and surprisingly economical meal!

. . . . .

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 use this format, and to leave a comment here linking back to your post.  We’d love to see what’s happening in your kitchen this month!

. . . . .

Here are this month’s posts…

Shelley @ All Litten Up

Christine @ Food Wine Travel

Sorcha @ xo.sorcha.ox

Rose @ Greening The Rose

Christine @ Invisible Spice

Pam @ Grow, Bake, Run

Sally @ Bewitching Kitchen

Brydie @ CityHippyFarmgirl

Misk @ Misk Cooks

Claire @ Claire K Creations

Karen @ Soul Kitchen Blog

Mandy @ The Complete Cookbook

Matina @ Delicio8

Sue @ Sous Chef

Tandy @ Lavender and Lime

Jane @ The Shady Baker

Lizzy @ Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things

Glenda @ Passion Fruit Garden

Heidi @ Steps on the Journey

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Here are five items that have made life just that little bit easier in our kitchen…

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We found this stainless steel fat separator at Chefs’ Warehouse recently, and it works brilliantly.  After roasting a cut of meat, we pour the pan juices into the jug and allow them to settle.  The stock will sink and the fat will float, allowing the former to be poured off through the small hole at the bottom.  Best of all, it’s stainless steel, which means it can go straight into the dishwasher…

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Another Chefs’ Warehouse find is this coarse sieve, which has made sifting clumpy ingredients such as almond meal and icing sugar a breeze.  For some reason, most sieves these days are superfine, which makes sifting a laborious and often avoided process.  My cakes and frostings are far less lumpy these days…

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This little plate whisk was a gift from a friend – it’s perfect for whisking eggs in a flat dish for French toast, or stirring a small container of sourdough starter…

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I resisted buying these for ages – after all, who wants to pay money for a cake tester when a toothpick will do?  But in the end, driven by guilt over the number of wooden skewers that would invariably go to waste whenever a cake was baked, I spent the $3 to buy these, and have used them ever since.  They actually work much better than a wooden skewer, as they don’t splinter or leave large holes in the cake…

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And finally, I know I’ve waxed lyrical about these on numerous occasions before, but my welding gloves are in use almost daily as oven gloves. They really are the best thing – the length provides cover to my wrists and forearms, and they’re perfect for pulling hot pans or loaves of bread out of the oven.

The gloves afford a good grip (as opposed to silicone mitts) and they’re pretty cheap to buy at most hardware stores. They’re not waterproof and they do get hot with extended use, but they once saved me from burning down the kitchen, so I’m a complete convert. Here are my previous posts on them:

I’ve never tried to clean them, but my friend Anna in Paris used hers to manhandle a roast turkey, and then popped them into the washing machine.  She insists they were completely fine…

I bought several pairs in a bright orange colour and sewed bespoke (in this case, homemade) hanging loops onto them…

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Have any little kitchen things made a difference to your cooking?

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In my kitchen…

…is a magnificent Fitz & Floyd Ricamo Rooster Jug, reduced from $137 to just $27 during the Peters of Kensington sale.  It sits on a high shelf, crowing over our busy workspace…

In my kitchen…

…are chestnut, leek and duck fat loaves, loosely inspired by a recipe from Dan Lepard’s The Handmade Loaf

In my kitchen…

…is a lovely note from our neighbours Shaun and Michelle.  The new neighbour ware seems to be working; plates are being returned promptly…

In my kitchen…

…are new season President plums, our favourite!  We were so excited to find them at the markets last week that we bought two boxes…

Several kilos of plums and sugar are now macerating in vodka, brandy and Calvados.  Hopefully we’ll be drinking this year’s plum brandy by the end of May…

Pete made fourteen jars of soft-set jam

…and I turned a few plums into a simple tart, using June’s sweet pastry dough, Pete’s jam and sliced fruit…

In my kitchen…

…is a new Exopat silicone baking mat, a gift from my friend David.  He bought it at Chefs’ Warehouse, then figured out it was too large for his oven, so he sent it to me.  I have very generous friends indeed…

In my kitchen…

…is a plate of toffee bars, a simple slice which made for perfect weekend eating…

. . . . .

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 use this format, and to leave a comment here linking back to your post.  We’d love to see what’s happening in your kitchen this month!

. . . . .

Here are this month’s posts…

Sorcha @ xo.sorcha.ox

Shelley @ All Litten Up

Christine @ Invisible Spice

Claire @ Claire K Creations

Rose @ Greening the Rose

Pam @ Grow, Bake, Run

Joanna @ Zeb Bakes

Jane @ The Shady Baker

Sue @ Sous Chef

Misk @ Misk Cooks

Glenda @ Passion Fruit Garden
(brand new blog!!)

Heidi @ Steps on the Journey

Mandy @ The Complete Cook Book

Lizzy @ Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things

Tandy @ Lavender and Lime

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