Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Last week, Pete and I went into Circular Quay to view some of the light displays of Vivid Sydney.

I don’t like crowds, so we went in early to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art first – Pete hadn’t seen the Light Show, and I was keen to share it with him…

The MCA currently has this stunning bespoke installation by Jonathan Jones on display. It will only be there until the end of Vivid, so you’ll need to get in soon if you want to see it. I love it so much that I’ve been back four times. It maps the star trails over Circular Quay, and the reflections turn the smooth solid floor into watery ripples (that’s my Pete in the photo below)…

In the foyer is a large artwork by Daniel Boyd – the mirrored circles catch and reflect all the movement on the museum stairs and the Harbour foreshore immediately outside…

More from the MCA, this piece from the main collection is titled The Price is Right and it’s made with old Tupperware (see why I had to take a photo?)…

It flashes a message in Morse code as the viewer approaches, which spells out “I have the misfortune of not being a fool”, a quote from Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit…

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At 6pm, exhibits around Circular Quay and The Rocks began to light up. We had another commitment that evening, so we only had a short time to wander about – I took a few photos, but there was a great deal more to see.

Designed in the style of 18th century Rococo, these inflatable sculptures (Entitle) were made using traditional Chinese lantern construction techniques…

I was quite taken with Ayla –  lit up on a side wall, the image changed each night to reflect the phases of the moon…

We had to wait until 7pm for the historic Argyle Cut to be lit – it screened  a customised display from David Attenborough’s BBC Life Story…

It was interesting to see so many people (many with children) lying down in the middle of a Sydney city street, gazing upwards…

The Opera House was a constantly changing screen of colours and patterns…

By 6.45pm on Wednesday night, the crowds had already started to build…

There were scores of interactive displays, like the Duck, Duck, Goose one below…

For the Space Folding exhibit, folks were handed headphones before entering the cylinder of light…

INTER/Play (designed by The Propaganda Mill) was interactive, with queues lined up to take a turn. We walked past twice and it was completely different each time…

In a little side street, The Dresses were three sculptures crafted from hundreds of fibre-optic threads…

My favourite of the night? The Mechanised Colour Assemblage screened onto the facade of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Here’s a small snippet…

By 7.15pm we were on a comfortable warm train homeward bound, just as the crowds were really starting to build. It was a very pleasant evening!

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Vivid Sydney is on at a variety of different locations until 8th June. More information can be found at www.vividsydney.com.

When I mentioned in  my last post that I was making four and a half kilos of sourdough, many of you were curious to know what I was planning to do with so much bread. Let me tell you about it.

At present, my flour seems to be absorbing a great deal of water (it tends to vary a bit depending on the weather), so I’ve been experimenting with pushing my dough hydration levels as high as they’ll go. I do this because I really like the bread I end up with – the crumb is elastic and tender, and the loaves keep well for several days without going stale. The downside is that the dough is hard to manage, but I quite enjoy the challenge!

For this large batch (93% hydration), I used:

• 600g ripe sourdough starter
• 1700g cold water
• 1kg semola rimacinata (Italian remilled semolina flour)
• 1kg bakers flour (Ben Furney Flour Mills brand)
• 36g fine sea salt

After the dough had proved, I divided it up, shaped it as best I could, and plopped it into five loaf tins – two large and three small. Hopefully you can see from the photo below how moist the finished crumb was…

I always bake more bread than we can eat. Despite how that sounds, it’s a frugal thing to do rather than a wasteful one, because the flour costs are minimal (all up, the five loaves cost me about $4, and that was only because I was using expensive Italian flour). I figure if I’m going to heat my big 90cm oven up anyway, I might as well make full use of it.

Baking in bulk lets me share. One of the small loaves went to our neighbour Mark, who always mows our front lawn (bless him). Another went to 68 year old June, who lives down the road (that’s her current declared age, but the numbers are actually reversed). Half a large loaf went to my mum – she’s not a fan of sourdough, but doesn’t seem to mind this one.

Little Matilda came for a visit yesterday and ate four slices with butter and Vegemite. The third small loaf was turned into cheese and garlic bread, which we served last night with a rich, slow cooked pork hock “stoup” (my friend Joanna’s word for soupy stews)…

The final loaf was sliced and baked in a 100C oven for three hours, which both warmed up the house (it’s 10C here in Sydney at the moment) and resulted in two containers of crunchy bread crackers…

These are Small Man’s favourite after school snack. I’m delighted he’s eating them instead of junkier options, but it does result in dry breadcrumbs all over the house…

So there you have it. Four and a half kilos of sourdough, baked, shared and eaten. Time to bake some more!

This month’s IN MY KITCHEN is now closed!

Please join us again in July! ♥

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In my kitchen…

…were burgers for International Hamburger Day (28th May). We made the patties, caramelised onions, roasted capsicums, sesame seed buns and chipotle chilli mayo from scratch. The boys ate two each!

In my kitchen…

…are homegrown peanuts and macadamia nuts, a gift from Big Boy’s girlfriend. I’ve never known anyone to grow peanuts at home before! And I’ve figured out why macadamia nuts are so expensive despite the fact that they grow prolifically – it takes a couple of minutes to get each one out of its shell…

In my kitchen…

…are treasured cookbooks from my dear friend Bizzy Lizzy – the Elizabeth Chong one was published in 1982 and is particularly hard to find…

In my kitchen…

…is my birthday present to Pete. It’s a pendant made from the brass mechanisms of two 1886 pocket watches. I think it’s a work of art and I absolutely adore the idea of upcycling 130 year old cogs and wheels into something of great beauty…

It was meticulously handcrafted by the lovely Juan, who sells his pieces at markets around Sydney (we met him at Paddington Markets) as well as from his workshop in Darlinghurst. More information on their company Time Flies Designs can be found here.

My cousin Lynette bought this stunning and unusual pendant. It’s made from a combination of 1950s watch mechanisms and all the parts move…

In my kitchen…

…is a new 22 litre covered tub and a metre of couche cloth (baker’s linen) from Chefs’ Warehouse. I have four and a half kilos of high hydration sourdough proving in the tub as I type…

In my kitchen…

…are delicious gifts from the gorgeous Amanda of Lambs’ Ears and Honey…

In my kitchen…

…is a surprise treat from Vicki of Boiled Eggs and Soldiers – some seasoned salt made with the Buddha’s Hand citrus she blogged about in her last IMK post. And yes, chocolate is salad…

In my kitchen…

…is bread and butter pudding. It’s made with leftover fruit loaf and regular sourdough. I cut off the crusts, buttered the slices, then layered them into a greased pie dish and soaked them in a mix of milk, eggs, sugar, golden syrup and Calvados brandy. The perfect winter way to use up stale bread…

In my kitchen…

…there is always Shao Xing cooking wine. It’s ridiculously cheap – under $2 a bottle at the Flemington shops. Did you know that it’s salted? Apparently that’s to ensure it’s used for cooking and not drinking, thereby avoiding alcohol tax…

In my kitchen…

…was a large bag of Italian prosciutto pieces. I turned some of it into a prosciutto, cheddar and fig focaccia and sent half the loaf to my friend Johnny, gifter of the offcuts…

Pete used another piece in this incredibly simple, very tasty pasta…

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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. Please upload your post by the 10th of each month.

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Here are last month’s posts:

Maz @ The Toymaker (California, USA)

Christine @ Food Wine Travel (Brisbane, QLD)

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

Melissa @ The Glen House (Ireland)

Emma @ Surrey Kitchen (with her new baby Alice! Surrey, UK)

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella (Sydney, NSW)

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

Choclette @ Tin and Thyme (Cornwall, UK)

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

Emilie @ The Clever Carrot (New York, USA)

Elaine @ Food Bod (Milton Keynes, UK)

Christine @ Invisible Spice (South Coast, NSW)

Cate @ A Travelling Cook (Berlin, Germany)

Emily @ Cooking for Kishore (New Jersey, USA)

Ella @ Mulberry and Pomegranate (Sydney, NSW)

Annie @ Annie Cholewa (Wales)

Claire @ Claire K Creations (Brisbane, QLD)

Kavey @ Kavey Eats (London, UK)

Ale @ Ligera de Equipaje (Argentina)

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

Liz @ Spades, Spatulas & Spoons (Oakland, CA, USA)

Lori @ Cooks with Evie (Canada)

Clara @ Heritage Recipe Box (Boston, MA, USA)

Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook (Philippines)

Laila @ Table of Colors (Finland)

Nicole @ Miss Food Fairy (Melbourne, VIC)

Sarah @ Chantille-Fleur (North Queensland)

Cassandra @ Just a Little Piece (first IMK post! San Diego, USA)

Shaheen @ Allotment2Kitchen (Wales, UK)

Maureen @ Orgasmic Chef (Sunshine Coast, QLD)

Charlie Louie @ Hotly Spiced (Sydney, NSW)

Ardys @ Ardysez (Alice Springs, Northern Territory)

Fran @ Life in the Food Lane (Houston, Texas, USA)

Jan @ A Gluttonous Wife (South West VIC)

Liz @ Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard (Gold Coast, QLD)

Diane @ Photographs and Recipes (Massachusetts, USA)

Amanda @ Lambs’ Ears and Honey (Adelaide, South Australia)

Ella Dee @ Ella Dee (Sydney, NSW)

Maggie @ Spoon in a Saucepan (Korea)

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

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

Lisa @ I’ll Be There With A Fork (Brisbane, QLD)

Gretchen @ Feeding My 3 Sons (South Carolina, USA)

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

Sandra @ Please Pass the Recipe (Melbourne, VIC)

Vicki @ Boiled Eggs & Soldiers (Sydney, NSW)

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

Shari @ Good Food Week (Canberra, ACT)

Debi @ My Kitchen Witch (Sheffield, UK)

Johanna @ Green Gourmet Giraffe (Melbourne, VIC)

Maree @ Around The Mulberry Tree (Gippsland, VIC)

Kirsty @ Make it Bake it Snap it (Canberra, ACT)

Kim @ A Little Lunch (Oklahoma, USA)

Dee @ On The Move – In The Galley (Seattle, WA, USA)

Josephine @ Napoli Restaurant Alert (Sydney, NSW)

Moya @ Food and Tools (Bahrain)

Ania @ Milk, Toast and Honey (UK)

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

Nancy @ Plus Ate Six (Shanghai, China)

Glenda @ Passion Fruit Garden (Perth, Western Australia)

Tania @ My Kitchen Stories (Sydney, NSW)

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

Kari @ Bite-Sized Thoughts (London, UK)

Francesca @ Almost Italian (Melbourne, Victoria)

Greg and Katherine @ Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide (Little Rock, Arkansas, USA)

Jennifer @ Milk and Honey (Gippsland, VIC)

Hi folks! Sorry I’ve been quiet these last couple of months – we’ve had a lot on our plate. It’s been a busy and quite stressful time, punctuated with pockets of joy. Perhaps that’s what life is all about, finding moments of peace and enjoyment in amongst the chaos. Here are some happy bits and pieces from May.

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We celebrated our friend PeteV’s 50th birthday with a glorious lunch at Nomad in Surry Hills. I managed to take just one photo – these savoury churros with goat’s cheese were sublime…

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Last Sunday morning, I caught the train into Circular Quay to meet Amanda of Lambs’ Ears and Honey and her friend Megan. It was a crisp eight degrees Celsius, but the South Australians just laughed at me when I said it was cold…

As I sat at Ashfield station waiting for my train, I marveled at how wondrous 2015 technology is. I didn’t have to buy a ticket, as my new Sydney Opal Card lets me travel on any form of public transport without having to worry about finding the right change (it’s linked back to my credit card).

The TripView app on my iPhone updates real time arrival and departure information. It works brilliantly for the train and light rail systems. After just a short wait, I was seated on a heated, comfortable train, reading my Kindle and watching the suburbs whizz past. I can’t recall public transport ever being such a pleasant experience before!

After breakfast, Amanda, Megan and I visited the Light Show exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was fabulous and well worth the $20 admission fee, but we weren’t allowed to take photos…

The MCA is always full of interesting and quirky things, like this example of indigenous La Perouse shellwork…

I love how the hand dryers emit warm air with a blue glow…

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I drove over to Lario International to buy some Amedei chocolate from Tania and we went to the Sub-Station Cafe for a quick lunch. The parking was a nightmare, but the food was great – their Reuben sandwich had tender toast, just the right amount of meat, and burly pickles…

When the goats cheese and pumpkin arrived, Tania exclaimed “Ooh, I love a chunky salad!” It certainly was that…

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I’ve got rings on my fingers – one made from a spoon and the other from a fork…

…and socks on my toes… (I adore toe socks!)…

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I stocked up the freezer with pulled pork – two free range pork hocks plus five hours slow roasting gave us enough meat for four dinners…

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As I’ve mentioned before, I find breadmaking wonderfully therapeutic. I indulged myself with an extra 25kg sack of flour last month (at a cost of just $25) and have been baking up a storm. These two slabs of sourdough focaccia measured a metre in length combined…

I baked a figgy fruit loaf for baby Evan and brioche for two year old Matilda – Pete says I’m turning into the street grandma…

…and hamburger buns for dinner tonight. Did you know it’s International Hamburger Day today?

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Here’s something which made us laugh a great deal – I know it’s terrible, but I also found it hilarious. Big Boy pulled out the official government advisory pamphlet for L and P plate drivers. The examples given were unbelievable – 19 year old David had consumed 15 standard drinks, and 18 year old Sarah had a blood alcohol level of 0.24. Only in Australia…

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Last night, Pete and I popped into town for an early visit to Vivid Sydney. There’s a separate post to follow on that…

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You know, I feel so much better having written this post – it’s like I’ve had a cup of coffee with you and filled you in on what’s been happening in our lives. So tell me, how’s your month been?

Last Saturday, my cousin Lynette, who is mad keen on arts and crafts, wanted to visit the Kirribilli Markets.

I met her at Milson’s Point and, after an hour or so of wandering around there, we decided to walk across the Harbour Bridge to the Rocks Markets on the other side. It was a glorious day for a stroll and I’m embarrassed to admit that despite having lived in Sydney my whole life, I’ve never walked over the Bridge before…

As we approached the city side, we passed a sign for the Pylon Lookout. I’d never heard of it before, so we decided to go up, despite the warning of “200 steps to the top”.

If you’ve ever been on a Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb, you’ll know that it’s both an amazing experience and a very expensive one – prices range from $250 – $380, depending on when you go. By comparison, entry to the Pylon Lookout costs just $15 per person…

It was quite a big climb, but there were rest stops, exhibits, seating, drink fountains and a shop on the way up. It was all very civilized and doable…

These models of bridge construction workers hung in the stairwell – occupational health and safety rules were clearly less stringent in the 1930s…

When we finally reached the end of the stairs, we found a balcony circling around the top of the entire pylon, offering the most glorious, unobstructed 360 degree view of the harbour and city! I took a stack of iPhone photos to share with you.

The small format of this post doesn’t really do justice to the panoramic shot below. I’ve uploaded the larger version – please click on the photo for greater detail…

Walking around the top clockwise – we could see over to Kirribilli…

…the Sydney Opera House in all her glory…

…Circular Quay, with the ferries shuttling in and out…

…the Bradfield Highway, with cars entering and exiting the Bridge…

…the piers of Walsh Bay, now prime Sydney real estate…

…and finally, the top of the Harbour Bridge. It was amazing how high up we were!

Like mad tourists, Lynette and I both tried to take selfies with the best background in the world…

From inside the pylon, this small window offered a very unique framing to the Opera House…

These painted panels formed part of the public displays from 1948 to 1971…

This detailed exhibit provided a wealth of information about the Harbour Bridge…

On the way out, there were artefacts on display, as well as an audiovisual presentation on the construction of the Bridge…

The lookout is located on the South East Pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. From the city side, it can be accessed via the pedestrian walkway on the eastern side of the Bridge (use the ‘Bridge Stairs’ in Cumberland Street, The Rocks). If coming from the north side, use the steps near Milsons Point Railway Station. More information is available on the Pylon Lookout website, including this fabulous brochure with the history of the site (a family of cats used to live on the top!).

We had the most wonderful time! If you’ve ever considered a Bridge Climb but been put off by the cost (or the fear factor), then this is an excellent alternative and amazing value at just $15 per adult (kids and concession are even cheaper). The Lookout is open every day from 10am to 5pm (excluding Christmas) and has been since 1934, just two years after the Bridge was opened. Even though we were there on a Saturday, it was remarkably uncrowded.

I’m not sure why the Pylon Lookout isn’t more widely publicised (the Bridge Climb certainly is), but it feels like a bit of a Sydney secret that we stumbled onto purely by chance. And now you know too!

Edit: Prices updated 31 July 2017