Sunday 7 April 2013

In My Kitchen - April 2013

The last few months of In My Kitchen posts have been quite fancy with contributions from travel, Christmas and birthdays.  This month sees us return to business as usual with the change of season being the feature of the kitchen.  We have had lots of warm days this Autumn but the weather is noticeably cooler.  This weekend is gloriously warm, all the more welcome because it surely can't last.  Let me take you through my kitchen.

In my kitchen is artwork.  Sylvia draws and paints and draws some more.  As more and more of her pictures are blue takked on the cupboard doors, the kitchen becomes more like a gallery.  Houses are her favourite thing to draw.  You might also say that Dolly is pretty as a picture in her pink nightie and pearls!

In my kitchen is my new pretty doorstop.  Bought at our visit to CERES Harvest Festival.  E didn't understand why a rubber wedge isn't good enough.  I don't bother telling him it doesn't even hold the door open because the gap is too big.  This doorstop makes me happy.  Sadly we are not keeping the doors open as much now that it is finally cooling down and feeling like Autumn.

In my kitchen are icy poles.  I made them for the warmer weather.  These ones were inspired by Pinterest and contain a 400g tin of pineapple, a 400g tin of coconut milk, 2 bananas, a nectarine and a kiwifruit.  I liked them but not terribly so.  We still have a few in the freezer.  It is forecast to be warm this week so perhaps they will not be there much longer.

In my kitchen are the final tomatoes of summer.  They have been magnificent (though hard to photograph).  Now they are going up in price and soon will be replaced by those hard anaemic tomatoes that can only dream of being as juicy and flavoursome as these beauties.

In my kitchen is a bowl of fruit.  It demonstrates the change of season.  Stone fruit and berries are giving way to plums and apples.  Limes have been deliciously cheap.  We have been drinking limeade.  I am particularly excited about fresh crunchy apples.

In my kitchen are breakfasts of fruit and yoghurt.  This bowl had peach, plum and kiwi fruit with some Gippsland yoghurt.  We love the new snack size yoghurt twists.  This one was flavoured with blackberry and pomegranate.

In my kitchen is a grubby pizza stone.  The cooler autumnal days mean more baking, more bread and more pizza.  Hurrah!  I love my pizza stone so much that I recently bought a new one.  It showed up just how loved my old one is.  These days I often bake two pizzas at once so two stones make it so much easier to have a crisp bottom.

In my kitchen is Oxfam organic drinking chocolate.  'Tis the weather for warming drinks.  I am not a big fan of hot chocolate and even less so at home.  This one has been going down very nice.  (Great choice of gift, Penny!)

In my kitchen is soy milk in a cup with a straw.  We buy Vitasoy CalciPlus.  Sylvia loves to drink it in a cup.  It has lots of calcium and B12.  E and I don't drink it straight.  He adds a splash of it to hot chocolate.  We love it in porridge and smoothies.  My sister Susie gave me this cup with a straw a year or two ago.  Sylvia has recently discovered it and loves to drink her milk out of it at the moment.

In my kitchen is sushi seasoning.  I bought it because there was no rice wine vinegar when I needed it.  I have got used to using this seasoning without having to adjust the sugar and salt.  It is so easy.  Most helpful while we are making sushi for lunch regularly.

In my kitchen are lunches at home.  So often they are leftovers or on the run.  Despite good intentions of making better lunches.  This is a rather good combo of a quinoa and brown rice salad with a pumpkin and beetroot salad brought home from Sumo Salads.

In my kitchen is my Cath Kidston glasses case.  I picked up my first pair of prescription glasses yesterday.  They still feel a bit odd but it's nice to be able to read without the words blurring into each other.  Best of all, my new glasses fit this case that I bought at John Lewis in Scotland last year.  I love Cath Kidston's designs and this makes me happy about having glasses.

I am sending this post to Celia for her In My Kitchen series.

22 comments:

  1. I love the door stop! I hate my plastic white doorstops that allow the doors to close slowly over the day, this looks like the perfect pretty alternative :)

    I hope you enjoy the benefits of glasses- I've worn them for reading since I was a child and you do get used to them. Plus, you can find some quite attractive ones and cases just like this one!

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    1. Thanks Claire - highly recommend getting a good doorstop - though they can be hard to find - I've been on the lookout for the right one for a while but this is great.

      The glasses do make the words clearer - and I am happy to have a good use for the glasses case

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  2. So many neat and interesting things in your kitchen, Johanna! I love the doorstop, too. Right now I'm using an old trophy as a doorstop in one room--would much rather have yours! ;) And I love that glasses case, too. I wish I could say sorry about the impending cooler weather--but that means ours will finally warm up, and I cannot wait!

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    1. Thanks Ricki - I wish I had old trophies I could use for door stops - we can swap :-) No need to be sorry about the impending cooler weather here - I am delighted - and we are still getting enough warm weather that we could swim in the beach yesterday - hope you will warm up soon

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  3. I love your glasses case. Did blonde dolly with plaits get usurped by this new soft -faced Dolly?

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - yes blonde dolly had definitely been replaced with this dolly that her aunt gave her when she spotted the resemblance with her old dolly - not that other dollies aren't played with but Sylvia gets firm favourites

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    2. Love it! I can see the resemblance - only this Dolly is all soft and old Dolly had a vinyl face.

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  4. Having worn glasses since I was 3 (and contacts since 13) I don't have to face the adult transition to glasses that many do - but Mr B did last year and shared your sense of oddity but relief in being able to see!

    More generally, I love your door stop and Sylvia's drawings (and Dolly's pearls!), as well as your pizza stone and lunch salad mix. It might be business as usual but it all looks lovely.

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    1. Thanks Kari - oh that is a long time to wear glasses - E has also worn his a long time though he is short sighted and I am long sighted so now one takes them off while the other puts them on :-) It may be business as usual but I admit I am still showing the fun side of it :-)

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  5. Love your pink corner in the top photo and glad your transition to glasses is helped by your lovely CK case. Autumn always has compensations I find with the abundance of delicious produce and apples are on of them much loved by me. Happy Autumn.

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    1. Thanks Choclette - Sylvia is going through a pink phase - well I've been told it doesn't last by some with older girls (please let that be true!) I love autumn too with all the bounty of the harvest and mellow fruits

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  6. I like your fruity breakfasts and fruit bowl. Nothing makes me happier than a huge pile of fruit carefully arranged. Is that a bit sad?

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    1. Thanks Louise - I am sure it shows you as a lover of beauty to love a huge bowl of carefully arranged fruit - you are in good company with the Old Masters and their still life masterpieces :-)

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    1. Thanks Lisa - it is lovely and she puts it down low so Dolly can see it too :-)

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  8. Another lovely look into your kitchen Johanna! That fruit bowl looks so appealing! I'm going to go and raid the fruit now :P

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - nothing like a bowl of fruit in the kitchen

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  9. The doorstop is adorable; I just bought a few of those ugly rubber triangles for our doors now that the weather is warmer and we want to prop open doors. And your pizza stone reminds me to use mine! It has seen no use for over a year now.

    I copied you and wrote a In The Kitchen post- thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Thanks Nupur - glad to have helped you join the In My Kitchen crowd - it is a great event - hope your pizza stone sees the light of day soon (though sounds like you have lots of yummy food in your kitchen without it)

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  10. The doorstop is very pretty indeed and I love your glasses case too! I really should buy myself a pizza stone, it's one of those things I've been meaning to purchase and never get around to it. Thanks for the reminder.

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    1. Thanks Mel - I put my pizzas on a thin metal tray and place this on the heated pizza stone - I think it helps to crisp up the pizza base so highly recommend you buy one

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  11. I love the doorstop too! And you made me smile - I'm guessing Sylvia's favourite colour is pink? :) Her artwork is beautiful! And we couldn't survive without our pizza stones - the live in the oven permanently, and we're now using rectangular ones - two of them cover the entire rack!

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