Wednesday 6 November 2013

In my kitchen - November 2013

In my kitchen is light, colour and much ordinariness.  Yes ordinariness.  Sometimes it seems that I spend more time writing about the exotic in my kitchen and ignoring the ordinary.  Hence my enjoyment of focusing on the every day.

I start with my fruit bowl.  For all that I wanted to enjoy the ordinary in this post, I can barely see the apples and tomatoes for my excitement at the gorgeous white peaches on sale in the supermarket.  The first stone fruit of the season is appearing in the stores.  There is nothing like a juicy peach to make it feel like summer.  We are almost there.

A bit less ordinary is agave nectar.  It is one of those ingredients I go on and off.  I don't always have it in the kitchen but it is nothing terribly new for me.  The reason I took a photo of this bottle is that I love the glorious green design. 

Whereas I do usually have sugar, butter (or more often these days, margarine) and chocolate in my pantry.  I took this photo when I was buying up on these ingredients for my dad's birthday cake.  We don't usually have white chocolate but it was for the cake!  It is best to use these ingredients in large quantities when baking for a crowd rather than for my small household of three.

Above is our regular Vitasoy calci-plus soy milk.  We started to buy it when Sylvia refused to drink dairy milk but seemed to enjoy this milk.  It offered both enhanced calcium and Vitamin B12. 

When we were in Scotland last year, she went off soy milk because the ones we were buying were in different cartons.  Hence I was a little concerned she wouldn't drink the milk in the new carton (right) but it must be similar enough to the old carton (left) and she hasn't rejected it. 

I am unsure if the old green Hi-Fibre cartons are the same as the new Low Fat cartons.  (They seem to be high in fibre and have B12) as we would buy those occasionally too.

Here is a not quite ordinary picture of my garden.  The thyme and bay leaves have been there for years.  The blueberry plant at the front is new.  I am still a little nervous about keeping it alive.  (Especially after spending time cutting gall wasp out of my lemon and lime trees this week!)  My mum brought it because Sylvia was keen on having blueberries in her garden.  Who knew they could grow in such tiny plants!

I bought this Lipton Mojito Iced Tea on the sale shelf out of curiousity.  I love a non-alcoholic mojito.  The drink wasn't as exciting.  It was low on flavour and sweetness and I could taste the tea a little too strongly.  Yes, I know it is tea.  I have enjoyed some other flavours in the iced tea range but this one just didn't appeal to me.

Not quite everything in my kitchen at the moment fits in the ordinary category.  This is a pie from Natural Tucker bakery in Nicholson Street, Carlton.  We were in the area for other purchases and this was a little bonus.  I love Natural Tucker baked goods and loved visiting their own bakery rather than finding a limited range in other shops.  This takeaway vegie pie topped with tofu was very satisfying.

I bought this Mild Harissa from Palma's Pantry.  So far I have only used a small spoonful.  Then my mum was having a dinner party with a middle eastern theme for the mains.  So I gave her the jar.  It is a really lovely fragrant sauce.  Hopefully I can buy more of it next time I am at the  Fitzroy Market.

We have corn chips at home from time to time.  I have seen these blue corn chips about and even had them before.  I was really pleased to find a packet around Halloween in Whole Foods in East Brunswick.  I am sure I have looked for them before and not found them.  They are great for Halloween food (such as the bat toast I made with them).

Lastly I leave you with an unmistakable sign that there is a four year old in my kitchen.  Sylvia loves Peppa Pig and so we looked for a Peppa Pig showbag on our trip to The Melbourne Show last month.  No luck.  Luckily for us, my mum went to the Geelong Show with my nieces and bought a showbag for us there.  I was quite impressed with the contents: a plate, bowl and cup set, gardening set, sunglasses, hairclips, toothbrush and backpack.  It has brought a little extra colour to our kitchen.

I am sending this post to Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for her In My Kitchen series.  Please visit to see what Celia and others have in their kitchens.

18 comments:

  1. How nice to be heading into summer again, when veggies are at their best! Was the veggie pie vegan? I like the idea of a tofu top rather than double pasty. Clever! I can't get enough of harissa either - I could eat it straight from the jar (though I am reliably informed there are other uses for it too!)

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    1. Thanks Joey - yes the pies are vegan - the tofu topping was rather nice. I don't think I have bought harissa before but I could eat it from the jar if it is always as delicious

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  2. I will keep my fingers crossed for your blueberry plant! It would be lovely to have blueberries growing in your courtyard - they always seem such a novel fruit and the idea of growing them is daunting to me too. I love the little bear (is it a bear?) by your pots too. The idea of a tofu pie also appeals to me and, of course, peaches always appeal to me :)

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    1. Thanks Kari - it will be very exciting to pick them if our blueberries ripen. It is a wombat by them

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  3. You are heading into summer as we are heading into winter! So wonderful to get a peek into your kitchen from the other side of the globe. I have yet to try agave nectar. :)

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    1. Thanks tableofcolors - I am not hooked on agave nectar - it seems so sweet without the depth of flavour like honey or maple syrup but I guess sometmes you want something more neutral - I am also aware that some people are quite against it but there are others I respect who use it so I don't worry about that too much.

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  4. G'day Johanna and thank you for this month's kitchen view!
    I love your garden garden wombat, love the blue stone chips and your pie view!
    it is always fun peeking at other people's kitchens!
    Cheers! Joanne
    Viewed as part of IMK

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  5. I bought those same tortilla chips just the other day! Haven't broken into them yet though.
    Giggling to myself here too since I was convinced your bag of icing sugar was a pack of sanitary towels! Do you know what i mean? Something about the colour/shape of the package...
    Oh and lucky lucky you with all your lovely stone fruit. Trying not to be jealous.

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    1. Thanks Emma - are yours for dipping or other stuff - I know what you mean about the icing sugar but our sanitary pads have different packaging here (which is just as well because you wouldn't want to confuse the two) - and yes the stone fruit is creeping up on us - bought cherries and apricots at the farmers market today

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  6. What a cool new green design for agave nectar product including the harissa! I love harissa, I use the traditional one (yellow tube).

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    1. Thanks Rika - I didn't know there was a yellow tube of traditional harissa but might be useful to look out for if I don't get more at the fitzroy market

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  7. Johanna, there's actually nothing ordinary in your kitchen - it's all special! Love the blue corn chips, and I'm always so happy to see Callebaut chocolate in any kitchen, it's a staple in ours! Can I just say as well that I think your fruit bowl is very beautiful? Great post! :) xx

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    1. Thanks Celia - very kind - and I feel like I should buy some more callebaut chocolate - took me a while to go through it but was great to have it there and now it is used up I miss it.

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  8. I am most definitely a white peach girl too, but haven't indulged yet - the ones I've seen about are too hard and floury. I haven't tried agave yet, but I did plant a Stevia plant in my garden the other day. The leaves are so super sweet, I'm looking forward to harvesting a bunch and using them as a sugar replacement in sweet bakes. Intriguing!

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  9. Hi Johanna, great IMK I liked the idea of celebrating the ordinary. I've not used agave but it keeps popping up so I must give it a try. I'm team butter all the way :)
    cheers
    Jason

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  10. Yes, I'm impressed with that Peppa Pig bag too. Normally they are full of rubbish but it seems a decent haul. I like the look of those blue corn chips. I see them around but never have a reason to buy them. One day maybe... Thanks for the tour GG

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  11. Your ordinary is my exotic! I love to see what other people take for granted in their kitchen but which to those of us abroad looks exciting. I've never seen blue corn chips - do they taste different to normal ones?

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