Monday 2 March 2015

In My Kitchen March 2015

This year in Melbourne we have a good reason to be shocked that March has arrived, bringing autumn with it.  We sailed through summer without one 40 degree (celsius) day.  It was hot but not as uncomfortable as some of the past summers.  My kitchen reflects the end of summer with fresh produce and clearing out the cupboards.

In my kitchen my mum frequently drops off food and books.  She brought some small plums from my brother's tree.  Sylvia and I gobbled them up eagerly.  They were great for taking out and about.  My mum made the chocolate and date cake which disappeared even quicker.  And I have joined a bookclub so my mum loaned me the first book, Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North.  It was beautifully written with uncomfortably vivid descriptions of World War II PoWs in Thailand but it was disconcerting how the narrative jumped around.

In my kitchen I have been making meals from Ricki Heller's Living Candida Free cookbook.  I wrote a review of the book and gave the recipe for an Asian Napa Cabbage Salad.  I found it challenging to find the right cabbage because apparently we call it Wombok Cabbage in Australia.  The cabbage I found was huge.  I photographed it next to a glass and a regular sized carrot to give some sense of how huge it was.  I am sure it was bigger than my head!

In my kitchen we have more goods dropped off by my mum.  She helped my muso brother (not the one with the fruit trees) to clear out his house before he headed off around Australia with a caravan, a girlfriend and a guitar.   I have used the Low GI sugar and the brown rice but the hot sauce is challenging even to our resident chilli lover, E.

In my kitchen we have done a little of our own clearing out cupboard.  It is always a work in progress but occasionally we make good progress.  We took a couple of bags of household goods to the op shop but stayed and came home with a large bag of purchases.  I bought this Chocolate Bible because it seems to have some great recipes.  However it is too tall for my bookshelves and I am yet to bake from it so who knows how long it will last.  I also bought some great retro glasses for $1 each.

In my kitchen we have been eating lots of chocolate bliss balls with the occasional blow out at the supermarket.  Tim Tams have been tempting me with all sorts of novel flavours.  These coconut Tim Tams are probably my favourite, though I loved the colour on the red velvet Tim Tams.

In my kitchen we had chocolate and macarons for Valentine's Day.  The chocolate ganache hearts went too quickly to photograph but I had to take a picture of these pretty strawberry and ginger macarons. 

In my kitchen we look out the window to the roses in the garden.  My mum keeps them pruned and is teaching me how to do it.  When she last pruned, she cut a rose off and gave it to me to put in a vase.

In my kitchen we have been receiving produce from the other families at Sylvia's school.  One mother (Brenda) gave me these green capsicums in the playground, telling me she had so many that she had exhausted all ideas for them and now just wanted to give them away.  A friend's father had been given a zucchini that was so huge he couldn't eat it all and gave us a portion.  It was so big that E thought we had watermelon in the firdge.  And I am off to get some quinces from another mother's tree.

In my kitchen we have had pesto and cream cheese.  I love them both but sometimes struggle to use them up.  One weekend I mixed some pesto with the remaining cream cheese and some mayonnaise.  It was really good.  Even Sylvia had a little.  It was great on Celia's overnight sourdough bread.

In my kitchen I am yet again succumbing to foodie trends.  At the Fitzroy Market last month I bought a spiraliser from A Vegan Smiles.  I have used it twice on zucchini.  The first time it made these lovely noodles that I tossed with avocado, pesto, chickpeas, tomatoes and lemon juice.  It was a great healthy lunch.  The second time the zucchini refused to go through and turned to mush - I think I had chopped it and that just didn't work.  More experiments are needed.

I am sending this post to Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for her In My Kitchen event.  Head over to join in (by 10th of each month) and/or check out what is happening in other bloggers' kitchens.

34 comments:

  1. A mothers' produce exchange sounds really neighborly. Your group seems to grow a very nice variety. Your autumn may be arriving -- I wish it would get to be spring here soon, but we are having terrible ice storms and the like. Enjoy all your nice kitchen things!

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    1. Thanks Mae - the schoolyard has been a nice place to swap produce though it is very informal - hope your weather warms up soon

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  2. Lots of great stuff there Johanna, must admit I wish there was a vegan version of the Coconut Tim Tams for me to try as I love coconut and more milky chocolate (I used to love Coconut Roughs, fortunately vegan versions taste the same!) I actually took a bunch of photos yesterday for this month's In My Kitchen :)

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    1. Thanks Veganopoulous - I think it is was coconut rough that my mum compared the coconut tin tams to - maybe you could find regular vegan tim tams and stuff a coconut rough in it :-) - looking forward to your IMK

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  3. I've never had Tim Tams, but these would be the first to try if I ever found them here. In the uk, Napa lettuce is called Chinese cabbage, I struggled too once too. Good luck with the book group, will make a nice change from having your nose in cookbooks. Ps I have a spiral inter too, a bit more lucky. I have not used it yet, I picked it up a few months back and it's still in the box, need to open that box!

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    1. Thanks Shaheen - they do sell tim tams in Australia shops in the UK but not sure if they have the different varieties and or if the shops are near you. Tim tams are very like Penguin biscuits in the UK - wonder if they have started fancy varieties of these. And actually I read more novels than cookbooks but probably spend too much time reading blogs that I could read more books. I can recommend the sprialiser - it has been fun adding spiralised veg to stews.

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  4. Really enjoyed seeing what's in your kitchen, so many interesting things. Not that I'm surprised. You have to have a chocolate bible - now wondering why I haven't got one ;-) My mum found it too hot in Melbourne, so thank goodness it didn't go above 40 degrees. When we were there it was 44 and unbearable. I think I might be trying out the pesto and cream cheese combo, it sound far too good to miss. Everyone's getting spiralisers it seems and I'm feeling left out.

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    1. Thanks Choclette - I had wondered if you had the chocolate bible esp as it is a british book. You must have been in Melbourne when the heat was crazy - I think that is why I am surprised not to have one day reach 40 C. Honestly spiralisers seem fun rather than necessary to me but maybe it will become essential - I am not so into raw foods but want to try sprialised veg in salads.

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  5. When my son recently came back from NZ he had one bag completely filled with TimTams. Sadly, it didn't take long for them all to disappear. I keep seeing these spiralisers but have so far haven't given in to temptation. Think I may have to introduce a "1 gadget in, 1 gadget out" policy.

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    1. Thanks Anne - a suitcase of Tim Tam seems quite reasonable (though I used to make do with penguins when I lived in the uk and wanted one - not that I eat many in Australia despite featuring Tim Tams in the last two IMK posts!) I have thought of a gadget in, gadget out policy - there is very little room for any more but at least the spiraliser is not huge

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  6. I'm excited by your spiralizer! It looks the same as mine, or very similar. I have found that getting the size of the vegetable pieces right is important - too small and they do go mushy, and ditto if you peel them. Your noodles in the picture look great though. I also love the rose and macarons, and was interested to read your thoughts on The Narrow Road to the Deep North as I've heard good things about it (but it sounds like a heavy book).

    Yay to no 40'C days, too!

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    1. Thanks Kari - I tried the spiraliser again for some thai curry and it worked well - good to hear your feedback on it - makes me feel I am on the right track! I tried to read Richard Flanagan's novel Gould's Book of Fish and could not finish it so I was pleasantly surprise I found the Narrow Road .... to be very readable and really enjoyed reading it while I ate lunch and getting to bed early to read which I don't do as much as I should!

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    2. yeah i have a similar spiraliser and have not had much success with it.

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  7. You have a very informative and friendly blog which I have just discovered love the recipes and must try cooking them. You mentioned that you have been trying to get apricot jam to set, I have found adding some fruit that is just ripe helps the set plus adding lemon juice as well as I think apricot jam is just the most lovely jam with cream.

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    1. Thanks Valda - I think your suggestion is great but as I don't get the fruit off the tree I don't usually have just ripe fruit to add but the lemon juice is something I like to use. We used to have fresh white bread with jam and cream when I was young and I remember it fondly but don't often have jam and cream these days unless I am out!

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  8. The spiraliser noodles look great! I must buy one but I wonder why the second one didn't work?

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - a few of the other comments are helpful - the zucchini that I put upright in the spiraliser and when I chopped it in bits it just went to mush. I have used it since and it worked ok with the zucchini upright.

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  9. Now I want a spiralizer - to go with all my other kitchen gadgets. Your cookbook is a great op shop find.

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  10. G'day Always enjoy learning something new!
    Thank you for this month's IMK view also!
    Cheers! Joanne

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  11. Johanna, I too found those coconut Tim Tams, yum! I took in a packet to work and my colleagues virtually inhaled them! Cheers Kirsty xx

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  12. What an interesting kitchen full of interesting things! It seems strange that we are just coming to spring as your weather is turning cooler. All winter I've read your posts envious of the warmth (although it never gets that hot here)!
    I am very tempted to get a spiraliser!

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    1. Thanks Kate - hope you get some warmer weather

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  13. I've got some hot sauce sitting in my kitchen which I'm a little nervous to try. It's got a skull head on it...anything with a skull head surely isn't of the mild slight kick variety. Surely?

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    1. Thanks Bridie - a skull head would be a worrying sign for me! hope you don't burn the roof off the top of your mouth!

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  14. Crikey, the size of that nappa cabbage is pretty impressive! Use some to make kimchi! :-)

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    1. Thanks Kavey - the cabbage is gone but I fancy trying kimchi some time

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  15. How lovely to be given those homegrown capsicums. I do love the look of the macarons. I don't think we've had any days over 40C here in Sydney either. I would love to get my hands on a spiraliser and your 'pasta' dish sounds fantastic xx

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  16. It all looks fantastic. I remember one year taking bags full of tomatoes, cucumber and zucchini to a playdate because I was so overrun! It is nice to have people to share with. I have been tempted to get a spiralizer as well but have thus far resisted, one more thing to find a home for in my kitchen. The chocolate and date cake also sounds scrumptious.

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  17. That apricot rose is a delight. As to the donating to the op shop and returning with other items, this is something I do also. I like to think that I'm giving items a 2nd or 3rd home and saving them from landfill! cheers xx

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  18. The more I see them the more I think I really do *need* a spiraliser...

    Those Tim Tams are addictive. We bought both of the new Zumbo flavours on sale and I had to have the husband hide the coconut package after it was opened so they weren't inhaled.

    I love that you have such a thriving produce exchange network, how economical and Eco friendly!

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  19. Your kitchen is always so fun. And your mom sounds awesome! I love when my mom loans me books =) Especially good ones. And that rose is gorgeous... I can't believe she grew it herself. Spiralizers are great and zucchini noodles are my favourite thing to use on them (maybe the only...). I find the zucchini has to be nice & firm, if it's too soft, it doesn't work well. Thanks for sharing your fun kitchen finds =)

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - appreciate your spiraliser wisdom - and the rose was actually from our garden but my mum gives it lots of tlc and gives me lots of advice.

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  20. A beautifully tasty kitchen as always.... I wish your mum would come over to my place and drop some things in :) I think I have just zoomed in on the chocolate this month... that book I need to add tot he list as well as try those coconut tim tams.... YUM! Thanks for sharing! Liz x

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  21. That is one big cabbage! Love the macarons. Chocolate Bible sounds handy. Yes I can't wait till summer is over. Still in the 30s here. Too much:)

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