Sunday 6 August 2017

In My Kitchen: August 2017

August is the month when the year seems to be whizzing by at a frightening rate.  In July you can kid yourself that it is still the middle of the year but in August we are well and truly on the downward slope and suddenly feeling the pressure to do everything we promised at the start of the year.  So it is not just the cold, the dark, the rain and the lack of good fresh fruit that makes August a difficult month.

Luckily pancakes brighten up chilly winter mornings.  Pancakes shapes bring even more cheer.  We found these cheap shapes in a local $2 Shop.  The might have been meant for eggs.  We have had fun making fluffy vegan pancakes in shapes, though they rise a bit so I have had to try and go easy on the amount of batter in the shapes.

The fluffy vegan pancakes are quite like pikelets if you make them small.  However sometimes Sylvia loves to buy 'pikelets' which I think are more like pancakes as they as quite thin.  Lately they have come in a few different flavours.  The one above in cinnamon and we have also had chocolate.  I still prefer home made.

This battered old thing is a stressball in the shape of a cow.  We had her for ages.  I think she was a present.  And quite a lot of fun.  Now she has grown so worn that she is here for old times sake before heading for the out pile.

Sourdough bread.  Fresh loaves are always a delight in our kitchen.

My latest venture for reducing some of our landfill is a worm farm.  The instructions make me feel quite worried for my new little worms.  It said that they like to be warm.  This worried me on the first night here when it was 2 C.  However they are still hanging in there after a few weeks..

During the school holidays, a trip to the Queen Vic Market saw us come home with many goodies.  The walnuts, charcoal lavosh crackers, blueberries, quince paste and dried apricots were for the Christmas in July dessert platter.  The caramel fudge disappeared quickly.  It was very good.  I am still looking for opportunities for the Israeli couscous and the chilli lime carnitas jackfruit.  I also came home with purple potatoes and wish I had also bought the purple brussel sprouts.

I also bought a few cheeses at the Queen Vic Market for the dessert platter: Swiss cheese. smoked cheese, brie and a raspberry infused cheese.  It is a great joy to choose and eat good cheese.

I also picked up these black tahini, black beans, truffle oil and mini crackers at the Queen Vic Market.  I have used all but the black tahini.  I am wondering how to use it.  I have tried it in baking biscuits but would like to try it in bread, cake, brownies or even scones (remember it is International Scone Week next week).

A few new bits are around the kitchen.  Some new bowls with swirly patterns that caught my eye.  When I bought them home, I found that E had also fancied them in the shop.  In the back of the photo are some new ice cream bowls that I bought months ago that had an outing in the school holidays when Sylvia had a yen to make Sundaes.  The mason jar with straw came from an Alice in Wonderland party that Sylvia went to a few weeks back.  A fun way to give out "party bags" in the jar.

I have recently become a fan of Bosisto's washing powder and stain remover.  A friend recommended the stain remover and it really does work well.  I had been looking for a good environmentally friendly washing machine powder and so I have started using this one.  The eucalyptus smell is quite comforting.

I have tried a few vegan yoghurts and found then soy ones to be thin and taste very odd and the coconut ones to be too fatty and bland.  Last week I was looking for a yoghurt and noticed there were quite a few new vegan yoghurts in the supermarket aisle.  I think there were 4 or 5 brands of coconut yoghurt.  I decided to try this Nakula passionfruit yoghurt.  It isn't bad but a bit rich.  I think the passionfruit flavour helps give it a bit of that slightly sour flavour.

As I haven't been baking much, I have been buying crackers for snacks.  Rice crackers and Vita Wheats are favourite.  Recently I tried the cheese pretzels which are ok but I prefer the more yeasted pretzel crackers than these pastry ones.  I am yet to try the hommus crisps.  They sound interesting but disappoint me that it is mostly potato starch rather than chickpea flour.

Lastly, I recently had a clean out of plastic tubs because I found some of the Decor ones that I like and bought them before mine could get too manky.  Once the tubs were out of the cupboard, our cat Shadow hopped in.  He's always curious about what is going on in the house. 

As for our cupboards, I am not feeling very happy about them because I managed to catch my jeans on a handle as I walked through the kitchen tonight and it tore a hole in them. Usually I like our 1960s cupboard handles but tonight I wish we had smoother and rounder handles.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event, that was started by Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial,  If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 10th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to peek into more kitchens. 

11 comments:

  1. I am loving those pancake shapes. I can see them being a hit with my small ones. It's funny, I recently went to a supermarket that is not my regular, and there was a surprising amount of new vegan things not stocked at mine. I think it was reinforcement for stepping out of my zone of ordinary! Thanks for sharing your kitchen - definitely lots happening.

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  2. Your stress-relief cow and cupboard loving cat are both appealing "items" to show in the kitchen! I'm with you on the year being on the going-down side, which I think we feel even more because it's our summer that is waning.

    I quoted your blog on my IMK post this month.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  3. You have a lot of interesting things in your kitchen! I still miss Sakata crackers and I am interested to see your new coconut yoghurt option as we have lots of varieties here, but not that one. The pancake shapes are lovely and yes, homemade pikelets definitely beat shop ones (albeit shop ones are quicker!).

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  4. Johanna, what a fun, eclectic peek into your kitchen this month! Looks like you're on the lookout and adapting "finds" to suit you and yours, as always! That's what IMK... (LIFE!)... is all about. You do it particularly well, xo. :)

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  5. Your Queen Vic market haul is fab. I love pancakes but can't be bothered making them when there is the option of just making cereal. The cow is cute.

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  6. wow so many fab things in your kitchen johanna. the pancakes are so cute; of course the shapes make them taste better. hee hee. yes i find august a difficult month too. neither one thing nor the other- betwixt and between. love that ceramic bowl too. i tried coconut yoghurt once. uurrgh not good. Bosisto? i will have to hunt it up. cheers. thanks for joining in. and you have reminded me of ISW - scones to the rescue...

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  7. Wow, what a great selection. When I travelled to Australia I used to come home with Bosisto's. Love the cheeses and I think I am going to make some black tahini next time I do a batch. It sounds interesting. Thanks for the shout out for ISW2017 :)

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  8. I love having crackers on hand. I crave crunchy things. The hummus crisps sound like a good idea. Will you let us know what they're like?

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  9. Your kitchen sounds pretty fun. I haven't had time to do one of these posts in awhile. Maybe it will inspire me to make one =)
    I bought black tahini on a whim as it was on super sale and regretted it. It tastes fine, but I tend to use tahini in salad dressing and stirfries and it turns everything such an ugly colour.
    I'm intrigued the most by the passionfruit yogurt as that's not a flavour I have seen here.
    What do you do with your truffle oil? I also bought some on a whim, but I've only used it in a few dishes. Not sure what else to do with it.
    Your new ice cream bowls are nice!

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  10. Love the pancake shapes! I'm just too lazy the boys have to settle for plain old circles, sometimes a shape I can freehand. Those cheeses also look incredible, cheese doesn't last long in our house.

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  11. So many fab things in your kitchen, that cow stress ball is cute, good that you have captured a pic for posterity, does look like it has seen better days. I envy your wormery, we keep meaning to get one, but never do - we still recycle food waste in a compost bin, so cannot grumble too much.
    Liking all your foodstuffs from Queen Vic Market. If you find yourself liking the black tahini, give it a go at making at home really easy. I look forward to see what you do with it and the jackfruit.

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