Saturday 4 August 2018

In My Kitchen - August 2018

July was a crazy month that started with school holidays, which vanished into a flash with busy working days, Christmas in July and the plastic bag ban in supermarkets.  While I have always liked winter, I am glad August is the last winter month because it has been a hard winter without our heater and with more asthma than usual.

Above are some fondant cakes I made with Sylvia.  I am not very familiar with fondant icing.  It was interesting to experiment though I think it needs more planning as it was very easy to let it go dry if not concentrating enough to cover it up.  The lollipops came out of a packet of icing toppers and inspired the lollies theme.

My dad bough me this cheerful garlic plate a few months back.  It has become my new place to keep garlic.

One wet dark night I stopped on the way home and bought hotdogs and chips for a particularly junkie dinner.  I fried up some onions to topping the hotdogs along with cheese, sauerkraut and tomato sauce.  I toasted the hotdog buns but had to watch them as they cooked rather fast.  It was a fun change for dinner.

On a trip to the Vic Market, I bought a new trolley.  My old wire one had gone rather skanky out by the shed.  Once the holidays ended we haven't really used it but I hope we will when the weather is better.

I love the occasional purchase of ravioli.  These ones were very good and a bit different to the usual cheese and spinach on offer for vegetarians: cherry tomato and mozzarella, pumpkin, leek and sage.  They are a great quick meal.

Sylvia has been very partial to packets of waffles lately.  It started when she stayed with her cousins on the school holidays and came back glowing with excitment as she told me about waffles with mini marshmallows.

I was gobsmacked to find that the very American M&M company had a limited edition packet of the very Australian lamington flavours.  Actually the lamington flavours aren't so common.  When we say lamington style it usually means chocolate and coconut.  These M&Ms are in jam, chocolate and coconut flavours.  They were fun to eat all three together but you might not be convinced they taste like lamingtons.

Here is some fun stuff from the supermarket.  More hot dogs.  Fancy cheeses (I used the cheddar infused with maple and toffee bits for my Christmas in July cheeseboard), more hot dogs, dolmades that I keep forgetting about, a chocolate filled Barni cake, Tutki biscuits with nutella-style choclate filling, and some date and apricot crackers that went well with the apricot and almond cheese.

Mixed citrus lemonade was made from a fruit and veg box that was given to E.  I still have a few grapefruits and other citrus left so I am almost due to use up the rest in another batch.  I don't have lots of other ways to use up grapefruit.

My haul from the Coburg Farmers Market a few weeks back.  The Greek style red lentil patties were lovely with dinner or in a sandwich.  We love Gorgeous George's kombucha (pomegranate and cherry that week), E found an interesting Asian marinade from Gorgeous George that will probably pep up some tofu, and the red carrots were so cheerful even if they were orange once peeled.

I was tempted again by the Collide range of Doritos.  The guacamole was not as green as I hoped and the salsa was a little spicier than expected.  I had dreams of putting them into nachos but we just gobbled them up with a bit of hummus before I got the chance.

I bought some Greener Bags and a bamboo toothbrush as I am quite aware of all the problems with plastic.  It overwhelms me because when I stop to think about it, there is so much plastic in my life.  So I am trying some little steps.  The bags are for the garbage bin while we get used to the ban on plastic bags at the supermarket.  But we are still managing without opening the packet, even a month after the ban started.  Meanwhile I have heard that these degradable plastic bags are worse than the usual one because they break down in to smaller pieces and are easier for animals to swallow.  Sigh.  I wonder where all the plastic hating will end.  I am old enough to remember when aerosols were going to ruin us and now no one gives them a thought so I hope there is some systemwide change to make plastic less harmful.  Until then, I am doing what I can.  There is a larger discussion to be had here but it will have to wait for when  have more time.

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 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to peek into more kitchens.

15 comments:

  1. I love my "nonna trolley". I've seen those Grand Italian ravioli but I haven't tried them - are they good? I love the Rana Spinach and Ricotta and the Rana pumpkin, really really good.

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    1. Thanks Napoli Alert - in a lifetime far far away we called our "granny jeep" by the name of Martha - you need to know the biblical story of martha and mary to understand!

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    2. BTW loved the ravioli and it pleased the hanging judge, our 9 year old

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  2. your little cakes are so cute. and the garlic plate is very pretty. lamington m & m's? how very aussie, and yes odd that an american company would make them. plastics are such an issue atm, aren't they? i feel very confused about it all but i guess we just have to stop using them when we can. i've been making citrus cordials with the limes and lemons i've been given lately. so delicious to have fresh stuff, not out of a bottle. thanks so much for joining in IMK this month. cheers sherry x

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    1. Thanks Sherry - plastics are a huge issue right now but I guess being aware is part of the process of reducing. Fresh citrus cordial is so lovely and it is the right time of year for it. Keeps away coughs and colds :-)

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  3. Your cupcakes are gorgeous. I find the red carrots interesting.

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - I think the red carrots would look great cut into rounds with the skin on so it would be orange with red rims!

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  4. You are so adventurous with trying new products. I keep trying to use less processed stuff. So there's little with new & interesting packages in my kitchen. Plus I just don't think I'm that adventurous.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks Mae - I don't feel that adventurous - just a sucker for a gimmick at the supermarket - it is always interesting to see what is on offer at the farmers market

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  5. Your kitchen as always has so many interesting things. I have one of those trolleys - i bought it when I was doing freelancing pop up veg eats, now I am afraid it is going skanky in the shed. I am intrigued by you fancy cheese and Gorgeous George's kombucha pomegranate and cherry which sounds very appealing to me too.

    I think we all have a lot of plastic in our lives, so small changes are better than none at all.

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    1. Thanks Shaheen - the kombucha was great - a little pricey but we keep going back for more - and I do love a little fancy cheese. I hope this trolley will get a bit more use than the old one but who knows.

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  6. What a shame the lamington m&m's didn't taste more like lamington (which I love). And fondant does dry out quickly. I find it better if it is double bagged and then put in an airtight container.

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - appreciate the advice on fondant - I suspect it is probably to use when not having an eager 9 year old about but sylvia did love playing with it.

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  7. Johanna, your date & apricot crackers intrigued me. I just put in an order for dates and apricots yesterday -- who knew they could be combined in a cracker?! -- may have to experiment after they arrive. That cupcake is SO sweet (pardon the pun) and I bet Sylvia had fun making them with you. Fondant is not my forte' but from what I can see, you did a great job with it! Loved your "junkie" dinner, too, the way you dolled up that "dawg". :)

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  8. A great peek into your kitchen and I am very intrigued by the lamington M&Ms! The bamboo toothbrush and garlic plate look great and the fondant icing cupcakes very pretty.

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