In My Kitchen August 2024

August was unsettled.  The weather was unseasonably warm and windy for winter.  I started my new job in a new collaborative centre in the health sector.  It is overwhelming but interesting.  Thank goodness it is part time.  Sylvia is getting used to her new school.  Finding new rhythms with work and school is challenging but we have also had lots of fun this month too.  (I will post more about going out for meals and  in My Monthly Chronicles soon).  At home we are busy with cooking some great new recipes, Sylvia doing beading and gardening, and I have published a few blog posts that were lingering in the draft folder.  We had the friendliest grey cat visit for so long that we wondered if he was here to stay but he left when he was ready.  Housework and life administration are being squeezing in around everything else!

The above dish is a Zucchini Mozzarella Ratatouille from Clare Scrine's new cookbook.  It was fun to make with layering thin slices of zucchini with mozzarella in a tomato sauce and cooking til golden brown..  I really liked it but had expected the zucchini to be softer.  I might try cooking it longer if I made it again.  Sylvia liked it but was keen on trying it with some pasta in the bake.  It was great with quinoa for a work lunch.

We went to a Turkish lamp workshop at the start of the month.  It was set up to make it easy for everyone to produce a stunning lamp.  Even so, Sylvia's decorations were so good I was a bit jealous.  We glued beads and cut glass on a glass bowl at the workshop.  At home the plaster was applied, set for a few minutes and then wiped off the between all the cut glass and beads. 

Once the plaster dried on the glass bowl, we clicked it into the top and bottom of the lamp stand.  Above is my lamp.  I would have liked more different greens.  Instead I paired the green with yellow and amber glass, which gives a lovely warm glow when the lamp is turned on.

We love a craft project.  I finally have posted a list of Craft ideas for kids - a list of activities on my blog.  It has been in my drafts for a few years.  This is a list of some of the home craft projects I have shared along the way on my blog - both small and huge.  As I have been doing craft with Sylvia since she was a toddler, it is not always beautifully finished but it is always fun.

I adapted my current favourite muesli recipe to please Sylvia.  It featured matcha, strawberry and apple.  This is a recipe I hope to write up soon.

This is a snapshot of our growing garden.  The long planter at the front with succulents is now on our front verandah.  I took some cuttings of succulents while out on a bike ride.  We chose some to plant and Sylvia has placed the rest in old jars of water on the kitchen windowsill which look quite cheery.

I have a cutting of "pigface" in the kitchen right now that I am waiting to plant in a pot.  It was given to me after attending an Indigenous smoking ceremony at a community health service.  I was so excited after first tasting this edible Indigenous plant at Banshot Bistro this year.  It is also known as bush banana and karkalla.

My lemon and lime trees have had a bad time of it with citrus leaf miner over the past year or two.  The lime tree has only produced one piece of fruit this year.  So I am very happy to see lots of new growth and baby limes at the moment.  We are not out of the woods with the citrus lime miner yet but I am now fighting the little critters with sprays and traps.

I went out with a friend recently and Sylvia sent me photos of the slugs she found on herbs she was putting in her meal.  Above is the dried eggshells she has crushed in a mortar and pestle to scatter in the garden.  I am a bit unclear how much is to deter slugs and how much is for nutrients.  I think it is a bit of both.

I bought myself a new two-layer microwave steamer.  It seemed really desirable when we were going through a steamed dumplings patch.  Since buying it, I haven't used it much but am sure it will be useful in the long run.

We visited Coburg Farmers Market at Coburg Primary School a few weeks back.  My sister was wondering about holding a peanut butter stall there so Sylvia and I did a recce.  We used to go there a lot before the Covid lockdowns but, for various reasons, have barely been since then.  It was nice to be back.  We bought plenty of good produce, good bread and baked goods from the school fundraiser cake stall.  I love the Olympic gold medal biscuits made by my friend Kerin. 

It was sad to hear that a few of our favourite businesses had closed.  We stopped to chat at the Sporadical City Mushrooms.  They had amazing mushroom products - gorgeous mixed mushrooms, a mushroom chilli sauce, a mushroom confit and great mushroom and nut pates,  We bought this Cold Smoked Mushroom Broth dried stock.  It was a mix of dried mushrooms and remainder Smalt smoked salt.  The smell was incredible. It was so good I bought a jar for a jaw dropping $20.  

I was also sad to hear that Gorgeous George has ceased trading.  We loved their kombucha and kefir and dips.  So I was very grateful that they had sold the recipes to Mumma Made Ferments.  It was hard to restrict our choice to one bottle.  We were very happy with the Apple and Strawberry kombucha. 

Sylvia was so excited to get her hands on a packet of the new Chinese edition of Twisties.  From the packet I thought they would be in a fortune cookie shape but they were the same old gnarled ugly twisties with really good Chinese seasoning.

One of my favourie meals of the month was the Creamy cannellini bean with kale  from Lazy Cat Kitchen.  It was made by blending one can of white beans with milk, miso, tahini and lemon juice to make a creamy sauce for the remaining 2 cans of beans and lots of kale.  We ate it both as a casserole and a dip.  It was great comfort food and felt wonderful healthy too.

I have written a few times of how much we love Recipe Tin Eats broccoli fritters.  The purple cauliflower from the farmers market was substituted for broccoli in this recip.  It was delicious even if the fritters weren't quite as purple as I would have liked.  I found that if I pressed them well after turning the first time, it helped more of the batter to go to the bottom where it would cook and crisp up.

We also had our favourite Carrot fritters this month with some corn in place of half the carrots.  Sylvia was not so pleased with them.  I was in a hurry and made them quite thick so I only needed to do two batches.  They were a bit undercooked.  Note to self to not skimp on time with fritters!

We dropped into Cheaper Buy Miles, a remainder grocery store opposite Barkly Square.  The main appeal for us was the non-alcoholic versions of drinks.  For a grand total of $10 we bought a little gift pack of Vinada champagne bottles, a bottle of Blue Nun white wine (for old times sake), and a bird dog freedom shiraz.  

Interestingly they all seem to have different ways to note they don't have alcohol.  The champagne is "zero alcohol", the white wine is "alcohol-free" and the shiraz has the "alcohol removed".  I am not sure if these refer to different ways of avoiding alcohol and, if so, does it have any effect on the taste and alcohol content.  Or is is just that this is still a new idea and there is no conformity of labelling?

I was on a ride, I was hungry and I had a yen to go to Green Refectory Cafe in Brunswick.  It was really busy as always.  I bought a pumpkin and sundried tomato savoury muffin for me and an apple and rhubarb muffins for Sylvia.  They were lovely.  I also really liked the look of the takeaway salads.

Sylvia also brought me home some baking when she was out with her dad and grandparents at Calle Bakery.  They all raved about their meals and enjoyed sharing lots of good food.  Sylvia loved her rhubarb and strawberry croissant wheel, and brought me back a small piece.

I baked Sweet Potato, Cheese and Herb Scones for International Scone Week at Lavender and Lime (where you can find links to more scone posts on the left hand column).  I also used sweet potato in a great Sweet potato, feta and olive focaccia.  Both recipes are on my blog.  The main ingredients I used in the scones are in the above photo.  They include an interesting Salted Honey Cow soft cheese from Yarra Valley Cheese.  It had a more subtle flavour than the goats cheese in the original recipe but Sylvia loved it so much for crackers etc that we have bought more.

One more observation on scones.  Why is the supermarket selling boxed scone mix???  Plain Scones are so easy to make that you don't need a box mix.  It feels like they are preying on the uncertainties of the novice baker.  My mum pointed some people are not confident making scones.  For me, scones are in my genes.  I grew up taking for granted that life involved frequent batches of scones warm from the oven!

Being back at work means trying to take in lunch when I am in the office.  This combination of cheese and vegemite sandwiches, chopped vegetables and salted cashew was a really good one.  It was both satisfying and quick to put together.

I could not resist Wild Things health food shop when we were eating at Tin Pot Cafe in North Fitzroy.  Then I had to face many temptations in the store.  We left with half a loaf of dark rye bread that was like a pumpernickel bread, a vegan lemon and dill cashew cheese spread, and a few cloves of elephant garlic.  The spread was heavenly on thin slices of the bread.

I am usually rushing about in the evening when Shadow comes in for the night.  We have got in the habit of giving him a couple of treats to lure him inside.  So now he will jump up on the washing machine and let us know very pointedly that he is due his treats when he comes in.  I took a photo of him cosying up to his treats because it amuses me the ways he makes his demands clear.  I try not to be amused that he also will cheekily ask for treats even if he has already had them.  But he is so damned cute!

We are also very appreciative that my dad fixed up the steps up the fence that he put in for our old cat Zinc quite some years ago.  They were getting a bit droopy and we didn't want one collapsing as Shadow nimby makes his way up the steps.

Sylvia made a wonderful White bean and carrot couscous salad with pearl couscous.  We loved it so much that we look forward to eating it more in summer.  It lasted well in the fridge and was very satisfying, though possibly could have a tad more dressing.  I served mine with some Only-kale-can-save-us-now salad and chopped celery.

We bought fresh gnocchi at the farmers market and really enjoyed it in this Creamy Tomato Gnocchi.  The recipe called for boiling it and I decided to fry the gnocchi instead but ended up boiling it a bit in the sauce and wishing there was a little less sauce, even though I had added a lot less water than the recipe specified.

Sylvia made this Strawberry Avocado Crunch Salad.  It looked so beautiful before adding the ginger miso dressing.  We only had dried ginger but I think fresh ginger would be better.  Sylvia sliced the cucumbers and strawberries very thin.  They were pretty but I would prefer bigger chunks for more texture.  The edamame were a great addition.  Sadly, the salad did not last well overnight.  It really needs to be fresh.

I felt clumsy breaking a glass this month when I tried to stop a potato rolling off a chopping board.  Then Sylvia managed to pick up a lovely green square baking dish by the handle.  The handle broke off, then fell to the floor and broke the other handle, plus she managed to hit herself with the dish on the way down.  We are still considering if we can still use the dish in any way.  Sylvia had the dish out for Chocolate pudding but broke it when she decided to return it to the cupboard when she decided it was too late. She redeemed herself by making a lovely choccy pudding the next night.

This photo is partly shared to show that a bit of breakage can be a good thing.  Preferably in the backyard rather than the kitchen.  Unfortunately this coconut had been in the fridge too many weeks and did not have any coconut milk in it.  But Sylvia enjoyed swinging a hammer at it.

A few weeks ago we stopped for felafel from Half Moon Cafe and then bought Turkish bread from the Melbourne Kebab Station in Coburg.  We took them home to feast on with hummus and baby spinach for lunch.  It was the first time Sylvia has had the splendid Half Moon Falafels since she was little.  She loved them.  Who wouldn't!

We also love the Melbourne Kebab Station Vegetarian meal with felafels, rice, dips, salad and bread.  I went for a ride and stopped at Back Alley Bakes where I bought a celeriac and cream cheese danish and a cinnamon scroll to augment our vegie pack.  Sylvia was not impressed with the danish because she was not in the mood to try a new vegetable.  She loved the vegie pack and cinnamon scroll.  I also bought a day old fruit bread at Back Alley Bakes to keep in the freezer so I can take out a slice when I want a bit of sweet food.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. 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 visit more kitchens and her gorgeous hand drawn header.