Quick pickled onions (and ABC top 100 Australian Books)

 

In a busy weekend, one of the best  things I did was pickle red onions while listening to the countdown of the ABC Top 100 Australian Books.  I wish my life had more of these moments.  I really want to be able to slow down my life to create and embellish.  This was a double whammy with home made pickled onions making every meal better and books making life better!  So here are some reflections on the good things in life!

I have been making these quick pickled onions a lot lately.  It is fairly simple but I still need to just check my notes.  It has made this one of my essential posts to get published.  Above are my ingredients: red wine red onions, vinegar, salt, sugar, mustard seeds and black peppercorns.  The photo of these together illustrates the hotch-potch of containers in which I keep my pantry ingredients.

Making the pickled onions is very simple.  One of the most challenging parts is to slice the onion thinly.  Firstly I need to remember not to chop the onion in half first.  Whole rings of onion are so satisfying.  I love seeing the disk of sliced onion with the many rings telling a story of growth, just like the marks on a cross-section of a tree does.  After I had made my pickled onions a few times I saw that Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes blog, who inspired me to make these, pulls her onion rings apart.  I couldn't bear to break up those gorgeous swirly slices.  They come apart easily enough without help.

The pickling brine is easy.  Chuck a few things in a saucepan, bring it to the boil and pour over the jar of raw onions.  We have found that the colour of the pickled onions depends partly on their hue when raw.  I think that the colour might deepen over time too.  Pickled onions look so beautiful and brighten up any meal.

Pickled onions have added flavour and flair to thesen meals (listed in order of the photographs below):

• Rice bowl with Mexican spiced rice, chickpea tofu, marinated tempeh, tofu scramble, lettuce, grated carrot, cabbage.
• Snack plate with vita-wheat crackers, cheese, celery and red capsicum.
• Pizza with tomato sauce, mushrooms, red capsicum, olives, pineapple and cheese
• Bean Miso Pasta with peas, roasted pumpkin, broccolini, pickled onion.
  
  

The brilliant colour of pickled onions pops out from a bowl of coloured vegetables in such a pleasing manner.  It is such a simple way to really jazz up a meal.  I could have shared so many photos of meals here.  We add them to so many meals.  I limited myself to just a few.  You can see many more throughout my blog over the last few months.  In fact, I am worried my meal photos are getting a bit samey with wanting to put pickled onions on so many.  But that is a first world problem!

This above snack food photo is a good one to segue to the leisurely idea of listening to the ABC top 100 Australian books.  People were texting in how they were listening.  I too would have loved to have been crocheting with a cuppa tea, like some of the listeners.  Instead I grabbed moments when I could turn on the radio while driving to and from a family afternoon tea in Geelong and doing the dishes at home.  It was great to be part of a rare national moment that wasn't sport or politics.  

It is sad less and less people are into reading these days.  Busy lives and screens leave little room for picking up a book.  Last year I found I read an alarmingly small number of books (4).  I was so sad at the idea of a life without books that I have made more of an effort this year to read more.  There is nothing so satisfying as reading a book in bed before getting up in the morning.  I don't have time to read in bed all day until I finish the book as I used to when younger.  But I feel that reading makes me feel calmer and (mostly) more optimistic about the world.  It focuses me on our humanity rather than the terrifying apocalypse of angry politics, AI and violence in the news.
 

I also love a list.  The ABC has done quite a few top 100 book lists of different themes.  I particularly loved that this one was Australian authors, even those who are now ex-pats.  I poured over the BC Top 100 Australian Books list and counted how many I had read.  I think I have read half of them.  There were some books I am unsure if I have read or just seen so often or seen them on screen but I did not count these.  There were others I had meant to read, even one or two in my pile of books to read.  I had read 8 of the top ten, had to stop midway through one and always meant to read another.  

The idea of listening to a countdown of 100 books seems a bit dull.  I was impressed at how entertaining the ABC broadcast managed to be.  It was fascinating to hear them speak to the author or talk to those who knew them or played archival clips of their reflections.  I found it quite nostalgic to hear about books that were part of the story of my life.  The number one book was Cloud Street by Tim Winton which I marvelled at the evocative language and ramshackle family life when I read it as a student.  

These books were part of my childhood (Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner); written about at school (Tirra Lirra by the River by Jessica Anderson); studied in university literature tutorials (The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead), discussed in book club (The Narrow Road to the Deep South by Richard Flanagan), loaned to me by my mum (The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams).  It made me proud to see some of the amazing Australian authors with multiple books in the list: Helen Garner, Hannah Kent, Geraldine Brooks, Anna Funder, Ruth Park and Mem Fox, to name just a few.  It makes me want to just sit and read for hours.  Which of course I haven't had (made) time for!
 

These pickled onions reminded me just how easy and satisfying it is to have picked vegetables in the kitchen.  They pep up everything: sandwiches, rice bowls, salads, pasta, risotto, casseroles, anything!  We have had them in the fridge most of the time over the past few months.  When I have been busy recently I didn't make them for a couple of weeks.  Then I had a sandwich with cheese, roast pumpkin, lettuce and mayo.  It was good but would have been so much better with pickled onions.  After that I whipped up a batch and wondered why it had taken me so long to make something so simple.  I know many people make these regularly and I am delighted to join the pickling posse!

More brown onion recipes (that could be converted to red onions) on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

Beetroot and caramelised onion galette with vegan mozzarella (v)  

Cheese and onion beer bread

Cheese, onion and potato pasties (Tiddly Oggies) 

Gravy (gf, v)    

No Tears Onion Soup - Turkish style 

Quick Pickled Onions
Adapted from Love and Lemons and Tinned Tomatoes
Makes about a 500ml jar

2 red onions
2/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1/4 tsp mustard seeds

Trim, peel and finely slice onions.  (I do this with a chef's knife but it would also work with a mandolin).  Pile onions into a clean 500ml jar and set aside.  Heat remaining ingredients over high in small saucepan until it boils.  Pour slowly into the jar of onions, use a spoon to press the onions down into the liquid to make sure they are fully submerged.  Screw on the lid tightly.  Once cooled, store  in fridge for a few weeks.  Eat on everything!

Notes:

• You will end up with onion flavoured vinegar (brine) but it is a bit watered down.  
• My favourite thing so do with leftover brine is to reuse it for more pickled onions more than once.  The vinegar has lots of flavour but has been watered.  When I reuse it I usually add in some extra red vinegar.  If you want to measure, top it up with vinegar until you have 1 cup and 1 or 2 tbsp.  I then heat it until it comes to the boil and repeat pouring it over a jar of raw sliced red onions.  
• The leftover brine can also be used for salad dressing: I like to add some vinegar and olive oil and am still playing around with this.  I have also made a small amount of salad dressing when I have had a tablespoon or so that will not fit into the jar.

On the stereo:
Picaresque: Decembrists 

In My Kitchen: August 2026

With the end of August, comes the end of Winter.  The past month has given us some wild weather but ended with a few blissfully sunny days that are perfect for hanging the washing on the line and heading out for a bike ride.  It has been a crazy month.  I finished up my previous job and for the first time ever I was sent an exit survey.  I did not mention in my survey how weird it was to have a team meeting in the middle of my farewell lunch!  We had not even finished eating.  I had a week between jobs where we did an overnight road trip to the Goldfields regions of Victoria.  And now I have had about a week in my new job which is going to be busy but interesting with good people!  

There has not been much time for blogging but I will give a round up here (and also in My Monthly Chronicles August 2026 post which will look at getting out and about.  We have had some amazing meals both at home and eating out.  Above is a noodle soup that was excellent and felt a little fancy to have condiments such as chilli oil (for Sylvia), fried shallots (for me) and daikon and carrot pickle (for both of us).

 

You can see a lot of the ingredients here: a mushroom mix of enoki, oyster and king oyster, fried tofu puffs, broken dried soya sticks, Chinese broccoli, wheat noodles and vegan fish balls.  The soup was amazing with the condiments but for one thing: the fish balls were disgusting.  I say that as a vegetarian who has never eaten seafood (other than flake and fish fingers as a kid).  They had a very odd texture and neither of us liked them.  The rest of the soup was slurpilicious!

Sylvia was very keen on making the dailkon and carrot pickle  which was from RecipeTinEats.  We simply added vinegar, sugar and salt to the veggiees.  The hardest part was chopping the carrot and dailkon very thinly, which Sylvia did in the front of the tv.  It was quite stinky but so delicious on all sorts of meals.
 

The main reason we made the daikon and carrot pickle was for a Bahn Mi.  I bought the bread rolls from our local Vietnamese "Crystal Bakery".  We had a tub of vegan pate from Fresh on Young to spread on the rolls.  We stuffed them with braised some tempeh, lettuce leaves, cucumber batons, daikon and carrot pickle and a garnish of parsley leaves from the garden (we don't like coriander).  It was amazing and messy and so so good!

These are the Miso Maple Braised Tempeh that Sylvia made.  The recipe was unlike our usual way of frying tofu or tempeh.  The chunks of tempeh were fried and then cooked in a glaze for about 30 minutes until glossy and sticky.  They had lots of flavour with quite a bit of fresh ginger and were quite saucy!
 

A complicate meal was a vegan roast at home in August.  She bought a Veggie Delites vegan roast and braised it with cranberry sauce glaze.  I am not so keen on them but it worked with all the trimmings.  We made it a weekend when we had lots of time to potter in the kitchen.   The facon wrapped brussels sprouts looked quite impressive.  We roasted potato, carrot, parsnip and pumpkin.  I also made gravy and cauliflower cheese using the same recipes used in my recent Vegan roast dinner pizza.

A simple meal was what The Kitchn called 20 minute Coconut chickpea curry.   It was a good way to use the nice laksa paste we have.  I probably took longer than 20 minutes especially with sides but it excellent served with brussels sprouts, red capsicum, spinach, leftover sticky rice, scalliion pancakes from KFL supermarket, spinach and the last lime from our tree this winter.  

A summer meal: vegetable fritatta from Smith and Deli and slaw we made a home.  I bought the fritatta and a chai flavoured vanilla slice while out on a ride.  I took a plastic box for my purchases.  The vanilla slice came in a cardboard tub that fitted in my box and the fritatta went straight in the box next to it.  I used octopus straps to secure it to the back of my bike and then merrily went on my way.  

I stopped at bike shops - the first because my bike had an odd sound and the second because the first bike shop had not fixed it.  But the minute I arrived at the second bike shop, the sound disappeared and I felt stupid trying to tell  them there had been a weird whirring,  It has not been heard since!  I also stopped to take photos.  At first my purchases seemed to be travelling well but by the time I got home the vanilla slice was such a mess I am not sharing any photos.  It was amazing with fantastic chai spices and the fritatta with lots of pesto on top was also a joy to eat after my long ride!

We had a new winter warmer.  This pot pie from Sweet Simple Vegan was perfect for the wild rainy weather we had in the middle of the month.  It was a gorgeous vegan creamy filling of onion, celery, potatoes, carrots, peas (and I thought I put in a tin of lentils but am not so sure now I look back at the recipe) and broccoli.  The puff pastry was cut into squares and arranged on top of the filling (which was cooked on the stovetop and oven in my cast iron pan).  I really loved this because it was much easier than dealing with a big sheet and I was able to use up some scraps of puff pastry from the freezer.

We also had an old winter warmer: Bean and beer stew with dumplings.  I had made it years ago (2010) and loved it.  When I made it again this August, I wondered why it had taken me so long.  It was great comfort food with lots of beans and fluffy wholemeal dumplings steamed on top.  Must remember this next winter!

While I was quite tired and not up for lots of new ideas, Sylvia found quite a few great new recipes.  This cabbage pasta is a fave new dish with mainly fried cabbage and seasoning in the pasta sauce.  I really like it with a coleslaw mix of veggies we have been making.  Sylvia found the idea online but ended up not following a recipe.  For the sauce she added miso, pasta water, nutritional yeast flakes, soy sauce, sesame oil and maple syrup.

 

I really loved these Creamy gnocchi with Crispy seasoned tofu.  This was another new recipe from Sylvia.  It was her favourite vodka tomato pasta but instead of adding cream, she added a tin of butter beans pureed with the bean water (ie undrained).  I liked it more with the beans but she preferred the sauce with cream.  The mellow creamy sauce went well with well with the crispy tofu which was seasoned with soy sauce, maple syrup, thyme, smoked paprika, onion powder and garlic powder.  So good!
 

We've continued to make rice on Sunday nights so we can have it on Monday nights to make an easy meal.  One night Sylvia wanted to try soaking, marinating and frying some dried soya chunks.  The marinade was great but the soya chunks are not really my sort of thing.  They were fine when mixed with lots of vegetables and rice. 

We even had a salad night with this Roasted cauliflower, pearl couscous and chickpea salad.  It was a warm salad but by the time I got home had cooled down and was delicious at room temperature.  We added in pickled onions, of course!  And had lots of the tofu and avocado dressing leftover.  I think it would be a great vegan dressing for coleslaw but we had it on toast instead.  This was a great salad that just might be back on the menu as the weather warms up.

Continuing the theme of food in our fridge magnets, Kerin brought a lego style magnet kit back from Vietnam to make a sushi magnet.  It was fun to do but the magnet fell apart within a day so is now on the fridge with parts missing!  What a shame because it is a fun idea.

This photos shows a lot of things we bought on our trip to the Vegemite museum in Beaufort, the Creswick market and a smattering of op shops and vintage shops in Beaufort, Creswick and Clunes.  The postcards are of paintings of local buildings by Beaufort high school kids using vegemite and water.  The spiced cider and bread are from the farmers market.  I got a green and white striped jumper in an op shop and Sylvia found a colourful skirt at the same place.  In the top right hand corner is a green glass bowl with a curved handle (like a basket) that she bought in an antique shop in Clunes.  We had a lovely trip that I would love to find time to write about!

Also at the Vegemite museum, I bought a stick of vegemite fudge for E who had looked after Shadow in our absence.  It was very nice - yes I had a taste.  Very smooth and not too intensely vegemite.

The whimsical green card was bought in Clunes at a shop with the wonderful name: Opsessed.  I also bought a pen and magnet at the Clunes Bottle Museum, a magnet saying "My keyboard must be broken.  I keep hitting the escape key but I am still at work".  Is it too soon to take this to a new workplace!  And some camomile, honey and vanilla tea to drink in our hotel room.

Sylvia was delighted by all the coloured glass in the bottle museum and bought this lovely green bottle.  She found some fake grapes - just the sort of thing she loves - in an op shop.

While at the Creswick Market I tasted a warm alcoholic spiced apple cider from Daylesford Cider.  I told the stallholder that I would buy it if it was non alcoholic.  He miraculously produced a non alcoholic version and I bought a six pack of the cans.  The heated taster was really good but we have drunk it cold and fizzy.  It is so wonderful, I wish I had more of it.  We really enjoyed it with our roast dinner!  It would be brilliant chilled in a warm Aussie Christmas.
 

We went to KFL supermarket and bought a vegetarian fish sauce and a plant based tonkotsu ramen kit.  I am curious to see the ramen kit but it is not opened yet.  

At Woolworth's supermarket Sylvia bought brown sugar porridge sachets - because it was winter, gluten free oreos and LCMs (accidentally vegan) marshmallow flavoured cereal because it was novel and on special.  I was pleased to have the oreos when a gluten free friend came over for a cuppa.  They were pretty good!  Sylvia really liked the LCMs cereal for a change but said it was very sweet.  

We had an electrician over for a couple of issues.  One was blue stuff leaking out of power points.  Urgh!  More exciting was having him install the light shade that I bought for Sylvia's bedroom last October when we went to Daylesford.  It is so gorgeous.  I have one installed that is like it but not quite as nice.  The electrician had to change the fittings so we could get the new shades up.  I am really pleased with the change because the light fittings that were removed were a glass bowl that was flush to the ceiling and it was quite awkward to unscrew it to change the light bulb.

At the end of my first week of work - my first full week in the office for years - I was tired and forgot to feed the starter for pizza dough.  Instead we ordered pizza from Shop 225.  When I arrived to pick up - after a text message - the pizzas were ready but they were still doing the dessert so the pizzas were not very warm by the time I arrived home.  The place was really busy and had a cosy vibe.

We had the From Nonna's Garden pizza with pomodoro stracotto (stewed tomato), eggplant, zucchini, onion, basil and parmigiano reggiano.  It came with the thin and crunchy Roman style base and by the time it got home it was really floppy but the flavour was amazing.  The other pizza was called 2807 (why??).  It had a puffy thicker base and was topped with fior di latte, mushroom cream, pork sausage, porcini, parsley, parmiagiano reggiano and "finished with truffle oil".  I was less keen on these because pork sausage and creamy sauce is not really my thing.  I loved the puffy crust!

It was good to finally try Shop 225 pizza which were very good.  This Italian restaurant prides itself on its inclusiveness.  They cater for vegans and celiacs.  Most pizzas can be adapted from both diets.  For dessert we had fried gnocchi with nutella.  The gnocchi was like doughnut balls.  They were tossed in sugar and excellent with the nutella.  I double checked that the nutella was vegan and it was.  We would love to go back and eat in.

Last weekend, I had a great leftover lunch.  The night before we made a great vegan pizza with some leftovers.  It had backed beans, chopped baked potato, mushrooms, olives, dollops of cashew tofu cream and crispy tofu bacon.  On the side was some slaw with a pickled onion brine based vinagrette that worked ok.  Lastly I had a mug of tinned tomato soup; this is my comfort food.

The other dish we had on the weekend that I loved was a Rhubarb and strawberry crumble.  I don't make many desserts but I love to make at least one baked dessert over winter.  It was a weekend of lazy food and a crumble was easy and comforting.  A great way to see out the winter.

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 enjoy her delightful spring greenery hand drawn header.  Thanks to Sherry for continuing to host this event that brings together some wonderful bloggers who share glimpses into their kitchens.   

In My Kitchen: June 2026

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It is winter,  The solstice has just passed and the weather is chilly,  Yet June seems confused with trees finally bearing their autumn colours and daffodils flowering in the front garden!  In the kitchen we have had lots of colourful bowls of food.  It was a month of check ups - a bike service, a car service and a dentist check up.  Shadow had a slight rise in his proteins on a routine test but we were very relieved that the vet was alert but not alarmed about his kidneys, especially when we heard that the 6 year old cat next door died suddenly of kidney failure.  The Coburg History Society's Bluestone cottage closed for renovation in May and my volunteer work there has pivoted into packing up the content.

We have been out and about and I will write more about this soon when I post My Monthly Chronicles for June 2026.  This month I have posted about Aboriginal Street Art for Reconciliation Week, the Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries Tour, the Home": art installation by Rone at Chadstone Shopping Centre, and wonderful scrolls at Roll Bae.  

After visiting Roll Bae, we crossed Moreland Road and Nicholson Street to peruse Wakim Antiques (10 Nicholson St, Coburg).  I loved the eclectic cluttered display of old furniture and brick-a-brack from estate sales etc.  I fell in love with a c1930 Royal Wilton Green Tiger Lily Breakfast Tea Set.  It was green with pretty little details and a ceramic toast rack as part of the set.  I could not resist buying it to sit in my glass cabinet in the my kitchen.

 

I continue to eat this home made toasted muesli for breakfast with fruit and yoghurt most mornings.  It is a great way to make sure I get fruit into my diet.  I love how the fruit changes with the seasons but the apples I've been eating in the cooler months take longer to eat that the softer summer fruit.  Recently I have turned to eating banana with the muesli.  When I was a kid we always had sliced banana on cereal.  As an adult I am finally understanding how easy it is to slice and serve.  Banana also paired with well with the arils from pomegranates that were grown in my mum's garden.  Those mornings felt fancy.

When we bought sticky rice, I had no idea it had to be cooked quite differently than the rices I usually cook.  Sylvia had a go doing it the traditional way that involved soaking it overnight and then steaming it in cheesecloth.  I had no patience for this and found a method to cook sticky rice in the microwave (rinse a few times, cover 2 cups of rice with boiling water, microwave covered with a dinner plate for 7 minutes, stir and return covered for another 3 minutes)  I have tried it a few times and it works fine.  Above is a very good rice bowl with sticky tofu, broccoli, cucumber, edamame, grated carrot, pickled onions, pickled ginger, sauerkraut.

Our cat is a curious little boy.  Shadow loves an open door in the kitchen.  Look at him inspecting the fridge.  I think he is looking for his beloved cheese.  

Shadow also appears whenever we are making pizza on Friday nights.  He loves to sit on a chair and watch, especially when I get out the cheese.  Sylvia has tried to interest him in her vegan cheese but he turns up his nose at it.  He knows what he likes!  We have been enjoying chopped baby spinach on our pizzas recently.  Sylvia likes it with sausage, schnitzel and olives, while I like mine with mushroom, red capsicum and olives.  Both of us have tomato sauce and cheese!

The ants are driving me crazy!  They came out when it rains.  Lately they have been in visiting in such numbers that I have put down traps which are now see-through.  It is fascinating and unsettling to see how many of them have been in the trap to take the poison back to their nest.  Then the next time it rains they increase again!  (I am sure killing them will throw nature out of kilter but I can't have so many in the house.)

It was frustrating to come home after work to find that I could not get in the back door as the door knob would not turn properly.  I tried many things including the credit card trick but it would not budge.My dad came to help out with his hacksaw and we are very happy we can go through the doorway out into the back yard again.

Tempeh is amazing!  I am so glad that Sylvia has finally come to love it.  Above is how she served her first go at frying tempeh with a marinade.  It was really good.  Served with a couscous salad and freekah salad from IGA, cucumber and spinach leave, pickled onions and sauerkraut.

We visited the vegan market at Coburg Town Hall and I bought home a vegan pork floss bun from Better Now Bakes.  I am not familiar with this sort of Asian bun.  The taste lots of umami with mushroom floss that was really savoury and stuck on with mayo that was oddly sweet, all on a soft bread roll.  The roll was so good and the savoury and sweet flavours were odd in a good way.  The bun looked hairy like a muppet (think fozzy bear) so I added some olive eyes to amuse myself!

Probably my favourite new recipes I tried in June was Meera Sodha's Vegan Broccoli, Fennel, Chickpea and Orzo Stew.  I would like a bit more fennel in my diet and this was a good reason to eat it more.  So delicious!  I made a few changes: I upped the orzo to 250g and added 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1 cup peas, 3 leaves of kale and about an extra cup of water.  It had lots of greens, a an amazing creamy sauce that had added fennel flavour.  We had the leftovers with tofu scramble, lemon dill quinoa casserole and pickled onions.

 

We've had lots of colourful meals (clockwise from top left):

• Mexican spiced rice with seasoned black beans, air fryer roasted cherry tomatoes, pickled red onion, lettuce, pickled purple cabbage, red capsicum. We have been having the spiced rice in rice bowls so often that I posted it this month.
• Bean Miso Pasta with peas, roasted pumpkin, broccolini, pickled onion.
• Meera Sodha's Sprout Nasi Goreng with corn, fried tempeh and pickled cabbage.  I really liked the idea of brussel sprouts in the nasi goreng but only had half the sprouts so added kale and peas.  It was quite mildly flvoaured (even with amping up the seasonings) and I suspect would have been better if I had bothered to follow the recipes and marinate some of the sprouts to serve on top.  
• Bean Miso Pasta with broccolini, peas, tofu bacon, pickled onion and sauerkraut.  Now Sylvia is making the bean miso pasta with a handful or two of spinach so it is green.

 

We can't get enough of pickled onions right now.  First it was jars of it from the supermarket.  Finally I tried a quick pickled onions (a mix of Tinned Tomatoes and Love and Lemons recipes).  I hope to post more about them soon.
 

On the way home from the dentist, we stopped at Tylers Milkbar in Preston for some baking.  It was almost 1pm and the baking display had slim pickings and the staff seemed rushed off their feet.  We didn't try to get a seat but just took a huge slab of amazing Vegan Pumpkin, Walnut and Parmesan Focaccia and a square of lovely Blueberry Crumble Cake.  You can read more about their wonderful offerings at my last year's post on Tylers Milkbar.

 

I stopped at Bake Alley Bakes in North Coburg when my bike ride took me nearby.  I wanted a loaf of bread but it was sold out so I contented myself with a fantastic focaccia topped with leek, potato, gruyere and a spicy herb spread (I didn't hear what it was but wish I had asked them to repeat it) and I also got one of their amazing dense and fudgy tahini cookies.  I ate the focaccia with Mock tuna (chickpea) salad and had plenty of both leftover for other meals.

We returned to the Lemon Dill Quinoa Casserole from In My Bowl (you can read about our first go at it in my June 2024 In My Kitchen post). Sylvia made it while I was at work and I was so happy to arrive home after a cold bike ride to this warm dinner. 

We love sticky tofu so Sylvia tried a new version.  This crispy tofu with sticky sweet and sour sauce from @le_cocque on TikTok tasted so so good.  It had garlic, ginger, soy sauce, ketchup, maple syrup, rice vinegar, cornflour (cornstarch) in the sauce.  This is Sylvia's bowl where it was served with sticky rice, cabbage, carrot ribbons, cucumber ribbons, edamame, pickled ginger, pickled onion and sauerkraut.  

My mum heard somewhere about mixing bicarbonate soda with just enough dishwashing detergent to make a paste into a miracle cleaner!  I am a convert.  (Read more about how it works.)  Since discovering it, I have cleaned lots of things - the enamel baking dishes, our the outside of our plastic kettle, tea stains on mugs, the oven door, saucepans and the stove top.  Above are pictures of my stove top before and after with a bonus work in progress picture.  The stove top looked like new when I finished.  This is a game changer!

I got tempted by these Dubai Pistachio Chocolate muffins from Woolworths supermarket.  They had a gooey blob of crunchy pistachio cream on top.  The supermarket muffins were a bit green but not worthy of the Dubai Chocolate topping and did not have nearly enough choc chips!

We had a collaging session at the kitchen table late one afternoon and did not want to stop to make dinner.  Instead I ducked out to pick up a vegan potato and onion pizza from Green Acre Pizza in Brunswick.  It was just what we needed while we kept on with our crafting.

This is the collage I made.  I think the giant cat on the sofa might have been unconsciously inspired by the iconic Goodies Kitten Episode.

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 delightful seasonal hand drawn header.  Thanks to Sherry for continuing to host this event that brings together some wonderful bloggers who share glimpses into their kitchens.