Thursday 4 December 2014

In My Kitchen - December 2014

December brings us summer and festivities.  We have been enjoying magnificent stone fruit, warm days and it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

In my kitchen we are just finishing off the produce from a visit to Coburg Farmers Market two weekends ago.  Sylvia and I are still raving about the cherries and I was so sad when we finished the apricots.  I will write more about the zucchini flowers soon.  We have one apple left in the bowl and a bagel in the freezer.

In my kitchen we often have banana oat pancakes on the weekend.  Sometimes they are plain janes with lemon and sugar and sometimes they are fancy.  When I bought some early cherries from the supermarket they were a disappointment.  Nothing like the glorious cherries from the farmers market.  I rescued the supermarket cherries by stewing them and serving with vanilla yoghurt on the pancakes.  Lovely!

In my kitchen I value a good vegetable peeler.  My favourite one disappeared weeks ago.  It was given up for dead.  I was putting up with cheap replacements.  Then I made a batch of frugal freezer stock that I make with vegetable peelings that I keep in the freezer.  Inside the frozen scraps was my peeler.  Thank goodness those scraps went into the freezer and not the bin!

In my kitchen we have too many seldom used sauces and condiments.  They are hard to resist.  Pesto is possibly one of the sauces that gets used quickly.  I bought this Dairy Free Pesto at O'Hea's Bakery.  I was won over by the ingredients list.  This pesto includes smoked almonds.  Sylvia has asked for pasta tomorrow.  I am planning to break open this pesto.

In my kitchen we have a fine appreciate for Scottish products.  We brought home a half eaten packet of Tunnocks caramel logs that we bought at the Scottish Day at the Immigration Museum.  I liked them but if there had been a choice I would have gone for the caramel wafers which are probably my favourites of their products.

In my kitchen is the occasional impulse purchase.  I bought these Junior Mints because I have heard of them (thanks Seinfeld) but never tasted them.  It was a good decision as they worked well in the eyes on my owl cake.  I thought they tasted quite like After Dinner Mints, but rounder.

In my kitchen the dip of choice is usually hummus but we use lots of different dippers.  These brown rice chips with wild rice were excellent.  Crisp and only lightly salted but big on flavour.  Sort of like rice crackers but better!

In my kitchen we have spreaders.  Little blunt knives made specially for spreading dips and butter.  This set are a recent addition to our spreaders.  I love the bright colours.  Sylvia occasionally takes one in her lunchbox with some hummus.

In my kitchen are signs of Christmas.  Years ago a friend gifted me some snowflake biscuit cutters that he didn't want.  I hung onto them as I love my cutters.  This year with Sylvia's Frozen fever, they have suddenly acquired great popularity.

In my kitchen we haven't had any soft drinks for a long time.  Then I saw this Bundaberg Spiced Ginger Beer and it has gone down very well.  As well as ginger, it is flavoured with cinnamon and cloves.  This is the sort of Southern Hemisphere festive drink I am very partial to.

In my kitchen we have brought out the Christmas linen and the advent calendar.  Here is a selection of Christmas tea towels.  Our tree decorations will have to wait until we pick up the Christmas tree we have ordered.

In my kitchen is my new water bottle.  Long time readers may remember I have been in a quest to find a good leak-free water bottle.  I have had a long line of unsatisfactory water bottles, including the cruel bottle that emptied itself over a camera in my bag some years back.  I bought a Thermos water bottle for Sylvia to take to school.  It has been so successful that I have bought one each for E and myself.  They keep the water cool and they don't leak.  Highly recommended!

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.

36 comments:

  1. I love looking at your kitchen in December - it's like looking into the past or future by about six months. How I dream of stone fruit and cherries! Love the look of the Chrimbo Bundie too - I'm guessing it's vegan?!

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    1. Thanks Joey - I have checked the ginger beer ingredients and it is vegan. I spend a lot of the year dreaming of stone fruit and cherries - it is such a joy when they arrive

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  2. Smoked almond pesto...I like the sound of that!

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    1. Thanks Joanne - it is actually a regular pesto without dairy but I guess the smoked almonds give lots of flavour - it didn't taste really smoky but some of the almonds are finely chopped rather than ground

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  3. I love when you do these "In My Kitchen" posts, Johanna. I guess you could call me a peaker, lol...My first reaction comes from the Junior Mints. They are quite popular around here and happen to be a favorite of mine. Never thought of them as Owl eyes though, lol...I happen to LOVE spreaders. I know that's actually odd but, vintage ones come in oh so many colors and shapes. I didn't think people even used them anymore.

    Anything Frozen seems to be quite popular with the little ones this year. My grand kids are finally passed it. But those snowflake cutters are very cool, lol...

    Thank you so much for giving us the tour Johanna. It was quite FUN!!!

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    1. Thanks Louise - We used to call it a sticky beak when I was at school and a lurker when I was at uni :-) I think it is possible to get junior mints at speciality lolly shops but they are not everywhere. I am glad you love spreaders. They were quite popular a few years back and now they aren't so easy to find - we have a few cute ones with little people and santa on them. Sylvia loves them - I think because they are just kid-sized. Would love to see your vintage ones. And interesting to hear your granddaughter has outgrown frozen - wonder if she will get the bug again when they release a new frozen story.

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  4. oooh that gingerbeer looks good, I'm making up a batch this weekend.

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    1. Thanks Cate - that is so clever of you - ginger with some cinnamon and cloves is such a classic combination

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  5. That ginger beer sounds delightfully festive and your colourful spreaders are very cute. I relate on the importance of a good peeler too. Mr B and I have different peeler tastes so we actually have two (!) but mine has disappeared and I think it may have accidentally gone in the bin :P I have a tendency to throw it out with peelings if I'm not careful.

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    1. Thanks Kari - that is funny that you and Mr B have different peeler tastes - so do E and I . I hope your peeler hasn't gone into the bin - I feared that had happened to mine and was so pleased to find it among the freezer scraps

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  6. My Aussie vegetable peelers are my favourite ones to use also.
    BTW you could make a gingerbread Christmas tree using all the snowflake cutters.
    Eat a cherry for me - I miss them at Christmas time.

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    1. Thanks Pene - that is no hardshop to eat some cherries for you - they are just heavenly right now. I love the idea of making a gingerbread christmas tree with the cutters - we have done it with stars but I feel that the snowflakes would give nice texture - or maybe a combination of stars and snowflakes!

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  7. Love your December kitchen! We have the same vegetable peeler - glad you found it =)
    The crisps look delicious. The spreaders are completely adorable (need to track some down!) and loving the look of Christmas-y things!

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - it is such a great peeler - the only problem is that it is quite round and always rolls off the bench. You really do need cute spreaders in your life and I would highly recommend the crisps (most displeased not to find them when I went back for more this weekend)

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  8. SO far my favorite "In my kitchen" post... because you looked at the ordinary things. To me even Jr.MInts are ordinary. They were always my first choice of candy when I went to a Saturday Matinee as a kid.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks Mae - I did think it is a fairly ordinary post but I don't consider junior mints to be ordinary - they are quite exotic here! But I can see you would enjoy them at the Saturday matiness.

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  9. What a lot you have going on. How amazing to find your vegetable peeler - I've had those sorts of situations too. I do remember that episode from Seinfeld yet I've never had one of those mints - Seinfeld definitely made them internationally famous. That pesto looks amazing xx

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    1. Thanks Charlie - I seem to have too many of the "lost the peeler" episodes and less of the "found the peeler" episodes. It was a happy moment! I remember friends who were Seinfeld fanatics raving about junior mints when I was younger!

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  10. What a lovely array of things in your December kitchen! I love your collection of Christmas linen - I collect it too! And, I must check out that ginger beer! Cheers!

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    1. Thanks Marian - we have been lucky to be given quite a bit of christmas linen - it is lovely to take it out each year. And sadly I tried to buy more ginger beer but sadly there was no more to be found - will check again.

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  11. oooh that Bundaberg Spiced Ginger Beer looks really good. Would you mind revealing your source?

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    1. Thanks Emma - I think I bought the spiced ginger beer at Woolworths (or Coles if not Woollies) - but when I checked for it again it wasn't there. However I have my eye on another ginger ale that is about in markets and online - http://www.brucecostgingerale.com/ (I have tasted it and it is very good)

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  12. ooh that ginger beer looks great. i love the roza's products too. i remember when the company first started up here in brisbane when roza was still alive. it's wonderful that the family kept it going after her death. i have thermos envy:)

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    1. Thanks Sherry - hadn't heard much about Roza's products but they always look very stylish. We have started on the pesto and it is a little chunky but in an honest sort of way.

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  13. Nice selection in your kitchen Johanna! The linen is really cute :) Junior Mints are such a favourite for me!

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - I think I could become quite partial to junior mints myself :-)

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  14. G'day Thanks for your lovely and festive post today Johanna! You had me at your oak cakes and the Junior Mints were my fave from childhood!
    Roza's pesto is the best! Thanks for this month's kitchen view too!
    Cheers! Joanne

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    1. Thanks Joanne - I think it junior mints were about in my childhood they might well have been a favourite with me :-)

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  15. I haven't seen those brown rice crisps before- perfect little things for dips and so on. Must keep an eye out for them.

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    1. Thanks Frances - I went to buy more brown rice crisps and they had the plain salted ones but not the wild rice ones - they are a great alternative to the usual dippers

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  16. That's so funny about your peeler. I swear my peeler has been thrown out with peelings several times, which means a new one has to be bought. I need to attach it to done Velcro and a drawer handle so it never disappears again! I'm now on the hunt for that Ginger beer, as I'm a Christmas tragic and that sounds right up my alley. Merry Christmas, Johanna.

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  17. Pancakes with cherries - yes please!

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  18. The pancakes looks tasty as does all the other fresh produce. Smoked almonds in pesto sounds like a nice change, I may have to try that sometime. Happy Holidays!

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  19. GGG - I've said it before and I'll say it again, you ALWAYS have something in your kitchen that I have to go and seek out myself. This time it's the Brown Rice Chips. We don't have soft drink in our house but we also got sucked into the spiced ginger beer. It's very nice and not too heavily spiced. Great in a Moscow Mule. Thanks for the tour and glad you got your peeler back : )

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  20. Everything looks so delicious!!!!! YUM! I have Roza's blue cheese dressing in the fridge and their smoked Aoli... so delicious, I love that there are lost of fresh ingredients and no nasties :)
    I am sure that I have grown out so many great peelers in my day, but never have I found one in the freezer! :) I walked paste that ginger beer the other day... now I'm looking forward to trying it!!! Thanks for Sharing! Liz x

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  21. Oh dear no, we can't talk about Junior Mints. I used to have an addiction to them, but haven't tried them again since I started tempering my own chocolate. But now I can taste them just from looking at the box! :) The stonefruit in your kitchen looks wonderful and hasn't it been a glorious year for cherries! And I know what you mean about the peeler - I have one blunt one that I refuse to give up because none of the replacements I've bought feel right in my hand! :)

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