In My Kitchen June ’15
Come have a peek at what’s in my wintery kitchen.
Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial hosts this informative In My Kitchen series, an opportunity to visit food bloggers from around the world. Click on the link to visit their kitchens!
Winter is upon us. Warming soups, oven braised meat and hot fruit desserts with custard are part of our diet again.
In My KItchen I have “Reinette” apples, an old French variety to add to our apple tasting list. These apples are a thin skinned variety with a very smooth flesh. After a very short period of cooking they collapsed into a beautiful apple cream. If I hadn’t cooked them myself, I would have sworn they’d been passed through a fine seive. They are tart at first taste but have a lovely mouth filling sweetness. I think they’ll make a fabulous apple pie. I’ll mix them with pink lady for texture.
In My Kitchen are these stylish Japanese beakers, a gift from my Brisbane based daughter who delivered them in person. It was a huge Mother’s Day surprise seeing her, the best gift a mother could ask for.
This wonderfully fresh and fragrant Spiral Brand Organic Sencho Green Tea tastes especially good from my new cups. They small young leaves deliver a big flavour, a small measure is all you need. I confess that I was ambivalent to green tea before I tasted this.
During May, I posted a recipe for Walnut Oat Crackers. It was my attempt to replicate a brand I had tasted in New Zealand. The very day my post was published, there they were, the 180 degees brand in the Prahran market, the very product I was attempting to copycat. They were/are a tad expensive, but oh so delicious!
In My Kitchen is beautiful cold spun honey produced by my neighbour’s boyfriend who keeps bees. David’s honey is a delicious touch of sweetness on my breakfast porridge.
In My Kitchen is whole grain buckwheat. I’ll use it as an alternative to couscous and rice. It has a delicious nutty flavour and cooks in about 10 minutes.
In My KItchen are these amazing “Fresh and Crisp” bags that I use for storing green vegetables. I loosely wrap leafy greens in old tea towels then keep then in individual bags in the crisper draw of the fridge. The vegetables will keep in excellent condition for a couple of weeks. These guilt free plastic bags are biodegradable. I wash them in warm soapy water between uses and some in my stash are over 12 months old.
After 4.30 pm, the light In My Kitchen is so bad I have to put the camera on a tripod. It’s the only chance I have of taking sharp flash free photos. This table tripod is light weight and very adaptable. Now I need to do something about the shadows and reflections.
Then there are the dishes from the past month not worth sharing, because I believe there is more to a recipe than the way it looks!
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44 comments on “In My Kitchen June ’15”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
ooh i love those japanese cups and the storage bags look great, would be interested to know how effective they are, I find product does not last as long in Germany as in Australia. It’s a good month for IMK 🙂
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Hi Cate. The storage bags are very effective, I can (but rarely do) keep lettuces for up to 3 weeks without deterioration. I’ve had a super disrupted month and haven’t read through IMK yet….
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I am so with you Sandra about trying to take photos early enough for posts – I’m finding it really hard! I have amazing tasting food too but no posts 😦 I will be keeping my eye out for those biodegradable bags – I wrap all my veggies in a towel and then in a sealable bag which I re-use. Love your Japanese beakers, they’re beautiful.
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Sandra, you crack me up. “Odd Spicy Millet Salad” certainly looked pretty! Those Japanese cups from Leah are beautiful, and the Reinette apples sound intriguing. And I love how the honey was presented, you have to admire the young man for presentation! 🙂
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The millet salad was a good idea, strange combo of textures that didn’t really talk to one another, oh well you live and learn….
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I love everything in your kitchen, most especially the Japanese beakers and the green tea. Thanks for the kitchen view. Have a fab week.
xx Jhuls
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I love those vegetable bags as they actually do work! Thank you for allowing me to learn something new as never heard of Reinette apples!
Thank you also for this month’s kitchen view!
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I am fond of the biodegradable veg storage bags.and am looking for a way to make something in cloth that is a good bowl cover or veg storage bag that I can just wash after each use. I also use the Debby Meyer green bags and wash and re-use them many times. It is fun to see what other bloggers have in their kitchen.
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Thanks for dropping by Connie.
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Sandra, what a lovely surprise that your daughter spent Mother’s Day with you! The gift she brought is beautiful, too, and I’m sure it makes your green tea taste even better. (I wasn’t always wild about green tea, but it grows on ya!) Glad you found your favorite crackers, too!
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You’re right Kim green tea does grow on you. Thanks for popping into my kitchen…
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Not there’s a shortage of tea in my house but good green tea, is always worth buying another packet. I’m trying to reduce plastic so I’ll look out for the reusable storage bags. I have reusable plastic bowl covers, and am looking to get more.
Lovely IMK 🙂
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Thanks Ella Good luck finding the food storage bags
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Home spun honey is just the best! And those apples need to be in my kitchen as I need apple sauce. We are also enjoying hot fruit desserts with custard – made from powder 😉
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Reinette apples are perfect for sauce. Nothing wrong with custard powder!!
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I know all about ugly food that tastes great. I suspect though, that it doesn’t happen too often to you.
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You’d be surprised Mary!
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The Japanese beakers are gorgeous and how special that your daughter was able to deliver them in person. Love the biodegradable bags as well. I certainly have had my share of recipes that have failed, though usually I don’t even photograph them.
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I’ll treasure the beakers, but the real gift was my daughters 2000km journey to visit.
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Have to give those vegetable bags a go – I hate wasting food!
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The food storage bags are excellent. Celery is the best test. It never goes limp
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As always a pleasure to see and read about what’s been happening in your kitchen lately Sandra! I especially love the fact that you’ve posted photos of the dishes that you had high hopes for when you made them, but not quite to your liking in the end. Can totally relate to this and relieved that it doesn’t just happen to me! 😉
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I might make a regular feature of disappointing recipe photos. Most months there are one or two. You never stop learning……
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Sandra, the color of the honey looks amazing and I would love to have your Japanese beakers! 🙂
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It’s a joy to eat honey that you know has been treated with respect. It will lose it’s translucence with time sadly…
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Those apples look darling – I just googled them and found that Reinette means “little queen” – so cute!
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Thanks Gab, little apples with a big flavour!
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I always love your “in my kitchen posts”! Beautiful Japanese beakers! I have a set of Japanese beakers too and I adore them so that they are on display in my kitchen. Your’s are gorgeous!
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I wish I had a spot to display my beakers Seana! I’ve never consumed as much green tea as I have since I received them. THe tea and beakers seem to belong together!
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Those Japanese beakers are gorgeous! And the honey! Oh my goodness, it must be to die for!!! The presentation is so pretty!
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The honey is fragrant, a light hint of spice, not too sweet. Extra special knowing the source.
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What a lovely set of tea cups, made even more special having been delivered by your daughter! I never used to like green tea at home until I realised that not much was needed to get the flavour I like – just a pinch will do! The honey looks and sounds fabulous and I am off to google those bags next! Thanks Sandra!
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Nice to see you Selma! It was such a surprise to see my daughter, she and my husband had been plotting behind my back. Now it’s lovely drinking green tea from the beakers and thinking about her.
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Hi Sandra, I am glad I am not the only one who makes dishes that are not “post worthy”. It is especially annoying when the photo looks great. Lucky for me I was into photography when I was in my 20s and still had my tripod. Mine is big and heavy but it doesn’t have to move very far.
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It’s a shame that not all great looking dishes are worth posting but I’ve made plenty of ugly food that tastes great!
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Thanks for the peek into your winter kitchen and for sharing some failures, we all have a good collection of those! I will keep an eye out for those biodegradable bags as well. I saw an interesting product in a health food shop, a reusable waxy type product as an alternative to ‘gladwrap.’ I am going to go and grab one soon and see how it goes.
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I’ll be on the look out for the waxy plastic wrap alternative. I try and avoid using it, but just sometimes there seems to be no choice. I seem to take endless pics of food which I then decide not to post because the recipe hasn’t measured up.
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Lovely sounding honey.
I am attempting to live in a plastic free world, and was about to google a way of storing veg, then you provide the answer about biodegradable storage bags. Perfect! Must find some. I like your failures too. Most non- bloggers wouldn’t realise how many of these we collect!
I agree about the light in Melbourne at present- it is making photography difficult.
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Coles sell the food storage bags. I’ve been using them for about 3 yrs and have only ever bought 3 packets, and they really do stop condensation from forming which leads to deterioration
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Great news.
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Is there such a thing a too rich beef pie? Pretty sure my hubby would say no!
Now I need to hang my head in shame after seeing your re-usable biodegradable bags – I’m afraid I’m guilty of just throwing mine away after one use. Love your touch of bling in the kitchen with your gold tripod!
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I braised oxtail to make the pie. Adding butter puff pastry was really a silly decision on my part! I couldn’t bear to throw those expensive bags out after one use, frugal is my middle name..
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I am so glad you posted on the walnut and oat cakes since there is no way the NZ brand will find its way here. They are wonderful! Beautiful honey – especially lovely when you know the beekeeper. Love the beakers Leah brought you. For tea? Sake? And, that little camera tripod is incredibly cute in the gold colour. I can see something similar on my wishlist in near future…
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I bought the tripod years ago for travelling, it’s very light weight. While it’s travelled the world, it’s had way more use at home….
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