In My Kitchen November 2015
It’s been an interesting month In My Kitchen. After a total cupboard reorganization my kitchen and I are finally coming to terms with one another which is just as well, as our tardy grandson finally arrived on October 2nd and I don’t have much time to spare. Will’s first month hasn’t all been plain sailing but maturity, patience and common sense are seeing Mum and bubs through the difficulties and heading in the right direction.
Baby Will
The other slightly less momentous event for me last month was attending EatDrinkBlog in Canberra, a conference for food bloggers. It was a terrific weekend on many levels. It was quite exciting to see how Canberra is throwing off it’s conservative reputation and joining the cutting edge of the Australian foodie revolution. Then the excellent speakers left me with a brain full of ideas for writing, planning, photography and growing readership. Also, thanks to incredibly generous sponsorship, not only were we wined and dined beyond our capacity, we were given a take home goodie bag full treats and fabulously useful stuff. 
What I loved most of all about EDB15 was connecting with fellow bloggers, and especially some “old” online friends. In the spirit of sharing the link love I met Margot from Gather and Graze, Liz from Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things and Beck from Searching for Golden Pudding, all Canberra based bloggers. Margot generously gave me a welcome to Canberra gift which included honey from her neighbour’s backyard beehive. 
On the Saturday morning of the conference we visited Canberra’s Capital Region Farmers Market. With the help of Margot’s insider knowledge I chose to spend my vouchers on beautiful green and peppery extra virgin olive oil from Homeleigh. I also bought some of their vacuum packed olives which are sadly, just about all gone. They were truly delicious. 
There were several competitions to enter before the conference began, food narrative writing, restaurant reviews and recipe writing. A condition of entry was that the piece had to have been posted on your blog in the previous six months. I’m very proud to tell you that my Cajun Spiced Roasted Vegetable Salad recipe won the runner up prize, a bottle of wine from Capital Wines and a copy of the Capital Region Farmer’s Market Cookbook. 
Back in Brisbane I’m finding it uncomfortably humid. I made the observation that the tap water isn’t very refreshing, mainly I think because the water from our cold tap is actually lukewarm, but then it’s not Melbourne water either which is reputed to be among the best in the world. Anticipating an enormous consumption of chilled mineral and soda water and concerned about excessive plastic bottle usage, we decided to invest in a “Soda Stream” to aerate our tap water. It far exceeds our expectations, now we literally have sparkle-arkle-arkling water on tap. We’ve located a gas cylinder swap centre very close to home to help keep the cost down.
I love participating in this forum. In My Kitchen is hosted by Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. Hope over to her site and follow the links to see what’s happening in food bloggers kitchens around the globe. It’s always a great read.
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37 comments on “In My Kitchen November 2015”
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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 
Sorry to be popping in so late Sandra, but congratulations on your lovely grandson! and it was lovely to meet you too 🙂
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Thanks Beck. Have a wonderful Christmas…
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What a lovely photo of you & your grandson – he looks happy Sandra 🙂 Congratulations on your bottle of wine – well deserved. Loving all you amazing goodies from Canberra too, they sound fantastic. I’m sure you would have had a wonderful time in Canberra meeting other foodies – eating, drinking, laughing & learning 🙂 Hope you’re settling in nicely in Brissy x
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Thanks we ‘re settling in slowly, it’s a been a hectic few months
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Congratulations on your lovely grandson. Also on the recipe runner-up prize. I wish I had more time to spend attending to foodie delights of Canberra… we’ve enjoyed the Old Bus Depot Markets as a diversion on occasional trips from Sydney but now we’re moving further north when we head that way we will definitely detour and explore further. Our soda stream ranks along with the coffee machine as a kitchen necessity 🙂
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Thanks Ella. In the few weeks since I wrote the IMK post I’ve learned that I will never ever live in a soda stream free home again.
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Sandra, your grandboy is a charmer. I saw his picture and couldn’t help but do an audible, “Awwwwwwwwww.” Glad to hear you met up with online friends at the bloggers’ conference, and congrats on your winning recipe (runner up is a winner!) and for the link to it. I like how you finish the salad with white balsamic — I like EVERYTHING about it, including your Cajun seasoning! Thanks again. xo
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A charmer indeed Kim and developing at a very rapid rate. Glad you like my recipe, it falls into the family favourite category here
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Hi Sandra, just catching up on my favourite blogging friend’s posts from the past week. I pulled a muscle in my back last Monday and haven’t been able to do much at all, except for feeling rather miserable and sorry for myself 😉 Lovely IMK post – great to see little Will again… and lovely memories from EDB. We have a soda stream too and love it… though mostly the boys who use it on occasions with a dash of Monin cordial or Buderim Ginger Refresher splashed in there too. M.xx
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Oh Margot, I’m so sorry, back pain is totally debilitating. I hope you’re well on the way to recovery. The soda stream is being used every day to aerate water. Right now I’m drinking a white wine spritz. Sending healing love your way
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Congratulations on your grandson Sandra. Sounds like you had a blast at the conference!
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Thanks Ania, yes the blogger conference far exceeded my expectations
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I always enjoy your IMK posts Sandra. What a gorgeous little guy. You must be in heaven with such a sweet bundle of love in your life. I’m envious that you were able to meet Margot. 🙂 I would love to meet the two of you, what an experience that would be. And, soda stream is a game changer isn’t it? It’s fantastic on a warm (or hot) day, especially chilled, no ice. I like mine “not too charged”, maybe the second setting. They’ve really made them counter friendly…in other words, I don’t mind it setting on the kitchen counter.
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Thanks Seana. It was wonderful to meet Margot face to face, she is as warm and generous as she comes across in her blog. I think the three of us together would fill a room!
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I have to agree with you… 🙂
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Well baby Will has to be the cutest little fellow…I hope he grows to be a very happy and healthy little boy that visits your kitchen often.
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I hope so too Karen…
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Congratulations again, Sandra.
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Congratulations. Your grandson is adorable.
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Thanks Jennifer, we feel blessed..
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Sandra, it was so lovely to meet you in person here in Canberra… congratulations again… your recipe well and truly deserved to be up there with the winners… and how lovely that you have little one in the family… xxxx PS book is coming along!
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Glad the book is coming along Liz, I think it’s a fantastic project you’ve undertaken. I’m so time poor at the moment everything is a bit neglected.
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Lovely post. Lovely baby too. Congratulations to all involved.
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Thanks Conor he’s a relaxed little guy…
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Will is adorable! Congratulations 🙂 🙂
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Thanks Linda…
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What an adorable little boy! I have thought about a soda stream as well. We have excellent water but drink fizzy as well. Even though we recycle the bottles it bothers me.
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Recyling plastic bottles consumes a lot of water and energy Gretchen, I feel much happier about consuming sparking water now that I can make my own
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Don’t I know it! Luckily we don’t drink too much fizzy water. Don’t get me started on all the Americans that consume nothing but individual sized bottled water or my mother in law who refuses to recycle at all….
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What a lovely little boy. I also like the look of the soda stream. I think I might need one of those. I don’t much like the taste of Brisbane water.
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Seriously Debra, chilled Brissy tapwater aerated with the soda stream is as good as expensive imported sparkling water. We are really impressed
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Maybe it’s sad, but what I’m most interested to hear more of is your cupboard re-organisation! 🙂
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It’s boring really but I simply prioritized space to the frequently used things, relegated the seldom used stuff to storage boxes elsewhere and invested in some cheap stackers to maximize height usage and access. At least I can find what I’m looking for
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Lovely pic of young Will. It would be hard getting much done in a kitchen with a cute little fella like that around. You have reminded me to get out the soda stream and re-locate it on the bench.
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You’re so right Francesca, i just want to pick him up and cuddle, but then surely it’s my right to spoil him
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And what a beautiful, beautiful wee baby boy he is. Great shout out to the conference and other bloggers Sandra. We have been pondering a soda stream for some fizzy wizzy as well, so great to hear some positive feedback.
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Thanks Cheery it’s lovely to have a boy born into the family, it’s been girls girls girls! I am really impressed with soda stream. Not only is it quick and easy, the bottles hold their fizz really well. Brissy water never tasted so good
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