Sunday 1 August 2021

In My Kitchen - August 2021

Today I'm busy with spring cleaning even though it's still mid-Winter.  There's just something about the light when the sun is low in the sky and very bright, and the sky is that intense polarised blue.  It's glorious, but shows up every bit of dust that has gathered for the last ... mmm ... several months.  So I've grabbed a bamboo paper towel, and am happily wiping down the dust of the ages from the window shutters.  I love these towels!  They work a treat, and you can reuse them, and reuse and reuse ...  

August will be a busy month for me and Mr P.  We're giving a talk at our local historical society; I'm having more dental work, and I'm on a committee to update some 'totem poles' at our local Library.  These poles have photos and short bios of significant people in our neighbourhood.  Will be fun!  Anyways, come join us everyone for another In My Kitchen post.  Everybody is welcome!



a corner of my kitchen

Our kitchen faces north-east, which is perfect in a Queensland house.  And did you know you can no longer buy double sinks with double draining boards as we have here?  How silly.  I love these!


In My Kitchen:



my new Japanese knife (and cheese)

This is a beautiful, hand-forged knife made by Yoshifumi Otsuka, a third generation blacksmith in Japan.  It is a thing of beauty.


delicious little pies

I made a bundle of meaty little pies, which vanished very quickly.  I gave a couple to our neighbour, but Mr P. and I consumed the rest in a day or two.


love this cloth!

This is a fabulous compostable cloth.  I love it.  It's sturdy, you can wash it over and over, and chuck it in the washing machine.  And it's compostable.  Wonderful!


and tasty crisps

These crisps come from New Zealand, and are very tasty.  And best of all, the bag is - yes, you guessed it! - compostable.


lots of lovely mandarins

Our friend Brooke the potter stayed overnight, bringing these fruity goodies from a friend's tree.  I know what you're thinking: 'but they look so gnarly, so bad!'  But inside they were beautiful, so full of flavour and colour.  I've never had such sweet mandarins.  They are Page mandarins, a cross between a Clementine and a tangelo.  So juicy, so sweet, so delish!  Thus spake Gollum, tee hee.


goodies

My cousin sent me the sardines and saffron for my birthday, and I bought the Tumami online.  Alice was a Masterchef Aust contestant a few years ago.  She has written a fab vegetable book which I have on my shelves, and she's on radio and tv these days.  The spread is black garlic and tomato in case you can't read the label.


dinner!

We fed our friend grilled salmon, and a couscous dish served on my lovely Batch Ceramics platter.  I added edamame, roasted capsicum, parsley, sesame seeds, nuts and a yuzu oil dressing.  We scoffed the lot!


and here's my curveball

You see those fruity cards on the bottom left?  They are mine,  and are for sale in a mate's shop.  I hope I sell a few :-)  Or lots!


Here we have the usual reminder, folks: IMK posts are about your kitchen (and kitchen garden) happenings over the past month.  Dishes you've cooked, preserves you've made, herbs and veg in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on.  You get the picture.  And throw in a curveball! - whatever you fancy; no need to be kitchen-related.  The link is open from the first to the thirteenth of the month.  Let me know if you need help with adding your post, or if you would like it added manually by me after the 13th (if you're running late). Here's how to join in:


Options for adding your post to IMK:

1. Add via the Add Link button at the bottom of this post.  Instructions can be found on the sidebar of this page, under the Add your IMK link OR:

2. Comment on this post, providing a link to your post so I can add it manually to the list below OR:

3. Email me: sherrym1au@gmail.com, with your link or any queries about the link process


(please add the logo to your post if you'd like to)


You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

63 comments:

  1. Lots of goodies this month, Sherry. I am drooling over the cheese..the sponge cloth is so darn cute! The card design is perfect for spring...so I am sure they will be as hot as those little pies :-))

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    1. thanks angie. yes i hope i sell some of my cards!

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  2. p.s I also love my double sinks, one smaller though, and with just one draining board.

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    1. yes one sink is a bit smaller in our kitchen. our friend is renovating her house, and couldn't buy a double sink with double draining boards at all.

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  3. e'un piacere leggere i tuoi post, e mi piacerebbe assaggiare i tuoi squisiti piatti! Complimenti!

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    1. thank you Lea. that is very kind of you to say!

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  4. Your post is filled with delicious things but your card made me smile. My granddaughter came with a birthday card made especially on CARD board. I also feel for you and your friend about the sinks. We have a very smell kitchen with one larger sink and one tiny sink an done drainer. There is no room for anything larger.

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  5. Hope you sell lots of cards, too! That's a nice design, BTW. Don't recall seeing packaged good with compostable bags here. Should look to see it they're on the shelves and I've just missed them -- I do like that idea.

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    1. thanks KR. i hope so too:) Yes that is the first time i've seen compostable bags. such a great initiative.

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  6. Sounds like a good idea to do some kitchen cleaning in our sun today too. Lots of dust and grime showing that not obvious on dull days. 😱 What are your talks at your historical society? Our AGM is coming up soon and I have just been busy sending all the papers out. We are hoping to have it face to face but Zoom is still an option on the cards. Alas.

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    1. yes that winter sun is a killer! We are doing a talk on the COrley explorer. There was a couple in the 70s who took photos of many thousands of houses in queensland and sold them but if the householder didn't want them, they just kept the negs of which there are still K. Hubby and I went out each weekend to find the houses without addresses so our talk is about that ... Yes our AGM for today was cancelled due to lockdown.

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  7. Love your artwork Sherry, and the many happenings in your kitchen xox

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  8. I’m familiar with Marlborough wines, but not salt! I’ll have to look into that. Love your artwork.

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  9. Those pies look delicious Sherry! :D I didn't know that about sinks. Why is that? That's crazy!

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    1. thanks lorraine. yep crazy about the sinks. they're so useful.

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  10. I also got some gnarly citrus fruit - off the tree and straight to me! I made mandarin curd this weekend. Next weekend it may be orange :) Why on earth can't you buy the double sinks with double draining boards? Hope lockdown goes smoothly and I will come back with my submission to IMK on Thursday :)

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    1. yum to mandarin curd. sounds great. dunno about the sinks. so weird! looking forward to your post.

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  11. Hope your dental work is done and dusted and your teefy pegs can have a rest! As usual your post is full of yum and as usual the first of the month has caught me by surprise, IMK wise! Those pies look the real deal, and as so often when I read your posts, I can't help but wish I was your neighbour :)

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    1. hi sammie
      yes dental work done till october when i go back for another checkup! it would be lovely to have you as a neighbour:)

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  12. That new knife looks incredible...but I'll be honest. I couldn't stop staring at that cheese - it looks delicious! :-) And good work on the cards in the local store. I've got my fingers crossed for you there!!

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    1. yes i think everyone drools over the cheese in that photo. Thanks re cards. i hope i sell some!

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  13. Sherry, that cheese (and knife) both look so fabulous but I'm really salivating over your meat pies, which look deliciousl I'd love to hear about what you'll speak of with the history talk. And oh, as a card lover, I love the ones you shared. I hope they are big sellers -- they deserve to be! (I have some sponge cloths and I love them, too!)

    I'm glad you have IT to follow and I just did. I have mailchimp and so far so good, but still frustrated at the missing blogger reading list. I guess I'm not the only person this has happened to, so maybe they'll fix it soon. Meanwhile, I'm set here.

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    1. thanks jeanie. they were tasty. the history talk is about a photographer in the 70s who took about 250K photos of local houses. there are about 60K left, which hubby and i went searching for to find out where they are. we will talk about that! Blogger is such a nuisance with its changes. i bet they go the way of the dodo in the not too distant future.

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  14. Your kitchen looks so neat Sherry. And in love a north east facing kitchen. The mandarins look incredibly juicy- must look out for this variety.

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    1. thanks francesca. i do love a neat kitchen, and the north-east facing aspect. i've never seen Page mandarins in the shops; they came from a friend's tree.

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  15. It's funny when reading your post about winter and its so hot and humid here while we are in the middle of summer. I love the large beautiful windows in your kitchen.

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  16. Wow that historical talk sounds really interesting - I'm also really fascinated by old photos. My dad found some of the neighbourhood I grew up in China and it looked like nothing had changed since the 1950s. Those mandarins look so good, it made me peel one and eat it immediately

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    1. thank you! i'm not sure we will be doing the talk - not this month anyway - due to lockdown, which i think will go on for a while.

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  17. There are so many lovely old houses in Brisbane, it sounds like such a useful project, hope your presentation goes ahead. Wish I could hear it? Lots of interesting things in your blog, and I love your cards Sherry, I would buy a few, always on the lookout for nice cards. Oh to be creative, and it should be in my genes, sigh. Pies are great aren't they?I love that your cousin sends you interesting foodstuffs for your birthday, we don't really need much else do we? Compostable is your theme today I think?I must track down some of those cloths and the bamboo cleaning cloths, we are on the verge of spring cleaning as well,Spring seems to be here already unfortunately, although I love Spring. You know, I was on so many committees when I was working, that I have stayed away from them, However a couple are luring me in now. Take care, lovely post and mine is on its way.

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    1. thanks pauline. i fear our talk may be delayed again. we were supposed to do it last year! i can send you a couple of cards if you like? yes my cousin sends fab presents; wonderful foodie gifts. ooh what sort of committees could you be on? yes being retired means people think you have lots of spare time for stuff like that!

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  18. Where to start...I love that sponge cloth graphics! And that it's compostable! That hand forged knife is a great addition to a cheese board (and your kitchen). Finally, congrats on the lovely card for sale at your friend's shop. I love cards like!

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  19. Lots of good things in your kitchen this month :)

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  20. Happy August in the kitchen! I’m away from home and kitchen for a while, so no post for the moment. I hope to look at some of the other participants, if I have time, but if not, I’ll be having much more uneventful months in the near future.

    best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. yes i noticed you are in Iceland! how marvellous.

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  21. I really like your kitchen corner. It's nice to look out of the window when cooking. I have also noticed that such double sinks are in decline, which really is a shame. We have only one in our flat! You can't do much with it.

    I love that sponge cloth! I like to use those types and am always on a lookout for cute motives.

    Have a nice August!

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    1. thanks veg hog. i do love my kitchen. yes i am very keen on those sponge cloths. i have two and i may buy more as they are so useful. take care!

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  22. Hope the talk goes well at your local historical society. I don't have double sink where i currently live, but i wish for one in my next home whenever that it, I hope the home either comes with it or i am able to put one in. I am liking the pastry on your pies, do you have a link to the recipe you used. I may give it a go. And your fruity cards are lovely, hope they sell. ps I am looking out for a compostable cloth too, will seek one out.

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    1. hi shaheen
      our talk has been postponed again due to covid. sigh ... thanks re the cards. i hope i sell some! yes i love the cloths. so useful. i will hunt up a pastry recipe for you...

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  23. Love the cards Sherry! I hope you sell lots. Ciao and stay safe, Cristina

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  24. Love the cards Sherry! I hope you sell lots. Ciao and stay safe, Cristina

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  25. Your kitchen is filled with so many good things, especially your double sinks with double draining boards. I had one in my potting shed when we lived in New Hampshire and it was wonderful.

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  26. I love the color of that platter Sherry. And those meat pies wouldn't have lasted long at our house. Lovely things this month. Good luck with your early spring cleaning, your kitchen looks spotless.

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    1. yes it's a lovely colour liz. i am still spring cleaning; it never stops ...

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  27. Lovely kitchen light and of course a double sink with a double draining board seems very sensible. Lots of lovely food and compostables! Do you compost the mandarin peels - I remember we could not give them to our worm farm but I love that we can put any food in our council green/compost bin now. Your cousin sounds interesting but then again you obviously have an artistic streak too - wonderful that you have the cards for sale - hope they do well.

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    1. hi johanna
      yes i would miss my double sink. i have even seen just one sink and NO draining boards in kitchens. Eek. No I don't compost my peels, but i sure wish we had Council compost bins. thanks re artistic streak :) and about the cards. i hope to sell a few!
      regards
      S

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    2. Hi Sherry - just catching up on past comments and noticed you had asked if I was using an email subscription service - I haven't because I just don't have much time or energy for it and don't remember establishing a subscription service in the first place - hope there aren't real readers missing out but when I looked at my subscriber list it looked like mainly marketers and I am happy for them to miss out.

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    3. it was horrible trying to start up my new subs. service with Follow.it. I mean they were great and did most of it for me but just getting to that stage of deciding who to go with and how to get it done ... Eeek!

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  28. You are such a talented artist, I don't think I could draw anything which resembled a fruit or cheese. Ha!
    The corner of your kitchen is lovely and I dearly wish I had a window over my sink. It's nice to get the natural light.

    Meat pies - yesssss!

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    1. oh tina you are very kind! yes i adore our kitchen; so much light! and oh yes meat pies are so yum!
      regards
      S

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  29. Always nice to be in your kitchen! That knife is absolutely beautiful, but so are the cheeses!

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    1. thank you david. funnily enough, i'm not a cheese fan so hubby and our friend ate them:)

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