Friday 1 November 2019

In My Kitchen - November 2019

Well, I was going to start off this post with a wonderful quote about November, but since they all relate to a cold Northern Hemisphere, they're not so applicable to our sunny Spring weather.  So forget all that stuff about terrible winds and rain and cold, and let's look forward to watermelon and cherries and prawns and ice cream and salad and swimming and beaches ...  

So let's get to it, my friends.  Another month is speeding by, and here we have in my kitchen:




my new oven!!

Some readers may remember I spoke of the new oven sitting in our dining room for a couple of months.  At last, it is installed and I can bake - with a fan, and a timer, and a door that closes! and a grill, and a door that closes!!  Oh my, I hardly know myself.



preserved lemons

Here we have my preserved organic lemons, using the home grown fruit from our neighbour's backyard tree.  Nothing better than a backyard lemon tree, my virtual friends.  I used my wooden cocktail muddler to push down the fruit into the juice; it worked a treat.


food essays

While I was reading Ruby Tandoh's book on food and eating, she mentioned this book, et voilà!  If Ruby and Nigella both approve, I had to have it, of course.  I haven't started it yet, so nothing to tell you about it for now.



Tassie EVOO

I love Tasmania, and I love their produce.  This is from a small farm in the Derwent Valley, which also makes beautiful elderflower and elderberry products.  All that gloriously clean air and water down there make for beautiful products.


and yet another cookbook

This one is by an ex-Brisbane lady, who moved to England some years ago.  She has a blog, where she cooks up recipes inspired by her reading.  This is her latest book.  I can't wait to delve into it.



home made guacamole

I made delicious guacamole with our friends' avocados.  (No sour cream here, folks.)  I was surprised that they grew in Toowoomba, which is a cold place in Winter, and hot and dry in Summer.  I thought they were more of a tropical fruit, but clearly they can grow in varying climes.  Yes they can, as Wiki confirms ...  And they're actually a berry!  Who knew?  



coriander leaves with EVOO and salt

As is my current practice, whenever I have leftover herbs in the fridge about to die, I throw them in the blitzer with a wee bit of olive oil and lots of salt.  And bang! the paste goes into the freezer till I need it.  I feel so thrifty and virtuous, I practically glow:-)

I'd love to see you here my fine foodie friends, so feel free to join us from Nov 1-13!  Let us share in your delightful produce and recipes and books and travel etc etc ... 


How to join us here in In My Kitchen land:


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

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


3. Email me: sherrym1au@gmail.com, with your link or any    

    queries about the link process 




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In My Kitchen:



Happy Retirees Kitchen

57 comments:

  1. Great to see that you finally have a beautiful working oven! You are so lucky to have lemons growing locally -- I love preserved lemons too.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. hi Mae
      number one IMKer! yes it is wonderful to have organic lemons and limes given to us. and mangoes and chillies and ... thanks for joining in again! cheers S

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  2. Hi Sherry, Well hopefully I will be back before the 13th with an In My kitchen. Just a couple of things to do first.I love your post but how can I start decluttering and stop buying recipe books when you review such good ones. It's such a passion isn't it? Perhaps I should recommend that the library buys them, but I always want them for my kitchen.Still I love your reviews and you have your finger on the pulse. Yum I must make some guacamole.Best wishes, Pauline

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    1. ooh yes please pauline. make sure to come back with an IMK!:-) i know what you mean about decluttering - i really mean, honest officer! but it just keeps happening that i see fabulous books and gadgets and stuff....cheers S x

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  3. Hi Sherry
    Oh the joys of a new oven, No you have to get use to all its idiosyncrasies as every oven is unique, but I'm sure you will have fun learning all about it.
    I forgot to preserve some of the lemons off the tree this year as well used them all, but I will put it on the list for next year!
    That is such a great tip re the herbs...! I do it all the time and put them in ice trays with olive oil and garlic and then you just need to get one out and it is really to turn any meal into a flavour bomb.
    once again thanks for hosting!
    Liz xx

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    1. yes it's great to have the new oven. i am slowly discovering that it is a little slow and needs to go up about 5C than a recipe says. i put the herb paste in a freezer bag and flatten it so you have something that defrosts very quickly or can just be snapped off for use! i never did get round to using the ice cube in a tray ones when i made them, but i always use the flat pack:-)

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  4. Nice oven :-)) I am going to make some guacamole for the lunch today too.

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    1. hi angie
      nothing nicer than freshly made guacamole! what do you have it with? bread or crackers or corn chips? yep i love my new oven..

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  5. It’s always wonderful to have a glimpse into your kitchen, Sherry! The new oven is beautiful… What was the first thing you baked or roasted?

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    1. hi david
      i can't actually remember what i first baked as there have been so many things already... a quiche, and fish, and biscuits and a loaf and and and ... it's marvellous!

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  6. Well done on the oven. I bet it will take some getting used to as you no doubt mentally adjusted your baking. I don't know why, but I just don't like preserved lemons. I'm not sure why as I enjoy lemons and anything salty but something happens in the chemistry which means I don't like the end product. That olive oil looks luscious!

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    1. yep i am getting used to my new oven. i know already it is a bit slow and i need to add about 5C to any recipe, or just whack up the fan at the end of baking to finish off. funny isn't it about tastes? i can only eat tomatoes when they're not sitting looking at me all hot and limp. uurrgh! :o Can't wait to try the olive oil...

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  7. Your new oven will inspire lots of baking. I like the sound of that blog by Kate Young. Can you pass on her blogging details so I can follow? Nothing like a few fresh herbs to add zing to a dish.

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    1. hi francesca
      kate young has a blog called the little library cafe. she makes some wonderful things, all inspired by the books she reads. yep herbs make a big difference. cheers S

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  8. I wish I had a backyard lemon tree! Home grown lemons are so much better than commercial ones.

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  9. Congratulations for the oven! I live in a rented flat and my old oven has even no fan, haha! It's a very expensive good brand and doesn't want to die... so I try to live with it.
    I would love to taste Tasmanian olive oil! Sounds so exotic to a European!

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    1. hi sissi
      yes it's great to have the oven in at last. they do produce great olive oil down there. you must come and try it some time. thanks for dropping by.

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  10. Wonderful to see that stove in and being very useful 😄

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  11. Every month I promise myself to link up and by the time the 1st rolls around, I forget! I think I'm going to start 2020 as I mean to go on and try and link up every month. The oven looks fab, I think we are almost oven twins. The guac looks delish, I just can't get enough of avos right now, so yum!

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    1. i would love to see you here at IMK, sammie. i love guacamole, especially when made without sour cream etc. Avos are one of my fave things.

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  12. Always exciting to have new cookbooks to read through.
    Great job with the oven Sherry :)

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  13. I wish I can grow lemon in my backyard, love using it in so many things. And, congratulations for the new oven. I have both the convection (with fan) and conventional options in my oven but I mostly use the conventional. Your guacamole looks wonderful.

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    1. thanks balvinder! nice to see you here. yep love my new oven!

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  14. Joining back up this month, Sherry. Congrats on getting your stove installed!!!! Laurie Corwin is a great read! (CTB read that some years ago.) I think you'll enjoy it.

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    1. yay deb! i must get around to reading that book. My TBR pile is so huge...

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  15. Enjoyable post. I really like your idea of what to herbs before they go off.

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    1. Yes i love being able to save herbs and not waste them. Cheers S

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  16. Laurie Colwin is an outstanding writer -- bet you'll really like that book. And your oven looks like a beauty! So nice to have one with a door that actually closes. :-)

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    1. Hi KR
      I loooove my new oven even tho she is a wee bit slow:). Looking forward to reading the book. Cheers S

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  17. I am enjoying everything you are sharing! Cookbooks. New ovens. Guac. Olive Oil. I could use a little of everything!

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  18. Avos love the cold, but not too cold! And they can cope with dry heat as well. How I wish I had a tree in my garden. All the best in using your new oven :)

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  19. Those new cookbooks sound very interesting, let me know what you think. I have a definite problem with cookbooks, they are my addiction. And, you are very virtuous saving all those herbs. Congratulations on the new oven, what a relief to have it finally installed.

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    1. hi liz
      yes i'd have to say cookbooks are an addiction of mine too. i know lots of people say they just use online recipes but i love the feel of flicking thru a book and finding odd recipes here and there by happy accident. yep fab to have a working oven again! cheers Sherry

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  20. Here we are Sherry, finally a link to my What's in my Kitchen.
    https://happyretireeskitchen.blogspot.com/2019/11/whats-in-my-kitchen-november-2019.html
    Lovely to be part of your series. Hope this works ok. Cheers, Pauline

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    1. thanks muchly for joining in pauline. great to have you here. I have added your link manually so that's why it shows underneath the others. in the good old days pre-GDPR, i was able to add other people's links in myself, but not anymore...

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  21. It's so funny that you have sunny spring weather. I'm here in the Scandinavian darkness Guns'n'Roses hit November Rain playing in endless loop in my head. :)

    So I have also shared my post and there is no sun visible there! By the way, that Tasmanian olive oil looks great. What a curious place it is.

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    1. thanks veg hog for joining in! yes it is very warm here with lots of terrible bushfires south and west of us, so not close but still terrible. 3 people have died in the fires this week and it may be more. Yep tassie is the best!

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  22. Thanks Sherry, I'll try and do it the correct way next time, I was in a bit of rush preparing for a dinner party when I did this so took a shortcut:)

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    1. No worries pauline. I am happy to do it for people. It’s just that inlinkz used to allow me to add others’ posts directly but the new data protection laws changed all that so i do it manually now.

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  23. First off, congrats on the new oven (or at least oven installation)! I do indeed remember you saying that the oven was sitting on the floor in the other room. As if it's not bad enough to have no oven, seeing the new one sitting there tempting you would be the worst! I've gotta say that it's refreshing popping over and seeing the springtime vibes on your blog right now, Sherry. It's currently freezing rain/snowing outside my window. Yuck! Keep the warm thoughts flowing over there! :-)

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    1. it's incredibly warm and so so dry here atm. and of course we are having terrible bushfires. it's so sad. people have died and lost their homes. and it's only the start of summer! enjoy your snowy weather! and thanks for stopping by my post.

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  24. Hooray for your new oven! Isn't it wonderful?! Going to look up that Home Cooking book right now...thanks for hosting the linkup. =)

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    1. it's fabulous Jen. Only now do i realise how hard it was to cook with an oven with a door that didn't shut and had so many bits not working! thanks for joining in IMK.

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  25. Hi Sherry - it has not been a good month for blogging so far with computer just out of 2 weeks of repair and wifi problems. I thought I had just got in on 13 November but seemed linky is closed so I am sharing my link in the comments (which I feel shoudl be ok as it is still 13 Nov) https://gggiraffe.blogspot.com/2019/11/in-my-kitchen-november-2019.html

    Now off to read your post!

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    1. sorry to hear about your computer probs Johanna. i will add your post manually. thanks so much for joining in.

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    2. Thanks Sherry - much appreciated (esp after more dealings with my internet provider today who get 0 our of 10 for support - which might explain why they start with O)

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    3. we are having endless probs with the nbn - and no-one takes responsibility. grrrrr. good luck with your computer issues.

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  26. Well after rushing to get my IMK post written, it was lovely to relax and read yours! The new oven looks like great fun! I am coveting your preserved lemons - there is a lovely recipe on Tinned Tomatoes for stuffed courgettes with them that I want to try. And that home cooking book sounds well worth reading if you and Nigella recommend it (don't know Ruby I regret to say)

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    1. ruby tandoh is one of my heroines - so feisty, so smart, so creative!

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    2. RT sounds great - maybe some day I have some energy to read up about her but not right now :-(

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    3. i love ruby's feistiness! she is fun to read, and i adore her writing and lovely personality.

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