It’s once again time for In My Kitchen and as per usual this is a collection of things from the past month — as seen over on Instagram — in loosely interpreted categories and no particular order. As always I’m linking up with Celia for IMK,
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Kitchen shenanigans
I’m currently a bit mad about this vegan butter I created on a whim. Three ingredients, so easy and so very good. I promise to share soon!
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Spoils* from a paella class put on recently by Flavours of Spain. I wasn’t able to attend the subsequent International Paella Championships a few weeks later down at Manly as I was manning a table for the Zine Fair, I am however able to make more paella at home. Have I mentioned how much I love paprika and saffron? Love.
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Remember when ended up with a significant portion of the Australian Macadamias 40th Anniversary lunch centrepiece in my bag?
A few days later I headed outside to trade aggression for fresh macadamia meat. Don’t be fooled by the cute prop hammer, there is a proper big-mamma one just out of frame because macadamia shells are, quite literally, a very hard nut to crack.
A few tips for cracking a macadamia:
- make sure the nut shakes like a marble in the shell
- look for a very fine crack from the little dot on one end to the little dot on the other end
- hit the macadamia on the smaller of the two dots to crack it
On the other hand you can just get a proper macadamia cracker. Same rules as above apply, much less risk of finger loss….
Works perfectly for walnuts and pecans too. Just saying
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Recipes including nuts are a pretty regular occurrence round these parts so when I recently attended a lunch with Nuts for Life — a “nutrition and health education initiative established for the Australian tree nut industry to provide information about the nutrition and health benefits of tree nuts” — I was quite pleased to come home with all sorts of tree-nut goodies*.
The basic Nuts for Life outtake is that a handful of nuts a day (30 g – a shotglass full or the number needed to cover a post-it note) can amongst other things help lower the risk of heart disease and type-2 diabetes, as well as lowing LDL (bad) cholesterol. Tree nuts include almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts.
Did you know that everything except Brazil nuts are grown in Australia? All Brazil nuts in the world come from wild trees in the Amazon, they don’t grow anywhere else. Put that one in your pocket for pub trivia, thank me later.
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Not cooking related but perfect for upcoming holiday reading. Thanks to Random House and Penguin for the goodie bag*.
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Props and plates and processors oh my (aka #oppshopobsession)
Two plates and two spoons with the most gorgeous handles. I do love an oppshop find.
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After staring at these time and time again in Target (yes Target, this is not the first time) I finally grabbed a few. There is no resisting scalloped bowls, they just make everything taste better.
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Because, art (aka I make stuff)
I decided last minute to make a new zine for the Zine Fair. Then I decided to illustrate it. Perfectly logical other than the fact that I hadn’t picked up a paintbrush in roughly 20 years.
I dug the ancient art supplies out of a box and started to play, what do you know but it worked out pretty well — I must say I’m quite impressed with myself.
The result is an 8-page illustrated mini-cookbook titled “The Passive Aggressive Dinner Party – Your guide to creating a delicious, yet stunningly uncomfortable evening“. In other news I crack myself up.
Right now it’s only available as a printed zine, but it will probably be the first e-book I do (one day).
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“Mavis felt a bit exposed, all sticky and perched up on that can, but she knew that come dinner time she’d be the belle of the ball.”
Beer can chicken. Not an urban myth. No special equipment or stands needed. Cooked and then illustrated for the aforementioned dinner party zine. Possibly the best roast chicken I’ve ever made as evidenced by the number of times RJ has requested it since.
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Once again we waited until the final night of Vivid to head in and look at all the pretty lights. They did a brilliant job at injecting colour and pattern this year, I could have watched the Opera House show for hours.
More pics over on Facebook if you are so inclined.
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That’s all folks
Make sure to pop over to check out the other IMK posts — there is always great stuff.
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* Asterisked items were gifted to me in accordance with my editorial policy. Nothing here is a paid sponsorship. All opinions are fully my own. Supercalafragalisticexpialadoshus. Beam me up Scotty.
Thanks for the look inside your kitchen and the laugh! I look forward to reading many more foodie adventures from your blog. Thanks for sharing. Liz x
Thanks for the peek into your kitchen! I love macadamia nuts, those pics have made me want to go fine some. Looking forward to reading more in the future!:)
Lots of good things in your kitchen JJ! That paprika sounds wonderful… I adore paella… those bowls and op shop finds are fun! And love the photo of the Opera House!
G’day! I love viewing your very busy kitchen too!
Love macadamias and always love seeing the Sydney Opera House…thanks also for this month’s kitchen view!
Cheers! Joanne
When my daughter was small my father-in-law would seed his backyard with macadamia nuts, and the two of them would go on a nut hunt. Any nuts they found were placed on a brick and he would help her smash the nut open with another brick. She was never a fan of the nut but loved the adventure.
As always so many good things in your kitchen but I am continually in awe at the breadth of your talents. Well done on the zine.
Well now I want to gobble up some nuts, run to Target and make roast chicken for dinner! You are one clever cookie with your artistic skills. I don’t even want to think about what would end up on paper if I tried to draw a chicken!
Im certainly intrigued by vegan butter! Cant wait to hear about it!
I have a similar nut cracker that I found at a market. Love your new props JJ, especially the spoons. Thank you for the peek into your kitchen. 🙂
Oooh JJ, you’re clever, vegan butter! Maccies are such a bugger to crack – I’m always so impressed when I buy them and they’re shelled whole – how on earth do they achieve that, I wonder? The green plates and spoons are just stunning and I’m off to Target now – thanks for the headsup on those gorgeous pieces! 🙂
I can’t get enough smoked paprika. I put it in everything. Macadamias are just too tough for me I can’t be bothered with all the shell and the crushed bits!. Love all your books
JJ – you crack yourself up and you crack me up too! I walked past those very plates just a few hours ago in Target but kept walking. Perhaps you should have done the same? I’ve heard good things about the Safran book. Thanks for the tour and laugh. xx
hi there
what a lot of fun this post is! thanks for the laughs.:) a proper nut cracker is a must. love that chicken.