In My Kitchen: July 2015

It’s once again time for In My Kitchen and as per usual this is a collection of things from the past month — a small snippet of those 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

Willy Wonka eat your heart out (aka this is what happens when I say I’ll make the cake for the MIL’s 80th b-day).

For those keeping score it was made up of 2 layers coconut cake, 2 layers chocolate cake, salted caramel buttercream filling & scoops, vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream coat & scoops, chocolate ganache, honeycomb, meringue kisses, and coffee doughnuts. All homemade in one afternoon, because crazy. The plan is to share it all here — the only question is when that will actually happen…

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Food Finds

I never buy asparagus and mangos from Mexico during winter (broccolini and red papaya are perfect local substitutions) and I can’t be bothered with imported stone fruit when it’s cold outside — but white cherries are my seasonal homesick (aka I’m f’n cold and miss my mom) weakness…

I don’t want to know what they do to them to get them here from Washington state or what the environmental impact is, I just want to treat that single 1lb container like sweet, sweet gold and plan our next holiday.

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And speaking of seasonal produce I joined Aussie Passionfruit for a media lunch around the new-season crops — and can we talk about how much I adore fruit in a centrepiece?

Of course a media event generally means goodie bags and I now have an enormous pile of passionfruit in my kitchen simply begging to be used. And if you’re in Australia make sure to keep an eye out for in influx of passionfruit into grocery stores soon!

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The lovely Tania sent me some spelt couscous recently — not surprisingly I turned it into breakfast and topped it with all the rainbow things.

I don’t eat regular couscous because it’s just white pasta in another form (yes, really) but an ancient farro/spelt version is a definite contender. It’s nuttier than regular couscous, worked well with tangy fruit, and would be just as good in a roast pumpkin salad or under a hearty stew.

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You know I love to support small businesses and this one — RAW Chocolate* based in Victoria — is ticking all the raw, dairy-free, refined sugar-free (and low sugar at that), fair-trade, small batch boxes.

3pm chocolate for the win.

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I hadn’t heard of Eat Nourish Glow* by Amelia Freer before it landed in my PO Box recently but it’s a book that — in this age of fad diets and quick fixes — is packed with information that a whole lot of people should read.

Written by a certified nutritional therapist, Eat Nourish Grow has a really down to earth approach about how to turn around what you put in your body. I had to laugh at the reference to growing up with a mother on the 80’s diet (which was all about counting calories instead of measuring nutritional value!).

There are a few recipes but more so this is about changing how you see food and how what you eat relates to wellbeing.

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You probably already know about the Virtual Morning Tea that Sally and I held recently, well we also hosted a physical one and then Sal hosted another one on her own.

It was during the second event that I popped by towards the end of the day and was too distracted by the red-centred kiwi fruit to pay any attention to all the other treats — can you blame me?!

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Prop Love

I simply adore this platter from Earth & Baker that I won last month thanks to the Cook Republic #tastyvignettes Instagram challenge.

If you’re done swooning over the platter and want to play this month you’ll find the list and prize in Sneh’s feed.

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Fancy new plate — fresh out of the kiln one night, put to work the next day. This was my trial one, stay tuned for more soon (and yes for those who have asked, they will be for sale…)

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That one time my friend Emma had a prop sale and I totally behaved myself. Not pictured, a print I’m determined to hang and style before sharing…

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Not only have I been doing a pottery course at a local community college, but I’ve been working clay with some girlfriends thanks to the lovely Bec from ChuChu. It’s brilliant to be back on a wheel again — and while I wouldn’t say trimming and I are friends exactly, we have a tentative truce going.

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Out & About — aka Not My Kitchen

That real in person morning tea I mentioned? It looked a bit like this.

In theory there’s a post coming on this, simply because the photos were too pretty not to share! If you’d like you can still donate to the cause.

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When I was a kid my grandmother would bribe me with IHOP Funny Face Pancakes if I went to church with her. Now my husband bribes me with brunch at The Depot in Bondi if I run a 5k why-do-they-call-them-fun-runs-fun-run with him.

He’s also the only one that will go to church with my grandmother. Full circle y’all, full circle

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If you go to Aquas — a newish soft-serve place in Sydney that only has two flavours at a time, Sea Salt and whatever’s on special for that fortnight — there’s no escaping the wall.

At a recent media event around the corner I may have mentioned to RJ that 1: this place exists, 2: we’ve never been, 3: the special flavour was Milo (chocolate malt), and 4: t’s been far too long since we’ve had an #RJHoldingIceCream shot.

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Back at the usual Lock Stock & Barrel for salad with an egg on top, it’s the little things that make me happy.

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Miscellaneous miscellany

5k Minimos fun run observations…

1. Children under 12 run like they’re drunk or imitating hyenas escaping from a lion but never, ever in a straight line.
2. Tiger moms have nothing on German moms when it comes to dragging a sobbing child up a hill. For the entire 5 kms.
3. Even after not running for at least 6 months I came in under 29 mins (RJ wants you to know he did a PB of under 24 mins). It’s possible couldn’t walk right for two days.
4. People wearing tutus get the loudest cheers. I was not wearing a tutu.
5. I need new running shoes, I’ll never get a new hat.

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Love is Love.

In the words of future mother-in-laws everywhere, “Yes I’d adore another glass of champagne, but who’s going to clean up all this confetti?”

Good one Americaland.

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That’s All Folks

Make sure to pop over to check out the other IMK posts listed in the sidebar of Celia’s Site — there is always great stuff to be found.

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* Asterisked items were received for editorial consideration in accordance with my editorial policy. Nothing here is sponsored. All opinions are fully my own and yes they are generally positive, because I don’t have the time or inclination to share stuff I don’t like. Supercalafragalisticexpialadoshus. Beam me up Scotty.

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