In my kitchen:
Is this wonderful wooden platter. It was made in Tasmania from Tasmanian Myrtle. I bought it in Margaret River quite a few years ago. It is inspired by the Cape Barren goose of the Furneaux Island. It is absolutely beautiful. The craftsmanship is stunning.
On the platter are two things I had not tasted before. The first is jujubes (Chinese red dates). The tree is from the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). It is a common shade tree in Asia. The jujubes we had were glacéd and were delicious. I did a Google search on them and found that they are considered a potential crop for the SW of Western Australia, including Bridgetown. Maybe I will go into jujube production 🙂
Coincidently, Siobhan, the Garden Correspondent, showcased fresh jujubes in her August/September IMK post. I will certainly buy them again if I see them. They were yummy.
The other item on the platter new to me is a Bulgarian sheep cheese, Kash Kaval. I saw it at my favourite shop, Kakulas Sister, in Nollamara, and thought I would give it a go. It was very mild; perfect with a fruit chutney and Chinese red dates!
In my kitchen:
Are two loaves of multigrain bread. Bread is a wonderful thing. All you need is flour, salt, water and yeast.
With these loaves, I was roughly following a recipe that required 300g of mixed seeds. I used linseed, chia, sunflower seeds and some wheat to make up the 300g. I then covered the seeds in water to soak overnight. At this stage, I realised I was supposed to measure 300g of water. “Oh well,” I thought, “I will weigh it tomorrow and reduce the water content by any weight over 600g “. Next day, I weighed the water and seeds. It weighed 1.2 kilograms! Shit! I was only supposed to add an additional 400g of water which would have made one kilogram. I was way over. I decided to proceed with the correct amount of flour, sourdough starter and salt and see how I went. It seemed a bit dry so I added more water!! Then it seemed a bit too wet so I added more flour!! Then I decided to stop adding things 🙂
Amazingly, the loaves turned out perfectly. It just goes to show how forgiving bread is and … different seeds absorb different amounts of water, therefore, any recipe that says “use mixed seeds” and then states a set quantity of water is just plain silly.
In my kitchen:
Is a Meatzza. The recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s fab book, Nigellissima. I have made a lot of recipes from this book. I highly recommend it, however, we weren’t so enamoured with this recipe. This is notwithstanding Nigella claims this recipe is numero uno in terms of repeat requests in her house. She does concede that her demographic is the teenage market. Given our age, it may be our taste buds are a wee bit more mature than her teenage children.
In my kitchen:
Is my new chocolate dipping fork styled on Celia’s fork. I bought the fork from the Op Shop for $0.25 and Maus angle-grinded the two middle prongs off for me. It worked perfectly. I have ordered some real chocolate dipping forks, from Amazon, which I will showcase next month but, in the meantime, I am loving my make-do affair.
In my kitchen:
Are these cute little dishes I bought from Kitchen Warehouse for less than $2.00 each. The full price is $6.75 so they were a real bargain. I already have six I bought another time from the bargain bin. I am going to make individual brioche in them.
In my kitchen:
Is this new fab colander. Our colander in Perth died about 5 years ago. The base came away from the bowl. Maus promised me she could fix it so we didn’t replace it. The other day, one of our sieves got a hole in the base (not bad after 30 years of service) so I went to Kitchen Warehouse for a new one. I decided I would get a new colander at the same time (Maus had long forgotten her promise to fix the old one). At the time, I thought it would be good to also get a colander for Bridgetown but they only had one. The next day, as I was walking past another kitchen shop, this beautiful blue colander caught my eye. It was on special for just $5.00. What a bargain. Now it is mine and lives in Bridgetown.
Talking about bargains. In my kitchen:
Are these rocks and they were free!!! Very early on in Bridgetown, I was cooking a tart and I needed to blind bake the base. I realised I didn’t have any pie weights. I don’t like using beans or rice (what a waste of food and, in any event, I don’t think they weigh down the pastry enough) so I tried to think of a small but heavy alternative and came up with these gravel stones. I picked these from the driveway, gave them a good wash and they worked a treat. So well, in fact, I haven’t bothered buying pie weights for my Bridgetown kitchen.
In my kitchen:
Is more hardware. Maus found this hammer on the roof of our Perth house more than 20 years ago. It is clearly very old and very cute. Again, necessity is the mother of invention. I was in Bridgetown without a meat tenderiser and I asked Maus what I could use. She produced this little hammer covered in Glad Wrap. Perfect. It now lives in the kitchen.
In my kitchen:
Are these multigrip pliers. As I have mentioned before, Maus and I are falling apart and opening jars is not that easy anymore. Maus bought them from Bunnings to help out in the jar-opening department and they are perfect for the job.
In my kitchen:
Is my dust buster. I bought it for the sole purpose of sucking up crumbs in the kitchen. Anyone who bakes sour dough bread knows you get flour and crumbs everywhere and they are both a pain to clean up. This guy is perfect for the job. He sucks them up in no time.
In my kitchen:
Were piles and piles of Rangpur limes (mandarin/lemon cross) and lemonades (orange/lemon cross). I had so many I didn’t know what to do with them. I made so much lemon cordial last year, we didn’t need any more and I have lemon pickle and preserved lemons aplenty. There is only so much two people can eat.
This year we bit the bullet and took them to our local ice cream shop where they make lemon sorbet with them. We have taken our lemons/limes there before and the owner is always keen to receive them. We are so happy that someone is using the fruit we don’t want anything in return. Nonetheless, he generously gave us (as he has before) two tubs of ice cream. To be honest, it is not the best but it is very kind of him to offer something in exchange for the fruit.
More fruit and Lily in the background (it was Jules under the Rampur Lime tree).
If you would like to see what is in other bloggers’ kitchens this month, visit Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. Celia hosts In My Kitchen each month.
Passion Fruit Garden 
I am with you all the way I am falling apart myself…..those jar openers are very handy. Love little Lilly shes adorable just wish I could have the same problem as you with a glut of fruit at my house!
Hi Tania, I always seem to have a glut of something!
I love that chocolate dipping fork – that you got it at an op shop, that Maus upcycled (down cycled?) it for you and, that you are saving something from land fiil. Good work! Jules is sporting a mighty fine mane of hair.
Hiya Tiffin, It’s a pretty good fork and I love to recycle things so it is a double bonus.
that wood board is so lovely!!!!
Thanks so much Giulia.
So many wonderful things to see in your kitchen, but my favorite has to be that stunning wooden platter, loaded with so many delicious looking treats to snack on .. would LOVE to try the jujubes!
Hi Marianne, the jujubes were lovely – sort of like glaced cherries only bigger!
I covet that platter, and everything on it. So beautiful. And your lime tree. I constantly plan out my dream fruit orchard in my head, and I’ve never heard of a lime/mandarin cross so I’ll have to add it to the list now 🙂
Hi Jas. Be warned, Rampur limes (the lemon/mandarin cross) are very prolific. They are great for cordial and desserts but you will have much much more than you will know what to do with!!
Glenda… “bread is forgiving”… spoken like a true dough-meister. I don’t know how many batches I’ve started before adding, calculating, adjusting (humidity and heat are a factor here, too) and ended up enjoying — even if it resulted in more than one loaf. It takes an aficionado to know when to stop! LOVED your roof-top meat tenderizer, colander replacement, and statement about falling apart. 🙂
Hi Kim, Bread is forgiving. I couldn’t believe how wonderful these loaves turned out considering its inauspicious beginning.
I LOVE the platter – its so beautiful!
The bread looks totally delicious – nothing like fresh bread 🙂
and i just LOVE the colour of that colander!
Hi Sandy, Thankyou so much. The platter is stunning. I love it so much.
G’day Glenda! Thank you for this month’s in your kitchen view!
LOVE Tassie wooden boards….your cheese and bread created a welcome…please come in feel too!
Cheers! Joanne
Viewed as part of IMK
Hi Joanne, thanks.
Oh Glenda, I used to sell those platters from Tassie… so very beautiful! Love your citrus, such a wonderful bounty!
Hi Lizzy. The platters are lovely. I cannot believe the craftsmanship.
That wooden platter is amazing! And I love your hardware collection 🙂
Thanks so much Tandy.
I love spending a while in other peopl’es kitchens… I must say I went wow! when I saw the pic of the Meatzza… if its taste wasn’t up to scratch the pic certainly is. I’m going to be on the look out for jujubes. And I know you didn’t intend for Jules and Lily to be an IMK item but, oh, I’d love them in my kitchen 🙂
Hi Ella, Jules and Lily (and Maggie) are always in the kitchen looking for something to eat. I could take a photo of them every month! The meatzza wasn’t bad, how bad can mince, a few herbs, tomato and mozzarella be? It just wasn’t stand out, I guess.
Oh Glenda, where to begin…you have got such cool things in your kitchen and I’m so glad to have found your site (need to spend some more time exploring). That wooden platter is beautiful & you can see the fantastic workmanship has brought out the beauty of the wood. I love the photo of the inside shot of your bread & never would have guessed what was inside (glad you shared the ingredients). I need to do some more experimenting with bread but have always worried that I’d mess it up somehow. And those little dishes – the color is so rich and pretty. But please! Give me that hammer! I covet your hammer.
Hi Diane, thanks for stopping by and commenting. That bread was a miracle with all the mistakes I made it is a miracle it worked. It just goes to show how forgiving bread is – as long as it has the essential ingredients in roughly the right proportion, it will work. That hammer is a beauty, our house is 89 years old, if it was used to make the roof, it may be near its 100 birthday.
Hi Glenda- I love your posts- you go from gravel to bread boards and end up with such a bounty of lemons! Thanks for sharing- especially the tools- I love your hammer!
Hi Heidi. Variety is the spice of life. That hammer is an antique, we are guessing it is close to 100 years old.
“Real chocolate dipping forks”? I’ll have you know that our gerry-rigged versions are the bee’s knees! 😀 Glenda, LOOK at all those limes and lemons! And you should go into growing jujubes, because I’ve now come to the conclusion that you can grow absolutely anything. Love the beautiful board – is it meant to resemble some sort of bird? And I’m just the teeniest bit disappointed – I was hoping we’d get to see rice cooked in a rice ball this month! 😀
Hi Celia, It is supposed to resemble the Cape Barren goose. You know, I was going to make some rice in my rice ball for this IMK but then I forgot – getting old. I did ask Maus if I could take it to the Op Shop as we don’t really need a rice cooker but she wasn’t keen. She is such a horder! She will forget about it after awhile then I can quietly send it to a new home.
Proper tools in your kitchen! Your wooden platter looks so tactile – if it was in a shop I know I’d have to pick it up and stroke it.
Hi Anne, it is very smooth and beautiful. Sometimes I am a bit hesitant to use it but I know that is silly.
oh hello there Lily! Are’nt you just adorable!!
Love the vintage hammer, it really is a treasure!
We grew up eating Kashkaval cheese for breakfast. Pop a couple of slices into some Lebanese bread with sliced cucumber, roll and enjoy!
Thanks for the tour Glenda, brilliant as always xx
Hi Lisa, the Kash Kavel was so nice, I am going to get some more and try your tip.
As always Glenda, so many wonderful things in your kitchen. Your serving board is beautiful and your bread looks perfect – I could go a slice with lashings of butter – heavenly and how clever to use paving stones to blind bake a crust -think I shall have to steal your idea if you don’t mind and thank you for the reminder for me to put a new dust buster on my shopping list – our just gave up the ghost last week.
Have a beautiful week ahead.
🙂 Mandy xo
Hi Mandy, the little stones work perfectly. It is so logical when you think about it – pie weights are just clay balls. The Dust Buster is perfect in the kitchen. Thanks for stopping by.