In my kitchen:
Are seeds, seeds and more seeds. I have been getting my vegie patch ready for summer and putting in all my seeds. This year, I have grown red kidney, cannellini, borlotti and stringless beans; Roma tomatoes (only a couple, I promise); Lebanese cucumbers (only a few); capsicums; corn; basil; coriander; white, brown and red onions; leaks; rocket; ruby chard; summer broccoli; and Kent pumpkins. I just love watching and waiting for the seedlings to pop up through the soil. They started appearing a couple of days ago, along with the snails and slugs which appear to like the little plants as much as I do.
I already have in parsley; silverbeet (I don’t know from where it came); beetroot; chives; sage; coriander (I try to have a continuous supply); asparagus; broccoli; and garlic that is nearly ready to be pulled.
I picked six beetroot yesterday and a load of silverbeet. While I am writing this, Maus is sitting in front of the TV chopping up the beetroot and silverbeet leaves and stems so I can cook and freeze them. I put it in the dog food – I am sure it is very good for them.
I do love my vegie patch. Maus is amazed that I can stand on the porch and just stare at it.
This week, we were offered lots of poo which made me very happy. We spent Sunday morning shovelling alpaca poo into bags. I now have a enough poo for the rest of the season.
In my kitchen:
Are avocados. We have two trees, a Feurte and a Rincon. I am not certain what these guys are. You would think I would have made a note for the photo, wouldn’t you? This year, we are getting plenty of avocados. Avocado is a great tree to grow as the fruit doesn’t begin to ripen until you pick them, so you don’t have hundreds of fruit ripening at once. Every three or four days, we pick a couple. As they ripen, we eat them. I just fertilised the trees today in an endeavour to encourage them to produce more fruit next year. They are covered in flowers so it is looking good.
In my kitchen:
Are passionfruit. We have two vines and they are doing very well. They started producing fruit last April and we get a couple of fruit every day or so which is weird as I thought passionfruit only produced fruit in summer. I am not complaining, though. I am hoping production increases over summer so we have enough to make passionfruit syrup to put on our yoghurt. I don’t know the variety. I struck them from some cuttings a reader gave me. I love it that a couple of cuttings are now keeping us supplied with fruit.
In my kitchen:
Are these cute salt and pepper shakers. We were having dinner at our friends, Alan and Steve’s, a few weeks ago and Maus noticed that these salt and pepper shakers were by Ritzenhoff. As a throw away, I said they would look good “In My Kitchen”. The next time we saw our friends, Alan had Tony and Linda (yes, that is their names – check out the tats) in a bag.
Tony and Linda are currently visiting my kitchen. They are part of Ritzenhoff’s Mr Pepper and Mrs Salt 2004 collection. They are designed by Michal Shalev, a carpet and textile designer from Tel Aviv, Israel.
In my kitchen:
Are my two Ritzenhoff beer glasses. They were a gift from my sister, Juanita. The gift was a little strange since I am not a beer drinker but there you go. Maus regularly has a beer out of them so all is not lost. 🙂
The two glasses are part of Ritzenhoff’s royal themed beer glass collection. Ritzenhoff approached its designers to create glasses with a royal design worthy of the high esteem in which beer is held.
The glass on the left is designed by Faïza Abou-Abdou, a Canadian silk painter, and is part of the Autumn 2004 collection. The one on the right is designed by Siegmar Münk, an illustrator from Hamburg, Germany. It is part of the 2005 Spring collection.
In my kitchen:
Is my mum’s potato masher. For some time, I have been wondering where it was. When I was in Perth and couldn’t find it, I assumed it was in Bridgetown. Then, when I couldn’t find it in Bridgetown, I began to worry. We had a big clean out in Perth not so long ago and filled a skip bin. I thought for a while that mum’s potato masher had seen its last days.
I should have known better. Maus never throws anything out. The other day, Maus was going through a box of things in the Perth shed and found the poor old thing. It is a bit rusty and very wonky but that just gives it character. I love the fact that, not so long ago, people owned hand-made kitchen utensils, not ones mass-produced from the other side of the world.
In my kitchen:
Is a very fab spice storage box. It was a gift from Maus’ nephew and niece. We don’t store our spices in it but use it to measure out spices in preparation for cooking.
In my kitchen:
Are mulberries. It was a labour of love picking these. Colette was coming for dinner and the previous day I had noticed there were mulberries on the tree. I always like using what is at hand so I decided to make an apple and mulberry cobbler. The only trouble was it was one of those rare days when it rained continuously. I had to put on wellies, a rain coat and carry an umbrella to get these. It is quite hard to hold an umbrella and a bowl and snip mulberries with a pair of scissors.
In my kitchen:
Is the resultant cobbler. I followed Mariana’s advice (from Through the Kitchen Window)on what to do with the apples and mulberries then made my usual cobbler topping.
In my kitchen:
Is a bowl of Muhallabia. It really is my favourite dessert. I usually decorate it with crystallised rose petals but as there are few roses to be seen at the moment, I decided to use Turkish Delight (no, not mine) and pistachios. The Turkish Delight worked really well.
In my kitchen:
Was a moderately successful dessert – a passionfruit mouse with mango puree and kiwi fruit. It was quite nice but I felt there was too much gelatine in it. This is despite the fact that I reduced the gelatine specified in the recipe from 3 teaspoons to 2 teaspoons. If my passionfruit produce abundantly this summer, I will try it with one teaspoon of gelatine.
This dessert was decidedly better than a Maggie Beer passionfruit cream recipe I made the other day. It called for 9 teaspoons of gelatine. The recipe is in Maggie’s Harvest, Maggie’s Orchard and has also been published in the Delicious Magazine. I could not believe the 9 teaspoons was correct so I checked each version. Against my better judgement, I used 9 bloody teaspoons of gelatine. I ended up with 6 passionfruit-flavoured rubber footballs. I had to throw it out. I should have known better.
In my kitchen:
Is a spicy pumpkin loaf. I like cakes with vegetable (beetroot, zucchini, carrot, pumpkin etc) because I think the vegetable keeps the cake moist. The cake was spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. It was very nice, although I did over cook it a touch. I always do…
And, finally, in my kitchen:
Is progress on my filet crochet afternoon tea table cloth. I have turned the corner and finished the tea cup and saucer. I am now onto the sugar bowl and spoon. I was going great guns until the weather warmed up and the garden called. It may end up being a winter project.
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 
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Oh my goodness, what a productive kitchen. Love, love, love your masher… and cobbler.
Thanks Jennifer.
Lots of lovely things in your kitchen this month, Glenda, though I’m not sure about the salt and pepper shakers! How annoying that the dessert recipe was incorrect, especially from such a reputable publication. How clever are you to be crocheting a table cloth?!
Hi Christine, I love the salt and pepper shakers! 🙂
I am always so jealous at what you can produce in your garden. Please tell me most of this is going on in Bridgetown then I won’t feel quite so bad 😉 We haven’t even thought of getting the summer garden in, although we should given it will turn stinking hot any minute now. I love your potato masher. It is really hard to find a good one these days, and I have been looking for ages with no success. Have you tried gelatine leaves instead of powder? You can sometimes get a softer set with them and they are easy to find these days (thanks to Masterchef).
Hi Tania, I usually use leaves but Maggie insisted that powder was the go for her recipe and the other recipe was an old AWW recipe. I think they all use powder. Yep, my vegie patch is in Bridgetown. You will have to get busy with yours as it will be too hot soon to get your little babies established.
G’day Glenda! What a fun post that brightened my day!
Loved the salt and pepper shakers and thanks again for this month’s kitchen view also!
Cheers! Joanne
Hi Joanne, thanks for visiting.
Glenda
We both had a laugh at your passionfruit footballs. Sounds like you are really enjoying yourselves in Bridgetown.
Love from both of us xx
Hi Carol and Trish, Great to hear from you. Those footballs were a lot of effort 😦
So many great goodies indeed! I just love my veggie garden too, it makes me happy 🙂
Vegie patch love! 🙂
I love growing things, too, Glenda, but our climate is not conducive to growing much unless you do hydroponics or go to extreme lengths with shade cloth etc. We grow a bit of citrus, trying to grow figs, and I have a pretty good herb garden. So I will vicariously enjoy your efforts!! That pumpkin spice loaf looked like my kind of cake, too. Very interesting activities in your kitchen, thank you for sharing!
Hi Ardys. I have heard about some amazing gardens your way using grey water – have you considered grey water?
Oh I’m SO happy to see your tablecloth – I was wondering how that was going! It looks wonderful! And your avocados, I wish our trees would produce fruit, but they’re both young and looking a bit pathetic. Your veggie patch has been a wonder of nature Glenda, I can’t believe how productive it’s been given you only started it a couple of years ago! xxx
Hi Celia, your avocado trees would love a bit of fertiliser at the moment. I fertilised mine one spring and the next year I got avocados. I don’t know if it was a coincidence but I have fertilised them each spring since. They also looked happy and healthier.
I am so so jealous of your avocado tree and passionfruit vine. I am afraid it is impossible to grow anything quite as exotic here in the U.K, even though we have had a very good crop of vegetables from our vegetable boxes and greenhouse this year. Mulberries- wow! We have a logan berry tree in our garden. That passionfruit dessert looks delicious and I love the kiwi fruit topping. Seeing your pumpkin loaf has made me excited about Autumn. Your crochet work is stunning. I have just taken up dress making classes at a local adult education college. A wonderful IMK post. I will have to catch up with IMK next week as my husband and I are away in Bristol this weekend. Take care. Emma.
Hi Emma, thanks for visiting, I get envious when I read about all the wonderful berries bloggers in the UK are picking – I guess we all find things exotic when we can’t grow them ourselves.
I am so envious of all you garden produce – the beans (though now in seed stage), avocados, passionfruit, mulberries… And I adore your mother’s potato masher. Why is it that old things have such an appeal? And beautiful crochet – lovely and delicate. Great IMK this month!
Hi Debi, the beans are now robust seedlings:) I do love to grow things, it is so rewarding.
Your IMK evidences productivity of all kinds! but what I love most is the colours and flavours. Never a dull offering 🙂
Thanks Ella.
I envy you and your garden! It is autumn here now and I miss my spring and summer produce, especially the tomatoes. What wonderful fruit trees too. The salt and pepper shakers are adorable and the beer glasses beautiful as well. Thanks for a peek in your kitchen.
Hi Gretchen, We have a long hot summer ahead of us. I guess you have a long cold winter ahead of you. Oh well, we have autumn to look forward to and you have spring 🙂
Glenda, I want to live in your garden and eat all the wonderful produce that you grow. Passion fruit and avocados too, fabulous. I love a beer every now and then and love the beer glasses your sister gave you. I am almost embarrassed to ask, what is alpaca poo? So happy Maus found your mums old potato masher, it does look quite special. Your crochet work looks so delicate and beautiful. Thank your for sharing your wonderful and very productive kitchen. 🙂
Moya it is faeces from alpacas. I tried to include a photo but it is too hard.
Sorry I meant the alpacas… but my daughter told me it was an animal like a lama. 🙂
I thought it was a bit strange you didn’t know what poo was 😀
Lots of good things in your kitchen (as ever). So envious of your passion fruit and avocados. I hate it when I think a recipe is wrong but follow it anyway and it turns out I was right so understand your frustration with the gelatine. How annoying. Very impressed with your crochet – I didn’t realise you were a crochet person Glenda.
Hi Anne, Nine bloody teaspoons, what was I thinking? Probably one would have done it 😦 I haven’t crocheted for years and then it was only a couple of blankets. My tablecloth is a bit wonky but I don’t care, I am enjoying doing it.
I love that your kitchen is full of produce!!! I’m so excited as my mulberry tree has so much fruit on it and it is only in its second year 🙂 I would love to learn to crochet as all my nanas doylies are stained! Thanks for sharing 🙂 Liz x
Hi Elizabeth, what plans do you have for your mulberries?
There are always so many wonderful treasures in your kitchen Glenda, one of my favourite IMK posts every month.
Have a super day.
🙂 Mandy xo
Thanks so much Mandy.
Always such interesting things in your kitchen, Glenda, especially from your garden. I’m slightly envious of your patch… we are in a newer suburb with a smaller courtyard garden… we do have some vegetable gardens, but there’s no room to expand, nor plant any trees. That said, I’m happy with our little space as it’s filled with garlic at present! Oh, and strawbs too! Love the Muhallabia… that is my kind of dessert.
Hi Liz, I love my vegie patch. It is a dream come true.
I always enjoy reading your IMK posts Glenda, you (and your garden) are incredibly productive. Do you ever rest? I’ve never known anyone to have an avocado tree that fruits, I’m impressed, and passionfruit in spring too. I drink my beer from a Ritzenhoff Princess glass from that same royal series….
Hi Sandra, if you grow a avocado tree from seed it probably won’t fruit but if you get a grafted one it will. Maus will toast you next time she uses one of my glasses. 🙂
I am so impressed with you filet crochet. I collect it, and can crochet, but I think I may go blind attempting something so fine. The potato masher is a treasure not to lose again. i think the old gadgets work better than the new. and am very envious that you have your own avocados – how good that must be.
Hi Francesca. I find the crochet quite easy on the eyes – cross stitch is a killer. I just love the fact that kitchen appliances were home made a generation ago. It is pretty cool having the avocado tree. The only problem is you can’t predict what day they will be ripe.