In My Kitchen – November 2014

How did we get to the second last month of the year so quickly!  Clearly there is truth in time passing quicker the older you get.

As always a big thank you to Celia over at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for hosting this fun monthly event.  It’s great fun peeking into so many beautiful and different kitchens each month.  Please remember Celia needs all IMK posts submitted by the 10th of every month.

In my kitchen…

Are the most magnificent mini roses from our garden.  I bought 2 new rose bushes seeing as I killed our best rose bush when I transplanted it a couple of months ago.  My sadness of losing the other bush is quickly forgotten with these beautifully coloured roses.

In my kitchen…

Is millet.  For the life of me, I cannot remember who’s blog I saw millet on so my apologies for no link love.  I will post a millet and grape salad recipe next week.

In my kitchen…

I found 2 new varieties of Pete’s coffee pods, up to now I have only been able to find the Foreign Ground Brazil Single Origin.

In my kitchen…

Is our new 56 litre LG Mirror Microwave.  Sorry it is not a picture of ours but I ran out of time so quickly got this one from the brochure.  I am not entirely convinced this new modern “metallic” look works for me as each item (fridge, dishwasher, washing machine etc) is a different shade of “silver” even within one brand so its’ awfully difficult to match items.  Bring back classic white which doesn’t date and matches everything.  I have two complaints about this new edition to our kitchen.  Even though I only use it to reheat and make the odd gravy, I still want to be able to see inside the unit when it is on – some genius thought about the aesthetics (not sure why you need a mirror on a microwave – possibly do your hair while heating lunch?) and not the functionality so you are left guessing when something is going to boil over!  It doesn’t have a kitchen timer either which was so handy on our old microwave.  My suggestion to you would be not to buy a mirror unit, unless you want to sit in front of it to do your hair or make-up.  I have also had many unsuccessful calls to LG, their service is shocking – they are useless!  Right rant over.

In my kitchen…

Are “Nigerian” from Lebanon ice cream powders.  Pete, like me, loves finding something different on the shelves in supermarkets and he came across these.  Albeit they are instant – mix powder with milk, he says they are really very nice.  I will report back on what I think.

In my kitchen…

Is the smallest tin of condensed milk I have seen – 78g.  Pete knows how I love small, what I call “nunu” things so when he found this he couldn’t resist buying it for me.

What’s in your kitchen this month?  Please remember to link back to Celia’s blog Fig Jam and Lime Cordial if you partake in the fun and drop her a quick note to let her know when your post will be up.

Advertisement

Garden Update

I have been trying to get into the garden since the beginning of Spring to get a few happy Spring shots for you but alas, life and weather both got in the way so when the sun shone and the temperature was a wonderfully warm 25°C day a about a week ago, I flew out the door with vigour followed very closely by all three fur babies who were also rejoicing in the warmth of the sun.  Sadly they were all moving about too quickly for me to get shots of them – all I managed was fuzzy blurs moving in front of the lens.  I did however manage to get a few shots of things in the garden waking up from a winter slumber.

I never realised how lemon blossoms smell like jasmine. I had treated to the most lovely scent while taking this shot.

Our plum tree is in the most peculiar spot in the garden and for the most part looks dead for the better part of the year and then every Spring we get excited when we see the blossoms. Sadly we never seem to get any fruit. Must be due to where it is.

I am hoping that our “lollipop” pruned peach tree will still produce fruit this year – worm free would be a bonus too.

We have 2 strelitzias in the garden – one which gets for the most part full sun and the other which gets no sun and both do very well producing multiple flowers at one time.

I don’t remember this from previous years but with the new leaves has come figs, lots and lots of figs! How exciting, although I am not entirely convinced we will see any of these mature and ripen. Not to worry, there will be plenty more figs to follow.

A large part of the garden is abuzz with bees busily buzzing around collecting pollen – I would love for them to share where their hive is for a bit of lavender honey.

Can’t say I was thrilled to see the aphids all over this little rose bush – seems it’s time to spray the bushes with a solution of dish washing liquid.

Not that this is only a Spring occurrence but I just love the way a new tree fern leaf (is that what you would call it) presents itself to the world – from a tightly wound ball to an exquisite branch which provides our fur babies shade to lay under during the warm summer afternoons.

Now, for those in the know, I am petrified of spiders – a true arachnophobic! I was extremely proud of myself to get close enough to get this shot – I probably shouldn’t share that I ran around screaming like a little girl after I bravely took the pic because when I looked again it was gone! How can a spider just vanish! Sorry if this gave you the shivers John!