Welcome to the first In My Kitchen for 2016! There aren’t many photos to show as foodie Christmas gifts were eaten before I remembered to take photos *cough*
My mother in law gave us a bunch of delicious sweet plums from the tree in her backyard (above). I’ve got some ideas and hope to create an original recipe with them tomorrow, or at least before the weather gets too hot again.
The Fresh Food Market store at Highpoint shopping centre here in Melbourne has a lot of fruit and vegetables you don’t see at the bigger supermarkets. Look at these donut peaches! They taste like regular peaches though the stone is much smaller. Still, give me my nice big fat round peaches any day!
In My Kitchen is a new calendar. It’s from the Typo store and was a gift. I like to put stickers here and there for various important days and celebration days, mostly because the kids enjoy flipping through the pages and seeing what I’ve done (of course, their birthdays have to have huge stickers. My birthday sticker is a cup of tea because as I like to tell the family, I wish to have a cup of tea I can actually finish). When it’s a national day of another country for instance, we read books and watch videos about that country and, time permitting, I’ll cook a traditional dish. July will be fun. I haven’t finished filling in dates yet but I always seem to have food in mind:
I’ve finally found a bottled pesto I love, made by Roza’s Gourmet Sauces who are based in Brisbane. I don’t see myself buying anything else. I sometimes make my own but find the convenience of a great bottled product too tempting. On the right there we have a present I received for Christmas, Australian wild fruits in syrup made by Outback Pride:
One of the ‘big two’ supermarkets here in Australia has their Christmas foods at half price or more. I was given this plum pudding and was told it cost a pretty penny. About $1.50 or so. In case you can’t tell by the cheerful attractive packaging, this is the budget brand. Now I’m not really keen on plum pudding unless it’s kinda done totally different to traditional plum pudding. Which I suppose doesn’t make much sense, but mehhhh, plum pudding. This was too sweet for me and I’m not a fan. Next to it is an old nest we found in some branches that had been cut down in the neighbourhood. We were told there hadn’t been any birds in it for a while. I should point out the nest is outside the house, not In My Kitchen!
I hope to get all twelve IMK’s done this year and here I am off to a good start, with only two days until the deadline… let’s hope I pick up my game next month and not procrastinate!
In My Kitchen is a monthly blog link up now hosted by Maureen at The Orgasmic Chef. Previously it was hosted by Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. Iām submitting this blog post of mine for January 2016. While not a vegan-specific event, anyone can join in and you can also discover new blogs, recipes, products, etc!Ā š
such beautiful photos š
Thanks! Say, I’m reading more and more how awesome Germany is getting (even more so) for vegans. I’m jealous!
Birds nest are so precious, good you saved it. Will you celebrate Canada Day and Bastille Day? I love your tradition, maybe I’ll read aloud to Luka when other countries holidays come up, if it involves biscuits she’ll be on board š
for me it’s about the food though I try to pass it off as geography lessons. So far Canada Day here has involved making a cheap poutine and pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup. Bastille Day has been French fries… really gotta lift my game here.
Ooh plums! I feel so bad, we didn’t prune our plum tree well and this year our bounty has been pitiful compared with the crates we had last season. Plus the birds have got to almost every single one on the tree š
waaah that sucks! I’d love to have a fruit tree (of any sort), I keep delaying doing stuff until our plumbing problems are 100% fixed and then we can stop digging up the back yard.
Faye, that first photo sends me to a different world. What gorgeous plums! I love Roza’s pesto too and that calendar is really cute. Thanks heaps for being part of In My Kitchen!
You’re welcome! The plums were really nice, I wish I had my own tree!
Mmmm stone fruit! I love roza’s pesto – so many jarred ones are such a disappointing colour. Would love to flick through your calendar with all the stickers – I just scribble on mine and then spend time wondering what I wrote! How are you eating the wild fruit in syrup? And we have a half price plum pudding but have had so much feasting that I have put it away for when we want to bring out something special – I love plum pudding esp with nice creamy custard (was v disappointed with the one I bought so back to making up my own with custard powder)
my husband buys loads of half price plum puddings to keep aside for the year. After the Christmas period I feel like I never want to see a plum pudding again. I might look up some ‘what to do with leftover plum pudding’ recipes, though they’ll have the plum pudding taste– yeeech! With the wild fruit in syrup, I’ll probably do something boring and have it with some nice cream.
if he is not doing the low fat diet he could fry up slices of plum pudding in butter or margarine – a great traditional way to eat it though not for the faint-hearted š And you could try and wild fruit smoothie!!!!
the smoothie sounds good! I think my husband would love the idea of fried plum pudding š
Love the freshness of fruit in your kitchen. It warms me up, esp. as its getting nippy here in Wales. We haven’t picked up a calendar for this year, shame on us. Your pics are fantastic by the way!
thanks! I looove reading blogs from the other side of the world where it’s nice and chilly š
Your plums and peaches look delicious, and that fruit in syrup has me intrigued. It’s looking fruity in your kitchen š
We have loads of fruit that has to be used up today, I always buy with good intentions but it sits there and then turns in to smoothies (a bit unimaginative!)
I love your calendar plans, it sounds like a lot of fun will be had! I always kind of mean to do fun cooking things related to whatever special day it might be somewhere in the world, but work seems to interfere a lot. And then I just forget.
THERE ARE CAT DAYZ
CAT DAYZ?
yeah!!! Which means more Neko Atsume checking. I’m obsessed with getting the rare cats!
I have a vegetable garden and I’m picking and eating daily. My basil is really slow to grow and I love pesto, so I’m interested in where you purchased Roza’s pesto? I loved reading what’s happening in your kitchen. Little vegan bear I’m having the same issue with my pink lady, hardly any apples and what I do have Im sharing with the possums, oh well, they have to eat as well.
I can’t wait to get my proper veggie garden going, we have lots of work to do before then though so it keeps getting delayed! I got my Roza’s pesto from Pachamama in Brunswick.
Those plums look yum. I’ve been sadly disappointed with stone fruit this season. I can’t believe I’ve never tried that pesto and they’re made where I live. Must keep eyes peeled (sometimes I just can’t be bothered making my own either :))
the pesto is definitely worth checking out, I’ve almost finished my bottle and need to quickly get another!