Welcome to In My Kitchen Two. Enjoy a quick peek at some of the items that have passed through my kitchen during the last few months and beyond.
Following Christmas, I have some lovely new things in my Kitchen, so it seems like a good time to join Celia of Fig Jam & Lime Cordial for one of her famous In My Kitchen posts.
In My Kitchen Two
Cook’s Chocolate Bars
In My Kitchen I have some cook’s chocolate. They were an early Christmas present from Green & Black’s. Some I’ve already used in my glitzy mendiants but most are waiting patiently for their moment of glory.
Clafoutis Dish
Really love this red Emile Henry clafoutis dish. It was a present from my mother for Christmas. Soon to be filled with sumptuous chocolate swirled clafoutis.
Japanese Wasabi Grater
In My Kitchen is a Japanese ginger / wasabi grater which doubles as a fish sculpture. It’s even got scales. A Christmas gift from a friend.
Rocoto Chillies
In My Kitchen are four redoubtable rocoto chillies. I recently incorporated the fifth one into some chocolate ice cream. They were harvested long after the main crop, which I used to make our chilli sauce. There are still some of their brethren ripening in a cold greenhouse. In January? Yes, January.
Tea with Bea
In My Kitchen is a copy of Tea with Bea. It’s a thank you gift for baking cakes at a Winter Solstice party. As it happens, I didn’t actually bake for it as the party was cancelled due to the excessive rain and mud we experienced just before Christmas. But I received the book anyway.
Linen Tea Towels
I had the pleasure of choosing two tea towels recently from All Tea Towels. Whether you’re after a particular theme or colour, chances are you’ll be in luck. There’s even a food and drink category, although sadly, I couldn’t find any chocolate related ones.
I did find plenty of red tea towels though. Red is my colour of choice for all kitchen related paraphernalia. Making a choice of only two was actually quite difficult. Colour and design were two factors to be considered. Material was another – linen, plain cotton or waffle?
In the end I chose two Irish linen tea towels, partly because I liked the designs and partly because they were linen. Linen is purported to be the best material for tea towels as it is absorbent, lint free and durable. It also has a touch of elegance and class about it, which my kitchen is very much in need of.
I chose an anemone design for myself. It’s a Pierre-Joseph Redoute print. Anemones are some of my favourite flowers and as well as featuring a large red anemone, there is a thick red border too.
The second one is a Madeleine Floyd design featuring garden birds, their song and their eggs; this one is destined for my mother. She loves to watch the birds in her garden and try and identify their calls and it has a blue border which matches her aga.
Linen has a long and venerable history. Made from the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum, it’s thought to be one of the first plants used to make fabric in about 8000BC. It was brought to prominence by the ancient Egyptians in about 4000 BC.
Although linen had been grown in Ireland from around 1000BC, it did not become widely used until the Middle Ages. Although cotton and in more recent times, artificial fibres have come to dominate the market, there is still, thankfully, a place for the production and use of linen in our modern world.
Superfoods
In My Kitchen are two packs of new-to-me superfoods. They’re a present from CT. Chia seeds are a Mexican superfood that’s taking the vegan world by storm. Having said that, most of it is grown in Australia these days.
Sometimes known as Peruvian ginseng, maca also packs a powerful punch. How I’m going to use it, I have no idea.
New Zealand Honey
A few weeks ago, the New Zealand Honey Co had sent me a 340g bottle of their 10+ pre-biotic Beech Forest Honeydew to try. It’s quite a dark honey that is gathered by the bees from honeydew rather than flower nectar. They claim it’s particularly good for the immune system and digestion. This may or may not be true, but I have to say it’s totally delicious.
It has a deep rich and not too sweet flavour and has more body than many other honeys I’ve tried, leaving a nice flowery aftertaste. It warms the back of the throat in a healing sort of way. What I’m trying to say is, it feels like it’s doing you good.
I have used it now in a number of recipes but also on toast for breakfast. It work particularly well in these cinnamon Christmas star biscuits, giving them a special richness. This is also my first experience of honey contained in a squeezy bottle and it certainly helps to deliver it to the right spot without the usual mess and wastage. Not that I object to licking the spoon, or my fingers come to that.
Edible Glitter
In My Kitchen are two pots of gold glitter. What a delightful and kind gift from Susan of A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate.
Cooking With Chocolate
In My Kitchen – a weighty tome – Pierre Herme’s chocolate book, a Christmas gift from CT.
In My Kitchen Two: Lady Luck Shines Brightly
The season of goodwill on the lead up to Christmas, produced a plethora of giveaways and competitions. Desperate to get my hands on the new Green & Black’s cookbook and even more desperate to get on the Green & Black’s tasting panel, I entered a fair number of them. Sadly, Green & Black’s didn’t understand this and I was disappointed.
I did have some consolation though and very nice consolation prizes they were too. Turns out Lady Luck has been on my side in the past few months as evinced by the following wins:
Chocolate Macarons
Now who would have thought the perfect chocolate macarons would ever feature on my blog? Not me for sure, Gallic sophistication is hardly my style. I can and have made some very tasty chocolate macaroons, but not something that looks as elegant and polished as these French macarons.
Chocolate Macarons, but not as we know them, Jim!
I knew I couldn’t fool you for long. I must have done something right recently as I have just won these chocolate macaron earrings from Jill of Mad About Macarons. From across the Channel, these have travelled all the way from that well known capital of haute cuisine, Paris. They arrived beautifully packaged and were well protected, wrapped in the pretty floral cloth shown above.
Crafted by Patricia Bourdell of the French Bakery, these charming earrings are not only fantastic replicas of chocolate macarons, but are also made with 14 carat gold. The French Bakery specialises in necklaces, earrings, rings and other jewellery inspired by French bakes.
Golden Ticket Chocolate Mould
I was really excited to receive this amazing chocolate mould, which came all the way from Australia – from Celia of Fig & Lime Cordial. Celia makes all sorts of interesting and delicious looking chocolates as well as baking many tempting chocolate cakes. As you can imagine, I’m a frequent visitor.
Receiving this has really made me want to crack the art of tempering and I’ve resolved I will do it by one means or another this year! Despite my lack of tempered chocolate, I’ve managed to use the mould once so far when I made raw chocolate recently. I’ve subsequently made some real chocolate from scratch with it too. You can see the result in the top photo.
Slow Food Cooker
I’ve never owned or even used a slow cooker before. So I was really excited to find I’d won this 6 litre Morphy Richards model from Helen of Fuss Free Flavours. It’s a bit of a double edged sword, because although we thought it would be really useful, which it is, we don’t have a great deal of space in the kitchen and it is quite large. The base stores away inside the pot, but the lid is more awkward to stash.
Luckily, with a bit of reshuffling, I’ve managed to fit it in to one of my cupboards. We used it to make a squash curry with one of our gigantic squashes. The curry tasted extra good for being slow cooked and as there was so much of it, we didn’t have to cook all that week when we got home from work – wonderful.
I’ve subsequently found it’s particularly useful to cook dried pulses. It’s so much cheaper and nicer to cook your own rather than use tinned. Another slow food cooker recipe I’ve got on the blog is this end of season vegetable stew with mushroom dumplings. That was pretty good too.
River Cottage Diary
Only two of us went in for this one and Janice of Farmersgirl Kitchen, finding it difficult to let one of us down very kindly gave us both a copy. I was really pleased with this as it not only has three seasonal recipes to make each month, but also includes details of various Landshare projects.
I decided to use it as this year’s luck journal. Before going to bed, to help keep my spirits up, especially on work days, I try and write 4-6 things down that have gone well during the day. I’d let this practice lapse for rather longer than I’d realised – since May last year, so it’s definitely time to resurrect it. On the worst of days, it really helps to look back and remind oneself of all the good things that have happened.
I also decided I should set myself a mini challenge and try to make at least one of the monthly recipes during said month. In reality I only have a choice of two recipes as one of the three is usually a meat or fish one, but it’s another good way of expanding my repertoire. In January, I made Kale rarebit and jolly delicious it was too. That one will now be making regular appearances on our table during the kale season. For the following months, I’m planning on making:
February – herb dumplings
March – nettle risotto
April – rhubarb and meringue parfait
May – cousinette
June – strawberry scones
July – pea & lettuce tart OR runner bean pickle OR Genoese sponge with raspberries OR all three
August – tortilla
September- beetroot & walnut hummus OR lemony courgettes on toast OR blackberry, apple and almond cobber OR all three
October – warm roast squash and mushroom salad OR cornbread
November – quince & apple sauce
December – dauphinoise potatoes
Byron Bay Cookies
In My Kitchen – a win from Angela of This Is Life – Ten Byron Bay Cookies, the ones I like!
Gorgeous Puddings
Gorgeous Puddings by Annie Bell from Food Magazine
Hamper Tower
Hamper Tower packed with preserves from Homemade by Fleur. I adore the boxes which I can stuff with goodies and gift to friends and family.
Food Processor
Love this Russell Hobs food processor and blender from Fabulicious Food. It’s red too, so a perfect fit for my kitchen.
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. There’s a peek as to what’s been happening in my kitchen over the last few months. What’s been happening in your kitchen? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more In My Kitchen posts, follow the link and you’ll find I have a few of them. All interesting, of course.
Choclette x
Jill @ MadAboutMacarons says
They do look rather splendid, Choclette. So glad the chocolate macs found a good chocolatey home! And for the other wins? Gosh, lady luck indeed. Bravo!
Alida@mylittleitaliankitchen says
Well done Choclette! Lots of beautiful things. I love the earrings!
Karen Burns-Booth says
GOOD LORD! You are on a ROLL! Wait until I tell Sue, no more#neverwinasausage for you!! GOOD FOR YOU! Karen xxx
missflash says
The goodies in your kitchen look great. I’ve never seen a wasabi grater before, so this really caught my eye.
Happy baking
granite rockville says
You got the many delicious things yeah. I love this to be in my kitchen
Hannah says
Lots of wonderfully interesting things! I love getting a peek into what’s inspiring you in the kitchen.
I am swooning over your clafouti dish!
Johanna GGG says
really! are most chia seeds grown in Australia? Never heard this but I love chia seeds. And I love seeing in your kitchen – all so lovely (once I realised you were talking fish scales – I kept looking for how and why your wasabi grater would weigh things as scales)
Choclette says
Bizzy Lizzy – thank you. My problem is where to put it all 😉
Sous Chef – Ahhh, it would be interesting to see what is in your kitchen then.
Sous Chef says
You have such interesting things in your kitchen, so different from what we have here in South Africa. I can see I will have to return to read back a bit.
Bizzy Lizzy's Good Things says
Aw, lots of delicious and interesting things in your kitchen! Thanks so much for sharing.
Choclette says
Heidiannie- thank you for your kind comments. I think gold leaf is infinitely superior to gold glitter and each year, I promise myself I shall get some, but haven’t managed it yet.
LittleLoaf – oh I think I might just be tempted to make something soon and those cheesecakes do look good.
thelittleloaf says
I really want both of the cookbooks you’ve got there – I picked up the Tea with Bea one in Waterstones the other day and was flicking through the cheesecake section with lots of excitement 🙂 Hoping you’re going to cook and share some of the recipes soon, happy new year! 🙂
heidiannie says
Your kitchen is filled with delights and beauty. I love the fish grater- I think multi-purposeful kitchen gadgets. And the chocolate, gold glitter,and peppers are inspiring me to get my supplies out and actually use them. I have a package of gold leaf that I get out every year and decide Not to use them. This is the year I’m going to.
Thanks for inviting us in!
Choclette says
Janice – thank you. I have yet to use the fishy grater!
Charlotte – thank you – am crossing fingers you will be right.
C – He he, you are such a chocoholic. I’m sure I can manage another chocolate clafoutis – I seem to remember my first attempt wasn’t quite what I would have hoped.
Dom – thank you kindly sir.
Susan – oh, would love you to do a In My Kitchen post.
Susan's blog says
Loved reading that and it made me think about whats in my kitchen that’s new etc…like everyone I have my eye on the dish its so nice. x
(oh and thanks for the glitter mention too)
Dom at Belleau Kitchen says
oooh that Clafouti dish is a stunner!… nice blog post x
C says
What a lovely peek into your kitchen and some really lovely things there. I love that G&B chocolate – it might say cooking, but it mostly just goes straight in!!! So many interesting and beautiful things in your kitchen. Do you think you’ll manage a chocolate clafoutis variant so that we get to see your beautiful dish on the blog again?!
Charlotte Pike says
Lovely post as ever. I want a clafoutis dish too! 2012 is going to be a good year in your kitchen, I reckon.
Another insightful post, thank you.
Charlotte
@gofreecakes
Janice says
I particularly like the clafoutis dish and the fishy grater. Beautiful and useful a la William Morris!
Choclette says
Jo – thank you. Hope you had a good day. Mine was back to work, so not great, but OK. The cook’s chocolate has been around for years – it’s generally available in most supermarkets and health food shops. The cocoa content is a little higher 72% and 37%, but it’s meant to have a higher cocoa butter content than ordinary bar chocolate to facilitate melting etc – that’s my understanding anyway!
Kath – indeed I am very lucky. Any ideas as to what to use the dish for other than clafoutis?
Celia – as ever, thanks to you. Am feeling rather pleased with myself though that I have a EH that you didn’t even know about 😉
Beth – great, what do you use yours for>
Manu – thank you.
Laura – thank you for your lovely kind comments. We’ve never had this variety of chilli at this time of year before, so we’re feeling particularly pleased.
Nic – They are and I will.
Jude – it’s such fun having a peek at what is going on in other people’s kitchens.
A Trifle Rushed says
What a delightful selection of goodies from your kitchen, and what a super idea for a post. I will follow the link and look at Celia’s blog.
nic@nipitinthebud says
what thoughtful, well chosen gifts you received and what fun you shall have using them all. N x
Laura@howtocookgoodfood says
What a lovely idea for a post and you are a good person to show us all your kitchen delights! I really love the clafoutis dish and am envious of your beautiful chillies xx
manu says
Everything looks so beautiful and yummy!!
Have a great week
Beth Sachs says
oooo I’ve got that Emile Henry dish…love it!
Celia says
Choc, I let out a loud moan when I saw the EH clafoutis bowl – I’ve never seen that on offer here, but you can bet I’ll be looking out for it now. It is absolutely GORGEOUS. And we grow chia seeds here in Oz? I learn something new from you every time I visit! 🙂
Thanks for joining it, such great fun to see the treasure in your kitchen! xx
Kath says
You lucky, lucky lady. I especially love the clafoutis dish, I would like one of them.
Joanna @ Zeb Bakes says
Happy Monday to you, this is the real start of the New Year isn’t it? Everyone is properly back to business today. I haven’t seen that Green & Black range of chocolate, how is cooks chocolate different from regular ? Is it cheaper, dearer, higher in cocoa? Or just a different range to encourage more sales? I love your clafoutis dish with its delicate frilled edge. I think the chillis just go on and on, my two little plants are covered with red fruits, having flowered very late. What lovely gifts you had this Christmas, xx Jo