A little bit of Australia in my kitchen

In my kitchen are some Australian gifts which come courtesy of Johanna who blogs over at Green Gourmet Giraffe.  

Johanna was one of the first bloggers I got to know when I started blogging and although we have never met, I feel like we have become good friends.

Laying on top of the Australian tea-towel are all my foodie gifts.  first some Outback Spirit Tasmanian Pepper Salt and a souvenir Australian dollars notebook - all of which I will use as bookmarks for my many cookbooks.  This idea of Australian dollar bookmarks got me thinking as to how many vegetarian or vegan cookbooks I have that are from Australian cooks and chefs? Perhaps Johanna can name me some other than Amy Chaplin and Kurma Dasa, as I am really not that sure. Or perhaps this can be a future blog post for her, if she wishes to accept.  

I am proper excited to try these Vegemite Bagel Crisps and look forward to ripping the bag open when I return home from my short holiday. 

Crafted Blends Greens, Pumpkin Seed, Spinach and Chickpeas has me curious as it sounds like a savoury bar.  The Milo protein clusters made me smile.  Johanna mentioned that Milo products are a little sentimental to her as it reminds her of her childhood.  

Some golden apricot bites and a couple of interesting bars: Apricot and a Cacao and Orange. I have not tried any of these yet, but as I have alluded above we will be away for a short break, driving to our destination tomorrow for a few days - so all these treat bars will be consumed on our road trip and I may up-date this blog post on my return for those curious as to how these Australian treats taste.

I do like my herbal teas so look forward to trying this Dandy Chai Blend with Roasted Dandelion Root

And spices.  Johanna on her blog has mentioned Herbie's Spices many times, so I was pretty chuffed to find these in the cotton tote bag (featured above).  Lemon Myrtle Leaf and Balmain & Rozelle Spice Blend, neither of which I have ever used.  I had heard of Lemon Myrtle, but not Balmain & Rozelle Spice Blend, but on a little bit more digging I learned that this spice blend was created to celebrate Australian broad food heritage.  I will be using it very soon as a marinade for a Summer vegetable bake, unless some of my Australian readers can give me recipe suggestions to use both spice blends.

I was also sent a chocolate bar of Freddo frog - one of Australia's popular children characters but with the hot weather got to him an d was more melty the frog, but I did still enjoy it with a cuppa tea.  Thank you so  much Johanna for your warmth, kindness and generosity.  

I am sharing this with Sherry Pickings for In My Kitchen series.  its one of my favourite blog events and one I have encouraged other fellow bloggers to join in too as its a way I could have a good cheeky nosy not only into their kitchen, but other peoples kitchen too, please do join in. 

We Should Cocoa - The Mango and Chocolate Round Up

As some of you may already know, I was hosting this months We Should Cocoa Challenge.  Mango was the special ingredient that I chose.  This choice was absolutely no surprise to those of you who have been reading my blog on and off for a while, but for some of you it proved a bit of a challenge, but a challenge you all raised because I received 23 mango and chocolate delightss.

Not only have I been introduced to some new blogs and re-acquainted with some blogger friends, I have also truly enjoyed the approach,  the creativity and originality of my fellow bloggers to the mango and chocolate challenge.    I have bookmarked many of your recipes and they will soon be featuring in my home kitchen.  My mother loves mango, so anything I make with mango will be going to her too.  Before I share the entries, I would like to take this opportunity to Thank you lovely fellow bloggers for being part of my much neglected blog and for your wonderful, awesome and tasteful creations.  I would also like Thank both Choclette and Chele for giving me an opportunity to host this months edition of We Should Cocoa.  I have enjoyed it, really.  

Here are the 23 mango and chocolate submissions (in no particular order). 

Lucy The KitchenMaid shared her light and easy to eatTropical Blondies.  I don't know about anyone else, but I know I could eat more than one of these edible beauties.

Rachel Cotterill  shared a perfect and natural pairing of mango and coconut  with her Mango and Coconut Truffle Bites.

Craig from The Usual Saucepans shared this luscious looking Mango and Chocolate Ice Cream.  Perfect to enjoy when the sun decides to come out and tease us.

Baking in Franglais made these awesome looking Mango Blondies piled high, I know many little hands that would reach out for them.

Susan from The Spice Garden shared a sumptuous Mango Chocolate Mousse. I'm licking my lips already. 

I am seriously digging Cake of the Week's moreish Chocolate Dipped Mango Cookies.   

Ros from More Than Occasional Bake shared a sugar-free Banana, Mango, White Chocolate and Spelt Bread.  It was baked in a super cool banana bread baking tin shaped with tropical trees and banana shapes.   

Mainly Baking shared these chewy and subtly flavoured Tropical Chocolate Cookies.

From Elizabeth's Kitchen we have this colourful , calorific and tasty Chocolate Biscuit Cake. 

Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes also shared a colourful, luxurious and heavenly Coconut and Mango Yogurt with Chocolate Dipped Banana.  A fruit rainbow in a bowl.  Doesn't it say sunshine?!

Nicole Bremner share d a gorgeous, golden and glossy Chocolate Mango Mousse Cake. I really want to try this and can only imagine the texture. Yum.

Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen shared a seasonal Rhubarb, Mango and White Chocolate Almond Cake.  Comfort food truly.

Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and one of the brains behind We Should Cocoa created a Mango, Cardamon, Coconut Chocolate Cream Cake.

Psychedelic Mango Chocolate Cake was my submission.

The After School Cake Tin shared these healthy and child (and adult) friendly Mango and Chocolate Flapjacks. 

Hannah from Corner Cottage Bakery shared these rather appealing Mango Rice Crispy Cakes.  I will be making these for my nephews and nieces very, very soon.

Law Students Cookbook created these delightful Spiced Mango Chocolate Chip Muffins.

 

Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes shared her tart and zingy Green Mango and White Chocolate Blondies.   

We all love chocolate brownies, but Makey Cakey's  Mango and Orange Chocolate Brownies are a little more special filled with sunshine.  Go on I know you want a piece.  I certainly do.

Rebecca from BakeNQuilt made these sweet  Mango Buttercreams encased in a heart shaped chocolate.  Would you share it with a loved one or keep them all to yourself?!

Cookbooks Galore shared Mango Eclairs with White Chocolate Icing. I think they are dreamy.

Tales of Pigling Bland shared her wonderful Chocolate Dipped Mango Macarons filled with mango curd.  I love mango curd - a blogger friend of mine sent me some a couple of years ago and I loved it, so know I will love these. 

And finally, Caroline Makes made this rather naughty, but nice Mango and White Chocolate Cheesecake.  Yum, what more can I say?!  Enjoy.

Next month (June)We Should Cocoa is hosted by Victoria from A Kick at the Pantry Door.  Please go by and check out what her chosen ingredient is for Junes edition. 

Garden Friends

Since beginning this blog, I have made a number of good blogger friends, some have remained friends, others have drifted away.  When the opportunity presents itself, I have mentioned some of my blogger friends on my blog posts.  Today, I would like to introduce you to Brenda at Gardeningbren in Nova Scotia, Canada.  I think I discovered Brenda's blog in July 2010 and have been reading it ever since.  Its always lovely to stumble across people who share the same interests as you, even if they are on the other side of the world.

Well a few months ago, before I left Scotland.  We had promised to exchange tea-towels made in our respected countries.  Brenda waited patiently for me to move home (Scotland to Wales, U.K)and then forwarded me with this home-warming gift.  Out of the generous sized envelope first came a beautiful botanical themed  tea-towel appropriately named 'Garden Friends'.  It is utterly wonderful.  I have to admit, I am a bit of a tea towel hoarder and don't really like using the pretty tea towels and often keep them for display, so this will be cherished and I will try and find a place on one of my walls.  Thank you so much Brenda.

Next came out of the packets was seeds, oh so many seeds to sow. I am excited.  To name a few with there evocative names, there is:
Arugula Astro
Climbing Trombocino
Courgette Black Beauty
Dragon Tongue Bush Bean
Fortex Pole Bean
Kohlrabi Early White Vienna
Lazy Housewife Green Snap Pole Bean
Spinach King of Denmark
Sweet Green and Reds
Tasmanian Chocolate Tomato Dwarf

I need to get my skates on and sow some of them this week.

In the package there was also a memoir called Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen by Donia Bijan.  Its been a long while since I read a book, so I am really looking forward to reading this one.  Its got some good recipes too, such as Rose Petal Ice-cream.  I can't wait to make and try it. Within the pages of the hardback book I found a beautiful silver bookmark, which I am going to keep for my Christmas tree this year.  It will dangle and glisten from the tree and remind me of my many blog friendships.

I also loved the envelope smothered with affection in lots of Canadian stamps.  Click on the images for a closer gander.  I totally made me smile. Thank you so so much Brenda.  Your warm loving gifts are truly appreciated. 

Please, please do go by and visit Brenda at Gardeningbren in Nova Scotia . I know she will give you a very warm welcome. 

Little Black Fox Brown Envelopes

This is a quick blog entry, just to let you know that my dear blogger friend Little Black Fox is having her annual Brown Envelopes give-away.  This is not your usual brown envelope that contains bills or junk mail.  No, Little Black Fox brown envelopes contain 'seeds', and what's more her envelopes are individually prettily designed by hand.  I have been the fortunate recipient for the past two years, and this year have made my wish for some more.  So I wait patiently to see what I receive this year. 

Well guess what, Little Black Fox generosity knows knows bounds, she is not asking any-one to become a follower or send her anything in return (though either would be nice), yet she is happy to share some of these brown enveloped with fellow vegetable gardeners.  So if you are interested in getting your green thumbs on some, then follow this link.  I know she will only be pleased to hear from you. 

Please do take the time to visit the Little Black Fox blog.  Not only for her Brown Packet Seed giveaway, but also here recipes.  She has some very innovative seasonal recipes such as pumpkin dumpling, pumpkin kebabs and apple ginger and honey chutney - that is good with cheddar cheese.  She also writes with a wicked sense of humour. 

Moving Home: Safe and Sound

A heartfelt Thank you to everyone for their warm wishes and comments on the previous two blog posts. Each comment has been read, digested and truly appreciated.  

Well the move from Scotland to Wales has been with relative ease.  The only drawback is that we are still tied to the flat as it has not been sold, in fact that is where D is right now.  He travelled down with me for the move a couple of weeks ago and was up again with his sleeping bag within a couple of days.  I hope to see him next week.  Unfortunately until the flat is officially sold, he will have to travel back and fro.  We also have some local friends who will regularly drive by and check it out. 

As this was our first ever major move with large wooden furniture, lots of books: cookbooks and academia, fragile glass and ceramic goods, as well as pots and a bench from the garden.  I have to say the removal company we contracted in Scotland: DMG Direct made our move most comfortable.  Not only is the DMG Direct accredited by the National Guild of Removers, very important in these days as many other companies can be just a man with a van.  We were offered a very fair and competitive quote, (and more importantly within our budget).   They do say, moving home is one of the most stressful times in peoples lives.  I have to say, I praise David and his team for making the move easy and working with a genuine smile, even when the number of boxes and weight of my cookbooks was starting to lose its humour.  I have to admit, I was expecting something to be either scratched, cracked or at least smashed during the move, but not one single thing was damaged.  So if you are ever moving home - in and around Scotland; or from Scotland - I really cannot recommend DMG Direct highly enough.  The service on the day of removal and the day of delivery was first class.

Well most of the recycled cardboard boxes have been emptied and things put into their new place for now.  Framed pictures have yet to be hammered into the walls.  There are still a number of unaccounted expenses.  For a start, our curtains are too heavy for the curtain rails in the house and are very likely to break.  Either we will have to purchase lighter curtains or replace the curtain rail with a pole to support them.  What is missing from this house and something that I am missing already is in built storage space. We will have to buy a second-hand wardrobe for our seasonal clothing and heavy coats.  I've not yet leaped into the kitchen with much enthusiasm yet, as I am still getting used to the place and the space.  Saying that though, at the weekend when I had my younger brother and his nippers over, I did get to test the new cooker out.  The rings operate by gas and the oven by electric.  I made some macaroni cheese and some banana muffins, which were snubbed a little by my brother who said they were not sweet enough.  Ah he just doesn't appreciate natural sweetness.  His kids approved though of both dishes.  My parents and other brother, also younger than me and his family have yet to visit me. 

I am really looking forward to seeing this place, albeit it rented for now, become our home.  I am looking forward to getting back into cooking for pleasure.  I am looking forward to growing organic vegetables again.  Yes I am excited to share that this house comes with a reasonable bit of growing land, but that won't stop me from signing up for an allotment too.  I also have to sign up with some employment agencies too - savings are really dwindling now.

Oh before I sign off, I'd like to share that just before Christmas 2011, I won a giveaway from Sue at Our New Life in the Country.  The generous lavender patterned gift bag contained lots of lavender scented goodies from her farmers craft market stall such as: a tube of hand lotion, bottle of bath essence and a selection of gorgeous handmade soaps that are being sniffed by admiring nephews and nieces.  I left them all untouched until I moved home.  I viewed Sues giveaway as a wonderful home-warming gift.  Its already making the bathroom a very appealing place indeed.  Thank you so much Sue. 

Sue has always been warm towards me, she occasionally highlights a 'Blogging Buddies' post, and guess what one of them was me - see here. - Ah I felt so big-hearted and fuzzy all over when I read it.    Like me Sue has just moved home, please please do go by and visit her here.  I know she will give you a very warm welcome.  

Versatile Guajillo Chile and Blackberry Syrup

Well I've eaten my fair share of sweet things recently, so didn't want to make another cake. So the question was what else could I do with the blackberries I had picked at my friends place, that were beginning to soften in the fridge. As always I flicked though my cookbooks, saw many recipes for cakes galore and other sweet things such as ice-cream and sorbets. As my teeth are a little sensitive at the moment, plus I've lost a filling - iced things were not an option either.
Then I went on the world wide web and did a search for a blackberry recipe, other than cake. I came across many, but the one that caught my attention was Heidi Swanson's recipe for Chile Blackberry Syrup. I remembered littleblackfox had sent me a couple of big guajillo chiles in the post a couple of months ago. In fact I have been rather spoiled this year, fellow blogger Ginny of Modern Homestead sent me this fabulous industrial mosaic hand crafted dragonfly (see side bar) for my garden. As it rains so bad in the West of Scotland; and is just too pretty it is hanging in my hallway rather than in the garden. I want to say a special heartfelt Thank you to them both for the kindness, affection and generosity they have both shown towards me. Please do take time to visit there blogs, you will also see that they have a keen sense of humour.

So with the two guajillo chiles described by littleblackfox as 'sweet, medium heat with a cherry flavour. Lovely with rice and in sauce'. I decided on making this syrup. It was a rather messy affair in the kitchen with lots of kitchen equipment being used, but also a little wiping down and mopping up was necessary. But the final resulting syrup was rather warming. The syrup certainly had a good spice kick.

Just in case you are wondering what on earth would I do with a spicy syrup, well it is actually very versatile. You can swirl it into yogurt, porridge, drizzled over waffles, pancakes and crepes and even drizzled over goat cheese salad. In fact the taste of this spiced sweet syrup reminded me of Moosewood's raspberry chipotle sauce that was served with scrambled tofu, so I can imagine it drizzled over savoury dishes too.

Guajillo Chile Blackberry Syrup
Makes 2 x 300g jars
Ingredients
2 dried guajillo peppers
170g dark Muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar
200 g organic sugar
355 ml water
Juice from 1 lemon
100g blackberries
Method
Trim the stems from the dried chiles. Tear or snip the chiles with scissors or a knife into pieces and drop with seeds into a medium saucepan. Stir in the sugars, water, and lemon juice, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Boil, stirring regularly, until the mixture has reduced to 475 ml, roughly 20 - 30 minutes.
In the meantime, puree the blackberries either with a hand blender in a small bowl or a blender. Force the berries through a fine-mesh strainer, and discard the seeds. Set the berry puree aside. Once the chile mixture has reduced, remove from heat, and puree it until smooth. Strain through a sieve into a heat-proof bowl. Press on the remaining solids in the strainer to squeeze out any syrup, and discard the remaining solids.
Whisk the berries into the chile syrup and set aside to cool. Place in a jar, or smaller jars, and refrigerate. The syrup keeps covered, and chilled for a few weeks. Adapted very slightly from Heidi Swanson's superb website 101 cookbooks, who in turn adapted the recipe from the September 2007 edition of Gourmet Magazine. Isn't it wonderful how recipes change from one cook to another?!

Edible gifts

Fellow bloggers have been raving about Cedric’s marrow cream, a luscious sweet creamy recipe that I also wanted to make, but was unable to as I had no marrows of my own. Then surprise, surprise a new friend sent me a jar in the post. I was so overjoyed and just wanted to turn the lid and dip my finger in to taste the sticky cream, but D stopped me in my tracks. ‘We have three jars of preserves already open’. He was right. We ought to finish those first. However, I am looking forward to trying these soon, as soon as the jar of spiced tomato and apple chutney, mixed berry jam and the pear jam are finished. I don’t like having too many jars open, plus we don’t have that much room in the fridge.
I was also fortunate to get a jar of hedgerow jelly. Both the marrow cream and hedgerow jam are new to me, and both I am looking forward to trying, so please do come back in about a fortnights time, when I sure will have tried these two edible delights. I was also sent some marrow seeds. Yes next year, I will grow my own and make some of my own marrow cream. Thank you so very much Nic.

D made dinner yesterday which comprised of mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and broccoli. He always makes far too much. So we had some left over, well the thrifty me instructed him not to throw these away, but it would be our food tomorrow. Here it is ‘recycled grub’ in the form of vegetable cakes served with a slices of roasted baby pumpkin and some broad beans that I picked from plot 11 yesterday. The broad beans may look glossy, but they tasted a little bit old, past their season I think.

Some of you will know that I try to make some muffins or flapjacks for the working week ahead, well yesterday I made these Orangey Date flapjacks. A Muslim friend of mine who had bought too many dates for the Ramadan fasting period last month, gave me a box to enjoy. I had eaten through most of the box, taking a date every time I went to the fridge for something, but with what was remaining, I decided to make these Orangey Date flapjacks. Although the orangey and date flavours came through. I found these flapjacks a tad on the dry side, then I noted the porridge oats I had used for them, had expired a few months ago. I think next weekend I should check out my store cupboard ingredients, there are bound to be foodstuffs in there that are more than a year out.

Orangey Date slices
285g dated, stoned
8 tbsp orange juice
Grated zest of 1 orange
225g plain flour
110g porridge oats
½ ground mixed spice
140g butter, melted
1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 6. Put the dates and the orange juice into a saucepan together with the orange zest and cook over a very low heat until the dates form a paste. Meanwhile combine the flour, porridge oats and spice together in a bowl with the melted butter. Mix thoroughly. Put half the oat mixture in the bottom of the prepared tin and press down firmly with the back of a spoon. Spoon over the date paste and evenly spread out. Cover with the remaining oat mixture and level gently. Sprinkle over sesame seeds if using. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 20 – 25 minute.