In My Kitchen- November 2013

November is here and it's time again for another In My Kitchen Post!

Linking up kitchens around the world with the gorgeous Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial and her many friends. Click her link for a peek into her fun kitchen and the list of participants this month.

OK, let's see what's going on here today....


In My Kitchen is a bottle of Liquid Smoke- wonderful for adding to our BBQ sauces. A little goes a very long way. Once I dropped and smashed a glass bottle of this in the kitchen of our rental home, it stupidly had kitchen carpet and the smokey smell NEVER came out! It didn't put us off however, and our ribs just wouldn't be the same without a sweet, sticky, smokey glaze

In My Kitchen are some yummy Maple products from the deli. Maple Sugar and Maple Butter might no be new to our North American and Canadian friends, but they are certainly a novelty down here. The sugar is lovely and subtle and the butter is terribly moreish!

In My Kitchen is a fun mug from Max Brennar- it has a spiral groove from the top of the lip leading to the bowl of the cup

 

The idea is that you place a piece of chocolate at the top of the spiral, fill your mug with hot milk, and let the chocolate slowly ooze downwards with you controlling the amount and flow. I just need some cold weather now to check it out

 

In My Kitchen is a cookie stamp from Typo. I plan on using it for the kids biscuits so they can't accidentally get mixed up with mine. I do usually just make one big batch, but there a times when I have to make some for friends or family and I don't want to spend extra on gluten free flour. I can see this coming in very handy in avoiding accidental contamination

In My Dining Room- is a mid week dinner of Satay. I tried out three different styles with one a dry rub, one a fresh ground marinade and one a sweet pre-prepared sauce. The winner was the dry rub just beating out the fresh marinade. I used long, thin slices of pork belly instead of chunks because they cook properly that way, then grilled them quickly over charcoal, and served it all with compressed rice, pineapple and cucumber and a great big salad. There was enough food for 3 meals!

In My Kitchen Garden- is a new irrigation system of drippers for every bed. BigJ is very handy and always helpful with the right motivation :)

The beds are now planted with a huge array of goodies, all tucked up with sugarcane mulch and sprouting like crazy. The fruit beds and barrels are all busy too with our first of berries expected this year- if we can beat the dog to them!

 In My Kitchen- are some grapefruit. A big bag of them appeared at the gym for us to help ourselves to. As the weather permits bags of zucchinis, lemons, tomatoes  and even figs from garden excesses turn up. I'm going to take in some bunches of herbs as my mint, parsley and laksa mint is going crazy at the moment

In My Kitchen- is my Lunch! A nice big gluten free roll with Smoked Salmon, tomato, capers and soft cheese as well as a luscious fresh Mango- Yummo

And the last thing In My Kitchen- is the IPod on an 8 hour loop of Christmas Carols. November has hit and that means Christmas is coming up fast and frenzied. Baking and decorating are about to overtake my household very, very soon indeed

So Dear Readers, What's going on in your kitchen this month, and have you started getting ready for Christmas yet as well?