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?

Tastes of The Orient

City Skyline




I know this one's a little later than usual Dear Readers, but you see,  I've been away on holiday.

So long overdue, that it's actually the first time in over 20 years that we've travelled anywhere that wasn't to visit family- just something for ourselves.

Bliss....  And we had a wonderful time indeed!


We went to gorgeous Singapore, the country where I was born, and have always wanted to explore as a 'grown up'. The plan was to explore the real country and not just do touristy stuff but meet real people, see real sights, and eat real food.

Well, we sure did plenty of that!

I had a few concerns about eating gluten and lactose free overseas, but it didn't end up being as difficult as I first thought.
Most people speak english very well, so I was able to ask about meal ingredients, and sauce was generally served on the side so there was no contamination that way either.
Lactose free milk was readily available, but gluten free bread was nowhere to be found, and most shops didn't seem to understand what I was talking about.

All in all the trip was just wonderful, the country is fabulous, and the food is AMAZING! I've already started planning another trip for the future :)

I certainly won't bore you with our over 1000 photos, but I thought you might  like to see some of the foodie highlights of our trip




Now at first glance, this may not look typically Asian in origin...but what if I tell you that it's the gluten free option for High Tea at iconic Raffles Hotel?
And all for me!!!

Bottom tier: Sandwiches
Smoked Salmon; Egg and Cucumber, Ham,Cheese,Tomato with Basil; and oddly, plain tinned Salmon with Mayonaise
Middle Tier: Fresh Fruit floating in Orange Juice, and  Caramel Apple Verine
Top Tier: House made Fresh Raspberry Marshmallow, and two gorgeous Chocolates- yummo!
At huge buffet display there were also one or two goodies I could enjoy, and it was a wonderful experience indeed

Ice Kacang
A mountain of freshly shaved ice, topped with three syrups, drizzled with evaporated milk, then with additions of corn, red beans, palm seeds and glass jelly.
Big enough for two to share at the bargin price of $2

Haianese Chicken Rice
This dish was one I was really hanging out for. I make my own version at home, but wanted to try the Real Deal. The only problem was everywhere I went it was sold out! It's such a popular meal that the lines at Hawker Centres and food stalls selling this were huge, and I just seemed to be pipped at the post each and every time. I was so happy when I finally got my share :)
Such lovely, moist chicken and the rice might look bland, but the flavour was just amazing and rich too- delicious

Another iconic Singapore dish- Laksa
Each version I tried was very similar, but quite different from what I'm used to over here.
For starters, they locals used only rice noodles (which was great) here in Australia- or at least in Canberra, they come with both rice and egg noodles and I have sent many back to kitchens when they ignore my only-rice-noodles-please request. Also these ones were a lot stronger in prawn-y flavour and not as rich in coconut milk.
I really enjoyed having it for breakfast though!

These little ice cream stalls were everywhere, usually run by lovely little old gentlemen with gorgeous smiles for everyone.The ice cream was wrapped in wax cardboard, and kept in eskys with a huge slab of ice for cooling, then cut to size by the vendor, then wrapped in a slice of pink and green sweet bread to stop it dripping everywhere. I obviously had the messy bread-free version, but my choice of durian flavour was certainly delicious.

Before we went away, BigJ, littlej and I agreed on the Great Singapore Satay Hunt.
We all love these little sticks of yum, and were determined to track down and try as many varieties as possible during our stay. We sampled 17 varieties all in all, and our hands down favourite was an Indonesian variety! We gave each one a score out of 10, with catergories including spiciness, stickiness, sauce, char technique and overall flavour.

This is a prawn.
A very Big Prawn.
For scale, check out the regular sized chopsticks at the back of the plate. HUGE!
Served simply grilled with some garlic and a tiny little lime. I've never seen a prawn of this size before, and I once worked at a seafood market for a year. Now where to track them down over here?...

This picture is of A Random Act of Kindness
littlej was at the pastry counter at the first hotel we stayed at, when she saw another young girl with a packet of my usual Country Life bread I eat here in Australia. They struck up a conversation over the toaster and littlej mentioned that her mummy ate gluten free too. Halfway through breakfast, a lovely lady approached our table and said that they were on their last day in Singapore, and would it offend me if she offered me the rest of their gluten free loaf? They had bought it with them from Perth, and it would be a shame just to throw it out.
I was really touched and of course it just made my day! Unfortunately I failed to get the lovely peoples names, but although it may seem a small thing to others, when you struggle with food InTolerances, little things like this are such a big blessing indeed :) Thankyou xox

My Australian Breakfast in Singapore, with Beerenberg jams too!

Congee Rice Porridge, I much prefer savoury to sweet, so this might become a winter breakfast staple for me from now on

These signs were at every food stall and hawker stand everywhere. It shows that the stand has been inspected and aproved by the govenment, with each stand being licenced and given a hygene rating

The rating must be prominently displayed at each stall,with D being the lowest, but I only saw A's and B's.
I wonder if our food courts would welcome this idea here?

Pineapple Rice
Not strictly Singaporean, but a nice choice for littlej as a change from steamed rice. Very delicious, and topped with yummy pork floss

In contrast to our first hotel, who truly tried but just didn't get the whole 'InTolerance' thing, this second resort had things sorted!
I had emailed ahead, and been assured that there would be plenty of options for me, but I've certainly been stung before. It was great to see that these issues were a priority for the kitchen too.

Freshly made gluten free waffles!
 

Gfree toast and mini muffins too

More ice creams:
Durian (a bit too strong for me this time), Red Bean, and our favourite- Jackfruit

Last, but certainly not least Dear Readers, what trip to Singapore would be complete without the famous Chilli Crab?
This was our one big blow-out meal, eaten at a nice little reataruant on the river. The crabs were displayed at the front, and you could either choose your own, or just order small, medium or large. We left the choice to our waiter, as even though littlej has no trouble eating anything really, and my Dad kills his own meat, she found it too difficult to actively particeipate in picking a live victim herself.
Wait until I bring home my own live mud crab from the markets to make this dish at home!

Before:

After!

So my Dear Readers, I apologise for my absence from the blogisphere of late, and for not keeping up with comments on your lovely blog posts as well, but as you can see I was busy eating my way around Singapore :) I can hardly wait to go again!

So Dear Readers, were you born overseas, and what country would you visit if you could?





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