Monday, September 03, 2012

In My Kitchen: September

I'm finally back in my kitchen and cooking up a storm (aka making a mess). Look, here's my stove just to prove that I do in fact own my very own stove. Of course with cooking comes the washing up...or the "I cooked so you wash up" battle.  As I mostly cook, The Boy mostly washes up...but somehow the two don't seem to occur on the same night often enough. Hmmm...


I put in a meat order this month with The Free Range Butcher - the whole process was so convenient as we could pick up the order from the Castle Hill Markets (or any market we choose).  I'm hoping this meat will last us the whole month as I'm trying to eat less meat so we have less of an impact on the demand for meat.  Buying meat is becoming more + more difficult for me as I'm trying so hard to do the "ethical thing". I recently found out that Lilydale Chickens are not in fact "really" free range as I think of free-range. Their chooks are housed in barns with "access" to the outdoors. The thing is, if the chickens food + water is inside, they really have no reason to venture outside do they?  And if the barn is so full of chooks how do they even get outside if they're stuck in the middle of the barn. And with so many chickens wouldn't outside just be a dusty, poopy, unpleasant dirt patch with no grass or bugs to dig for?  Anyway - here is what we bought. It's all pasture raised...grown on the Free Range Butchers own farms. The Lamb is from Drover's Choice - raised outdoors and fed on Saltbush. We love these ribs. LOVE!


I recently bought these eggs from a lady at work whose neighbour's backyard chooks are laying more eggs than they can eat ($4.00 for a dozen).  I love the way the eggs are all different sizes - you'd never see anything other than 100% uniformity in a dozen supermarket eggs. Some of the chooks are younger than the others hence the different sized eggs.  I used the MOST enormous egg to make a googy-egg on toast.


A recent trip to hell-on-earth (IKEA) saw us come home with a bottle of this Elderflower Cordial. It's pretty tasty - especially with soda water + ice. The Boy had to return to Ikea to return a whole bunch of stuff and came back with two more bottles of Elderflower Cordial plus a Lingonberry Cordial (that I don't really rate - Ribena kicks its arse to be honest).


And what month/week/day/hour is complete without chocolate. I'm trying to cut back on naughty snacks and junk food as Miss Piggy is officially porky.  I've been told that 'raw' chocolate is better for you than regular chocolate - I have no idea why. The other theory is that because it is less sweet + more bitter you tend to eat less of it (I have proved that theory to be totally incorrect).  The Loving Earth block was pretty tasty (about $8 for 100g block) - I liked the big chunks of sour cherry in it.  So far I've only tried the Mint Conscious Chocolate. It's great too - very very minty (flavoured with peppermint oil), but much more expensive than the other brand at about $8 for a 45g block.


See you next month!

Thanks to Celia from Fig Jam + Lime Cordial for hosting this blog hop.

20 comments:

  1. Great roundup Mel. I love Loving Earth chocolate - it is so rich that a couple of squares is enough! Love the look of that meat too, might give this place a try.

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  2. Great post Mel! I love the elderflower cordial from IKEA - I was thinking of picking up another bottle soon, but I think I might track down some blood oranges to make up Anna's lovely recipe! I have exactly the same washing up battle as you do - we've called a truce and looking for a good slim dishwasher!!!

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  3. Love seeing your kitchen - and nice to hear I am not the only one with a dishwasher who does them when it pleases him (or when I can't find a clean dish). I have to go to ikea soon (sigh!) so I think I will look out for the that cordial. And I love how home laid eggs are so diverse - I am always fascinated by double yolkers

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  4. Lovely to see the things that happen at home. So... will there be much to come with the food you've been cooking? :P

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  5. Thanks for your lovely comment the other day:) Loving the look of that elderflower cordial for the hopefully hot days ahead!

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  6. So many tasty things! I love the light in these photos and the way you have captured the simple beauty of the 'real' eggs. I can see that things are getting busier in your kitchen Miss Piggy :)

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  7. Lovely post! And I love the look of the eggs. We do not have the opportunity to have fresh eggs and always buy them at the grocer's. And as you mentioned they are almost always uniform in size.

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  8. Your kitchen sounds very busy. Bitter or rich chocolate unfortunately does not stop me eating more than my fair share either...no chocolate here for that very reason! (Yours does look dlicios though)

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  9. My sister has a brand new 6 burner super stove... and she uses for boiling eggs for breakfast. You're way ahead of her :) I know it's hard to find real free range/pasture fed meats in the market, sometimes I wish I lived in the country.

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  10. Great post Mel. I like your philosophy on the chickens. You are correct about humane farming. I like that Lingonberry cordial. Love your old jug with flowers too!

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  11. Awwww... I love those eggs! Bet they taste way better than eggs from the shops!

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  12. Ha! I know the pain of one's cooking and someone else's washing up not being done on the same day! I have to talk myself into leaving it undone so I don't end up doing both. ;)

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  13. LOL about the washing up... that's why you have kids, at least that's what they tell me :(

    I know what you mean about chocolate, any type any flavour and I don't stop until it is finished :) Great story xx

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  14. If i had a backyard (darnit unit living) I'd have some chooks to roam about and lay eggs!

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  15. Oooh Mel, such treasure in your kitchen! There is something about homegrown eggs which just makes them so much more special - I don't know that we could ever go back to buying eggs after having chooks in the backyard. Making free range meat choices is very hard, but definitely worth the effort, good on you!

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  16. I agree with you about Ikea. How unpleasant is it? I will never shop there again. Those eggs were a bargain at $4.00/dozen. I'm so upset about the Lilydale chickens. That's not good. That's the only 'free-range' I can buy at my shopping centre. I'll have to venture further afield and buy organic only xx

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  17. Hi there!

    I'm new to your site and it's great to see what you have going on in your kitchen! I love the idea of putting in a meat order to be picked up. How convenient is that?! And it's free range no less. Your chocolate looks amazing too. Very rustic, and the flavor combinations sound lovely. I wish I had some!

    I look forward to coming back and reading more posts :)

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  18. Ooh...elderflower cordial from Ikea, noted.

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  19. Elderflower cordial and chocolate- What's not to love?

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  20. Thanks for visiting everyone - stayed tunned next month to see if The Boy actually washes up. EVER!

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