Time for another little tour of our Bewitching Kitchen, to join the virtual party started by Celia, from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.
LET ME START WITH THREE SPECIAL GIFTS…
Freshly picked blackberries from a colleague at KSU… As you might remember from a recent post, they were put to excellent use in a blackberry-cherry sorbet... Hummmmmmm…..
Vanilla beans straight from France, a surprise package, courtesy of the same dear friend who sent me a huge load of saffron in the past… My first use of one of these incredibly potent pods was the Apple-Cinnamon Bread you read about last week.
A Hamilton Beach electric oven, surprise gift from Phil, who found it on ebay… the thing is huge, and the temperature control pretty accurate. I’ve baked bread in it (the Black Sesame Sourdough), I’ve used it to roast the meat for our French Dip sandwich... Very nice option to keep the house cool during the hot months. His name is Mr. Hamilton, and our patio is his new home.
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AND MOVING ON TO OTHER STUFF GOING ON IN THE BEWITCHING KITCHEN…
Roasted bell peppers made in Mr. Hamilton. I like to cut the peppers and seed them first, the peel comes off very easily after, no need to run under running water or do all sorts of manipulations needed with the whole pepper. Try it, you might adopt this technique too!
When we spent the sabbatical year in Los Angeles the house we rented had beautiful Italian dishes from Jennifer Moore. We loved them! Ever since we left L.A. Phil has been actively searching for places that sell them. Thanks to his persistence, we now have several pieces to remind us of the months spent in California.
We normally prefer clear glasses, but these are so delicate and beautiful with a light pink body and green stems! Those are my favorite glasses to sip some Portuguese green wine. Another great ebay find by Phil, by the way…
A new product, Mycryo… If you haven’t heard anything about it, be ready to be amazed! It is a cocoa butter-derivative, that you sprinkle on food to be sautéed. It has fewer calories than any other type of fat, and is supposed to brown the food like nobody’s business. Fantastic on scallops, by the way, you don’t even have to worry about drying them. Yes, there will be a blog post about it…. stay tuned!
Preparations for one of our favorite ways to entertain: a pizza party! We provide the dough, the toppings, and if needed a quick lesson on how to open the dough. After that, our guests can have a lot of fun creating their own versions and “sharing the love”… Artichoke hearts, fresh mozzarella, sautéed mushrooms, grilled zucchini, and of course those roasted red and yellow bell peppers were also part of this feast.
Another way to preserve sourdough starter, inspired by Celia and Joanna, two of my bread baking gurus who definitely know how to handle their starters! I dried a very active batch of Dan, and stored several “chips” in ziplock bags at room temperature.
AND WRAPPING UP, A QUICK HELLO FROM OUR FOUR-LEGGED FRIENDS…
What do you mean “You cannot have dark chocolate?”
I hope you enjoyed the visit to our Bewitching Kitchen… if you’d like to participate of the In My Kitchen series, compose a post and link to Celia’s site. The more, the merrier! 😉
ONE YEAR AGO: Raspberry Sorbet at Summer’s End
TWO YEARS AGO: When three is better than two (2 years with Buck in our home!)
THREE YEARS AGO: Grating Tomatoes (and loving it!)
FOUR YEARS AGO: A Peachy Salad for a Sunny Day
Bewitching Kitchen 
What a lovely visit to your kitchen. I especially enjoyed seeing the dishes and glassware with their shared pink and green colours. Slicing and seeding pepper before roasting them is a wonderful idea. I’ve used in once when preparing red pepper for my hummus. Your two fuzzy kids are sweet as always.
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yes, that pepper trick is pretty nice!
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What a gorgeous IMK post, I can just imagine how divine those vanilla beans must smell when you pop the lid!
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That was an amazing smell indeed! Extremely potent!
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Hello! Thanks for the peek into your kitchen – I love Mr Hamilton, he’s a bit cool! Fabulous work on the ebay finds – I’ve never been particularly successful on ebay, but maybe I’m just looking for the wrong things?!
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Phil is an ebay pro! He finds amazing things, and knows all the tricks to search it efficiently – plus, he is patient, sometimes it takes him a long time to get something, but… he always succeeds… lucky me!
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I love the dishes! And Mr. Hamilton looks like a nifty addition to the kitchen. Phil seems like a good finder of great things!
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Mr. Hamilton is a big help during a kitchen renovation, that’s for sure!
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Wow. I seriously have the wrong friends!! Love those gifts! How’s your kitchen coming along?
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I was on a trip for a full week, in fact now sitting in the airport in Miami waiting for hours to fly home, so I am curious to see how everything is shaping up Still a long ways to go….
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your kitchen is bubbling over as ever with fun and lovely doglets 🙂
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Doglets are a must!
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This was a great look into your kitchen, Sally, I can see why you liked that china so much. It’s both pretty and a great reminder of a nice holiday. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this site but I’ve used it to find pieces of Mom’s china. If you know the pattern or even a description, they may have a few pieces for sale. Prices depend upon the condition. Here’s their URL: http://www.replacements.com/ . They’ve got flatware and stemware, too. Hope this helps in your search. 🙂
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Yes, Phil has found a lot of china in there in the past too – I usually blog on our regular plates that have cute little red cherries… some of those pieces got broken over the years, and replacements.com has them for sale quite often. Also silverware….
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Will you be posting on the Dan chips? I would like to know more. I’m not sure what to do with my Dan dough when I go to Atlanta, I will be gone 10 days which realistically means no feeding for 11 days. I look forward to learning about Mycryo
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Hope you got my email from yesterday! 😉
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G’day Sally and wow what a view! LOVE the electric oven and LOVE blackberries too!
Thank you for this month’s lovely kitchen view!
Cheers! Joanne
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Thanks, Joanne! Glad you enjoyed the little walk through our kitchen… well, right now there is NO kitchen, no appliances, no floor, no nothing…. but that’s the beauty of scheduling a post 😉
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So many wonderful things in your kitchen and I especially love that your four legged babies made an appearance too.
🙂 Mandy xo
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You know, they insist on showing up in those IMK posts – Buck used to be camera shy, but now as you can see, he is ready to be under the spotlight 😉
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What a fun pizza party!! And that electric oven is pretty awesome…I’ve never seen such a thing before!
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I did not even know those types of oven existed – all credit must go for Mr. Hubby on that one 😉
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Love it! And the pic with the puppy is so cute. I get the same reaction from our dogs. 🙂
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They simply cannot understand certain things cannot be shared… spoiled? You think? 😉
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Definitely!
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i need to get me some of that cocoa butter stuff! I love the idea of it browning without all the fat. Where do u find it?
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I bought mine online from Canada – pretty soon I will have a full post on a recipe for scallops and will include a link in that post with ordering info, ok?
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Sally, adorei o Mr. Hamilton [quero um!] e as louças e os dogs [claro!]. um beijo :-*
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Beijao, Fer…. Espero que seu final de verao esteja sendo tranquilo!
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I am SO going to ask about the Mycryo next time I’m at Chefs’, Sally! Hopefully since it’s a Callebaut product, they’ll be able to get some in for me to try! Love the beach oven – do you think you’ll bake bread in it – and your Jennifer Moore pieces are gorgeous, good on Phil for searching them out! 🙂 xx
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I baked one loaf of bread in it, right now I nave to take a break from bread baking, it is too hard with the house turned upside down for the renovation – but I’ll get back to it soon enough!
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Let’s see. I think Phil needs to talk to John and tell him about buying presents. 🙂 It would be appreciated.
I love Hamilton and wow that is huge. I’m in love with those dishes – what great memories they’ll preserve for years.
finally.. is there anything in the world better than a fuzzy dog but two fuzzy dogs? I think not.
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Agree on all counts – Phil is a pro as far as giving gifts and surprising me with wonderful things – and of course, better than two fuzzy dogs, only three! 😉
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Mycryro … hmm, v interesting. heading straight to google now ….
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🙂 Yeap, I did the exact same when I was first told about it…
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Sally, so much cool stuff going on in your kitchen! I’m rather envious of your beautiful gifts… Your saffron/vanilla bean friend is a keeper 😉 (gorgeous packaging too!). Your four-leggeds are killin’ me. Check the eyeballs on the T-bone steak fella and how about that perfect chocolate posture — beyond. (Stella scarfed a generous piece of dark chocolate about a month or two ago and I swear I didn’t sleep for 48 hours standing vigil; phew! all good — must have been the cheap stuff ;-)).
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Wow, that Stella can get in trouble! Once a dog I had in Brazil (during my first marriage) was caught eating a box of Lindt chocolates I had brought to my then husband as a gift. The scene was priceless, the dog (a terrier-mix, of course), was standing over our bed and munching on the chocolates that were sitting by the bed side table. He destroyed the box, then munched on the chocolate, wraps and all… He survived unharmed, but the chocolates could not be saved in a shape suitable for human consumption 😉
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Your pizza parties sound like a ton of fun. And what beautiful Italian dishes!
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Those pizza parties are always great, easy to prepare, relaxed, just pure fun!
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Sally, so enjoy your posts and recipes, thanks so much. Your dogs are so sweet ! They bring so much joy into a person’s life : ) Sophie, (my Cockapoo) will be 11 months soon, and I’m glad to see her mellowing out a little bit now. Due to the fact that I’m in my sixties and raising a pup at my age can be a challenge to say the least … Thanks again for the recipes and the smiles.
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Thanks so much for stopping by! Glad you like my posts and recipes, you made my day!
I think pups make a person younger – well, at least I hope so, although most of my graying hair could easily be associated with my fuzzy four-legged friends 😉
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All good things are worth a second take.
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🙂
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I love the photos of your dogs. They look hug-able.
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They are very hug-able – Buck is a Jack Russel who loves to cuddle, although he is not fully relaxed about it, consequence of 4 years of abuse he’d suffered. He learned to be close to Phil and I, but he is very suspicious and afraid of any other humans.
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Sally, your tip for halving & seeding peppers before roasting them is brilliant. Thank you for introducing us to “Mr. Hamilton,” too. 😉
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Isn’t that a great little tip? Makes life sooo much easier!
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Well what wonderful friends you have and such good taste! Lovely photo of your terrier – he looks so keen. Thanks for sharing your kitchen with us.
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I am very lucky in the “friends department” – got a few more wonderful gifts to share on my next IMK – maybe next month… we shall see
thanks for stoping by!
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I love your kitchen! Those pink flower dishes are so pretty.
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