01 | April | 2022 | Bewitching Kitchen

In My Kitchen posts are hosted by Sherry, from Sherry’s Pickings. Please visit her site to see what everybody else is sharing this month. I join four times each year, on the first day of January, April, July and October. If you are a food blogger, considering taking part of this fun event. It is chance to share those little things you bought or received as gifts and that make your life in the kitchen easier.

Starting with gifts…

From our graduate student Taihao, a surprise Birthday gift for me… I love it! It is my kind of cookie, all the way. Intense taste of sesame, not too sweet, super delicate and crumbly. In the huge tin, little packages with two cookies in each, so they stay fresh for a long time. Thank you so much!

A gift from me to my beloved husband…

He had one that was similar, but it cracked, so I ordered another one… the Amazing Trio!

Moving on, these are some of the new things that joined our kitchen since I last invited you for a virtual tour.

In our kitchen…

We are not the greatest consumers of this type of food item, but I was intrigued by the low-carb nature of these little chips. Bought one to try, and the rest is history. We now always have a bag in the pantry. Great to serve with guacamole, much lighter than tortilla chips, and I actually love the taste and texture. So I am sharing just in case you also wonder if they are any good. Other flavors are available, but we stick with sea salt. Our favorite.

In our kitchen…

Mini-spatulas from Wilton (I found them at Jo-Ann, cheaper than amazon). I saw them recommended in a cookie forum and decided to get a set. They are perfect to mix Royal icing, and perfect to mix sourdough starter. Not sure how I’ve lived without them. It is a mystery.

In our kitchen….

Speaking of spatulas, this is a funky-looking one but what a great job it does to clean the flat beater of the Kitchen Aid… It now lives side-by-side with older siblings. Available here.

Do I have a spatula problem? Why exactly are you asking???? I am puzzled.

In our kitchen…

Rainbow sprinkles! These are way way WAY better than the stuff you find at the grocery store, puts Wilton brand into shame. Great texture, very nice taste, bright colors. If you are into baking, this is a must. Order some here.

Matching earrings are optional. But oh so very cool, right?

In our kitchen…

Last month we celebrated our wedding anniversary and my Birthday with a trip to Lake Tahoe. We took the opportunity to get a few goodies at Trader Joe’s. Two types of alternative pasta that I could never find in town. I have not tried them yet, stay tuned. Pistachio nuts. Freeze-dried strawberries (for a particular shortbread cookie I will be baking soon), and a fantastic gluten-free bread/cracker that we fell win love with. We are kicking ourselves for not bringing many more boxes… Oh, well. If you have a Trader Joe’s where you live, search for this and eat some thinking of me, ok?

In our kitchen…

A much needed organization that started with my stencils. They are all in plastic folders, and the small ones, that tend to accumulate at the bottom of the folder, got the design drawn on the red insert. Makes life a lot easier.

In our kitchen…

The organization hit the cookie cutters! They finally got sorted and placed in boxes according to general categories. Of course, “miscellaneous” contains all cookie cutters that I don’t remember exist. Once I realized the extent of my cookie cutter compulsive acquisition, I made a drastic decision. No. More. Cookie. Cutters. But then… this happened.

You do realize resistance was futile. LOOK at that shape! I am calling it – The Last One. Case closed.

In our kitchen…

Speaking of cookies, I got this little gadget to write on cookies, making an impression in the dough. I admit, it was an impulse buy. Let’s see if I can put it to good use (sigh).

In our kitchen….

Wilton sanding sugar in a beautiful rose gold tone… love love love this one! Put it immediately to use in some macarons: Hibiscus Ganache (pink ones) and Nut-Free Honey-Cardamon (purple ones).

And now, it is time to share the recent adventures of our most faithful companions…

Buck – the best student of Professor Bogey Quit That on Raiding Trash Cans 101 – decided that anything found on the floor belongs to him. Like a piece of paper with “save these instructions”. Yeah, right. We will “save” them in our memory.

and don’t be fooled by his gentle expression…. he turns into a rabid badger if we attempt to retrieve what he takes to his bed.

I had to trick him with a piece of Virginia ham to retrieve this pen, a favorite of mine to draw on cookies. RIP, Sugarbelle pen.

Unfortunately, he is not the only one who generates chaos in our home…

Oscar, Scragglepuss Extraordinaire, decided that the little snake we use to block cold drafts underneath the door – next to their sleeping beds – needed to be punished. We caught him in the act. He was unfazed. And then people get surprised at how much gray hair I gain each week.

Bogey Quit That has been on a very quiet phase… He had his 13th Birthday in January, and was showered with gifts and pampered with attention. Our dear friend Jill and Bogey’s Mother-in-law, sent him a very special package, that melted our hearts.

But then, out of nowhere, dark clouds showed up in their horizon!

Yes, that was the case. Our three valiant companions had to endure a little stay at the Dungeon.

Oscar wants to tell you how he really feels…

Yeah, it was hard… I got the shakes, as I always do when my humans drive us to the Medieval Dungeon, then it took me a while to get my dominance clear to the other prisoners. Obviously, I ended up putting them all in their places. But you know what was worse? When we were finally liberated, my humans pulled another filthy trick on me!

Not only I lost my uniquely-perfumed fur, but had to endure my deaf brother constantly checking my license plate, to make sure I was still my old Alpha-Self.

Well, well, well, we admit it was not our original plan, but the fur-stylist at Petsmart thought that you would look impossibly cute, Osky Boy, so that’s what you’ll have for a little while…

And to close this post, we bring you the one and only, Bogey Quit That…

Did you know that now I am 13 years and 3 months old? Many of the things I loved to do, somehow I cannot do anymore, like sampling food left on the countertops, or even climbing on the sofa to take my beauty nap. Mom and Dad keep doing lots of things to help my weakened legs… like giving me these fashionable socks…

Dad even built a huge ramp for me, so I can go down to the backyard and come up without struggling with those pesky steps.

Unfortunately the ramp is getting steeper and steeper… odd, don’t you think? I cannot quite understand that.

Still, I am doing everything my humans ask me to. We go for a walk every day, so that my back and legs stay as strong as possible. They give me massages… I also get some pills that taste like the flesh of the steer, and the best part is that I am the only one who gets those treats. My brothers take no part of that feast… I am sure that’s because I am a very special pup. With black spots all over my snowy-white body.

After all, I am the only one who stays as close as possible to the door when one of my humans leave. Because I don’t want to miss a single second of our time together when they come back…

We feel the same way you do, Bogey…