October 2017 | Bewitching Kitchen

Bogey Art, courtesy of our dear friend Denise, from UK

Time to invite my readers for another virtual tour of our kitchen, a tour that usually takes place every three months, so there’s a lot to talk about. As I mentioned many times, credit should go to Celia who started the IMK series many years ago, and to Sherry from Sherry’s Pickings , who is hosting the event now. Stop by her site to say hello.

Starting with gifts…

From a former graduate student, Lorne

Straight from New Zealand, a honey infused with kiwi. Spectacular… Not sure how he was able to find it, but I’m sure glad he got a bottle for us

From a colleague in our department….

Bel Murabba, something I had never even heard about. You can learn more about it here. This one is a type of apple that is used exclusively in this type of preserve in India. It is stored in a heavy syrup, you simply rinse it well and enjoy a slice of the fruit. Apparently it is great for improving digestion. It reminded me of a Brazilian delicacy called ‘goiabada” which is made from guava fruit.

From our friend Cindy…

A lemongrass plant she brought when she visited us a few months ago. Phil took good care of it, and it really exploded into a huge, healthy plant in our backyard, living in perfect harmony with our basil and a few Serrano pepper plants. I feel incredibly virtuous when a recipe calling for fresh lemongrass has me walking outside with a pair of scissors. Thank you, Cindy, for making it possible.

From one of our graduate students…

The best caviar I ever tasted. The best. You know how caviar can taste fishy sometimes? I don’t “do” fishy very well. Well, this one is the smoothest, most amazing, creamy, luscious, delicious caviar ever. Cannot thank him (and his parents who actually brought it) enough.

From Phil…

Four little vintage plates he found at an antique store in Norman, Oklahoma, during a visit last July. I love them!

Moving on to regular items…

In our kitchen…

Small vintage Pyrex dishes I bought at the same antique store. They have a full room devoted to those, I wanted to grab a lot more pieces, but storage is a problem, so I settled for these. Adorable…

In our kitchen…

Sucanat, a sweetener derived from cane sugar with a bit of molasses taste to it, but not exactly like brown sugar. It is similar to jaggery and rapadura (the Brazilian homolog of piloncillo). America’s Test Kitchen great book “Naturally Sweet” uses sucanat in plenty of their recipes. A fun ingredient to play with.

In our kitchen…

Humongous caper berries. They are not very easy to find, so when I saw them for sale at Marshalls I pounced on the bottle like Buck on a snake.

In our kitchen…

Pineapple-infused vodka. We saw this concoction on a cookbook and Phil was intrigued. Basically you cut up a pineapple, add vodka to cover, keep in the fridge for 2 weeks. Drain the vodka, discard the pineapple pieces. The now pineapple-infused vodka can be used to make pineapple-tinis or any other drink your imagination comes up with.

In our kitchen…

Makoto Japanese Ginger Carrot dressing. I don’t normally go for bottled salad dressing, but my friend Tracy recommended it. It is very tasty! Not too sweet, in fact in terms of carbs this dressing is quite moderate: Excellent on cole-slaw, spinach salads, or squirted with abandon over turkey burgers.

In our kitchen…

That time of the year. Pumpkin time. How could I resist this bag of pasta? No need to answer that. I could not. I did not.

In our kitchen…

Another Marshalls gem. A huge bottle of fantastic roasted cashews. When I am hungry while making dinner, a few of those do a great job tidying me over until the meal is finally ready to be devoured. Phil will often have a Wasa-cracker smeared with peanut butter and some of those cashews on top for lunch. Very delicious.

In our kitchen…

Fresh basil from our backyard, almost at the point of harvest before the first frost (these two simple words are like a couple of sharp swords stabbing my heart).

In our kitchen…

Star-shaped edible glitter… Because, macarons… (stay tuned)

In our kitchen…

Two new decorative items… a cute (perhaps slightly kitschy) elephant, and a small candle holder I found at a store in Silverthorne, Colorado last month. The elephant had high hopes for a warm welcome to our pack, but sadly, it was not exactly the case (read on).

In our kitchen…

A little bit of public service, in the form of a picture (taken in the lab, actually) to show you how much sugar is present in ONE can of Coca-Cola. Thirty-nine grams. Nobody, absolutely nobody needs this amount of sugar in one sitting. Or two.. Or three… A full 20-ounce bottle packs 65 grams. Shocking, isn’t it? Now, back to our regular programming. 😉

In our kitchen…

A mug that I ordered from gearbubble, with a favorite picture of Buck, my little Tim-Tam, my little munchkin… Isn’t that adorable? It melts my heart every time I take a sip of my evening tea. And since I spoke of Buck….

IT’S DOGGIE TIME!

For three months the pups patiently waited to say hello, but now, tails furiously wagging, here they are!

The morning routine changes very little in our home… Bogey’s food bowl is always full to the top, and not a molecule of nutrient is left behind when he is done, 2 and a half minutes later.

Oscar seems to find new objections to food items with every passing month…

But poor Oscar had some bad karma flowing his way…
He’d developed a small abscess on his neck that had to be drained.

Hi, friends… My name is Oscar For the Love of God Stop, and I am here all groggy from my torture at the vet. They said I will be ok, not sure I believe them.

Mom and Dad gave me lots of treats and petting… Maybe I should go back to the vet next week again?

Maybe Mom and Dad gave my brother a lot of attention, but Mom dressed to complement MY beautiful fur, not theirs! How about that for special attention?

Plus, Dad helps me stretch in the morning! I don’t see him helping my two silly brothers.

Well, I can stretch on my own. What matters is, I am the one with the photo on the mug, and Mom told me she got this necklace made to match MY beautiful paws. So there!

I am just sexy. And I know it….

Seriously, Osky? You must be kiddin’ me!

Mom brought a new friend home… We are not quite sure what to make of him.
Something about his smell does not feel right to us. Any of us.

But into every life, a little rain must fall…

Yes, unfortunately we’ve had quite a few trips lately, and the pups had to endure some time in The Dark and Scary Place, as my friend Jill describes it. But they know that this is their forever home, and Mom and Dad never leave for too long…