UK | Bewitching Kitchen

It is time to invite you all for a walk around our kitchen. In My Kitchen posts started many years ago with Celia and is now hosted by Sherry, from Sherry’s Pickings. In this version, we will go beyond the kitchen because we were away on a professional trip for the whole month of August, so I will include a few bits and pieces from our stay in London.

Starting with gifts…

While in London, we had the opportunity to meet a dear virtual friend of many years – Elaine – The Sourdough Queen. She had us over for lunch and we sat for hours chatting. Had amazing vegetarian spreads and of course the best sourdough loaves a person can wish for. Fresh from her oven. Knowing how much I love tea cups, she gave me this gorgeous cup, handmade by a pottery artist from the region. I adore it! Thank you, Elaine!

From our dear friend Sarah who lives just a couple of miles away from us, these cute fabric wrappers that you can place under bowls and plates to go into the microwave. No more burning hands on hot bowls, plus they help retain the heat. She made those herself… how cool is that?

In our kitchen…

I’ve been using this for years, then the other day Phil asked me if I ever shared this tip on the blog because it works so well. It turns out I did not. So here I am, late rather than never, to tell you that a pastry cutter works WONDERS to make guacamole. If you do it, you will never look back. You are welcome…

In our kitchen…

Great find by my beloved. Minced black truffles. Potent, very potent. A little bit goes a long way. We love to add it to regular mushrooms when sauteing them for a side dish, or make a little olive oil concoction to add to grilled steak. I used some in little mushroom appetizers featured not too long ago.

In our kitchen…

White lentils… I first learned about them through Mimi, when she blogged about a salad. Stay tuned for a recipe showcasing them. Unfortunately I could not find them in our town, but I was so intrigued that I had to place an order online. I know, the sacrifices I make for the sake of food blogging…

In our kitchen…

It is that time of the year. Pumpkin rules! This one from our farmer’s market, should turn into a dessert. No, not pumpkin pie. I have slightly more exotic plans for this baby…

In our kitchen…

Sometimes things get wild… Please, no questions.

In our kitchen…

Thanks to the efforts of my dear husband, I now have the perfect tool to make spun sugar. I am still at a stage of covering all countertops, most kitchen appliances, and 2/3 of our dogs with spun sugar on several levels of thickness. Practice makes perfect. Here’s to hoping for a long life for Sally.

In our kitchen…

While in London, I also had the opportunity of meeting another food blogger I’ve known and followed for years. The one and only Philip, who was a finalist in the show Britain’s Best Home Cook. He made me an amazing lunch that was crowned by his homemade lemon pie (he even blogged about it, check it out). He also offered me delicious chocolate cookies called “Bourbons” and showed me the special cutters used to make them from scratch. I knew I had to have them. I already made two of the four kinds, and you will soon read all about them.

In our kitchen…

A few more items from London. I had heard nice things about Silverwood baking pans, and had to bring these home with me. They are beautiful, and work like a dream.

In our kitchen…

Pizza party for our lab members! We love doing those, I make the dough early in the morning (using my default recipe), let the dough rise in the fridge the whole day, when guests arrive the toppings are ready to go, and we can have a pretty relaxed get together in which the hosts can have as much fun as the guests…

In our kitchen…

What is quickly becoming a routine for our Saturday lunch: Cobb Salad, in many different interpretations. This one used salmon made in our own smoker, very mild flavor.

In our kitchen…

Mango pearls, made with agar-agar and mango pulp. Approved by the resident pup with a gourmet palate (yeah, right).

In our kitchen…

Icelandic yogurt (skyr). We eat a lot of non-fat yogurt, reserving the full-fat for cooking and baking. This one is simply the best.

And now it’s time for the pups to bark their story.

If he is going to be a complete jerk about what goes on in this house, he can talk to the tail…

Because I actually do some work around here, as this photo proves.

Indeed, in a rare (cough, cough) moment of clumsiness, I had dumped a small container of yogurt, making considerable mess on the floor. Buck to the rescue, making clean-up a lot easier.

Speaking of clean-up, we go through this routine more often than we like to admit. Oscar is The Burr Magnet, and a complete Drama Boy when it’s time to get them pulled off, no matter how gently we do it.

Not sure what to write as a caption. Honestly, we have absolutely no idea how the remote ended up in there. It could be Bogey Quit That (™) unique way of disapproving our entertainment choices.

But unfortunately, they were forced to endure a full month of kennel due to our trip to the UK. It was hard for all of us…

Indeed, we were in the UK for a little over 30 days. I share with you a few shots from the trip, mainly during weekends when we had a chance to explore the city a bit.

We had some days with nice weather…

Some days… not so much…

We visited magical Stonehenge….

We had amazing – truly amazing – fish and chips (with mandatory mushy peas).

I had a small dessert-macaron at Laduree (that place is a dream).

And by complete accident I stumbled upon a book signing by Nadiya Hussain, winner of Great British Bake Off a few years back. I told her how much we loved watching her, and that in fact I watched her season at least three times….

I fell in love but bravely walked away from the mixer of my dreams….

And had a special dinner with my forever husband at Rules Restaurant, where we had a romantic meal together 15 years ago…

But even long trips come to an end… and we were absolutely thrilled to go back to our routine… Dogs sleeping nicely on the first evening back…

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of the Bewitching Kitchen and a few glimpses of London. I will have a bit more to share about the trip in future posts, as my dear friend Denise took me to some pretty special spots. But that’s another story, to be told another time…