In My Kitchen - June 2012

In My Kitchen - June 2012

A celebration of pears and other winter produce in my kitchen this month. I'm poaching, baking and preserving them!

The months have flown past so very quickly. Can you believe that it's June already! Autumn is over, it's the beginning of a new month and time to visit my friend and fellow blogger, Celia, at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial, for a look at what's happening in her kitchen and the kitchens of other friends around the world. 

Winter where I live in Canberra, Australia, is quite delicious! I acknowledge it’s cold. Okay, so it’s freezing, especially on days when the cloud cover is thick and the sun simply doesn't emerge. If nothing else, the diminishing mercury level inspires me to hibernate with my man, throw on an apron, stoke up the stove and fill the house with warm and appetising aromas. Here's a taste of what's in my kitchen this month. Thank you for visiting!

In my kitchen this month...

Chestnuts waiting for the perfect Winter weekend of baking

The lemon fairy at my office has been gifting me with her exquisite, fragrant and flavoursome lemons again! Love it!

Pancakes with lemon are a favourite and both Peter and I are making them for each other on a regular basis. Delicious with a sprinkle of raw sugar! I might add, Peter's are quite outstanding. What a catch!

A good mantra for my life as it is right now, especially after a bout of labyrinthitis!

Winter vegetables and fruit for roasting with pork knuckle. The broccolini is home grown.

My treasured French Pillivuyt souffle dish was a rare find in an op shop years ago. Just part of my collection of white porcelain.

Beautiful Heilala vanilla extract, pure vanilla bean paste and vanilla beans, grown in Tonga and New Zealand. There's a reason Heilala has won awards... the pure quality of the products. I adore vanilla, as you will notice from the sheer number of dishes I feature with vanilla as an ingredient! Each bottle of Heilala syrup and extra contains a whole vanilla pod for extra flavour.

An assortment of chillies. In fact, chillies galore, fresh from the kitchen garden. Dried, frozen, fresh and drying.

Walnuts are featuring in my kitchen at the moment and I'm buying them fresh from a grower who sells at our local Farmer's Markets. There is simply no comparison in flavour and they are sans bitterness! My mother's treasured walnut grinder is in the background. Click the photograph and you will be transported to a selection of walnut recipes on Good Things.

Home-grown celery, fresh from the kitchen garden. I have decided I would like to grow celery all year around. I use a lot of it in my cooking and find with home grown celery I can use the tender stalks and leaves. The texture and taste is far more delicate than store-bought celery and it keeps much better in the fridge too!

Winter is synonymous with citrus fruits, these Imperial mandarins are so sweet and succulent. I take two or three to work every day.

A taste of what I am reading at the moment. Well, this is just one of several piles of books I'm browsing through.

And last, but certainly not least, two treasured, beautiful and cheerful canvasses painted by my daughter, Lauren, for Mother's Day. Aren't they awesome!

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What been happening in your kitchen this month? Is it warm or cold in your part of the world? Is the year flying by for you too?