In my kitchen - June 2014

I am linking this post in to Celia's monthly In My Kitchen event at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

In my kitchen, there are finally signs of packing. Mr Bite's spousal visa arrived a few weeks ago, and we are set to fly to London next week! There is suddenly lots to do. There is also way too much food for us to eat. It turns out I am not good at running down food supplies.

Around boxes and surplus rice, beans and flours, there are some items worth sharing. Coconut sorbet is amongst them.

This iced dessert reminded me of the coconut sorbet I had in Madrid - in itself a lovely thing. Like the Spanish equivalent, it sat at the slightly creamy interface between sorbet and ice cream. Coconut water and sugar make up the bulk of the ingredient list, but a small amount of coconut cream adds the creaminess and sets this apart from standard sorbets. I highly recommend trying it if you get a chance to do so.

In my kitchen, there are freshly polished red ballet flats. I wish I'd taken a 'before' photo to show how scuffed they were. It took a little while to find red shoe polish of the right shade, but it was worth seeking it out to end up with newer looking shoes.

In my kitchen, I have been using up ingredients in a sometimes haphazard fashion. These black tahini rice crispy bites tasted great, but they didn't quite hold together.

Crumbly crispies

I mixed two cups of puffed brown rice, a quarter cup each of rice malt syrup and black tahini, and one tablespoon of coconut oil. If you would like to make your own version, I recommend increasing the rice malt syrup and coconut oil so your slices don't fall apart like mine did!

In my kitchen, black tahini was put to more successful use in a wrap with sultanas (raisins). Don't mock it until you try it.

Appearances can be deceiving - this tasted great

In my kitchen, there have been small purchases from the new self-serve bulk food sections of Coles and Woolworths. I grew up loving the freedom of 'pick and mix' displays where you could buy as much or as little as you like, and was saddened when they seemed to disappear about 10 years ago. I am pleased to see self-serve nuts, seeds and grains return to the major supermarkets.

The bowl of cereal below was a Woolworths muesli and flakes mix, and cost a grand total of 30c. Despite having too much of some foods, I ran out of cereals outside of oats and weetbix, and wanted some variety! Being able to buy a single serve portion was great.

In my kitchen, I have been reading Cadence while waiting for tradesmen and/or buyers of furniture to arrive. It is written by Emma Ayres, who hosts the breakfast radio show on Australia's Classic FM. From Emma's voice, I had pictured her as a middle aged English woman in long skirts and an elegant bun. I was thus surprised - but a little delighted - to find she is young with short hair and tattoos. Cadence tells of her experiences cycling from England to Hong Kong, and of her childhood and love of music. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also want to head off on my bike for a long distance cycling journey.

Last but not least, my kitchen has a coconut and raspberry cake that I am taking to a final work meeting tomorrow. The top cracked a little, so I plan to dust it generously with icing sugar! I used this recipe on Taste.com.au, with the only adaptation being to use egg replacer instead of egg. The recipe features coconut milk and dessicated coconut in place of dairy, butter or oil. The batter tasted great, and I have high hopes for the finished cake too.

With our upcoming move, I hope you will forgive me if my posting (and blog commenting) has erratic patches this month. I am very much looking forward to sharing our London adventures in time, and of course there will be a few more Australian posts to come too.

What is happening in your kitchen this month?

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