Loving this week {January 2013}

I am linking this into cityhippyfarmgirl's 'loving this week' post for January. Her 'loving' posts are about the little moments in your days and weeks that have tickled your heart.

Here are my recent loves for January.

Agapanthus on my walk to work.

Pink smoothies from frozen watermelon (also pineapple, rockmelon, banana and almond milk).

Les Misérables, again! With Mr Bite! 

Who ever knew that would happen? 

After much convincing, Mr B accepted this might be one musical he really should see. I watched it a second time with acute awareness of all the things he might not like (but still loved it myself), so was relieved when he gave it a 7.5 / 10 rating. The earlier scenes were deemed "slow", but the latter half with barricade excitement made the film scrape through as acceptable overall.

Groupon present deliveries, thanks to the Groupon voucher I won late last year from Cassandra at Food is my Friend (thanks again Cass!).

My new items include a cake / icing decorating set (complete with letter stencils) and a measuring bowl that does volume as well as weight.

The best vanilla frozen yoghurt ever.

This isn't vegan, but it is really, really good. It has the tartness of natural yoghurt with the sweetness of vanilla, and it is hands down the best 'hard' frozen yoghurt (not soft serve) that I've had.

Lemon juice in water.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to catch on to this. I'm not concerned with the putative health benefits, but love it for the taste!


What are you loving this week?

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In my kitchen - January 2013

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 two limes, waiting to be used in a recipe in Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals.

After enjoying the TV series of the same name, Mr Bite bought me the book for Christmas and I love everything about it. I love that I may actually be able to make the recipes within half an hour (something I never managed with Jamie's 30 minute meals!), I love the approach taken to fresh, nutritious and enjoyable food, and I love that even the 'meat' dishes include decent vegetable sides and/or so many vegetables you can take the meat out and still have a meal.

In my kitchen, there is another cookbook, by one of the owners of the Leon chain of restaurants in the UK. We ate lunch at a Leon in London and the (unphotographed) food was superb. Mr Bite rated his vegetable soup and flat bread as 10 / 10, and I enjoyed a 'superfoods' salad with broccoli, peas, cucumber, avocado, quinoa, mint, parsley, and toasted seeds. Super indeed.

When I found the book online, I couldn't resist buying it as a joint Christmas present for both of us.

In my kitchen, there are brown rice crackers with black pepper and sesame. I like them a lot.

In my kitchen, the grout has recently been scrubbed (I have bruises on my knees to show for it), and there are clean windows, a clean microwave, and an externally clean fridge. I have yet to get to cleaning the inside of the fridge...

Inside that fridge, there is a whole shelf taken up with chocolate. With the weather being warm, and bonus chocolate appearing over Christmas, we have reached new territory in chocolate storage difficulties. Fortunately, those are the sorts of difficulties I don't mind.

In my kitchen, there are new spice jars to try and streamline the chaos that can be my pantry.

Before - shelves installed November 2011

After - twice as many small jars in the same amount of space

The small jars now hold, moving across each row from the top left, crushed peanuts, pinenuts, dessicated coconut, crystallised ginger, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, carob powder, poppy seeds, dried ginger, dried basil, cumin, sea salt, chile chipotle powder (still thanks to Mel!), and dried parsley. Goji berries sit between the dates and raw almonds on the right.

In my kitchen, there are also new large jars, to hold, amongst other things, the dry legumes that form part of my 2013 resolutions.

On the bottom level are dried chickpeas, barley, and black eyed peas; in the middle are yellow split peas, cashews, and great northern beans; and on top are currants and sultanas. 

I have been enjoying the chickpeas this week, and have taken delight both in the process of cooking them and in their larger size relative to tinned chickpeas.

In my kitchen, there is a rare box of commercial icey poles - Frosty Fruits in lemon, lime and bitters flavour.

 The ingredient list may leave a bit to be desired, but they are enjoyably lemon, lime and bittery.

In my kitchen, there is also real frozen fruit, of the watermelon, rock melon and pineapple variety. These complement my freezer staples of frozen bananas and frozen berries. It turns out that frozen watermelon with frozen banana gives a surprisingly delicious smoothie.

What is happening in your kitchen this month?

Thank you to Celia for hosting this event.

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