Welcome to The Kitchen Playground. Cooking can bring great joy and great despair. I hope that the recipes you find here, many of which are very quick to make with the weeknight in mind, help you to experience more joy than despair. Many recipes have instructions for the Thermomix 31 as well as traditional instructions. The emphasis is on real, fresh food that combines flavour, texture and scent to delight the senses.
Another day of actual summer weather and it feels like paradise. Perfect accompaniments to a summer’s day, fresh bread and salad. The bread is a pumpkin and grain loaf inspired by Confessions of a French Baker. Lovely topped with nothing more than avocado. It would be delicious with soup. Even my pumpkin hating boys enjoyed […]
What could be more satisfying, frustrating, and completely fulfilling as a day spent between vegetable patch and preserving? I’m sure the majority could think of lot’s of things but I’m know I’m not alone in thinking it nigh on the perfect day. From an early trip to the farmer’s market, I launched straight into bottling […]
So another year passes, more quickly than those that precede it. If you are celebrating the departure of 2008 or welcoming 2009, enjoy and be safe! If you’re not celebrating, also enjoy and be safe. It’s a crazy time of year. I’m ushering out the old with the assistance of the cook book challenge. This […]
Way back in Seattle’s peach season, I started salivating at the thought of my own personal peach season. The reason was a tempting little salsa recipe posted on the Shibaguyz blog. Today was the day and it was worth the wait. Once I stock up on capsicum and coriander I’ll be making at least two […]
I have a word document which is a series of urls. Recipes and crafty ideas that have taken my fancy and that I’ve not gotten around to as yet. It’s a wonderful source of inspiration when I’m out of ideas. Today was one of those days. The end result was fantastic. The aroma of the […]
The days between Christmas and New Year tend to be such a pleasant interlude. Lot’s of pottering and purging and rearranging. There is a timeless quality of not being exactly sure what day of the week, or even what day it is. Not only a very pleasant time but also strangely productive. After five or […]
If you’ve always wanted to make your own croissants, but have been put off by rumours of difficulty, do it. They’re not difficult, they’re time consuming. If you have a day at home and 5 minutes to devote every 20 minutes or so for a couple of hours, that is your croissant making window. If […]
Is this, or is this not, a very clever gift indeed for someone who likes to cook, entertain and eat outside? Clever SIL (and brother and nevvy but SIL gets shopping credit) gave me this wonderful idea as a birthday gift. My head was instantly overflowing with ways to use it. Cut up veg ready […]
It’s nigh on my favourite time of year. I’m not referring to the festive season of any variety. What I’m talking about is peach season. We have the most wonderful peach tree. It was here when we bought our house, I’ve no idea how old it is. What I do know is that every year […]
Not for the first time, when shown my latest creation, the Bread Winner wondered aloud what possesses me to do these things. How does one take that? Is it mere bemusement? Derision? Disgust? I justified this creation with the notion of children and festivities and keeping the Ankle Biters amused in the lead up to […]