I am sitting at my desk at home. It is the December holidays and I have promised myself that I will turn on my computer for one hour a day. So far, I have mostly managed to stick to that. I have had to do some work, but I won’t include work as part of my self imposed allocation. For the hour each day I am doing one post for scheduling for January 2015. And so, it was quite weird to type: In My Kitchen January 2015 when we are still in 2014. Celia from Fig Jam And Lime Cordial ‘gathers’ us together each month to share what is new in our kitchens. Here is what was added to my kitchen before January 2015.
After our recent visit to Baleia Bay Deli I commented about the olive oil and I was sent a gift, which included a bottle. I am so looking forward to using this oil, especially for bread dipping.
At the wine cellar at Baleia Bay, we did a tasting of their most recent wines, and the 2014 Sauvignon Blanc was one of them. Together with the olive oil, I was sent a bottle of the wine which I will be taking with us on Christmas Day for lunch.
Checkers asked me if I would like to take part in their #SizzleSizzle promotion of their championship boerewors. This thick style sausage is extremely tasty and so far Dave and I have enjoyed two of the three packs that they gave me. This came with tomato ketchup, a bottle of coke, a pack of crisps and firelighters and charcoal for the braai. A perfect treat for a summer’s day.
After our day of giving with Checkers, we were sent home with a lovely goody bag. This included a bottle of their Odd Bins MCC. Checkers source grapes and use top winemakers to create their Odd Bins range of wines. This MCC is dry and crisp, just like I want my bubbles to be. The lots are numbered so that you can buy the same range again using the number as a reference.
It has been many years since we last hosted a Christmas meal at our house. This year we are having James (Dave’s son), Carli (James’s girlfriend) and her parents over. Checkers gave me these crackers and so they will form part of our table. I have heard that you should get people to pull the crackers as soon as they sit down to create the festive mood, and that the crackers should have decent gifts in them. The one I opened at the Checkers function had a decent pen inside.
I placed an order with Nomu in December as they had a special offer of free delivery. Included in the delivery would also be a gift, and I was so pleased to see this tin of decadent hot chocolate. From all accounts it is amazing and this will be a lovely treat for Dave during winter.
I read on Lorraine’s blog about hand soap that had pumice in it. With that in mind I ordered a foam soap pump from Yuppiechef with a voucher I had been given. I decided I would add poppy seeds to the soap to get the same affect as the pumice. Sadly so far I have not managed to pump any poppy seeds into my hands. But the foam is super awesome and you use way less liquid soap this way as the soap is topped with water.
Dave was given a set of wine glasses for his birthday a few years ago. As he did not like the stems we took them to the store and exchanged them for glasses he preferred. However, the glass has clouded over and I am not sure why. I have bought myself a glass cloth and I will try and polish the glasses during the course of the month, after I have put them through the glass cycle in my dishwasher.
I want to make gefilte fish for Passover and to do so I need a recipe. I went to one of our local book stores and asked them if they had a Jewish cookbook. The answer: “yes, we have the book Jerusalem“. I had to explain that even though Yotam is Jewish, his books aren’t exactly Jewish cookbooks. Then I went to another store and browsed through their selection and saw Joy Of Kosher. In it I found a recipe for Gefilte fish, and without reading the recipe decided this would be the book I would buy. I got home to read the recipe, only to discover that in America you buy gefilte fish to make into gefilte fish! This is so funny. But, I will adapt the recipe and share it with you once I have done so.
In my order from Nomu is this large catering size pack of cocoa. Theirs is by far the best cocoa I have ever used, and buying in bulk makes a lot of sense to me.
My order came beautifully wrapped with a handwritten card. And as if the hot chocolate was not enough of a gift I also got a packet of all purpose rub and two recipe cards.
Also in the Checkers goody bag was a set of salt and pepper grinders. Nataniël is quite the celebrity here and I must say that I am enjoying having these super sized grinders in my kitchen.
I also ordered Nomu vanilla paste as I did not think I would have time to make my own this December, given that I need to get through a lot of recipes while we are on leave. I want to make one recipe a day so that I have a good store of recipes for scheduling in 2015. We have two overseas trips booked and I don’t want to be under any pressure at all.
What I blogged:
- one year ago – Pane Tuscana | Tuscan Bread
- three years ago – Chicken Noodle Soup
- four years ago – Regional and Seasonal Challenge
That is one amazing goodie bag. I can’t wait to see what you are going to do with that cocoa… Wishing you an awesome start to 2015!
I have not even opened it yet 🙂
Lots happening with you, Tandy!!! Great to see a nice range of Nomu goodies there, too!! Looking forward to your 2015 recipes 🙂
Julie & Alesah
Gourmet Getaways xx
Nomu make the most amazing products and I think that makes such a difference when baking 🙂
Oh, lots of goodies there – Tandy.
It was quite a collection!
What varied goodies you received and pulled together for Christmas! I used to buy gelfite fish from a Jewish corner store when I lived in Bondi and they were divine. You can improvise with white fish fillets if that is all you have (eg. me now I live in the country). I look forward to seeing your results. What lovely crackers, with a pen inside, wow you must have searched for these. The pepper grinders are great, I am impressed that you occasionally make your own vanilla paste. Excellent dark chocolate, I gather Christmas was very impressive at your house Tandy 😀
Christmas was a lot of fun Merryn. I am going to use hake for my gefilte fish and hope it tastes good 🙂
Tandy, happy new year! You have some really interesting things in your kitchen. Happy cooking my friend.
Thank you Liz, and the same to you!
Happy HAPPY New Year lovely Tandy! You’ve got some amazing goodies in your kitchen this month. Love the look of the all purpose rub, and what a nice touch with the hand written card. Hope you are enjoying your 2015 so far, I sure do look forward to following your foodie adventures this year. 🙂
Thank you Anna, 2015 has been very kind so far!
What a varied and interesting mix of new things. Happy New Year! We have similar goals to have a varied list of posts ready for a busy 2015.
What is Nomu? A spice shop? I am not familiar with it.
Nomu is a local company that makes spice rubs, baking kits, and the most amazing hot chocolate, amongst other products 🙂
Okay i got stuck and mesmerized by those amazing look boerewors. Just look at how amazing they look. I wonder what you will cook with them. Can you tell I’m so hungry right now? lol.
I did them plain and simple, on the BBQ with salad 🙂
what a load of lovely goodies tandy. i am keen to hear how the gefilte fish turns out. i often make vanilla extract but didn’t realise you could also make your own paste. you will have to let us in on your secret!:)
have a wonderful year. xx
Hi Sherry, take a look at this link tandysinclair.com/vanilla-puree/ for the ‘secret’ 🙂
Nomu sounds like a great the providore. I looked it up after I finished your post – quite a selection indeed. And a free post offer is always tempting. I save up my book purchases for when Amazon UK has a free post promo to Aus & SA. Well done in scheduling all of those posts! cheers Fiona
They make the best ever skinny hot chocolate 🙂
What a lot of treasure you have, Tandy! I love the Nomu spice rubs so I’m sure their cocoa would be brilliant. The sausages look divine, and those are the prettiest Christmas crackers I’ve seen in ages. Hope you’re having a great start to 2015! xxx
2015 is being amazing to me so far 🙂
Lots of delicious looking goodies. Nomu sounds like a lovely company and their,products look delicious. Good,luck with your gefilte fish.
Lots of delicious looking goodies. Nomu sounds like a lovely company and their,products look delicious. Good luck with your gefilte fish.
Thanks Gretchen 🙂
Love that soap pump – have seen a few of those around lately. Mostly I love all your goodies from Nomu, but especially that vanilla paste. I have glasses that have also clouded over – nothing seems to help. I hope your cloth works on yours as it’s really irritating! Happy 2015 x
I am sadly going to have to toss the glasses Mel as the cloth did not help at all 🙂
Hi Tandy, WOW those sausages look perfect for the BBQ! I look forward to your gefilte fish recipe, I’ve never had it but it’s something I’ve always wondered about from hearing it on tv shows, I think the Nanny or the Golden Girls!
cheers
Jason
I remember both of those shows but not the reference to gefilte fish! I should get around to making them this week 🙂