In My Kitchen, March 2023

February has always had a special zing to it for me because it's my birthday month. I mightn't feel a day over 25, but I hope that I am a lot wiser than I was back then. My friends really spoiled me this year with beautiful birthday cakes. Jennifer arrived for dinner one night just before my birthday when husband P was away, with a dozen beautiful Butterfly Cakes which she had made that day, which are nostalgically reminiscent to me of school fetes, church fetes, and splendid old fashioned afternoon teas. I was so appreciative as there is quite a lot of fiddly work involved with these. Each cake either had homemade strawberry jam or lemon curd dolloped into the middle under the cream. I froze a few of them, and they kept beautifully in the freezer. We've eaten them all now. Gosh they were so good.  I'll bake some one day and share the recipe with you. Thanks so much Jen, you are a very thoughtful friend.

Perfect with a cuppa

Chris, my dear friend of many years and who lives nearby, was hosting Mahjong on the Tuesday afternoon after my birthday and baked this spectacular Sponge cake, with a candle on top as well. Three of us share a birthday during the same week in February, so that's three Aquarians in the one group, that means a lot of laughter and chatter. 

The cake was absolutely divine. What is it about a sponge cake with lots of cream and fresh strawberries that sets it apart from most other cakes. If you look closely you can see a few Mahjong tiles to the right of the photo. It was so lovely to eat birthday cake for afternoon tea which someone else had made for me. I was very spoiled.

Before my birthday I made a Pear, Chocolate and Walnut cake for friends, which would also be perfect for dessert, as Mr. HRK keeps reminding me. Surprisingly though he said he would prefer sultanas instead of the Chocolate chips in it. He never ceases to amaze me. What would you prefer?

I had some homemade Scottish Shortbread leftover from the February Book club meeting which was here at home, so I added a piece to the slice of Pear cake on the plate. The rich red flowers are edible Dianthus from our garden. They've been growing for a couple of years now which has really surprised me.

Corella pears were perfect in the cake

I bought a new Zyliss brand Apple Corer and used it to core the pears for this cake. I originally bought it for apples and it is fantastic to use. So much stronger than any others I have ever had. I've broken a few apple corers over the years. It was a little bit more expensive, but it does the job, and it even has a lock on it to lock in place the moving parts. It removes and discards the cores beautifully. 

This cute tea towel says it all, except perhaps that I also need a great kitchen, and lovely family and friends.

Not surprisingly, we were all caked out for a week or so after my birthday, but I've managed to bounce back well, hee, hee. Continuing on with the sweet theme, I made French Style Pears as baked in Savoie.  The pears were absolutely delicious. Mr. HRK was over the moon about them and I have more pears in the crisper of the refrigerator so that they keep crisp enough for this dessert later in the week. The pears were baked in a luscious syrup, minus any alcohol. Honestly they didn't need it. Remnants of the Vanilla pod can be seen in the photo.

I've just pickled some beetroot. The flavour and colour of beetroot pickled at home is much more intense than what we can buy in a tin.

Four large beetroot made two large jars of pickled beetroot, one of beetroot wedges and the other sliced. The slices will be perfect for sandwiches and burgers.

A fun tea towel gift from special friends. They know me well.

I also feel quite blessed that one of my Cattleya Bowringiana orchids was out in bloom for my birthday. The two in the photo flowered slightly later and I can see them from my kitchen window which is lovely. I started off with one pot of these Bowringianas from my Mum in Rockhampton over 15 years ago and now I have 4, and I've given some plants away as well. They always herald the beginning of Autumn for me. 

I just love this tea towel which my daughter bought for me recently during a wonderful holiday we all had up at O'Reilly's Resort, in the Lamington National Park. The birdlife there was just phenomenal. I keep meaning to frame or hang this tea towel. The beautiful King Parrots were feeding out of our hands on the patio of our "Glamping" tent.

I baked some Cheesy Broccoli Fritters which were delicious on a meat free day.

A traybake of Moroccan Baked Chicken with Fennel and Chickpeas was healthy, tasty and very easy to put together.

Coriander Pesto and Pea and Sorghum Spaghetti was a delicious and very different midweek meal to make. My interest in using sorghum products for cooking was piqued during a recent road trip along the Burnett Highway, an inland rural highway in Queensland, where the broad acre agricultural fields were mostly rust, orange or red sorghum. Sorghum in general has a diversity of uses, from livestock cattle feed to human food, so I was interested to see this sorghum spaghetti in the fruit and vegetable shop, even though the country of origin isn't Australia, but Bolivia in South America. In Bolivia they grow organic white sorghum for flour.

Freshly washed coriander for the pasta.

Savoury Yeast flakes replaced cheese in the Sorghum Spaghetti recipe which was interesting. I've never used it before. Now I need to find a way to use the rest of it.

There are just so many ways to use Pomegranate syrup, and the sweet variety was delicious on cooked barley that we ate with my Moroccan Baked Chicken.

This is my March submission to the #IMK series hosted by the wonderful Sherry from Sherry's Pickings. Each month food bloggers from around the world gather to share what is new in their kitchen.  I don't buy a lot of new merchandise for my Kitchen, mainly food ingredients, but I love cooking and baking. 

I hope you have enjoyed a visit to my kitchen this month. Cheerio.

Warm wishes

Pauline