In My Kitchen, October 2024

 It's been a while since I posted an In My Kitchen, but we are now home after 3 months away in Cairns in Far North Queensland, so grab a cuppa and make yourself comfortable, I have lots to tell you. It was really lovely to be away and with our family, but there's no place like home.

Birthday Celebration Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

This is the perfect chocolate cake for a birthday celebration. It really tastes like chocolate cake, not all do, and this one has the softest crumb and is incredibly moist. I've made many chocolate cakes in my lifetime, but none of them have stood out above this one. 

In My Kitchen, October 2023

 Dear Readers, It's time for my monthly In My Kitchen review, which surprisingly is for October already, can you believe it, I can't. However, this is mostly about happenings In My Kitchen for September. It includes a recent fabulous trip to beautiful Sydney, in NSW, some food foraging, and links to some of my favourite recipes that I have made recently. It's Black Friday today, the 13th, and this post needs to be submitted by close of business. I'm not superstitious, but I think I should try and submit this one as soon as I can, just in case.  So here it is, and I hope you enjoy reading about my latest culinary exploits and adventures, and other highlights as well.

Chicken Fricassée with Shallots, Mushrooms and Bacon

This rustic French dish, a classic Chicken Fricassée, is all about fresh chicken thighs seared in butter and braised in white wine with sweet French shallots, mushrooms, and tasty bacon bits. This recipe sounds fancy but it's not. Although it's a French classic, it's very achievable for the home cook, because it's just a comforting single pot recipe, using humble ingredients from your kitchen (although I did make a special trip to the supermarket to buy French shallots). There are many versions of this dish, depending on what the cook has on hand at the time, but I was thrilled with how this particular combination tasted. There is no fancy French sauce, just white wine flavoured with beautiful ingredients. 

In My Kitchen, October 2022

 

When I start writing In My Kitchen each month, I have to really think about what I've been cooking, baking, and where I've been that's noteworthy. The weeks fly by. I've looked back at my photos for the past month, and they tell most of the story. However, we've been travelling quite a bit during this last month and haven't been home very much, so here's a rundown of life in my kitchen in between and during our travels. I've also purchased a few nice things along the way that I found quite serendipitously. 

I made a batch of these Portuguese Custard Tarts in Cairns, after being inspired by the tarts we ate at the Gallery Cafe in Chillagoe, where we travelled for the weekend just recently. My recipe is based on Jamie Oliver's Portuguese Orange Custard Tarts recipe and these were delicious. 

The next photo showcases a beautiful linen table runner which I bought at the Cairns Art Gallery and is based on the Fruits of the Rainforest Art Collection, painted by William T Cooper. This particular one is called Myrsine. I also bought a smaller runner, and a tea towel from the Sauropus range, which will make lovely Christmas gifts. I was fortunate to see William Cooper's beautiful Rainforest Collection paintings at the Cairns Art Gallery at the beginning of the year, but they had sold out of the manchester range in the gallery shop. Luckily it was back in stock a few weeks ago so I took advantage of it. William Cooper is one of  Australia's most proficient and talented botanical and bird artists, and his works are meticulously based on many birds and plants from Far North Queensland, where he lived before he died in 2015. I believe his wife still lives on the Atherton Tableland, and manages all of the exhibitions and merchandising now.

Mr. HRK is a twitcher, a bird watcher, so I bought him this fabulous Black Cockatoo tea towel, also based on an artwork by William T Cooper. He looks how I feel somedays ha, ha., but with a lot to say.

I also found a waterproof Mexican Oilcloth tablecloth at the Chillagoe Gallery shop, perfect for our outdoor courtyard table setting, which is subjected to a lot of heat in the North Queensland Summer.

I wrote a post recently about our beehive, and how just before we left on our road trip for Sydney, we harvested some of our own honey. We were thrilled with how delicious and clear this batch of honey is. If you missed the story, you can find it at this link.

Removing the honeycomb from the beehive frames.

I hosted my book club meeting and I took the easy option with a tried and true recipe and made my Ginger Syrup Cake which is always delicious. I added thin slices of Tropical Stem Ginger in Syrup which we make each year from our homegrown ginger to the batter, and combined with the Ginger syrup which is added when the cake is straight out of the oven, this cake was delicious and full of sweet and spicy ginger flavours.

Stem Ginger slices in syrup added to half the batter, before adding the remainder of the batter carefully

Ginger cake straight out of the oven

I also made my favourite Lemon Crispy slice, because I just happened to have a packet of Corn Flakes in the pantry, which is the basis of this quick and easy but delicious biscuit slice. I only buy Corn Flakes so that I can make these Lemon Crispies. I've given the recipe to so many of my friends, and they all love it.

Unfortunately the nasturtiums are finished in our garden now.

Anybody reading my blog knows that we can never have too many cookbooks. I bought "Jam Drops and Marble Cake" at the fabulous Christmas Village near chilly Stanthorpe, along with a few other Christmas decorations destined for overseas. I love to support the iconic Australian institution, the CWA. The Christmas shop in the Village specialises in selling their homegrown Christmas trees but it was too early to buy one of those, and it wouldn't have been easy to bring one home in the car on our road trip anyway, except perhaps on the roof, much easier to bring home a new cookery book.

We had a fantastic road trip to Sydney, and we haven't even been back a week yet, so I'll write another post at a later date and share some of our memorable experiences with you, mostly related to food of course. However, the highlight in Sydney for me was attending the Phantom of the Opera stage musical at the Sydney Opera House. An iconic show in an iconic venue, it doesn't get much better than that. On a cold, windy day, with showers clearing, we caught the Light Rail train from Surrey Hills to Circular Quay for the afternoon performance. We were very fortunate to acquire those tickets as they have been sellout performances, and we could also enjoy a glass of champagne overlooking the beautiful panoramic views of Sydney Harbour.

Paul Tabone played one of the leads as Ubaldo Piangi. He was a Music Theatre student at the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Mackay when one of the hats I wore was the Music Librarian for the Con. He has had quite the illustrious career overseas, and it was such a thrill to see him perform in the Phantom in Sydney. He's put the North Queensland town of Ingham on the map, being from there.

Taking a selfie on our way to the Opera House

Very tall and stately Giraffes at Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney, they have the best view of all of Sydney Harbour.

This is my October submission to the #IMK series hosted by Sherry from Sherry's Pickings. Each month bloggers from around the world gather to share what is new in their kitchens. Today is the deadline so I must post this tonight. Then I will enjoy reading what all of the other bloggers have posted to this series about what they have been doing this month in their kitchens.

Thanks for dropping by,

Warm wishes

Pauline

Delicious and Healthy Wholewheat, Chocolate and Oatmeal Biscuits/Cookies

 Even though this is one of the healthiest biscuit recipes I have ever baked, it is also one of the most delicious.

Taking a walk through the Cairns Botanic Gardens in Far North Tropical Queensland

 We drove to beautiful Cairns in Far North Tropical Queensland last week where our daughter lives, with a stopover at Mission Beach, and on Sunday afternoon after lunch, I went for a walk through the remarkable Botanic Gardens.  If I was asked what are my favourite things to do when I'm travelling, besides going to the beaches and restaurants,  one of them would definitely be visiting the nearest Botanic Gardens. I have been to the Cairns Botanic Gardens several times during previous visits, and each time I just escape into the wonderful world of lush tropical plants and not so tropical plants, some thriving in dappled sunlight, some growing in full sun, but always interesting and inspiring. It is easy to forget that the gardens located in trendy Edge Hill are only 5 minutes away from the Cairns City Centre, with very easy access. It is a marvellous form of escapism for me and very calming to the soul. So dear reader, I invite you to take a walk with me through the Cairns Botanic Gardens and let the photos tell most of the story. I was only there for 90 minutes this time, leaving many more areas to explore next time I visit. The Gardens are open from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm every day, no pets allowed.

The bright orange flowers of the large exotic Panama Flame Tree were one of the highlights of my visit and one of these trees is close to the Gardens entrance. I've never seen this one in flower before. That is the wonderful thing about gardens, there will always be different plants in flower depending on the seasons and the time of year you visit, and they are a mirror of what home gardeners in the area might be planting as well. So inspirational.

The Panama Flame Tree

My first place to visit in the  gardens is always the enclosed Watkins Munro Martin Conservatory, because as my friends and family know, I am a fan of tropical orchids. This is also the butterfly conservatory, but it's very tricky to catch those little darlings on camera. All the photos here were taken on my phone.

I loved this perfectly vivid orange orchid. 

Ascocentrum miniatum 060125

This delicate Vireya Rhododendron "Kisses" thrives in a tropical climate. I was quite taken with 

her.

Coral Seas "Rhododendron"

Pretty Phalaenopsis Orchids

The Tropical Pitcher Plant is quite eye catching, don't you think?

I took a photo of this one to remind me to repot my yellow Aggregatum orchid which is quite similar to this one, into a larger pot.

Can you spot the butterfly below.

This yellow and white soft cane dendrobium is one of my favourite orchids in flower right now.

Delicate.

Hardy and butterfly loving Pentas

And there's important information.

Very lush, and reminiscent of a tropical rainforest

Lipstick Palms, very popular in Cairns gardens

I did walk with care.

By this time, I was in need of some refreshment, and the Cafe is appropriately rustic, licensed, and serves good food. There is also a much more modern cafe located closer to another entrance, which I didn't get to this time, but we have enjoyed good coffee and food there during other visits.

A sample of locally produced jams and preserves available for sale at the cafe.

Cafe menu

Interesting formation, spiky and growing in full sun

A very large Staghorn

An elusive Scrub Turkey, red head, black feathers

I was excited to find an Australian Native Bee Hive.

Can you see the tiny native bees entering the hive through the black hole?

Cooling and calming waters nearby.

Enter the Heliconias and Gingers with Fanfare

Mmmm, a conversation starter? Just popping up out of the ground, in response to the heat and humidity.

Beautiful Medinillas

Medinillas are one of my favourite plants, so delicate, and they always seem to be in flower here in Cairns. As you can see I took plenty of photos of these. I love them. We have one growing at home in our garden, and one in a hanging pot, which I bought from the Friends plant stall at the Cairns Botanical Gardens. The potted one flowers almost continuously, but after two years the one in the ground still hasn't flowered. However I am persisting.

A magnificent prized Tassel Fern

Back to the Orchid House for another peek before I leave.

I hope you enjoyed this sojourn with me through the tropics. The Staff and Friends of the Botanic Gardens do an amazing job to grow and maintain these plants under sometimes quite dry and trying conditions. Cairns hasn't had any decent rainfall for a while now, but it will come with a vengeance.

Thankyou to you all for your very heartfelt messages after the passing of our Locky dog. A little piece of our hearts went with him, and it meant a lot to hear from those of you who sent a kind message. We still can't believe he has left our lives,  however since he has gone, Mr. HRK and I have been travelling and keeping busy and whilst we still miss him every day, we are trying to dwell on our happy memories of him.

Take care,

Pauline