In My Kitchen – September 2013

To say our month of August was busy would be an understatement! Thank god winter is over and spring is finally here! In saying that though, we’ve certainly been blessed with warmer than usual days and very minimal rain.

Here is my September addition to the In My Kitchen series, hosted by Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

In My Kitchen: Is Bulgur

Bulgur, often spelt bulghur or burghul, is a delicious form of cracked durum wheat, a staple in our cupboards. It is very cheap to buy and has a delicious nutty flavour, perfect in salads like tabouli and rice dishes like mujaddara.

I’ve been making a lot of tabouli recently, we have so much parsley in our yard and the best way to use it up is a healthy lunch time tabouli. Bulgur must be combined with a liquid to allow it to soak its juices and puff up. Many recipes call for it to sit in hot water for a few minutes, but I find the flavour intensifies if it sits in lemon juice instead.

In My Kitchen: is this Fathers Day mug.

In Australia, we celebrate Fathers Day on the first Sunday of September, not sure why we Aussies are different to the rest of the world, we just do things on our own time?!

The mug was created 2 years ago on Snapfish and was so simple to create, upload photos and arrange them on the mug using their templates.

Mr Wog was quite delighted indeed with his present and has been using it every single day for the last couple of years. Considering how many times it’s been washed, the paint work is still remarkably clear.

In My Kitchen: was this ‘2’ cake I spend 2 hours making.

We celebrated my beautiful daughters 2^nd birthday with a laughter filled BBQ at Davidson Park for the family. The weather was glorious, 8 kilograms of chicken thighs were marinated Wog style in garlic, lemon and oregano and over 60 pork sausages were grilled combining the best of both worlds, Wog and Aussie. My mum made Lebanese style garlic dip and we made kebabs by the water. Spinach and cheese bouregs were enjoyed by all. Shisha’s were lit and the sweet smell of apple tobacco floated through the air. It was your typical Wog BBQ and it was perfect.

I challenged myself to make her birthday cake. I had grand plans of making a ‘2’ cake with a border of chocolate wafers and decorated with smarties. I spend the morning of the BBQ frazzled in the kitchen cutting out a 2 shape from a huge slab of cake. I should have just hired a tin but instead decided to print out a template from the internet, cut it out and shape the cake. It worked but it was time consuming alright!

The cake looked perfect when it left my kitchen but by the time I loaded it into the car and made the 2 minute trip to Davidson Park, I heard the wafers drop one by one like dominoes in the car. My heart sank a little further every time I heard another wafer drop. I drove 40km/h the whole way there in a 70 zone and still couldn’t save it.

When we arrived, over 70% of the chocolate wafers had fallen like toy soldiers. I was so upset but we managed to stand them all upright again the best way we could so that the cake looked half decent for the photos.

In My Kitchen: Is my drab kitchen

I thought I’d share my actual kitchen with you. It’s dull, boring and beige. Beige, with beige and a splash of beige. The cupboards, bench top and flooring all blend into one. Clearly I didn’t design this kitchen. We moved into our house 3 years ago and I’ve been nagging my husband daily about how much I don’t like our flooring, bench tops or cupboards. One day (in my dreams) we’ll renovate and I’ll be content in the room I spend most of my time in.

Our bench tops and cupboards are laminate and the flooring is vinyl. Awful. The floor is stained and no matter how many times I mop it, it still looks dirty. The only upside of vinyl flooring is that with an active toddler, we rarely get breakage. Cups literally bounce instead of shattering. One day when I have half a day free, I plan to make my way to Bunnings and buy some new flooring in a contrast colour and vinyl over the vinyl. A total Band-Aid job but it’ll break up the beige. One day, when we can afford to redo the kitchen, we’ll say bye to the vinyl and tile the floors.

In My Kitchen: Is this collection of baby bottles, going into storage  

Little Miss 2 is a big girl now, and chooses to drink her morning milk with a cup. I can finally put away the collection of Medela baby bottles, teats, and mismatched lids that clutter my cupboards. We plan to have more children so I won’t dispose of them just yet, just store them deep in the back of the pantry, along with the steriliser, breast pump, milk bags and accessories.

Thanks for stopping by on another addition of IMK 2013. My previous entries can be found here.

xx

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On Another note, I was thrilled when Gourmet Wog came in at one shy of the top 50 Sydney Food Blogs collated by Noodlies. 51st from a list of 275 is a pretty good achievement for a blog that’s only been around for 5 months!