My Favourite Things – End of Summer Edition

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Repurposing Kitchen Utensils

I love multitasking….and I heart gadgets and utensils than fit that bill. A garlic press shines new light on mincing ginger, a pasta roller that doubles as a pizza base roller, creating consistently thin Italian-style pizza bases – so what if you end up with pizza lenghts as opposed to rounds? Deliciousness cannot be constrained by geometry!

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A pizza stone that…

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….becomes a hot sizzling tablet for some beaten flank steak…DSC_0358

So make room for less on the counter tops, L&G….make room. Do you have any favourite kitchen utensils that moonlight/do a double-triple act?

New acquisitions

Brand new items with no specific purpose in mind, save looking pretty. 

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Courtsey of Sara Shatz, Food52

Say a big welcome to my Jaener egg coddler, first spied in a recipe by Amanda Hesser.

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Or 2nd hand things with many uses – expanding my burgeoning knowledge and collection. All in the interest of science me says. A tortilla press which can find other uses – think chapattis, parathas.

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Skewered meats beginning with S

Suya (Nigerian);

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Homemade Suya

 Shashlik (German);

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Shashlik in Cologne

Satés or satays (Asian); 

Satés, chili topped

Shish Kebab (Lebanese), Souvlaki (Greek). Shall I go on? For a while now, the number of ‘S’ names for meats on sticks have preyed on my mind. A drive by to  Wikipedia confirms there are a few more to be had Sosatie (South African), Spiedino (Italy) and Spiedies (New York State). Of course there are others beginning with different letters of the alphabet but the ‘S’ ones have caught my fancy. Do you know any other S meats – they must be impaled on sticks?

Tasting new ingredients

Artichokes which remind me of avocado….but creamed. I’d always shyed away from them with fear but I have since overcome this. Future blog post!

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Fresh diver-caught scallops. Unlike my previous run-ins with this shelled creature, this has put them on my map. Pan fried, with no seasoning and fried in butter, my weekend was much improved, considering the grey skies. But then, butter has that effect on me!

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Happy Discoveries
Like creating flattish bubbles (thank you to my children) and then discovering surface tension….by leaving the tap running and seeing how long the ‘bubbles’ last. Needless to say, ‘go wash your hands’ is no longer seen as a command in our house….in fact, I have to pull them (and their friends) away from taps!!!!

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Starting afresh

And for all the good things about the last 4 years, I am looking forward to change. This will be my last ‘My Favourite Things’ written in the Netherlands, the September edition will be live from my tropical city! Hopefully I would have settled down long enough to share my new found faves from home.

As we’re moving out of our home at the start of next week, we no longer have internet access. I’ll be back when we’re settled in a hotel with free WiFi :-). Lots of love and read you soon.[wpurp-searchable-recipe]My Favourite Things – End of Summer Edition – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]

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