This post is for Week 83 of Tara's Gallery. Click here to see all the other photos...
The prompt for this week's Gallery is 'My Kitchen'. We're currently living in rented accommodation here in Moscow, so I suppose that essentially my kitchen is not really 'my' kitchen. But, apart from the last two homes we lived in in the UK, we were always renting, and yet I always felt at home in my kitchen - wherever it was. Thinking about that, I realised that as with so many things in life, it's not the geographical location or the details of ownership that matter, but the things within it.
Pictured here, then, are what I would consider the essential ingredients (see what I did there? That's because I'm such an experienced blogger, that is...) for my kitchen.
Bought or made locally, in no particular order; salt and pepper, obviously, two types of olive oil (extra virgin and ordinary), balsamic vinegar (not only for making salad dressing but for adding to any tomato-based sauces, it really brings out their flavour), onion and garlic, a jar of the home-made apple chutney that no cheese sandwich is complete without (I admit it, I'm showing off here, but having made some for the first time this year I can't believe it's so easy and that I left it so long to get round to), and ginger and cinnamon. Well, you can't make muffins without them and there are almost always muffins of some kind in our house.
Then, there's my folder of recipes, mostly from the Sainsbury Magazine but also ripped out of any other publication featuring what I like to call food porn, which has moved around with me since 2000.
And finally, there's my Travelling Arsenal. These items have been all over the world with me, stowed in my hold luggage and meaning that whenever we arrived at our destination, be it Australia, Russia, the UK, Barbados, France, you name it, I was able to cook healthy meals for my family. They are: Marigold Vegetable Bouillon, a fan steamer, a Sabatier knife, and my trusty easy-to-use-I-would-hate-to-have-to-manage-without-it vegetable peeler.
With the exception of the vegetable bouillon, I know you can buy most of them anywhere in the world but I ask you; is running to the nearest cook store the first thing on your mind when you arrive somewhere on holiday?
What makes a kitchen for you?
I love it! I have a trusty peeler too that has been with me in various kitchens in Italy and the UK over the past 20 odd years too.
ReplyDeleteCurious about your steam fan..... I haven't got one of those and am wondering if I should have
Love this! You'll have to give us that chutney recipe, you know ....
ReplyDeleteWith all those ingredients, I would say you have the recipe for success in your kitchen (did you see what I did there?)
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of you bringing these items with you everywhere! Ready for action.
ReplyDeleteMari, I guess if you have a 'proper' steamer, or a pressure cooker, you wouldn't need a fan steamer. But if you don't, these are - to use a technical term - the dogs. They fit inside almost any size lidded pan, simply add enough boiling water to almost come up to the level of the fan, put your veggies etc on top of it, and bobs your uncle...
ReplyDeleteDD - tomorrow's post, then?
Iota, you and me, we are classy....
MofallTrades, sad, isn't it?
You do make me chuckle Potty, honestly.
ReplyDeleteI'd come round to yours for tea any day of the week. Mega-hour flight an all.
That is brilliant, and I agree a peeler is essential, and if oversea I would not have a clue for the nearest cook shop! With you on the balsamic as well!
ReplyDeleteAnd the obligatory snow on the ground!
ReplyDeleteBTW - it would appear our Twitter conversation about wee on the bathroom floor inspired a post over at Hot Cross Mum's.
TC, you are always welcome - 4 hour flight and all... (yes, it IS only 4 hours)
ReplyDeleteMM, never without the balsamic, that's me!
EPM, well, I don't like to disappoint... x