Winter Knits, Part Four

Finished Objects...

Socks. Done. Within one year. Phew.

Hand towel. Done. Within a couple of days. Squishy prettiness in my Winter Kitchen.

Next pair of socks on needles ARE being done Two at a Time;-)

Winter Kitchen, Part Four

We eat a lot of Mexican styles at our place. We never used to, but cutting down our meat intake meant incorporating more beans into our lives. We bought a tortilla press because we make a lot of tortillas and various Indian breads from scratch. We've discovered the kids prefer tortillas made of half corn masa and half wheat flour. My favourite vegetarian chili recipe is the Red Bean and Quinoa chili from Feeding the Whole Family.

So, I usually cook our beans (kidney, borlotti, haricot, etc) in my slow cooker then freeze them to use later. But I could not resist the kitschy orange labels of these tins of refried beans, chipotle and jalapeño peppers. A bit of brightness in our Winter Kitchen.

Winter Kitchen, Part Three

The Twins. A very important part of my daily routine. More so, when I need a good kick in the pants during the Winter Mooches. We roast our own Fair Trade Organic coffee beans in a popcorn maker ("we" = hubby, with occasional child labour). We grind them in a Bialetti coffee grinder and use a Bialetti stovetop espresso maker. Three times a day. Hmmmmm...coffeeeeeeeeee.

Winter Kitchen, Part Two

Organisation. I need to be organised. I don't do well in mess and clutter. It gets into my head and paralyses me. This winter I continue to make small steps in the kitchen to make it a space I can function well in. Bigger house (new rental) = less kitchen storage - go figure. This week I've made a start sorting our first aid and medicines on top of the fridge. I'd coveted these tins in a design store in Cuba Mall then fell over when I found them for MUCH cheaper elsewhere - they came home with me. We have a real mix of conventional and herbal/homeopathic medicines in them.

I've replaced the stinky old icecream containers with a sealed, non-stinky tin. It's also bigger meaning less visits out to the compost heap in the rain for whiney children;-)

There is much thinking about life in my kitchen at the moment. There is also much fruitful discussion with two soul sisters about weeny changes we are all trying to make in our lives. More soon hopefully.

Winter Kitchen

My Winter Triumvirate - Onion, Carrot and Celery. This threesome goes into a LOT of my winter cooking - soups, stews, ricie things, noodley things, etc. And my slow cooker? LOVE this especially in winter. I find my energy levels really sag at the end of the day and the last thing I want to do is cook dinner. Voila - it's already done!

And strange cuts of meat. Strange to me, at least. Oxtails. Never had them before. But they are now happily stewing away in the slow cooker nestled in amongst the onion, carrot and celery. I think the most respectful thing we can do for both animal and farmer, as meat-eaters, is to try all the strange cuts so we're not just growing and slaughtering them for their luscious flank parts. Tongue and tripe though? Not quite there yet!