Happy New Year! My first post as host of In My Kitchen while Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial takes a much earned break. In My Kitchen is a group of food writers and bloggers who share what’s going on in their kitchens at the first of every month. If you’d like to be linked here, link to my blog in your post and simply send an email to maureen [at] orgasmicchef.com and I’ll add you. Any In My Kitchen post that’s published before the 10th of the month will be added.

Come on, join in the fun. I’d LOVE to have a peek in your kitchen this month.

Life’s been busy around here.

John and I invited his dad’s tablemates for lunch on Christmas Eve and we had a lovely time. The quinoa and potato salads were a hit and recipes requested which made me feel good. On Christmas we brought John’s mum and dad over it was the first year that his mum didn’t ‘get’ Christmas. It was a bit sad for Rob, but we accept that’s the disease. Dementia sucks.

Rob’s birthday is on Friday and he will be 95. Not too bad, eh?

In my kitchen this month is this lovely book on pairing sparkling wine with food from Paired Media.

If you want to know what food goes with Champagne or sparkling wine, this is the book for you!

I went to a Christmas party for the annual boat parade, I met our host’s nephew Jake who told me about a former medical scientist co-worker who scrapped the job and moved to South Australia to learn how to make wine. Jake told me about his friend Tarrant Hansen and his wife Melanie along with their little girl who pulled up stakes and headed for the Adelaide Hills. I was given a bottle of Spider Bill Wines 2014 Chardonnay from grapes grown in Piccadilly Valley, South Australia.

Seriously, any wine grown in Piccadilly Valley should be good and after tasting it, I wanted another bottle. Not content to stop learning, Tarrant is now in South Africa learning more about producing good wine.

Everyone who knows me knows how much I love Maggie Beer’s cooking. It’s not pretentious but always delicious. This cookbook will become a good friend in no time at all.

My brother sent these two pairs of Christmas earrings that he made. I love them both but the little Christmas trees are my favourite. Can you believe this is the first time I have ever worn dangly earrings for more than five minutes? These lasted nearly an hour.  In the photo above with Rob, I noticed that I’d already removed them and left them on the placemat. Shocking behaviour.

I love crackers and cheese with just a touch of quince paste so this treat was very well received.

Not everyone gives pasta sauce as a Christmas gift but when the maker says it’s ‘sensational’ right on the label, it’s certainly worth giving, right? I’ll let you know how it works out for me.

I was asked by the Ile De France people if I would try their cheese and it arrived in this lovely basket but it arrived on a 38C day in a box with nothing to keep the cheese cool and was left on the front doorstep – no knocking. I suppose at Christmas they are busy so they run and leave packages at the door.

The cheese was really hot and I couldn’t find anyone who’d try cheese that hadn’t been refrigerated for days. Would you? Maybe I’m weird but every cheese I’ve eaten has been chilled before bringing to room temperature for eating. I guess I won’t be winning the tickets.

Finally, here’s my second-best mate Charlie who’s wondering if Santa was going to bring him lots of treats for all the Instagram posing he’s done this year. (He did)

 

Please join in the In My Kitchen fun and share with us what’s going on in your kitchen this month? Everyone is welcome. I hope 2016 is a wonderful year for you and all those you love.