Thursday 2 March 2023

In My Kitchen: March 2023

Oh how the time is just flying by! In February we went back to Australia for two weeks. On the day we left Toronto it was -20 (-28 with wind chill) and when we got off the plane in Sydney it was 30 degrees! What a crazy temperature difference...

In sunny Australia... 


It was actually our first Valentine's day together in person. We celebrated with a group of friends at a suburban Chinese restaurant - all of us not believing in hallmark birthdays, but since the Australian Barney is still alive I had to make this sourdough heart to share with everyone. We clandestinely ate it under the table before the food came! 


We visited my friend the cellist from my old string quartet, and together we played Mendelssohn's piano trio no. 1 in D minor and a bit of the Beethoven Archduke piano trio, my favourite. We made this fruit salad for dinner - how I adore Australian summer fruit! 


We went up to the Gold Coast to visit my music friend and her husband, and we spent a few days playing music there - some Bach, the Beethoven violin sonatas, and some 2 piano music. This Queensland yoghurt with mango is just excellent.  


She made us this cake on the last day, and dusted it with icing sugar and paper cut outs - how smart!


Then I made the same cake (Claudia Roden's orange cake) and decorated it with some mango for my dad's 70th birthday! For his birthday, S and I prepared a musical gift of Beethoven's Spring sonata and the traditional Chinese piece The Butterfly Lovers. 


A couple of extraordinary tomatoes we ate from my dad's garden. 


The second week we were in Australia, we stayed in Newcastle. My dad and his partner came up one day for lunch and here we are having whole roasted barramundi with a selection of Chinese veggies all from my dad's garden. 


Long term readers will recall that I have a close music friend in Newcastle with whom I played duets all throughout COVID. She put on a big dinner for us with roast lamb, sauerkraut, cauliflower & cheese, roast potatoes & pumpkin. It was such a feast! She's turning 80 this year, and she is just incredible! 


Our last dinner in Australia - home made pan fried dumplings, and a big pot of "Russian" soup at my dad's. 

Back in Toronto... 


It was freezing... and we continued our Manga Mondays tradition. Here the dish was natto, which is a kind of fermented soybean. An acquired taste, I must say. We had it with some salmon and tofu miso soup, and a simple side of broccoli stalks stir fried with daikon. Everything was more delectable than the natto!


Another Manga Monday... pork katsu with rice, highly non traditional sides of bean sprouts and heirloom tomato. We baked the katsu instead of deep frying it and it turned out really well! 

Another day, we had wonton noodle soup for dinner.. it's just so cold, it's soup weather. 

Finally, here is a beautiful loaf of shokupan, or Japanese milk bread I made with my sourdough. I have been experimenting with plant based milks, and I'm excited to report that this milk bread worked out really great with oat milk. 

The curveball... 

My dad's current Guide Dog puppy is called Wendy. She's actually 8 years old, so not quite a puppy. She was working as a guide dog but the visually impaired person did not see that she was getting too overweight. Hence she has taken a leave of absence from her work to do an intensive weight loss program at my dad's. She is quite adorable and loves eating. 

I'm sending this to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings, who hosts the monthly In My Kitchen series - Thanks Sherry!!



13 comments:

  1. What a great month you had! I’ve heard about the special flavor of natto. My theory is that fermented foods of many kinds are a taste that one has to acquire quite early in life, and that later one just finds unfamiliar ones disgusting! True of cheese in China, for example (though that’s been changing recently).

    best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. I think you are right! fermented things are a kind of acquired taste.. I've read that Korean children who are adopted super young still have the "taste" for kim chi later in life. I grew up eating fermented tofu, so I wonder if that's why I love stinky cheese and the like....

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  2. ooh no no to natto :) It just looks ... nah. Sounds like you had a nice time back in Aus. Love that pup, and all that food. Temps. still hot and humid here in sunny brissie. take care and thanks for joining in IMK! Much appreciated. cheers sherry

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    1. I think you are with S on that one the "oh no no natto" - when he gingerly pulled the first bean off the bowl it came with a long smelly fermenty string that made him gag..

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  3. Lovely to read your post, so interesting and so pleased you had a great time back in Oz. I've never had natto, I like some sauerkraut and sourdough bread which I bake too.I'll stick with them. I would like to have shared your valentine sourdough heart bread. I wish I could hear you play your cello, you sound like a very accomplished musician, such beautiful classical pieces that you have mentioned. I aspire to play better on the piano now that I have more time.. Wendy looks beautiful, I'm sure she is receiving lots of tlc. So nice that your Dad has adopted her. Cheers, Pauline from Mackay, Queensalnd

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    1. Thanks for visiting Pauline! I will be sure to include an update on Wendy next month since she is so loved by my dad (and she also loves my dad's weight loss program!)

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  4. I hope your Dad will be able to keep Wendy, she does look adorable. What a difference in the weather! I'm glad you had a break and were able to see your friends and family. And it's nice that your Dad has a big garden and can share, I am sure he was happy to see you both.

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    1. it was such a long way to go to Sydney from Toronto but it was worth every moment, especially since we got to share in my dad's 70th birthday celebration!

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  5. That was a very fleeting visit back to Australia! And it sounds as if it was a wonderful trip :)

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    1. Two weeks is too short... I miss Australia greatly! especially now that I'm back in cold miserable weather...

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  6. Such lovely baking and travels. I love how you eat good food and play music as you travel. I have never tried natto - would like to and also am a bit scared of it. Love how your last meal in Australia looked so wonderfully hearty and wintery, and your toronto meals look quite summery. And Wendy looks so gorgeous - never imagined that there could be these sort of complications with guide dogs.

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    1. Thanks for visiting Johanna - I also had NO idea that guide dogs would run into so many problems but over the years we have heard of so many different strange things that could come up.. guide dogs are just dogs after all :)

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  7. Hello! Your sourdough heart is so cute. All of your food looks delicious. Japanese milk bread is on my list to make. I would pass on the natto though. Poor Wendy. I hope she gets to an ideal weight quickly.

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