Tomatoes from the Garden

February 12, 2025February 12, 2025 / sbaskitchen / 1 Comment

It’s tomato season!

Tomatoes in the Garden – Costoluto Genovese

Tomatoes

I must admit that when it comes to growing tomatoes, I am a little obsessed! I always plant the seeds of way too many varieties (this year, I think, between 20 and 30) then I have to find the space, and the time, to plant them! The last of the plants went in around a month ago, and are doing nicely. Those that were planted in November and December are fruiting well, and keeping us well supplied.

San Marzano – Planted in January

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A Day with Plants and Family and Friends

January 28, 2025February 10, 2025 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

Recently I spent the morning working with my pot plants just out the back door. I had sad tomato plants that needed to be potted up before I lost them, and a cucumber similarly needing potting. Soon enough I was spending the morning working with plants, repotting, weeding, tidying, even a little painting, and all the time I was with my family and friends! A storm was looming, due around lunch time, so I knew that my time was limited, but planned to work until driven indoors.

I spent time with my late mum via the beautiful yellow gerbera that she had given me eight years ago, and the lavender that I had dug from her garden after she passed, there’s even a juvenile lavender now growing in a large pot, home to a small mandarin tree.

Yellow Gerbera – a gift from mum -2016

Lavender dug up from mum’s garden.

Self sown lavender in the mandarin tree pot.

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A “Beautifully Blended Family” Christmas

December 31, 2024January 4, 2025 / sbaskitchen / 4 Comments

I’m not quite sure why time seems to get away from me, but it does!

The lead up to Christmas was, as I recently said to someone, frantic! There were cooking classes/knowledge sharing sessions to deliver throughout the region, cooking for a local café to be done, trips to Melbourne for family gatherings, an unexpected medical issue, hampers to prepare and get into the post for family up north, gifts to purchase and our preparations for our contributions to the Christmas Day Family Feast!

This year in the Christmas hamper I included a few new items, coffee liqueur, flavour bombs/simmer pot pouches and a new biscuit (cookie). The coffee liqueur was a recipe given to me by a host at a B&B in central France, the flavour bombs/simmer pot pouches were made up of my dehydrated citrus, some spices and a little candied ginger (I think that I will dehydrate ginger for them in future), and the new biscuit is based on a commercially available biscuit available here in Aus, but made using a recipe from my mum’s recipe book.

Goodies packaged ready to boxed up and posted off…

Christmas baking…

Mulled Wine Simmer Pot Bags

Butternut Chocolate Cream Biscuits

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Violets and Memories

October 5, 2024 / sbaskitchen / 4 Comments

I was wandering around the garden in the first week of August, something I rarely find time for any more, which saddens me, as I love my garden and I love being outdoors.

As I rounded the corner, past the spring bulb bed, trying to ignore the weeds, my attention was immediately drawn to a dark space where there was a carpet of flowering violets, and a few snowflakes in bloom as well. Memories of my late mum, our family home, and my childhood came flooding back, and the snowflakes brought memories of my Gran. Let me share a little of my memories with you.

Snow Flake in the Garden

Violets in the garden

Violet in the garden

Snow Flake in the Garden

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Snack pots to go.

August 25, 2024 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

I love this book, I’ve had it on my shelf for about five years now, and it regularly comes out for ideas and inspiration.

Bento Power by Sara Kiyo Popowa

I was asked to run a few classes for home-schooled children recently, and wanted to bring healthy delicious food for them to enjoy, and be a little creative with. The final session this term was Bento Boxes.