Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Kitchen Wrap-Up for February

Our Kitchen Witch has a new spot in the kitchen.

In my kitchen in February: simple food. Not much new. 

We were traveling for around half the days in February, and thus not in our kitchen. When we come back, in around a week, we expect to see some changes which I’ll write about. We missed the 3-day power failure which would have meant no stove! Here are some of the not-at-all ambitious things I did in the kitchen when we were at home. I’ll be sharing with the In My Kitchen blog party at Sherry’s blog.


Toasted sandwiches: an easy dinner.

Salad with leftover lamb roast on a Valentine platter.

Lightly-cooked snap peas with a few other vegetables.

Tofu with bok choi.

Broccolini with shiitake mushrooms and hot-sweet chicken legs.

Things we got done in the kitchen: preparing for the installation of a new cabinet. Moving a bookcase and reorganizing the cookbooks. Getting a new garbage disposal because the old one was making more and more painful noise. Not cooking much! Not worth a photo!

In other kitchens

Visiting our friends Phyllis and Ed in Del Mar, California, after the Birding Festival.



Chicken mole served at a ranch near La Paz, Baja California.


You can see the Mexican Diet Coke. Some of our fellow passengers were enthusiastic about the Mexican
regular Coke because it’s sugar sweetened, but I am into Diet Coke, which I show for Elizabeth!

We were surprised by a very good meal at an airport hotel
on the way to our trip in Baja California.


Fresh local seabass at The Fish Market in Solano Beach near San Diego where we visited later in February.

Cheesecake at the Artifact Cafe in the Mingei Museum, San Diego.

Finally: A Note on Ethics and Choosing Food

Eating meat: a habit I find very desirable because I like the taste and find it satisfying, and also because it’s easy to prepare. A few years ago the news stories on horrific cruelty to meat-packing and slaughter-house workers caused me to greatly reduce my meat consumption. I am also aware of the issues of cruelty to animals and of damage to the environment caused by raising cattle and many other species, as well as the wastefulness of growing cattle feed, and many other negative consequences of meat production and consumption. 

Recently, I’ve been backsliding on my determination to eat a more plant-based diet. But here’s the latest news:

More than 100 children have been discovered to be illegally employed by a slaughterhouse cleaning firm across the country, federal authorities said. …[For example] a 14-year-old child who worked at a Nebraska facility from 11pm to 5am five to six days a week from December 2021 to April 2022, cleaned machines ‘used to cut meat’” (from the Guardian)

Time to think about all this again! But on our trips, I wasn’t very restrained.

In N Out Burger: wrong for so many reasons.
But so much fun on the rare visit to California!

Blog post and photos © 2023 mae sander

12 comments:

  1. I just LOVE your kitchen witch. I have one that's dressed for Halloween that I put up each year but I'd love to find one to keep out year round. All of your food pictures look delicious! We live in an area with local farmers that we buy lamb, chicken and beef from but I'm still trying to make more vegetarian meals. It's difficult to get more than one or two veg meals a week since the big guy is a meat eater and doesn't want to change. Looking forward to seeing the changes next month. Stay safe!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Whether at home or on trip, you eat SO well. Several of the recipes looked delicious. I LOVE flan, and that is the fanciest flan I have ever seen. I am NOT a fan of mole, so that didn't interest me at all. However, the french fries minus ketchup, sure looked good at In N Out Burger.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such gorgeous things on your site. It makes you hungry...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I found you via Sherry and IMK :) Looks like you've enjoyed so much deliciousness at home and away!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was hoping you had missed the power failure! So glad nothing froze and all was well. I shouldn't read your blog at dinner time. It's making me hungry -- and sad, because nothing I make for dinner tonight will come close to even one photo1

    ReplyDelete
  6. Since hubby's health scare - with super high cholesterol levels and bad blood pressure - we rarely eat meat anymore. I do have a steak now and then maybe twice a year max. when eating out. I adore a proper flan! So good. Thanks for joining in this month Mae. Always great to have you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's lovely to hear about your tripping around Mae, and all your food looks fresh and healthy, except maybe the burger, but isn't it difficult sometimes to find fresh food when travelling? We are having more meat free meals and I always enjoy them. I buy good steak once a fortnight, and salmon once a week, and then cook creatively for the rest of the week.I tried Mole once, and didn't like it. Great post, thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for sharing the blurb on the ethics of eating meat, thinking about this always makes my stomach turn! I'm not vegetarian anymore but we do try to be plant based Monday to Friday and eat meat only outside the house. I wonder how awareness about this will change societal views ..
    Nancy @ https://ayearindarwin.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks Mae for the details about your travel. It appears you had a lovely time with good weather and delicious meals.

    Meat is a tricky business, isn't it? We eat less and less beef and I try to find humanely raised chickens, pork, and free-range pastured eggs. But it isn't always possible especially if you are traveling.

    I enjoyed your post. Welcome home.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your pics bought back memories of our travels on the Carribean coasts, including a stop in Mexico a few years ago. So many beans!

    Hope you are well.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am very aware of the meat we eat, only buying from reputable suppliers and making sure it is free to roam. We do however eat very little red meat. Hope you enjoyed your time away and good luck with the kitchen renovation. You were very lucky indeed to miss the 3-day power failure. I am typing this during one of our rolling blackouts which is frustrating enough :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Looks like you made up for not cooking much in the kitchen by some interesting eating out. Sometimes after eating out a lot I also find good simple food at home is great. I quite fancy that airport food - it has got better than it used to be - when I flew interstate recently and there were slim pickings on the plane I thought surely this must mean a gold mine for those with cafes at the airports - especially with a bowl of chips like that.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for commenting. Please include a link to your current blog so that I can read your blog and share more of what you are thinking. Your google-blog-ID may not link to a blog hosted at another site, so please let me know who you REALLY are!