Friday, June 30, 2023

June in My Kitchen

Gadgets and good things to eat!


Just outside my kitchen: pots of herbs for cooking.

I snip a few herbs to include in almost everything I cook!

New Plate from the Ann Arbor Potters' Guild

Just right for some toast and a glass of juice to eat on the porch, a plate from this summer’s ceramics sale.


Another breakfast on the new plate:  French Toast and apple slices.
The platter is also from the Potters’ Guild, purchased a few years ago.

New French Press Coffee Pot


Old one on the left: the plastic was messed up so Evelyn
ordered me another one.

New Sourdough Containers

Len finds these new containers much better than the mason jars he had been using.


New Magnets on My Refrigerator


A magnet from the Art Museum Shop: “Banned Books”

Le Petit Prince from Paris

Another gift from Evelyn: six coasters of Le Petit Prince, here with the fox that he tamed.

The Little Prince is a favorite story for me and for many other people. Here's one of the original illustrations of the prince and his fox:


“Supoon”

A gadget: “Supoon” for scraping the inner edge of a jar.
A gift from Arny & Tracy.

Treats and Cooking in my Kitchen

New Joe-Joe’s flavor.

M&M’s: a favorite all my life, now in a Costco size!

Alice made us great turkey meatballs

She also made a great zucchini dish.

The best rhubarb pie:

Made by Evelyn.

The best Asian food:


Len made a number of great Asian dishes like this grilled eggplant.

Pad Thai — the best yet!


Ready-Made Mediterranean:

Ready-made stuffed grape leaves, pita, hummus, and tadziki
are very convenient.

Most Intriguing Food News of the Month

A recently-uncovered mural in Pompeii seems to depict a pizza, along with other food and wine. 
This places the origin of pizza as early as Roman times: the mural was buried by Mt. Vesuvius 2000 years ago.
Obviously tomatoes were not available to the Romans because they came from the New World after 1492,
but this prototype pizza has other toppings. (source)

Important thought for Foodies

I visited the headquarters of our local food bank, and learned about the ongoing (and worsening)
crisis in food insecurity, and the increased suffering due to the end of many government benefits.
Our society’s shame is that many children suffer with hunger.

From the Food Gatherers’ Website:

“Food Gatherers is the food bank and food rescue program serving Washtenaw County. The lead agency for hunger relief in the County, Food Gatherers supports a network of 170 community partners with free and low-cost food, deliveries, and trainings. We operate several large direct service programs — the Food Gatherers Community Kitchen, the Summer Food Service Program, and the Healthy School Pantry Program — and work closely with community schools, universities, and healthcare providers to address gaps in services. Because hunger will not be solved with food alone, we advocate for policies and system changes to create an equitable food system.”

Blog post © 2023 mae sander
Shared with Sherry’s In My Kitchen and Eileen’s Critters.

23 comments:

Lori said...

It looks like a fabulous month in your kitchen. I love being able to step outside and snip herbs this time of year. The magnets are awesome, especially the banned books magnet. I am very passionate about stopping the banning of books. One thing Illinois has done right is prohibiting book bans in it's public schools and libraries.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

That plate from the ceramics guild is beautiful.

I would love to try that rhubarb pie.

Jenn Jilks said...

What a great kitchen!

We donate monthly to our food bank equivalent. It is crazy times out there.

anno said...

oooh.... lovely things going on in your kitchen this month! Thanks, too, for the shout-out to Food Gatherers. They do important work, and I feel like most of my donation actually gets to the people who need it.

eileeninmd said...

Hello,
I like the pretty plate and your collection of magnets. The food all looks yummy, I would love the grilled eggplant and the french toast with apples.
M&M's are a nice treat. I could use one of those spoon gadgets. Take care, have a happy weekend.

Melynda@Scratch Made Food! said...

Wow, what a month you had! I envy the pots of herbs, so far my brownish green thumb had not had luck with herbs...love the pottery pieces.

francesca said...

I love your fridge magnet. You have to wonder about why any of these books would be banned and the state of mind of those that find them offensive. Mind boggling really. Lovely tasty food, could eat it all.

eileeninmd said...

Hello,

It is sad that in a country like ours that children are suffering from hunger.
I am thankful for the food banks. Speaking of food all your meals look yummy.
I would like to try the Trader Joe's cookies. Your herb garden looks great.
I love all the magnets! Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a great weekend. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.

Iris Flavia said...

My herbs never make it...
The toast looks like two hearts on the beautiful plate.
Great magnets and I still have Le Petit Prince, too. Love the clever story.
Hmmmm meatballs. And all the other yummy-looking food!
Yes Hunger needs another approach, I agree.

My name is Erika. said...

Your herbs look great Mae. I have some potted herbs and some planted in my garden herbs, but I still need to get my dill seeds in. :) You've had a nice June in the kitchen for certain. And your rye sourdough has inspired me to start one, especially after having some wonderful rye bread in iceland. Happy July to you. hugs-Erika

DVArtist said...

A lovely post. All that wonderful food and the new plate. Love it. Our food share here is in dire need as well. Without covid money the food shares and people in general are food insecure.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I bought oregano last year and also oregano seeds that I have not planted. I LOVE your lovely herbs. Your containers and set up is much nicer than mine.

I am still not a fan of French press coffee. It is OK until you have to clean it. Then it becomes a problem I didn't want to deal with. I hope your new one works for you.

I thought Erika would like those new sourdough containers and it reads like she does.

I LOVE, love, love your banned book club magnet. I am so impressed. It's so amazing how one person in a county can influence so many who probably have never even read those books themselves. I also LOVE banned books.

I have never read the Le Petit Prince. I like the illustrations, though.

That Supoon is unique and would fit into some very small jars like some olives I bought a few weeks ago.

Sally buys those large jars of M&Ms at Sam's, too. She buys a jar of regular and a jar of peanuts.

That zucchini looks good. I wish I had bought a zucchini plant this year after seeing that dish.

Oh wow. Now I really want Pad Thai. I also want grape leaves and tadziki. I bought a meal that included pita and hummus. I miss the Mediterranean restaurant that went out of business in my neighborhood.

Pizza from Pompeii? What incredible news.

I also was at my food bank last month. I took a few cans of corn. Not much, but what I could afford. I only wish we, the richest country in the world, was more attentive to our children and their food insecurity.



~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

What yummy dishes and so many healthy meals. I've been thinking of starting some sourdough starter. Wish I was close to you and could get a quick start. There's nothing better for bread and pancakes!

Jeanie said...

Your herbs are going great guns! Love your new plate -- and I'm glad I'm not reading this hungry!

Betty J. Crow said...

Not only are your herbs useful, they are beautiful, as is the plate. All the food is making me think I should go make breakfast. Loved this post!

Sherry's Pickings said...

I love turkey meatballs and I love eggplant! I have 4 supoons! And i seem to use more than one whenever i cook. I think i've mentioned before that Dreamfarm who make supoons is just a few kilometres down the road from us. Very tempting... Love your new plate too. I keep buying fridge magnets even tho my fridge is full up with 'em :) Thanks for being here for IMK.
cheers
sherry

Sherry's Pickings said...

That is very intriguing about the pizza!

Tandy | Lavender and Lime (http://tandysinclair.com) said...

Those new sourdough containers look great. As it is winter here, my sourdough is hibernating. Enjoy your supoon :)

Marg said...

I love that mural from Pompeii! So cool!

And if there is any of the rhubarb pie left I'll have some thanks!

Unknown said...

Gosh that mural from Pompeii is so interesting! I think flat breads have been eaten.. obviously forever! I'm also intrigued by how the different shape of the sourdough container makes a difference. I've brought my starter to Germany (alas there is no oven so we can't make bread) but unfortunately the glass container fell out of the fridge and smashed on the ground. I saved some into a tupperware and hope it will be survive :)

sending sunshine, Nancy at http://ayearindarwin.blogspot.com

Liz said...

There are so many great things in your kitchen this month, I am not sure what to comment on first. The mural is fascinating and I love your new fridge magnets. I also think having fresh herbs near or in the kitchen is a great creativity boost. The little prince is one of my favorites as well, it has something to say to everyone...not matter their age.

Happy Retiree's Kitchen said...

A really interesting post Mae. The pizza piece is really interesting, pizza can work without tomato after all. Your frig magnets are great, wonderful mementos. I'm wary of putting magnets on my frig because of the humidity in Summer and a concern that they may rust.

Johanna GGG said...

Your kitchen is looking interesting. Love the pots of herbs - the parsley and coriander together at first looked confusing and then impressive when I remember hearing coriander is hard to grow (cilantro). Love the fridge magnets and your ube cookies. I am very fond of rhubarb pie and pad thai. So much good food (and enjoyed browse through your blog)