Weekly Kitchen Things and Homemaking

 The small jobs that I intersect into my schedule during any one busy week or suddenly decide to make.  Some of them are strictly not kitchen based, but will supply the kitchen at the end of the day and some are based on "bargains" like reduced herbs and herbage from the supermarket.  Some have already been made and some are about to be made.

This week that has involved

• Drying fresh Dill to be used when I preserve Pickled Cucumbers later in the season.  Having a stock of fresh herb which has been dried has more flavour if home prepared.  Parsley is a particularly good one for mixing in with garlic and butter and then slathering on bread and cooking/warming in the oven for homemade garlic bread.  Lovely with a Lasagna! 
• Drying fresh Thyme on the stem.  Drying it this way (I am using air drying between tissue), means that I have the option of keeping the Thyme on the stem, or rubbing it off and jarring it up.  Both methods work, but I tend to use the whole stem when I am cooking a roast Chicken tucking it into the cavity of the chicken with a raw onion to keep the chicken moist or sometimes a halved Lemon;
• Drying fresh Garden mint on the stem and then when dry using it in Mint Raita or to cover Labneh (yogurt cheese balls).  Very refreshing either way.  I also dry Mint for home made Mint tea;
• Stringing and drying fresh Chillies for use in my Pickled Onions and Pickled Shallots later on in the year.
• Drying fresh Coconut for use in decorating cakes and for chopping into cakes, Muesli, etc.  Was very much an experiment and I dried it in my Ninja.  Shall be doing this again.
• Starting off the Lemon Vinegar jar for cleaning with Lemon shells and white vinegar.
• Starting off some Garden Mint plants by standing them in water and letting the roots develop.
• Harvesting and Drying Bay leaves for my Pantry.
• Bottling my Strawberry Top vinegar;
• Making more Strawberry Top vinegar;
• Starting off a new Sourdough Starter using a combination of White and Rye flour;
• Making a fruit jelly for a refreshing pudding;
• Sowing some seeds;
• Sowing some flower seeds;
• Starting off a Lemon and Honey ferment;
• Starting off a Lemon Cheong;
• Making Pineapple and Rum "Liqueur"; Bacardi is in the cupboard and needs using;
• Making Raspberry "Liqueur";
• I need to make a new batch of Yogurt this week as it is needed for puddings and breakfasts;
• Need to make some home made Muesli this week or maybe some Granola.  It will be whatever the fancy takes when I come to making it;

Those are some of the tasks therefore on the to make list this week.  There are others, but it depends on time restraints as to whether they will be added to the list in any event.

I am in any event returning to the Pantry to try and get it finished once and for all today.  I have more stuff than I thought I had and some will definitely have to go into the under-stair cupboard.  That is a whole project in itself. Hopefully everything will be finished by tonight.  Kitchen needs attention.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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