I’ve been saying I wanted to make my own vanilla extract for nearly a year.  Yesterday I went to my favorite foodie haven at the How To Cook store and bought 6 really fresh vanilla beans.  I’m told that vanilla grows locally but I suspect locally means anywhere in Queensland – probably way up at the top end.  I’ll have to find out where it’s grown.  I’d love to visit.

I suppose it’s not going to be like Mexican or Madagascan vanilla but the beans smelled divine to me as I gently cut each one and scraped their seedy bits into a big jar of plain vodka.  Once I finished the scraping, I cut the beans in half and popped them in the jar.  I put the top on and shook it to loosen up the seeds and the beans to release all their vanilla.

This is a photo of day one.  I only have to wait six more weeks and then I’ll post another photo and the tasting results.  I can’t wait.  I finished some really wonderful Mexican vanilla recently and all I’ve had is the grocery store stuff and that’s never good enough for me.  Have you made your own vanilla?  It certainly doesn’t take a culinary degree to add beans to vodka.  heh…  I kept t hinking there must be something else I should do but everything I read said cut beans, scrape seeds, place in vodka, shake, place in the dark.

I’ve tucked the jar in my desk drawer so it will stay relatively cool and dark.  I have the air conditioner on most of the time in here.  (it IS summer down under)

You’ll have to come over for a taste so by the time you make all your plans, the vanilla will be ready to use.

There’s nothing better than getting a package delivered to the door or finding card from the postie in the mailbox telling me that there’s a package waiting at the post office for a signature.  Well, today I had both!

The envelope contained my new designer apron from Kitchen Threads.  I met Annette (@kitchen_threadz) through Twitter and ordered a whiz bang red apron and asked her to be creative.  I slowly opened the envelope – prolonging the excitement, as one does.

Almost there!  I should probably say that I got the notice card in the mailbox on Friday but didn’t see it until Saturday morning.  Post office was closed.  I went to the post office to pick it up yesterday (Monday) and it was a holiday here in Queensland.  So I’ve been waiting not quite so patiently to get my package.

Voilà!!

Isn’t it cute?  I love the colors and it’s going to be easy to wipe off all the extra flour I tend to get all over me when I cook.  If there were a neatness prize for cooking I would be in the lowest 5%.  It’s all about the food though, so don’t peek in my kitchen until after the cleaning up is over.  My mother swore I could use every utensil in the kitchen at every meal.  Maybe.  I think that’s a slight exagerration.

Back to the apron.  It’s beautifully constructed.  In my past life I was a general manager of a textile manufacturing company in Knoxville, Tennessee.  I know stitching.  The first thing I looked at (sorry, Annette) was how it was constructed and she’s done a brilliant job.  Look at how fine the stitching is.  Cheap stuff has about 7 stitches to the inch.  These are so fine I couldn’t be bothered counting. Thanks a lot for my apron and I will wear it with joy and think of you every time I put it on.

After my apron was opened and well photographed I moved on to the box from USA Foods in Melbourne.  As an American living in Australia there are a few things that I miss that can’t be found at the local grocery stores.  Okay quite a lot of things but only a few cause me to open my wallet and spring for the prices that the imported goods cost.

If you’re a yank like me living in Australia and miss American food ingredients and you don’t already shop here, have a look at their stock.  Their customer service is great.  I’ve always received my orders on time and I’ve never missed out on anything I ordered and nothing has ever been broken.

What cook can make American recipes without shortening or kosher salt?  Every once in a while, you’ve just got to have a casserole with French friend onions on top, don’t you?  I do.  When I’m feeling homesick for my children or grandchildren, I cook something “American.”  Honestly, I ordered the jelly bellies just to fill out the box.  I knew there’d be a small space and I didn’t want things to rattle around.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  Peek inside at all that fruity flavor!

It was a lovely package filled day!  Now I’m craving *real* onion rings.  I’m going to try some later using a beer batter and panko breadcrumbs.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

I’m sure we’ve all used ground turmeric from the spice jar often in our lives but I’d never seen it fresh.  I was given a few pieces yesterday and honestly, I didn’t know what to do with it.  I’m not one to leave anything untried so I turned to my trusted Twitter friends for advice.

It seems that I’m not alone.  Marni & Raphe of Kensington Kitchen haven’t see fresh turmeric in the flesh either.  Alas, I didn’t feel so gastronomically alone.  Here’s what it looks like.  Isn’t that orange color wild?

The first bit of information I learned when looking it up on the net was “always wear gloves and don’t put it in anything that can stain, like plastic.”  That doesn’t scare me.  I’ve made pickled beets before and had red fingers for days.  I thought it made me look “cheffy”.

Shirley Lum of A Taste of the World suggested I plant one of the roots in a pot and grow some more!  So I’ve done that already.  Apparently turmeric grows in a similar fashion to ginger and more ginger is grown here on the Sunshine Coast of Australia that just about anywhere in the world.  I should be lucky with my pot of turmeric. Shirley also recommends adding slices of fresh turmeric when I cook rice.

I received another tweet from Genevie Jacobs who tweets as @VioletAndVeruca suggested using termeric on warm, buttered basmatic rice or any Indian dish or curried “anything”.

Finally, Emma Gardiner-Deans (@SheGoesOz) from SheGoes.com.au had a suggestion that started me salivating before I finished reading her advice.  “Pound it up with some garlic and ginger in a mortar and pestle and use it as a curry base with coconut cream and kaffir lime.”  Doesn’t that sound good?

So, I’ve got some chicken and some coconut cream and I even have 3 kaffir lime leaves so I’m off to cook.  Hopefully I’ll remember to take photos.  Have you ever meant to take photos but got caught up in the moment and only realized later that you missed your moment?  I do that way too often.  I’m heading to Sydney soon for a food styling class so maybe that will put me in a better frame of mind.  It also means the family eats cold food but that’s a small price to pay for my pleasure I think.  heh.

Living down under and having a brain trained in the USA, it’s tough to get around recipes that call for unsweetened chocolate. Chocolate ice cream, brownies, cookies.. I could go on but then I’d depress myself.

Well looky what arrived in a box from USAfoods.com yesterday. It was sheer joy to pull these two beauties out of the box. I ordered other things also not available in Australia and my dear husband walked in, rolled his eyes and said, “Happy now?”

YES!!

I can’t decide what to cook first with my new chocolate. Part of me wants to save it for when it’s REALLY important but the other half says, “Make something now and enjoy, life’s too short not to eat the chocolate or use the good dishes.” That’s the side of me I’m going to listen to.