Whoa, it’s getting cold down under.  Not only do I have shoes on in my kitchen but jeans too!  I know!  I’m the woman who shouldn’t wear shorts and go barefoot all the time but I do.

When I was in Adelaide for #wordstogo14 I was given the most wonderful Smoky Bacon Mushroom dust or spice.  I’ve made this before in my Thermomix but the Mushroom Man from the Adelaide Central Market took it commercial.  It’s very bacon-y and totally vegetarian.

I suppose I should admit that I got a small package of chorizo and when I went to the kitchen there was an empty packet sitting on the bench.  When John came in I said, “BEFORE the photo?  You ate it before I took a photo of it??”

He laughed and said, “Where did you have it?”

“In my suitcase, I haven’t unpacked.”

“Then it wasn’t me that ate it,” he said as he looked down at the short one and “Charlie?  Did you eat Mummy’s sausage?”

Yes, it was him.  He even had red lips.  It must have been hot for the poor little thing.

So instead we have for your viewing pleasure this wonderful savoury bread twice baked like an almond bread.  It’s served with cheese and is really delicious.  Therese from Salta in Bocca in Adelaide gave it to us as a gift during our Flavours of Campbelltown tour.  Here’s what the other variety looks like in her cheese platter.

The other day I picked up the most interesting pistachios – they’d been coated in Asian sweet chili sauce and they are wonderful.  I’m going to give making them at home a try.  I got them at the IGA and *someone* tossed out the packet so if anyone needs to know what they are, I’ll be happy to buy another package.  They are a bit spicy and I could only eat a few at a time but they are delicious.

John LOVES olives and when I said I brought home a packet of kalamata olives with chilli, garlic and oregano, I could tell he was just waiting for me to get the photographs done before he got the scissors out.  He didn’t take them to the room under the stairs so he could have them all himself but I wouldn’t have been surprised.

I have a new cookbook to review in my kitchen this month.  I received Colin Fassnidge’s Four Kitchens and I’m dying to make his chicken.  Watch this spot.  Imagine roasting a chicken on a bed of carrots, brioche, olive oil and thyme?  Yeah, I can too.

Before Rob left for his new home (where he’s really fitting in well, thanks for your lovely comments) he had a load of treasures from his home in Victoria.  In one of the boxes were these gorgeous Spode plates that he wants me to have.  They are absolutely gorgeous and I’m eager to photograph something sitting on them.

I told you previously about the wonderful honey that Australian Masterchef Callum Hann told us about from Kangaroo Island.  This is natural, raw, organic honey from the only pure strain of Italian Ligurian bees in the world.  Because nothing but a quick straining has been done to this honey so it does crystalise.  Warming to barely 30C should return the honey to liquid.  I tasted it crystallised and it was magical on my tongue.

Stuff.  I have things like this lying around with no home.  Do you toss things like this away when you get home?  It seems uncivilized to do that but chances are I’ll never need it again.

And finally. my friends, here’s my second best friend.