Thursday 13th February 2025

It’s nice to be home. Despite what it might look like with all our travel, I do like it here. I like it a lot, in fact!

My favourite place to be at home is unsurprisingly in the kitchen. If you have been to my house, you will know it’s the centre of the home, both figuratively and literally. It has a lovely wide island bench that separates the cooking area from the open planned family and dining area, and from it I can see both the front door and the back door as well as fabulous view from the rear windows over the Gregadoo hills. I like the kitchen not just because of what I can do in it, but because it is just a lovely spot to be.

For the last few years (since COVID), I worked from home a few days a week. I have an office set up in the spare bedroom, and that’s where I used to spend lots of my time. I often started meetings before 8am, and Dave would regularly need to drag me out of the office well past dark. During that time, it was almost a form of torture to be so close to my much-loved kitchen but not have the time to be in it. Now that I’m not working, I rarely go into that front room and spend the majority of my time either in the kitchen, or like I am now, sitting at the kitchen bench (with my laptop!).

The kitchen is not super fancy, but it is nice. It has a 5-burner gas stove and a 90cm electric oven. It holds close to the complete range of KitchenAid appliances (in red, of course!), a compact walk-in pantry, plenty of bench space, and drawers and cupboards filled with catering quantities of crockery, glassware, gadgets, cutlery, pots and pans, various implements and pretty much every cheffy-tool imaginable.

It sounds like it’s bulging at the seams, but actually the kitchen and pantry are both pretty well organised. My step-mum (Pamela) has her kitchen more tidy and well-organised than anyone I know, and that inspired me to do likewise. Mine might even rival hers now that I’m not working 😉

So, this week, the heart of our home has also been the centre of my activity. From preparing cricket lunches and making cakes, to whipping up healthy meals to combat Dave’s recent holiday-induced poor nutrition, there’s been a lot of kitchen antics this week! We’ve also had a friend who is in Wagga for work over for dinner, and Will and Emma joined us for an evening meal on Sunday too, as they often do.

I probably spoil the Wagga RSL Cricket Club first XI more than I should, but given spending Saturdays watching cricket is very high on my list of fabulous things to do, it seems logical to also make sure everyone is eating well.

This week I made chicken rolls for the team (and a few of us spectators) using the par-bake rolls you get from the supermarket. I really don’t like bread that’s not super-fresh, and getting things ready for an 11am game start doesn’t really allow much time in the morning to get to the shops to buy it freshly baked. If I do get fresh bread, it usually involves Dave popping out on his motorbike early to get it from Foodworks at Turvey Park, which I think sells the best sandwich bread in town (think crusty outside and super soft inside).

While following instructions is not my forte, I do like a good RecipeTinEats recipe. Nagi’s chicken sandwich recipe is fantastic: creamy, moist and flavoursome. Give it a try if you can. Of course, I rarely follow a recipe to the tee and this time omitted the walnuts and instead topped the filling with crispy freshly cooked chopped bacon, which gave it a bit of crunch and plenty of saltiness and deliciousness. Bacon makes everything better, yes?

Every two years the Cricket Club holds an ‘Orange and Black’ Ball, and Saturday night was the night! I helped organise it, which was easier than usual now that I have more time. Preparations included setting up the on-line ticketing, sourcing and organising silent auction items, consulting and negotiating with the caterers and setting up the room on the day. Bagging orange and black jellybeans was also on the list – and I may or may not have eaten a lot during that process 😉

I love having Will and Emma over for dinner, and more often than not on Sunday nights they join us for a catch-up and a meal. Will and I both love confit duck, so that’s what I cooked since I had four Duck Marylands in the freezer (and a batch of confit oil which I had saved from a previous event).

Making Duck leg confit at home is probably not that common, but to be honest, I think is a great option if you want something a bit fancy and to be able to prepare things beforehand, then just finish the dish off when you are ready to serve. Duck used to be super expensive, but I think all meat is pretty expensive these days. From memory these legs cost me around $7 each.

The ‘Confit’ cookery method has been used for a very long time and was originally developed as means of preservation back when refrigeration wasn’t common. It involves slowly cooking food submerged in fat at a low temperature. The word “confit” actually comes from the French word confire, which means “to preserve”. Traditionally the meat would have been left submerged for weeks or months even, away from any oxygen which bacteria needs to multiply.

In my opinion, there’s a couple of important steps to make sure your confit is just right, including dry brining the duck. I was going with a bit of an ‘Orange and Asian’ theme, so I made up a salt rub by grinding salt, pepper, star anise and orange zest in a mortar and pestle. I then rubbed it generously all over the duck legs, massaging into every nook and cranny. You need a bit of preparation lead up time to master this dish and the next step was to let it sit, uncovered on a wire rack in the fridge overnight. This allows the flavours to permeate the meat and also draws out the moisture which helps its tenderness and flavour. After a quick rinse and pat dry, I then put the duck in a casserole dish (as small as they would fit in to minimise how much oil was needed to submerge them) and covered them with oil.

The other important step is to flavour the oil. I used oil I had saved (and frozen) from the last time I made confit. To it, I added cloves, black peppercorns, a cinnamon stick, orange rind and star anise, then covered the dish and cooked at a gentle 90-100C for around five hours. After letting the duck cool in the fat, I then removed it onto a baking tray and put it back in a hot oven for about 20 minutes, regularly brushing it with a mixture of orange juice, honey and soy sauce until it was crispy and golden. I served it with pumpkin risotto, and salad made from orange segments (after using the rind and juice earlier), shaved fennel and rocket.

Apart from enjoying eating the duck, most of the evening was spent holiday planning. The four of us are heading to South America in six weeks and there is still a lot of decision making and organisation to be done! After a couple of hours of talking all things South America I was super excited and happily stayed up late booking more flights and activities. 40 days today till we leave!

My gorgeous friend Michelle’s visit on Monday was the perfect chance to use the diced lamb shoulder I recently bought from Louise at Highfield Farm. I was tossing up which slow-cooked dish I would make but ended up making a Lamb and Pumpkin Rogan Josh curry and the robust well-flavoured lamb held up beautifully to the spiciness of the sauce. A small spoonful of yoghurt stirred through last minute made the sauce creamy and silky, perfect for the fluffy super-long grain basmati rice and warmed chapati bread I bought at the local Indian grocer to accompany it. A spoonful of Apricot Kasaundi, (gifted by my beautiful friend Sandy) was the perfect final touch, its sweetness and heat complimenting the curry beautifully.

Every couple of weeks I make a batch of Granola, which I package and gift to friends. Given we are heading to Sydney tomorrow, and I had no stocks in reserve, yesterday I made a 2kg batch. I ordered new labels recently and this was the first batch to adorn them. What do you think? I’m happy with the matt finish and the slightly smaller size which fits well on the green bags made from recycled paper (which I also bought recently.)

I’m sitting here (at the kitchen bench, of course) finishing writing this blog and publishing it before we pack the car and head to Sydney. This weekend is Victoria and Justin’s engagement party which we are holding at my sister’s place in Lindfield…. I’ll tell you all about it, and a little sneaky holiday we are having afterwards, in next week’s blog 🙂

Once we get home, there is just four weeks to enjoy being at home before we head off again… I really do love being at home, but yes, I love travelling too! What better way to appreciate what we have here in Australia, then to see the rest of the world xx