Thank you for visiting my November version of In My Kitchen. Each month Sherry MacKay of Sherry’s Pickings hostesses a global gathering of food lovers. You get to peek into their kitchen lore and knowledge, recipes, new kitchen gadgets (I’ve made some amazing discoveries), new ingredients, kitchen tales and musings. Click on the link to connect with their blog postings.

Well, last month ended with five days of no power. It was quite an adventure. We fared better than many since we have a generator and were able to keep the lights on. But, most stores in town were closed. And, the one service station with gas had a line a quarter of a mile long. Surprisingly everyone was good natured about the whole thing and neighbors pulled together to help each other, sharing power to charge cell phones and other electrical communication devices. It did bring home how dependent we are on the electrical grid though, phone service was spotty since they use the towers to boost signals and the internet was down. It was a strange feeling to be so cut off here on the coast. I think these outages will encourage more folks to invest in solar and batteries.

The lemonade from the entire event was that everything was cancelled, I was left with four whole days of empty time on my hands. I finally got around to cleaning out the pantry, washing down kitchen shelves, and sorting through bookcases; all chores on my to-do list. I was waiting for a rainy day, which doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime in the next 10 days. We desperately need rain.

So, what’s new in my kitchen? October is my birthday month and favorite gifts are cookbooks (from others and also from me to myself).

nothing fancy by Alison Roman

Alison Roman is a frequent contributor to the NY Times, this is a cookbook about entertaining simply.

From The Oven To The Table by Diana Henry

I have a few cookbooks by Diana Henry and enjoy her writing. This one has a lot of what we call in the U.S. “Sheet Pan” dinner recipes. I always enjoy her take on food and her writing.

Sous Vide by Hugh Acheson

I love cooking sous vide and this one will definitely increase my range of recipes.

Cook Something from Canal House, hirsheimer & hamilton

This is the newest from Canal House in the U.K. It’s also my first one from them and I am in love. Canal House has been around for quite some time but they are new to me. I made some simple pan fried chicken thighs with preserved lemon. It was quite simple but delicious.

Pan Roasted Chicken Thighs with Preserved Lemons

So, I plan to post some interesting new recipes soon. I must admit to having been in a cooking rut.

In my kitchen I have a bowl of apples from the tree in a friend’s yard. These are Galas and are delicious eating apples.

Gala Apples

In my kitchen I have the last of the summer tomatoes. These are from Nye Ranch just down the street, they have a Saturday farm stand and are also at our local farmer’s market each week. They told me that they don’t expect to have any more until next season. We have been enjoying them with a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar, olive oil and fresh cheese.

Heirloom tomatoes

In my kitchen I have a new pepper grinder, this one easily adjusts to a fine or coarse grind and is very easy to grind. I find my hands sometimes ache and I appreciate how little pressure this one needs to grind a generous amount of pepper.

And lastly in my kitchen I have dogs, five dogs to be exact. We were watching my friend’s corgis for a few days. Remember the puppy who stayed with us back in May? See puppy Milo in the left front of the first picture (he was a little peanut). The second picture shows him as an 8 month old, right front of the second picture. It’s wonderful that they all get along so well. It’s fun to watch them try to herd each other (and us).