I have missed compiling these “In My Kitchen” posts, however, I do hope this post finds you well and coping with what is happening around the world right now. Hats off to Sherry and thank you for keeping the “In My Kitchen” community of bloggers going strong. And while away from blogging on this platform, managed to take a few photos here and there in the hope I would get back to this space.
Because the borders between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (due to covid) where closed last March, delivery of my pizza oven got very delayed and only received it end of September. Our weather is much cooler now and the summers intense heat has dissipated, so making pizzas outdoors is doable, especially during the evening. So far managed to make some lovely pizzas and focaccia which the family enjoyed but lots more experimenting to do. Although not a wood fire pizza oven (not sure I would have had the patience for such), gas makes it much easier.
Making use of the residual heat from the pizza oven and semi-dried some large tomato halves. I love home-dried tomatoes over shop bought, which I find very leathery and acidic.
Usually store the tomatoes in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, I do go through a fair amount so like to keep a supply going. And the lovely olive oil bottle ( first photo) reminds me of the lovely trip last year when we visited Italy.
A friend kindly passed on the remaining months of her masterclass subscription and delighted to see a Rose Harissa recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi in his middle eastern cooking videos. Although he recommends a Belazu brand of Rose Harissa in his cookbooks, my stocks had run out and luckily I had the specific dried chillies, ancho and Kashmiri to make his recipe.
With all the delays in shipping finally managed to get Ottolenghi’s latest cookbook “flavors”… looking forward to trying new recipes.
Fresh lemons and lime from the respective trees in our garden. I picked the lemons before turning yellow as I find they rot or get destroyed by bugs while waiting for them to turn yellow.
Chocolate gift from a lovely friend…and of course, a good time to brew a cup of coffee.
The “In My Kitchen” monthly theme host is Sherry and if you would like to know what’s cooking or see some kitchen treasures, head over to Sherry’s blog at Sherryspickings and check out other IMK participants.
Food and Tools 
You are so right about commercial dried tomatoes — and lucky to have such a good way to dry them. A backyard pizza oven sounds like a lot of fun.
be well… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
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Hi Mae, yes it is an exciting new addition to my kitchen even though it is near the backdoor. Love home-dried tomatoes as they have many uses with recipes, so you can never have enough 🙂
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Love your photos. And, I love the idea of storing homemade dried tomatoes in olive oil AND balsamic. Have tremendous fun with the pizza oven!
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Adding balsamic vinegar helps preserve the tomatoes for a little longer, plus I use the oil/balsamic for dressing salad leaves. Yes, looking forward to using the pizza oven in the coming months as this is our outdoor season 🙂
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hi Moya
it’s so nice to see you on IMK. thanks for joining. I noticed that lovely olive oil jug straightaway. so pretty. yes the post is so slow these days and our postal service expects to be hammered at Christmas and suggests we all post gifts as soon as poss! what a year! those tomatoes look great. i can handle dried ones much better than fresh ones or tomato paste etc… How lovely to have fresh citrus. and what about that oven? marvellous….take care
cheers
sherry
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Thank you Sherry I do love joining in but this year have spent very little time on the computer and this blog. It has been a strange sort of year in many ways. Do love my pizza oven and of course so do the rest of the family. Hopefully will join the IMK’s in the New Year. Best wishes 🙂
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Hi, Moya! Delightful to “see” you again! I’ve been absent here so much of this year — not for lack of interest in cooking, but for lack of cooking anything new. Your post has inspired me to “try, try again!” Sorry to hear about the delays and restrictions… same thing here. Life certainly has changed, hasn’t it? The most encouraging thing is that resourceful cooks still feed their families (and themselves) well. What a blessing to see you’re still carrying on. OH! Beautiful limes and lemons, and your chocolates were the perfect “dessert”! Take care and be safe, xo. .
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Loved your olive oil decanter, too. Glad it brings you happy memories!
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