At Home | Second-Hand Book Haul

On a recent trip to LifeLine I picked up a few very interesting books, mostly in relation to foods. I spotted The Olive Oil Cookbook by Louise Pickford, had a quick flip through before the other two jumped out at me from the shelves. I am hoping that these books serve as very useful additions to my house and life. 

The Complete Book of Herbs: a practical guide to growing & using herbs by Lesley Bemness so far looks to be the most useful. Aside from the detailed list of herbs and how and where to grow them, this book also includes endless uses for them. Herbs have a plethora of functions, from basic use in cooking to utilising their medicinal qualities and cosmetic applications. I will definitely let you know if I use any of the beauty remedy recipes.

My purchase of A Passion for Preserves by Frederica Langeland is an attempt at something I've never pursued but am pushing myself towards. I have always thought it would be great to make my own jams and preserves but never made the effort. I've had someone describe the most delicious strawberry, balsamic and pepper jam to be and wanted to make it ever since. However, after a quick browse of this book, the process is as lengthy as I assumed, so who knows, I may attempt it but might not be soon. 

Loving olives as much as I do, I could hardly leave the cookbook about cooking with olive oil behind. It really is just a compilation of recipes featuring olive oil, all of which look delicious but nothing is overly exciting about it. There is a feature about olives in the front of the book but nothing that couldn't be found at the click of a button today. Its always nice to have additional recipe inspiration though so this book won't go astray. 

Do you ever browse the book sections of your local op shop? What do you seek out?

Happy Wednesday lovelies!

Erin xx

A Trip to Gewürzhaus

My family loves gourmet food. Like, really loves. It's something nurtured by my mother, unknowingly enjoyed by my father, and something my brother and I have never lived without. Whilst Christmas shopping, my mother and I came across this amazing spice shop in The Block Arcade (which is an amazing place to visit if you're ever in Melbourne) called Gewürzhaus. We bought a few gifts for different people, and for my brother, Liam. When he came down for the holidays and received his gift he insisted we return to the shop so he could absorb some more spice goodness. Aaaand, just recently, he requested some more. 

So, today my parents and I trekked into the city to get my far away brother some delicious spices from this magnificent store. Well described on their website: “think of the lolly shop of your childhood dreams, substitute herbs and spices and you’re at Gewürzhaus”. Like I said before, my family gets around the gourmet food circle and this store really is unique - at least in Australia. We bought my brother a delicious array of herbs and spices including a Guacamole blend which smells like Mexican powder form. 

They also stock a rather large range of cute, kitch and incredibly useful kitchenware. If I had any money or a place to put things, I could exit this store with an awfully large armful of goodies. For lovers of cooking fine foods, Gewürzhaus is an unexpected heaven in the middle of the city. Unfortunately, they're only in Melbourne (in three different locations) but they do ship all over Australia and the world. 

According to their website they also run cooking classes to educate people on the beautiful complexity of herbs and spices. Now that would be one nice smelling cooking class.

Erin xx