Happy Summer! We’re officially in it now. We luckily had some very mild days in June but the heat is back (along with the dryness).
I always look forward to writing these “In My Kitchen” posts because I can think back while perusing through Google Photos about foodie memories from the previous month. It’s funny because when I start these posts I always think “There’s nothing new in the kitchen to write about.” Then, I am always proved wrong. 🙂
I found the cutest tea towel for my cousin’s daughter (getting married in October). 
I want to pair this tea towel with a cookbook. My favorite cookbook to gift is the yellow Gourmet behemoth. Does anyone have a suggestion for a better one? If so, please leave it in the comments and thanks in advance!
My boss is hilarious and she always seems to have a new food discovery to share. Sometimes it’s pickles from a farm supply store. Sometimes it’s a sack of her favorite coffee or a bag of special snacks. When we arrived for a special meeting last month, we all found bags of tortilla chips.
She said these are her new favorite: kettle style tortilla chips. Our meeting ran a bit late and so I decided to stop on the way home for premade gauc. These did make a good dinner!
We were able to find some locally grown strawberries and blueberries recently and we bought two large containers of each. Of course I made jam.
There’s batches of Strawberry-Tarragon, Old-Fashioned Strawberry, Blueberry-Lime and Apricot Rosemary Jams. 
Note that I didn’t have any fresh apricots but I really wanted to make some more jams using herbs. I ended up using cans of apricot nectar. I think it worked out and I hope to have a jam post coming up soon.
We had the fam here during the first week of June. We loved getting to see the nieces! One of them is a vegetarian so I picked up these:
It’s a veggie based turkey. I thought the chunks of vegetables look very pretty and delicious. She said it was really good in the sandwiches and wraps we made. I didn’t get to try any, but I want to purchase some more just for me.
My sister’s birthday is this month and we both love a good cookbook. I bought her this one…
but I’m giving it to her AFTER I read it. 🙂 (Note that Sykes is British so there’s grams and temps that will need converted if you’re in the U.S.) You can read my full review in an upcoming post.
For my curveball this month, I just wanted to share a few things I found on a walk the last time we were at the lake.
There’s some wild fungi (totally nonedible, I’m sure), a lone day lily and some wild blackberries growing among some wild roses.
“In My Kitchen” is hosted by Sherry’s Pickings. It’s always so interesting to see what’s happing in kitchens around the world. 