The pre- baby shower lunch!

When you find out that your sister is having her first baby, it is pretty exciting, so I arranged a little lunch for her prior to her baby shower. I know some, would say , OTT ( over the top) but I am so excited for her, I just want to share in her excitement. 

Macaroons.

Berry cake made by Nicky

Brownie slice , thanks to Errin. She got hungry on the 20 minute trip over. Fair enough too, they were to die for.

My sister's baby shower!

I have had a break from the blog for a while, but have to say I have missed it. Wish I had more time to invest. I really do love all the little things. I thoroughly enjoyed having fun with my sister's baby shower. Donna has gorgeous friends of which are very talented in the kitchen, ( Kath!). We had fun, designing a dessert table, white with a hint of red, at Donna's request.

Kath, one of Donna's bridesmaids made the gorgeous berry cupcakes and cake pops.

Baby shower was sponsored by Chandon!

Jannine, made the very tasty caramel slice and meringues.

Guests took home, milk bottles, cake pops and cupcakes.

Went for the hydranga's but sometimes they can come across light green, looked cute though.

 Cookies from Petit So Sweet. Thanks Chris.













Thanks to our friends from Kikki K. Create a page!

The lovely mother to be.
It was such a lovely day.

Friends for dinner...

We had lovely friends for dinner, and what do you serve in winter to compliment a lovely 7 hour fermenting beef casserole, but a yummy sticky date pudding. I followed this recipe, from Taste.com but did it in muffin tins, and added chocolate buttons to the middle of the puddings. To die for. So easy to make and so yummy.

Sticky date pudding

Photography by Luke Burgess

With winter just a few days away, a sticky date pudding seems like a timely idea!

Ingredients (serves 8)

• 250g pitted dates, chopped
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 125g butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups White Wings Self-Raising Flour, sifted

• Caramel sauce

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 300ml thickened cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 60g butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a 7cm deep, 22cm (base) cake pan.
2. Place dates and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Pour over boiling water. Allow to stand for 20 minutes.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Using a large metal spoon, fold through date mixture and flour until well combined.
4. Spoon mixture into prepared cake pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn onto a plate.
5. Make sauce Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until sauce comes to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 2 minutes.
6. Pierce pudding all over with a skewer. Pour 1/2 cup of warm sauce over warm pudding. Stand for 10 minutes. Cut into wedges. Serve with remaining sauce.

I also purchased these flowers, I have never seem them before, they are like cabbages, and they are a flower from the cabbage family. Not sure what they are called. Very interesting.

What am I going to take to the Trivia night?

Saturday night was the school Trivia night and I was lost for what to take in relation to food. I was surrounded by gourmet cooks, sitting on the table and everything I went to make,  was already catered for. 
I called on my gorgeous nephew's mum Freya who gave me a great idea, in the late hours of Saturday afternoon. She saved the day. 


Mini caesar salads for each person on the table. 
Recipe:
Shredded Cos Lettuce
Bacon - fried off
Bagel garlic crisps - crushed
Parmesan cheese
'Paul Newmans' Casear dressing

It was easy and complimented the other food provided by the other gorgeous girls on the table. I got the red noodle boxes from our local $2 shop with mini forks and mini napkins. Such a easy and great idea when you need something easy to eat, and easy to make. Thanks Freya x

We need to support our Neighbours!

Recently members of my community in East Bentleigh where I live have come up against all that challenges us. Last week, one of the primary school mum's was having an afternoon sleep with her 6 month old and her 2 year old, just before school pick up, when she was awoken to smoke filling the house. The house went up and took everything in its path. Mum and kids were physically safe, but what this does psychologically is heartbreaking. Everything in the house was destroyed. They have to start from scratch. They have 5 children ranging from 6mths - 7 years. I have had the privilege of meeting the 2 older children, who are just beautiful.


 I have put myself in their shoes over the last week and cannot even begin to imagine where to start.
We are seeking as much support and assistance that we can, preferably vouchers that the family can use to purchase what they need.
Please email me, or add a comment to my blog if you can help out. A small contribution goes a long way.

7th Birthday Party - Mario theme

My son turned 7 last week, I just cannot believe how fast that has gone. He wanted to have a Mario Kart theme for his birthday party. So I attempted to get creative, in the very limited time we had to get organised. Thanks to my gorgeous nephew's mum, who designed these invites, water bottle labels and lolly bag labels for us. I also want to thank my gorgeous friends and family for bringing food. It helped so much.

 The popcorn was a hit, and we had marshmellow sticks, and chips in cupcake holders, which were easy for the little ones to manage.

 The cake had Mario Kart figures on it. Simple chocolate mud, very rich but very nice.

Lollie bag's were a hit, I really love the white paper bag. It was a great day especially for Nicholas.