The Cluedo Party - Part 2 (NO BAKE)

 
I do like to put on a birthday party. But it occurred to me last week that this is possibly the only one I haven't actually 'baked' for. And perhaps that deserves a post.

The Party Theme - Cluedo
The Reason - Eldest Child Turning 12
The Guests - 9 boys and 7 girls

The Menu

Starters - 3 bags of chips and a heated box of 64 'party pieces' (spring rolls, etc).

Meal - a "DIY Burger Bar". With on-special bun rolls, pre-made burger patties and pork chipolatas.

Dessert - a "DIY Ice Cream Bar". Modelled on the 'Cold Rock' idea, just with less choices - and without a cold rock, obviously.

I did make a layered jelly that my kids call 'Awesome Jelly' - always a winner.

Birthday Cake - Icecream Cake.

I've done this 3 times before - simply softened icecream (this time it was just vanilla), piled into a metal bowl lined with glad wrap and refrozen. I've found it's best to also freeze the plate you're going to serve it on. Then when you turn it out, tip about 1 1/2 bottles of icemagic on top and spread it around. Just before it sets, stick plastic figurines of your choice into the chocolate. Ta dah!

The cake was the icecream that they added their toppings to.

Goodie Bags - a few lollies and an M&M Cookie (packed by me in a CD envelope with a thank you sticker on it) from Coles.

Extra prizes - disposable gloves (not the latex kind, more like the home-hair-colouring kind) filled with coloured popcorn.

And there you go. Done! The kids had a great time.

I really recommend the burger bar idea when you have such a variety of appetites at the party - and it's great now that they are all old enough to serve themselves. Am thinking it'll work at my 40th next year actually.

Now our 'birthday season' is over, and life can resume it's usual pace. It's been fun.

Until next year...

Yummy Boozy Roast

I'm having trials with keeping a three-year-old in bed tonight, and am not feeling as patient as this post may sound.

Luckily tonight was not totally lost, as my oldest son did his first roast using the ingredients above. This recipe was mentioned by a friend just last night, so it was my first time too.

We put a 1.8kg lump of beef in a casserole dish, poured over the Guiness, then the plum sauce, and finished by sprinkling over the french onion soup mix. Put the lid on the pot and into the oven at 180 degrees. Two hours later - voila! Delicious.

My friend, Suzanne-the-Sauce-Queen, could no doubt have done wonders with the liquid in the pot. But we ate it with green beans and mashed potato and it was terrific. And the leftovers will be very handy.

And I think I needed the iron. Very tired. So goodnight!

My Creative Space - The Third Birthday Challenge

Look, I don't have pay TV, so maybe it's been done before, but I'm thinking that kids party "event management" could be the next reality TV "big thing". And this has been my creative space this week.

The Challenge - to do a not-to-stressy three year old's birthday party at home, with a merry-go-round theme, for seven little (and admittedly non-judgemental) guests.

 
The Conditions - daylight hours are out due to normal household/parenting stuff, you need to breastfeed every couple of hours and there'll be lots of siblings coming too because it's school holidays.And don't go stupid with the budget.

The Reality -  And I'm happy to admit a lot of this party was about me - and how I wanted to do my child's birthday party. I really like to make memories for all of us, and to be able to look back on the year and have it punctuated by memorable and happy events. That's why I stay up late and do this crafty stuff. Often things don't quite go to plan, and I was a bit frantic just before the 10am deadline (with heavy editing I'm sure it could have been entertaining) but all things considered, this one was a goodie.

There were quite a few kids and the rain held off just long enough...

The hobby horses were a hit. I ended up making six (for seven guests - I know - but I was obviously a little bleary that night, but then I was pretty sure I could count on at least one little one refusing to participate) and my self-imposed condition was that I had to use fabrics and ribbons from my stash. With my mother-in-law's help, I stuffed them with the innards of some old (washed) pillows but I did buy some lovely new broomsticks (not too expensive though). I used the darning foot to 'free motion' stitch around the eyes (felt circles with a top layer of clear plastic) and predictably stabbed myself with the needle - geez, is there a secret about that foot that I don't know about?

Used this video tutorial for inspiration to make the horses.

The clothesline carousel was great (there were more kids involved just before I took this photo - really!).

The cake was fun, but I gave up on the idea of having a cake on the top too and used a circle of cardboard with a wedge cut out of it to make a pointed roof thingy.

And there is no such thing as a horse-shaped cookie cutter in this town (seriously - don't little girls like ponies anymore? I thought they'd be so easy to find...), so those horses are shaped with a play dough cutter and skewered with well, a skewer. S wanted a red cake, so I used Cathie's recipe for Red Velvet Cake, and it rose and rose... would have been perfect to cut into four layers for this cake icing attempt actually.

And finally, some thank-you bags containing some odd bits and pieces that I hoped little ones would like.

The Judgement - with a bit of grandmotherly and friendly help in the kitchen, almost everything went according to plan.

When asked what her favourite part of the day was, S replied, "The merry-go-round cake".

Better than anything Gary, George or Matt could have said.

For more creative spaces, head over to Kirsty at Kootooyoo.

And here's cheers to a husband who is starting to 'get' my blogging and actually offered to help take a photo of the horses. Thanks D.

And about that reality TV show - I'd be keen, but sorry, I'm too busy doing it for really real.

My Creative Space

The sewing space has all been put away, and I'm still to finish sorting out my sewing 'room', and nothing more can be done until the tafe assignments are finished. But today this arrived...

It's a Pettiskirt Kit from The Haby Goddess. I plan to make it for S's 3rd birthday next month. It looks so lovely all wrapped up - wish me luck.

Otherwise today, we've been baking for B's first birthday tomorrow.

Small cakes for a very small (one friend) visit in the morning, cupcakes for school lunches and a bigger 'marble' cake for after dinner with the family tomorrow. Haven't quite decided how to ice them... am leaning towards a choc ganache covered in mini-marshmallow flowers... we'll see. (Any sort of special icing effort is mainly for my satisfaction (and yours!) - let's face it.)

Of course, when there's this sort of creating going on, I'm now heading off to clear this space here...

... when what I really want to be doing is cutting out the papercut artwork I'm making to mark B's first year. Hmmm.

On another tangent, I love the colours in the 'Little Princess' cartoon on the ABC and today realised the voices are done by Julian Clary and Jane Horrocks. Fantastic. I'll enjoy it even more now.

Hope you're having a terrific week, and please head off to enjoy some more creative spaces over at Kootooyoo.

In my mailbox

I've been trying to restrict my blogging this week. Assignments to do and children to mother and all that...

But I've nearly finished this work I'm doing, the babies are sleeping, and I had to share this giveaway prize that arrived in my letterbox yesterday.

It's from sister outlaws and how cool is that? Packaging the whole thing in a real pocket. Love it!

This is what's inside:

It's a terrific idea and I look forward to pulling all the bits out and having a go when I get a moment. I have to confess (and it does feel like a real 'confession' on a crafty blog like this) that I have a serious, intense, complete dislike of buttons (stems from a young age) so might have to figure something else out there.

This is what it may look like when it's done (just without the button, of course).

And I finally saw Julie & Julia a week or so ago, and combined with the fresh eggs from our lovely chickens that I haven't mentioned much lately, and because I don't have a Julia Child cookbook (yet, I've put my order in for Mother's Day) I've referred to my quite posh Delia Smith cookbook and am working on making the perfect poached egg.

Yum. I used to be a solid yolk person, but I'm definitely converted to the deliciousness of a soft yolk now. Superb.

Lemon Cake to make while babies are sleeping

Made this yummy lemon cake from kootooyoo's recipe this afternoon.

Can't say enough good things.

You don't even have to use the beaters - perfect when the little ones are asleep, and then it's eaten by the big kids home from school, warm from the oven.

Thanks Kirsty!

My Creative Macarons

This is what good 'parisian' macarons should look like.

Tartelette is one of my favourite 'food' blogs and her talent with the macaron (and macaron photography) is second to none. Check these beauties out...

via tartelettevia tartelette

via tartelette

Ah, mouthwatering.

via mimiofparis

Now, I'd admired these macarons, and seen them on quite a few blogs and today I attempted my own - without reading anything except the recipe in the Women's Weekly Bake book, and without a decent piping bag (I used a glad bag).

And they were not perfect (and they were really pointy on top!), but they were yummy.

And I made them to use the egg whites leftover from an ice cream attempt. So they'll be made again, and next time I hope to get a little closer to the Tartlette ideal! So I'll make sure I read her instructions here.

There have been paintings finished this week, but I'm too tired to post them now.

For more creative spaces, head over to Kirsty at kootooyoo...

There's nothing to see here

But we have red velvet cake!

S has decided that red is her favourite colour, so seeing she has me figured out, this is what happened here today. It's a Martha recipe, using an entire bottle of Pillar Box Red food colouring, and I have to say, it's very yummy.

Due to babies that seem to not need much sleep, and adults that do, there has been pretty much NO arting or crafting around here lately. Last Sunday I did manage the hand stitching of the binding on the lap quilt I made ages ago and I have to say, it felt FANTASTIC to have it finished.

Tonight I want to work on a painting for a friend's 50th and tomorrow I plan to be making a giant sandwich costume for said friend's birthday - let's see how it goes.

Would love to post about something interesting one day soon!

Chicken Tonight

Had Tandoori Chicken from this book for dinner tonight. Delicious. Sorry, no photo. Arms full of babies.

I bought this book for my sister for Christmas and now Jane Kennedy has a blog and is reproducing some of her recipes on it. So click here if you'd like to see a little more.

I like the way in the book she credits some of the recipes to Jamie Oliver (and perhaps others, I'm not sure) and the way she writes is fabulous. Down to earth ("You say you can't cook. What are you? A baby?") and entertaining ("Boombah - food that makes your arse huge").

Just a little community service.

Christmas Yum

My first Christmas cook-fest. Now a pleasant memory. Thanks Donna Hay. The hour-by-hour countdown was great - but I needed more time for the unwrapping, and for a yummy breakfast cooked by the 8 year old.

No stress. Just our little (?!) family plus two. A big change from our usual big family gathering, but it was lovely to wake up at home this Christmas.

And how on Earth do you 'carve' a Pork Belly? (The scored and spiked apples were seriously cute - and perfectly mushy - I may never use apple sauce again.)

Served with crunchy roast potatoes and fennel and pear salad.

And when I stopped pouring the brandy syrup on the salad and saved it for the semifreddo things improved dramatically.

(Actually, these mini puds aren't Donna's - they're from a 2001 Mitre 10 magazine! And they're SO yum. I'll post the recipe next year. Now that's a cliffhanger!)

And that was that. Another Christmas done and dusted. So many things still on my 'To Do' List. Maybe next year....

Hope you had a lovely time with your friends and family. I am counting my blessings.

Mulberry Crumb Cake

We have a terrific mulberry tree in our back yard. Planted by my husband only a few years ago, it's fruiting beautifully. But what to do with the berries? With the crazy dust storms we've had they couldn't be eaten straight off the tree (but try telling that to the kids!).

Anyway, yesterday I made this, and it's really yummy.

I've adapted the American recipe from here, http://www.fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=170032 and didn't use any jam. It makes a small, but very special, 'afternoon tea' type cake. (Although I actually had it as my lunch yesterday. Yum.)

Mulberry Almond Crumb Cake

Process in food processor until it looks like crumbs:
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup sugar
Pinch salt
¼ cup butter

Reserve ½ cup to use in topping.

Then put in a mixing bowl with:
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarb soda
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp almond extract
1 egg
And beat at medium speed until blended. Then spoon into cake tin.

Then beat up
90g cream cheese
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg white
And spoon over top of first batter.

Top with
1/3 cup mulberries (I didn't measure these actually, I just dotted them on)

Combine reserved flour 'crumbs' with
2 tbsp blanched almonds (chopped up in processor)
And sprinkle on top.

Bake 50 mins at 180 degrees celcius.

Yum

Too much practice

I am LOVING these Emergency Cookies!
This afternoon I made a batch for the kids (adding peanuts and white choc chips instead of M&Ms) and did up another 2 jars ready for the next emergency. Freakily enough I measured out the butter EXACTLY in just one scoop. Way too much baking being done around here for that to happen.
Josh made a batch last week from the jar I kept for home - oh, how much easier is it to cook with him when all the dry ingredients are in one jar!
Can't believe we didn't think of this years ago!

Emergency Cookies

My boys needed to 'take a jar' to school today. It was a free dress day and the 'price' was a jar full of something, to be sold at the school fair in October (I can't believe that's next month already!). This is on top of the money that's been sent in for show bags and ride armbands, major raffle tickets, class stall donations, and soft drinks (another free dress day for the drinks van stock). But it is the major fundraiser for the year and it's a fantastic community day. This year they're even having fireworks!

So, inspired by the amazing Bakerella (her photos are SO much better than mine), I put together these jars of 'Emergency Cookies'. After spending some time researching (ie. blog surfing) this idea seems to be happily American, but I have to say, having now made 2 batches straight from the jar (testing my recipes), it's pretty catchy!

Bakerella's recipe fitted in a 1 quart jar (I have no idea how big a 1 quart jar is) but I wanted to use jars i already had, and minimise the cost of the ingredients wherever possible. I'd happily put heaps of M&M's in a jar for a friend, but at nearly $4 a bag I was trying to be sensible here. And I used the bag of orange flavoured M&Ms which really added to the taste. The pink ones that are in the shops in October will look really good too. I'll definitely make some jars up when they come out.

I made a couple of batches and ended up prefering the batch that included cocoa and included more butter so spread out while cooking. Now, I'm no Masterchef, but this is the combination I settled on.

EMERGENCY COOKIES
to fit in a 750g Paul Newman's Pasta Sauce bottle

1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
pinch salt
1 cup oats
1/3 cup M&Ms (more would be better if you're feeling generous)
2 tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar

Pack it all down in layers (if there's space I'd add more nuts or M&M's if you have them).

When you're ready to cook, mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Then add combined wet ingredients:
1 egg (lightly beaten)
125g butter (almost melted)
1 tsp vanilla

Once it's all combined, roll into balls about 1 tbsp each, leaving room for spacing, and bake on baking paper covered trays at 180 degrees celcius for about 12-15 mins.

I needed 2 trays because one jar made about 30 cookies.

They were a big hit with the kids, and I enjoyed the alchemy of it all, and making up the labels.

I'm not sure how to offer you a link to download the labels I made, but if you're keen, just leave your email address with a comment and I'll send my pdf file to you. I printed it out on gloss photo paper and glued to the jar. The fabric was 15cm square and the cord was about 60cm in length for each jar.

If you've got some ideas on how to improve this recipe, I'd love to hear them too.

Now I'm off to bed, I need an early night for a change. Lots of painting to do tomorrow as it's the only day of the week I have a few hours of daycare for the lovely Sophia.