Party Time

When birthdays come around some moms prefer to arrange the entire event via credit card, while others go the DIY route and try to make most of the decorations themselves.

Now while there is nothing wrong with either of these approaches and I'm more in the DIY category, I will sometimes buy a few extras if they really catch my eye. I always spend days and weeks before the party looking for inspiration on the internet or in old magazines and usually have so many ideas that I run out of time and only end up using a few of them.

That was until my daughter decided to have a 50s Rock and Roll party for her 11th birthday, everything from the decorations to the birthday girl's outfit turned out to be a challenge. I got some great decorating ideas from my mom but my big concern was sewing her party outfit.

I googled 'Poodle Skirt Patterns' and started working my way though all the links, by the time I was done I knew all there was to know about the history of the poodle skirt, but still had no idea how to actually make one. A few days later, totally stressed out, I finally turned to my facebook friends for help. An American friend (who is now living here in Cape Town) told me her mom made a poodle skirt by using a round table cloth and cutting a hole in the center.

This worked like a dream and since the bottom (outer edges) are already hemmed it meant a lot less sowing on my part. For the waist I decided to use wide black elastic to make it look like she was wearing the traditional elastic belt that often went with the poodle skirts.

Then there was still the issue of the tulle petticoat; let me just say here that I am no seamstress. I do own a sewing machine but usually it comes out of hiding once or twice a year when I have to shorten new jeans for my hubby or kids, the rest of the time it just sits in the corner and grins at me. I turned once again to my trusted google for petticoat ideas and while I could find plenty of beautiful pictures an actually, easy to make, pattern was nowhere in sight. Two days before the party I finally decided it was now or never, somehow I had to get this done - so hubby patiently took me to the local fabric shop for supplies and once home I sat down and made a petticoat my way.

I was rather surprised at how well it actually turned out and the best part was that the birthday girl loved her outfit. After the entire 'skirt' issue the cake and decorations seemed really easy and the party turned out great. We were lucky to end up with a bunch of really sweet and well-behaved kids who all seemed to have a great time. I have to take my hat off to my darling Hubby and say a big THANK YOU to him; by the time the party started I was pooped so he took over and kept everyone entertained with SingStar and Buzz (a PS3 quiz game) competitions. This way I could look after the 'Milk Shop' serving ice cream and soda floats.



And what is a birthday party without the birthday cake?



Keep an eye out for my new party pages on this blog where I will share more detailed ideas for decorations, cakes and outfits for different themes I have used over the past few years.

Change vs Holiday

They say a change is as good as a holiday; well that might be true most of the time but sometimes there is just no substitute for the real thing.

I’m not talking about staying home and trying to catch up on all those chores you don’t usually get time for; a real holiday is when you get to close the door to your house behind you and go away for a few days. Away from the dishes, the homework, the washing, dusting, sweeping and all those other little things that prevent us from really relaxing at home.

We just got back from a short family holiday and I must say that I don’t believe any amount of change could have meant so much to us. It took us just over two hours to fly the 1 600km from Cape Town to Johannesburg and from the moment we got there we could sit back relax and let the fun begin.

The kids spend the week living in the freezing pool and soaking up the warm rays of the sun to celebrate the end of a long cold winter. While the adults chatted and relaxed in the shade enjoying coffee and fresh baked goodies from my mother-in-law.

I am one of those lucky women who actually love spending time with my mother-in-law, she is very creative and understands my passion for baking. As a treat she took me to a baking specialty shop and bought me a few new toys to come try out at home. I was like a kid in a candy shop, there was just to many wonderful things to look at but eventually I chose some new flower cutters, a JEM baby mould and a few other bits and pieces. I loved the shop so much my hubby took me back there the day before we came home and we also got a set of butterfly cutters and some edible music notes I want to use for our daughter’s birthday cake next week.

My only complaint is that the week went by far to quickly and before we knew it we were back on the plane and on our way home. We landed late Sunday afternoon and by Monday morning it was back to work and school (and washing, dusting, sweeping, etc) but somehow all those little things seem easier to deal with and besides, I still have a bag of new goodies to go experiment with.

A loaf a day keeps the blues away

Today has been another normal run-around day, and to top it off the weather outside has been gray and wet all morning.

I had to go to the shop to get a few extras for a cake order I’m making tomorrow and even though I made a shopping list, I still ended up forgetting half the stuff I wanted to buy, including bread for home.

This is when being a Kitchen Gadget Nut really comes in handy, I unpacked my poor neglected bread maker from the back of the cupboard, gave it a good dusting chucked all the ingredients in for a ‘small quick loaf’ and carried on with my normal life while trusting my little machine to do the rest.

Within minutes I could smell the yeast starting to work and could not resist going right up to the machine and having a good sniff. Less than an hour later the polite little beep informed me that my bread was ready to come out.

There is just nothing better than the smell of freshly baked bread, still warm and crispy, to get the taste buds jumping up and down and begging for a slice. Walk into any bakery or local shop just when they are taking the freshly baked loafs out of the oven and you will see people sniff the air and smile to themselves, it’s the smell of comfort and warmth, even on a cold, gray day like today. The only thing better is when that smell is coming from your own kitchen, I think I better go put another loaf in the machine, this one is not going to last long once my kids get home.

Sniff, sniff

The past three weeks have been hectic and I feel like I have become a near permanent resident at my local pharmacy having to run in there every other day for some more flu medication.

It all started with my daughter (10) complaining that her neck and head was sore all the time, two days later she was down and out with a high fever and cold symptoms, it took her almost two weeks to recover and just as she was starting to get better my son (12) started complaining about a sore neck and head (!!). He had me even more worried; none of the medication I usually use for my kids was able to keep his fever down and by that time my hubby and I were both sitting with the neck and head pains so we knew what was coming. My poor hubby ended up with viral bronchitis and I was ‘lucky’ enough to get away with just a bad cold.

The kiddies seems to over most of the flue and both went back to school at the beginning of this week, hubby is still not 100% but at least he is getting better and has gone back to work today, as for me well apart from a blinding headache I think I’ll be right as rain in a few more days.

A few days before our flue fun started I had fun making a pink number 1 cake for a little girl’s birthday, her mom had ordered the cake about a week ahead which gave me plenty of time to plan and make all the bits and pieces to go on the cake.








While I was in the final stages of decorating the cake I had a knock on my door from a frantic neighbor who needed a number 1 cake for a boy’s birthday also for the next day (!!!). Not being one to turn down orders I took up the challenge and started baking a second cake straight away. I used the same basic idea that I had for the little girl’s cake but just made a few color changes to make it appropriate for a boy.




Both cakes got finished in time and both moms were very happy with the results.

My little Lollipop and one of her friends, Boo decided to play around with the bits of left over cake and marshmallow icing – they had a ball and I must say for a 10 and 11year old they did a great job making icing roses and decorating the cakes.



My next project is a number 12 cake for Boo’s birthday next week.

Fun with left overs

Last week I had an order for a 21st cake, I love it when customers know exactly what they want. When it's for someone I know its sometimes fun to have free reign to come up with something for them but when its for a customer I have never met I really prefer them to be as specific as possible. This lady knew exactly what she wanted - a blue number 21 with white icing border and a small bicycle in the one corner.





It made it really easy for me and she loved that she got exactly what she asked for, so we were both happy.

I had some blue and white icing left once I finished the cake and instead of wasting I decided to have some fun and try something new. I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes and filled an icing bag half and half with the left over icing, then I just piped it as usual and finished it off with some edible glitter.





My kids LOVED these and my little Lolipop has already 'ordered' these for her birthday party in October.

New toys

I have to admit that I go totally nuts over kitchen gadgets and I'm always on the lookout for something new to play with.

My Mother-in-law recently found a lovely shop in Johannesburg that specialises in baking equipment and bought me two sets of flower cutters and some edible glitter to try out. I could hardly wait for them to get here and was just about harassing the poor postman on a daily basis till he finally delivered my little pick-up-parcel slip.

The cutter are fantastic and I will post some more pics when I get time to try them on a cake (or even on some cupcakes).

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today is another gray, cold day with the wind rattling the doors and the rain tapping the windows, usually I love this kind of weather but today its just making me feel sad.

My kiddies went back to school yesterday after a lovely long holiday, thanks to the Soccer World Cup, and now the house seems way to quiet and empty during the day. I miss hearing them playing upstairs and knowing that they are safe and warm regardless of the freezing weather outside. I can’t wait for them to get home from school.

I decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies and shortbread as a treat for hubby and the kiddies for when they get home, I'm sure they will love it. So for anyone else out there who needs a little pick me up today, try these chocolate chip cookies they are sure to put a little smile on your face.



Ingredients:


225g (1/2lb) self-raising flour
100g (4oz) butter or baking margarine
100g (4oz) castor sugar
50g (2oz) soft brown sugar (or normal white sugar)
100g (4oz) chocolate chips
1 extra large egg beaten


To make:


- Heat to oven to 190C / 375F
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl
- Use your fingers to rub the butter/margarine into the flour till it looks like fine bread crumbs.
- Stir in the castor sugar, brown sugar and choc chips
- Add the beaten egg and mix by hand till it forms a smooth dough
- Grease 2 baking sheets with butter/margarine (or spray-n-cook)
- Break small pieces off the dough and roll into balls in the palm of your hand
- Flatten slightly and place on the baking sheet, not to close together as they will spread out
- Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes depending on your oven
- Let them cool and then just enjoy



Notes:

-Both brown and white sugar make brilliant cookies, but if you use soft brown sugar the cookies will be darker and color with a slight caramel taste

- This recipe is very forgiving so if you don’t have castor sugar just use 100g normal white sugar – they will still taste delicious.