Cupcakes

It was a dear little girl's 2nd birthday party today and I gleefully made cupcakes to help celebrate the occasion!

raspberry creme butterfly cakes

 the birthday girl checks for quality

Bec's cupcakes with the cutest animals - I have a lion bookmark now!

life is sweet

playdate at Aunty Julie's

One of the reasons I came home to Tasmania was to be with my family, and that includes my beautiful friends who are family in my heart.  Several of my oldest friends have been blessed with little ones and now I am blessed to be able to watch them grow up.  I don't have my own children but decided to throw a playdate for my friends so they could meet each other, either for the first time or the first time in ten years.

Of course it gave me an excuse to bake :-)

 playing with the bread maker! 

 mum's blackberry jam and tassie apples

 cheese and carrot scones - secret vegies

I pulled out lots of toys from grandma's supplies and cleared the room ready for four gorgeous little ones, Olivia 10 months, Marty 13 months, Emelia 20 months and Aidan 3 & half years.  It was an afternoon of perfect chaos.

home is truly where the heart is

cooking with helpers

Yesterday was my first full day with my nephews J & C since I moved in three days ago.  We did lots of cooking and cleaning (and TV watching) and they got in some scootering too.

We made pumpkin and sweet potato soup and the boys peeled the carrots and sweet potatoes

we cooked zucchini and tomato and cheese muffins for lunch and there was much grating and mixing and spooning to be shared, and the tomatoes were from Gran's garden, the last picked for the season...

and we made dinosaur gingerbread - measure, mix and cut

April has a special sifter - just like one Alice and I were looking for in the Barossa!

and then I finished the day making chicken and corn pie for dinner.

Food for a city

The last few weeks have completely been about my latest and last big production for RYT - BigSmoke, a play made with and for 5-9 year olds in the Riverland.  Everything else has been put on hold, pretty much, as we rehearsed, teched, toured and performed 8 performances across four venues for 14 schools.  BigSmoke was a wonderful production, it was amazing fun to work on and i got to play with a fabulous creative team and 5 very talented and inspiring young RYT members.

our audience sat in the middle as the story unfolded 

around them on three sides and through the centre.

The lovely emma and hew who played Bethany and Jimmy

we discovered so much by having them in the team.

With long days of rehearsals and shows we needed much food to keep up energy, concentration and the creative juices flowing.  Lots of lunches were sandwiches but I made the most of having a crowd to bake for to add to the mix.  I went back to many recipes I hadn't made in years, made up a few new ones and tackled a few allergy issues in the mix. The evening cooking extravagance included: corn bread, pumpkin scones, banana and blueberry muffins, gluten & dairy free anzac biscuits, tomato, chorizo, capsicum and pumpkin pasta bake, tuna and mushroom pasta bake, gluten, dairy and egg free chocolate birthday cake, chocolate slice, & scone scrolls - cheese, pizza & blue cheese, apple & walnut.  I also had some of the crew for dinner and we had a pastry extravaganza including my favourite lentil and spinach en croute, beef, halomi and sweet potato pies and apple & honey tarte tatin. Finally last night was apple crumble for a celebratory dessert with my friend and stage manager Jess on her last night.

In the midst of the season we had a public gala performance with lots of guests and friends from the Riverland and Adelaide.  My lovely friend Alice, 'the biggest maker of special occasion cakes in the Riverland' helped me out by taking care of most of the party catering.  we had her famous sausage rolls, fabulous cupcakes authentically decorated by 8 year old Lucy and 10 year old Sally, plus a very special BigSmoke cake.  in the play it is described as being a mixture of smoked salmon and smoked almonds and when you bite into it smoke comes out of your nose.....

The cupcakes went fast, so bright and sugary they were very popular!

The BigSmoke

this version was strawberry cream with flaked almonds and so so sinfully good to eat

The BigSmoke Season is over and I am exhausted but happy.  I have no flour left in the house and have used up many other ingredients out of the pantry which is good.  I have two & a half weeks left in the house, 10 days until the removalist comes and three & a half weeks until I leave this job and there is so much to do.  I better start.

food for thought

After a rough couple of weeks I am re-indulging in the simple pleasures of cooking.  Amongst my treats from North America were some Mint Chocolate Hershey Chipits!  After having stored them in the fridge over summer in a container with my cocoa power, it has taken on a hint of mint rendering it unmixable with other flavours.  My solution - Chocolate Choc Chip Cookies....

yum

I put half the dough in the fridge for baking later in the week so I don't eat them all at one and ensure I share!

I have also been reaping the rewards of my lovely herb garden.  the basil has be going strong and I've put some in pots to give away to several friends..

and added it to breakfast

I wouldn't win any awards for my presentation, but it tasted amazing!

The rocket is getting a good work out in salads and the parsley is ready to be re potted too for sharing.  My shade house is really paying off.

night of cake

Tomorrow it is the RYT Program Launch for 2010.  My last and I have decided that since it is RYT's 25th birthday this year that it should be a year of cake! even if i'm not around all year to partake.

So to kick it off I've spent a good part of the night making cakes.  36 cup cakes, 36 little carrot patty cakes and two chocolate cakes. 

I decided to try out a few recipes from  my new cook book afternoon tea by frankie!  Vanilla cup cakes, simplicity chocolate cake and carrot cake which i made in little patty cases too. All very easy and turned out pretty well.  I have cup cake stands and plates ready to go.  Now I just need people to turn up and eat them!

 

cup of tea?