Tuesday 18 March 2014

#100daysofhappiness

I have joined this challenge!!

http://100happydays.com/

Only because I thought it was a lovely, happy thing to do every day. I thought I might update the blog weekly with the pics I put on Instagram.

Here are days 1- 7:

Day 1:
A quiet moment for a coffee by the fig tree in the autumn sunshine.

Day 2: 
The joy that packaging up a party in a box brings. 

Day 3:
These confetti balloon have been going strong for weeks now!

Day 4:
A quiet day with my biggest boy included a little bit of pampering with our favourite hairdresser. 

Day 5:
A lazy morning with tea & magazines.

Day 6:
A beautiful bouquet from my beautiful baby boy. 

Day 7:
We now have two future rock stars in the family. 

What a lovely way to reflect on some lovely moments of joy amongst our frantic packing in readiness for a new house- I needed that!! 

Sunday 2 March 2014

My Junior Masterchef Rules!


The kids in the house have devised a new challenge. A cook off!! Campbell is the judge & the two junior master chefs split up with a parent on each side & we battle it out in the kitchen.
There was some serious planning going on. Recipes selected, menus designed & created, tables laid out. 

*Team One- Melissa & Jonas
*Team Two- Eric & Andrew

Round one....
Jonas decided on a transport theme because he desperately wanted to create paper airplanes with the menus. He was very clever about considering what the judge would like the best so he decided on these key ingredients: Camembert (Campbell's favourite but also Joe's), chicken nuggets and Nutella! Yep...and all if that around a transport theme! 


So here is the menu Jonas typed up:



We won't pretend that we weren't aiming for extra points for the 'Campbellbert'. 


I was so proud of Joe's determination to do it all himself! I tried so hard to back off as he peeled and chopped the veggies- he did it all so well. He really didn't need any help from me.

He even set the table and had very clear ideas about how he wanted it all to look- in fact he sent me back up to the shops to get some flowers for the table. Luckily we already had the IKEA transport fabric.


And the entree is served. Joe coated the camembert himself and I just had to cook it for him

                                   

The main is served and the judge gave it two thumbs up. Joe even made his first ever homemade garlic aioli...he also told our customers that it contained RAW EGG!!




Hard at work adding the nutella to the crepes as soon as they came out of the pan. 


And then creating his little airplanes before delivering them to the table.
The judge was happy at the end of service, but we had to wait until our opponents could cook before we heard our scores.

Round 2:
Andrew made it all about Star Wars and used the cook book he got for Christmas to help him devise the menu. He did an awesome job of designing and creating the menu.



Our starter was Yoda Soda with ice-cream.

In between service on both nights we played 'Who Am I?' to fill time.
Our main arrived! Delicious Obi Won Tons in a tasty vegetable soup. It was good!
Dessert!

Who doesn't love a good old chocolate crackle?

So guess what the judge decided? 

Of course he couldn't pick favourites and decided it had to be a tie. He thoroughly loved being given such special treatment all weekend- he especially liked the fact that nobody else could eat until he had given his review of the dish.