Family Fun

{SWAG}

We took the kids to their first time ten pin bowling. 

A great time had by all. 

I got the WORST score, which was a little bit embarrassing. 

Even Zak Zak had a great time 

We rounded off the night with Hot dogs and chips...along with funny faces

And just to prove that I was in fact there

Here's me with my eyes shut again!

Sporting a new cut and colour...and extra chin. Chin up Chin up!

BATMAN 40th cake

On Saturday we celebrated my older brothers 40th. He wasn't too happy about this milestone....feeling really old. So when I asked him what cake he wanted he requested a batman cake. He is a Gen X through and through...sci fi, comics, super heros, action movies and all things geek. Pretty much the opposite of me...sometimes I wonder how we came from the same womb. Any hoo like a good little sister I obligingly made him a Batman cake.
I decided it was time....time to give working with "Fondant icing" a go. There are two reasons I have never tried using it before A) I have bad memories of wedding cake icing...sickly sweet and disgusting and B) I was scared of having to roll it out...sticking and ripping etc. I found this tub of stuff at Spotlight..."butter cream fondant...easy to work with..great for beginners". That sounded like everything I needed. I got a black and a yellow. Honestly the colour palate worked a treat. I'm a bit OCD about getting the colors right, and the yellow was EXACTLY right for the batman yellow logo.    

One chocolate cake mix doubled and cut into an oval. Then iced with a chocolate butter cream icing for the crumb layer. 

I rolled out the yellow. 

Trying to get the shape right was super hard...and then getting it onto the cake...sheesh...I was seriously thinking of going back to butter icing!

Hmmm this is kinda hard....maybe I need some help....hubby only too happy to help me get the "BAT" right. 

Rolling out the black was super cool. Just like leather! I had printed out a template from the computer, so we got it just right.

The finished product. Not perfect...but pretty good for a first attempt working with Fondant. I MAY be temped to try it again some time. Maybe!

For the dinner...I went with an Asian inspired theme. Little brother was in charge of nibbles. He did wontons, spring rolls and dipping sauces
I did main course... A "Donburi" which is Japanese for bowl... where you have rice on the bottom with toppings.

Toppings
Asian salad (thinly sliced red/green cabbage, carrots, red capsicum, cucumber, spring onion, mint and corriander with squeezed limes and special soy dressing.
Tempura veges
Tempura squid
Tempura prawns
Teriyaki and seaseme salmon
Teriyaki chicken
BBQ marinated pork ribs.

And we had cake for dessert.

Birthday Boy taking a photo of his own cake

It was such a fun night, and later when the kids were in bed I had a game of Texas Holdem Poker with my brothers and our spouses. Good times just hanging with my family.

Pinata Party

 Well it’s been a week of back to reality. Did anyone else feel a come down after our bloggers weekend away?  After looking forward to it for four months...it was suddenly over.

And so I had a quiet week, Mr Zak zak was a little under the weather...so we chilled at home. 

I have been trying out my camera...mostly indoor shots because its finally started to rain in these here parts. I still haven't read the instructions yet. But I will!

 My first "foodie shot"

This is what you call a lazy cottage pie. My kids don't really like mashed potato...they must be the only kids on earth who don't! Seriously! So I just scallop layer the potatoes on top with a large sprinkling of cheese all over...bake until the potatoes are cooked and Viola. Dinner is served. Great for using left over mince. The picture is a before....there is no after....too many hungry tummies. But you get the idea. 

 Friday Fun-day.

And because it was too rainy to take my flash camera out we went clothes and shoe shopping for Friday fun-day instead. After an ice cream of course.

Posers!

Joe's Birthday....The do's and don'ts  

 I felt so terrible because it was actually Joe's birthday the day we flew back from Christchurch, and he really wanted a "friends party". He had a little something on the day with hubsta and his grand parents...but I had promised him a little party. The trouble was trying to come up with a theme for it. He isn't really into just one thing. So I finally decided on a pinata party after seeing a cool pinata cake on pintrest. It was only eight days past his birthday! Oops.

Getting stuff sorted the night before....but a little distracted

How NOT to do a pinata cake. 

Do not use a bundt cake pan. Use a deep dish pan like the instructions stated from here

 My dear hubsta reckons it looks like one of things people use to play the winter sport Curling! 

Not quite right! But tasted great.

Chocolate Pinata cake with "Skittles" 

Don't pick a date were you are the only responsible adult around with all these kids to your self.

Do enlist the help of a miss bossy pants to help run the games so mummy can take pictures and manage the overtired two year old too. 

Do make sure the house looks like a crepe paper monster had thrown up all over the place half and hour before the kids are ready to arrive. 

Do expect to help the fellow six/seven year old with the craft project

It was supposed to be their own home made pinata. And I had envisioned the each kid might like to bash their boxes at the end of the day...But they were so proud of it. So they put their lollies in and took them home. 

Great fun.  

Do introduce the kids to the 80's game sensation....TWISTER! 

It went with the colourful theme.

These guys were so agile...hardly any of them fell over!

DO make sure no one gets hit in the head with the cricket bat, especially the responsible grown up!

Happy Birthday Little Man !

weekend highlights

Weekend Highlights

Friday.

I think I have mentioned this before...but at my place Friday after school is called Friday Fun-day. Instead of going straight home after school we head to local park and have a play for a while. You cannot believe how excited the kids get over this, they repeatedly say..."this is the the best day of the week." And it isn't even a big deal. I usually have a nice afternoon snack ready...or we grab an ice cream, and they LOVE it. It is consistency at its best. A couple of weeks a go we went on a bike ride all the way into town to the DVD store, just me and the older two. And it was great.  I'm not usually the parent of choice when it comes to doing fun stuff. Except on Friday afternoon! 

That kid in the red is my two year old. I couldn't believe he could get up that far. I have a hands off policy with this particular apparatus.  I figure if he can figure out how to get up on his own...he'll know how to get himself down. And he did. He may take a few years to get to the top, but at least he will get there him self.

I worked Friday night shift, that's 11 pm to 7 am. Yep shift work is not for the faint of heart. On the plus side I made it to the local Farmers Market at a good time. I have a favourite grower who supplies a delicious mescalin salad blend. As well as a delicious bottle of basil pesto. I have been enjoying the stuff on Vogel bread lately for breakfast and the kids LOVE it too.

Saturday I slept the day away...well tried to anyway. It was a crappy sleep. In the afternoon the kids needed some fresh air so we went over to the park across the road. We found a flattened card board box and the kids spent ages going up and down the hill. Old school fun!

Sunday  I worked again this time a morning shift and came home to hubby getting dinner started (a rarity) and a Guinness chilled all ready to celebrate St Paddys day!
We cranked up some U2 and then decided we should so an irish jig dance off. I showed the kids a you tube clip of the famous River Dance....Anyone remember Micheal Flatley?  They were keen!

As tired as I felt I HAD to make some St Paddys day baking. I had an idea to try a Baileys and coffee Chocolate brownie. Of course I googled a recipe and none jumped out me, so based on Paisley Jades Fudge Brownine recipe...I omited an egg and replaced the liquid with about 100ml of Baileys and a teaspoon of instant coffee powder. The result was a delicious moist brownie. SO yum!

Yep...today I am pooped. The shift work may take a few days to get over...I think I may have afternoon nap . Can't beat a great weekend of fun.

9 Signs you are an uncool grown up.

1) You say or think things like "can you believe what the kids are wearing these days?!"
When I was at high school that latest rage was raiding your parents wardrobe for their seventies gear. Bell bottoms were in again, and thankfully my parents were hoarders so I thought I was so cool in original gears. And at the time I had an older friend who was in his twenties who remembered wearing them as a kid and he was mortified that they were "in" again. I thought he was so uncool! And now....people are wearing things I used to wear in the eighties and nineties and I think exactly the same as him now!
I marvel at the height some boys can get with their hair

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Or jean shorts that are so short you can still see the pockets poking out the bottom??

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Yep I am officially uncool.

2) You write letters of complaints:
This week alone I have written two emails of complaint! I'm not usually a complainer, but in this consumer driven society why not!? The first one was to Sky TV. They may not be playing the NRL season on TV this year. After only recently subscribing to Sky in recent years and watching sports for the first time since it used to be free, we were enjoying watching the games. I let them know we would cancel our subscription if it wasn't happening!
And this morning I sent our local cinema this little email:

Why is the Whangarei Cinema not playing the Silverlinings play book!??? It was advertised as “coming soon”...and then on the release date it had disappeared! It’s an Oscar nominated movie...and there are enough nutters in the Northland area who might enjoy the story content. Please reconsider thanks :)

Yours sincerely

Becky boo and I were looking forward to seeing it when it came here. 

Yep officially uncool.

3) You see your bank manager more than you see some relatives: 
I guess this one is more about being a grown up with grown problems like mortgages. But getting a mortgage is a fact of life these days, unless you get free money from rich parents! Fixing? floating? current official cash rate, the economy...all very geeky!


4) You prefer fashion from 5 years ago:
I am stuck in boot leg jeans. My thinking is...if you are not skinny...can you still pull off skinny jeans?...I don't think I can! I'm sticking with...wear clothes that enhance your body shape. I wish I cared more about it...and I do feel good after getting new clothes, but I'm super fussy and a little bit cheep!

Yep...I need a stylist because I'm officially uncool! 

5) You take afternoon naps:
It was a glorious Sunday afternoon recently, but instead of heading out somewhere I read a book and had a long nap! My body is out of whack with shift work...but really!? I really need to Carpe that flippin' Diem.

6) Instead of a night out you prefer a wine and a DVD or book:
Who can afford to pay a baby sitter $10-20 an hour and then pay $15 for the movie each and popcorn too. Yikes if you went and saw any of Peter Jackson's movies your baby sitter could make up to $30-60 for the night. A cheaper option is waiting for it to come out on DVD and having super market wine and snacks!

Yep officially old and uncool!

7) When a young colleague keeps saying the word "totes", you think; why can't you just say the whole word "totally", its not that long!
Once upon a time I was good at making up nick names for people because I couldn't be bothered saying their whole name. For a long time everyone called our Pastor..."Pastor G" because I couldn't be bothered saying his whole name...and what do you know it caught on!

Now shortening words...not so much!

8) It takes you a few weeks to catch on to the latest internet meme or dance craze.
So for a while I was thinking "what the heck is the Harlem Shake". So I actually asked google..."what is the harlem shake" It presented me with some videos like this:

If you are still dancing the Gangnam styles you are officially uncool.

9) You say the word "cool":
Things are no longer "Cool" they are "kewl", or "epic" or "sick"....I think. I dunno, you might wanna ask a sixteen year old!

"What-evs" anyways right!? I think this one really sums me up.

How cool are you one the Coolness dial??

Valentines day 2013

I woke up excited. Today was the day, a night out with the hubster for Valentines Day. Months ago I ensured that I would have the night off work, a week ago we booked our selves in for dinner at the best place in town. Are you  sure we can afford it this week? Probably not...but lets do it anyway. And we excitedly waited. The last time we went out for a nice dinner was "the weekend of possibilities" way back in June last year. BC (before children) we went out for dinner all the time... now we are limited to two times a year!

But valentines day you say is just a cheesy money making scheme by greeting card company's. I didn't care. I wanted to be wined and dined this day. 

So my day panned out a little something like this. 

# Sent the kids off to their learning zones and grabbed a coffee from my favourite cafe and picked  hubster up a mochacinno and two extra flat whites for two of his colleagues. 

Arrived home to find a package on my door step. Hmm. I don't remember ordering anything recently? I rip into it. Its a book I won from a blogger giveaway from Miriam. Yay!

Help out with school swimming transport. Take the camera and take some snaps of gorgeous boy number one. 

Do the usual afternoon stuff, pick up kids, bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies, make dinner for the kids, feed, shower, homework. Get house in order before baby sitter arrives.

Look in the mirror mortified realizing I look tired and dishevelled. Holy smokes I better get cracking and look lovely for my date.Clothes on, make up slapped on. Toddler in bed. Out the door ready to make an 8pm dinner reservation. (I know right! 8pm! Who eats at that time of night?)

We arrive to the swankiest place in the city, A Deco. Chef Brenton Low has been named Cuisine Magazines Chef of the year. Of the whole of NZ! So he's kind of a big deal. We have been here before once for dinner way back in 2011. But we are such a couple of hicks that the fine dinning thing makes us laugh nervously. The poshness of it all just cracks us up. But we were here for the food. Boy do we love our food. I love going out for tea with my man. Like me he virtually eats anything...except offal.

We arrive to find that there is a set Valentines Day menu at $75 each. It would have been nice to be told that over the phone when we booked. What if we only wanted a main only? It didn't worry us because we were already set on trying a degustation type menu again tonight anyway. It all sounded delicious. I decided to take my camera this time. I hate snapping pictures in such a nice place like this...but really it is a complement to the chef. Such works of art should be savored right? We did mention to the couple next door.."its for the blog." 

Peach Bellini and the bottle of water I accidentally ordered for $12!?




Bread and Amuse.
Goat Cheese fritter on tomato sauce.

Summer green pea soup with sauteed local ham and three cheese fritter

Sesame seared NZ caught Tuna with Squid, Soy caviar, curried cauliflower & wasbi avocado

My hot date and his "palate cleanser". Pineapple and citrus sorbet.

Aged fillet of Beef with twice baked cheese souffle, beetroot two ways and winter vegetables

And finally...




Baked rich 70% chocolate tart with huanui peach sorbet, manuka smoked chocolate fondue. 


Yes it all tastes as good as it looked!
Happy Valentines day My love. 

creating

The creative juices have finally started to flow.
Its been a while. A long while. But I have discovered that I like trying new things. What I used to enjoy creating BC (before children), is different to now.

Out of virtually no where I decided I would try and make a quilt. How hard could it be right? Well, pretty hard! For me anyway. I am once again winging it. In fact..."winging it" is my life mantra! I bought some square quilt pieces and have progressed slowly. As I have mentioned before, Im no natural sewer...in fact my sewing machine still lives in its box, and I have mini panic attacks when I go to the spot light fabric department.

There have been times I have wanted to give up, but my lovely mother in law has helped me breath through it and encouraged me to keep going and get it finished. Its supposed to be a picnic blanket. I have the finished product in my head.... But im thinking quilting might not be for me. I'm quite OCD about things looking symmetrical and and having the colours coordinated EXACTLY. So it has been an interesting exercise. Sewing straight and cutting straight are not my best skills. Anyhoo heres a sneaky peak. I think perhaps showing you might help me actually finish it. I would like to sit on it at the beach this summer!

Laying all the patterns out the first day I bought it.

Sewn  it all together. Not sure what to do next? 

Added some black around the edge.

And that's all I have done so far. This is going to be one expensive picnic rug!

Creating Curry.

I'm loving my curry spices. I'm a bit of a plastic Indian  I love the spices but hate the chili heat. My little brother bought me this curry spice tin for my wedding present many years ago, and it is special to me because it has an engraving on the top with out wedding date and name on it. A very thoughtful present for an (at the time) 18 year old boy.

You can make a curry out of anything. And what I learnt from my mum is there is no recipe, you put and little of this and a little of that. No curry ever seems to taste the same, well none of mine do anyway. Most towns have an Indian curry spice shop. If you are desperate you can try the supermarket stuff (think masterfoods or greggs), but in order to get descent turmeric and ground Marsala you need to hit the authentic Asian markets.

Other key ingredients for a curry are onions, garlic and ginger. Thankfully my kids love curry, so no worries about having to get the kids to eat.
Go on, give it a go!
Or if you are local, come over for dinner, and ill cook you up a feed :)

Creating CAKE
I had a friend over for coffee this morning, and we are both moaning about how we need to get out and lose some pounds, but I really wanted cake!
So I made a mini layer cake. I have these cute little mini spring form tins and made a double layer chocolate fudge cake with a butter mocha icing.
So good and it was so little we didn't feel so guilty!

Its sitting on a side plate!

Oh yeah...Im loving these creative juices!