A very yummy barbeque

Summer fruit pavlova 

Turkey mince Caesar burgers

Fathers Day Interview

This year as part of our fathers day celebration we undertook a Fathers Day Questionnaire Interview as past of the boys card to Daddy. Here is what they said. (Questions were taken from a few of the different, many and varied Father's Day Questionnaire ideas you can find on the internet, plus some of the boys own ideas) We hope to make a tradition of it, at least until Charlie is big enough to answer too!


1. What does Daddy do at work?
Ollie;  He cooks salads. He is a Chef
Max; Makes some food
2. What does Daddy do at home?
Ollie; He relaxes and watches the racing cars and kisses mummy.
Max; Sleeps
3. What does Daddy like to watch on TV?
Ollie: Rugby
Max: Football
4. What does Daddy do after you have gone to bed?
Ollie; Makes dinner and watches farm programmes
Max; Kisses me goodnight
5. Who does Daddy love?
Ollie; Mummy and us
Max; MEEEEE!
6. What is Daddy’s favourite food & drink?
Ollie; Salads & Beer
Max; Pancakes & Beer
7. How do you know when your dad is happy?
Ollie; Because he has a smile on his face and kisses you
Max; When he is smiling
8. What makes Daddy cross?
Ollie; If we shout or if we fight 
Max; I don’t know
9. Name something that your dad is really good at?
Ollie; Cooking and making lego with me
Max; He can do tricks; like exercising 
10. Name something that your dad is not so good at?
Ollie; Maths
Max; Climbing up trees
11. What does your dad do for you that your mum can’t?
Ollie; Makes loads of money, and does good lego
Max; Making lego
12. What three adjectives best describe your dad?
Ollie; Hard working, loving and helpful
Max; Crazy or sumfin?
13. What is your favourite thing to do with Daddy?
Ollie; Playing on the Wii with him
Max; Playing lego with me and Ollie
14.   What do you like the best about your dad?
Ollie; He laughs a lot and smiles and is really happy to see us
Max; When he does shaking to music
15. When is the best time to talk to Daddy?
Ollie; On the weekend
Max; At bedtime
16. What is cool about your dad?
Ollie;  He knows about cool music
Max; Daddy’s not cool.
17. What do you know about your dad that other people may not know?
Ollie; He put love in his salads
Max; We are getting him a present
18. How much do you love Daddy?
Ollie; A million and nine hundred and seven
Max;  I love Daddy a hundred times; more than a house
19. If you could buy Daddy any present in the world what would you buy?
Ollie; a big machine full of beer
Max; Another coffee machine
20. Is there anything you want to say thank you for?
Ollie; For being the best Daddy in the world
Max; Thank you I love you.

Strictly Come Dancing Party- Glitter Ball Birthday Cake

Glitter/Mirror Ball Birthday Cake - like the Strictly Come Dancing trophy?

The other Strictly Come Dancing themed party item I made was the cake! It was ambitious (for me anyway) but I was up to the challenge, ably assisted by my mum and friend. I had to be as my sister is always upset that she can't be at my boys parties, not because she loves her nephews so (though she really does) but because she wants to eat their cakes!

Glitter Ball Cake - in progress

I forgot to take any photos while I was making it until this point!

My mum baked 2 cakes for me. Lovely chocolate cakes and she rented a soccer ball (dome) mould to make the 2 halves of the whole ball.

I then sandwiched these, one on top of the other with some chocolate butter icing. I spread the whole ball with a thin layer of butter icing to ensure the fondant icing would stick. I used grey fondant icing. I rolled a large circle, lay it over and then cut away the excess to ensure it folded around the ball to the base plate. I rolled the remnants as thin as I could and cut it into squares. I stuck these onto the original fondant layer with a little heated peach jam. 

I sprayed this whole thing with edible silver lustre spray. And sprinkled with ample edible glitter!

I decorated the plate with some black fondant shapes (from patchwork cutters) and moulded a 3 and a 0 out of pink fondant (around silver-foil forms) And stuck these to the top of the cake with cocktail sticks.

I also copied the font from Strictly Come Dancing to write my sister's name (Julia) in pink icing and stuck this on to make it look more like the Strictly Come Dancing trophy in cake form!

And ta-da!!!

The only trouble was getting it up the bumpy, windy, hilly, narrow roads to the venue on my own. Unfortunately I had to brake suddenly to avoid a car coming the other way and the top slip across the bottom and looked less than perfect on arrival!

Strictly Come Dancing Party Glitter Ball Pinata

 The last item I made for the party was a Glitter Ball pinata.

In retrospect should have sprayed silver under the squares as if you looked carefully could see  the newspaper)

You can just about see the pull string at the bottom (attach the string inside to a wide bit of card so pulls the whole base out)

Punch balloons covered in 2 layers of newspaper dipped in flour and water - drying outside (as drips!)

Boys playing with the punch balloons first

I thought about this for a while and did some online research. This is the youtube clip I found on how to build one. I didn't follow it exactly. I wanted it to be a pull-pinata rather than a bash one so I made a trap door as shown here. I made the squares a ruler width as that was easier and quicker. I ended up using no more nails to stick them on because that was all I had to hand. I filled it with metallic foil wrapping paper that I cut into little square/rectangles, glitter and a few sweeties (though not too many as I was worried about how strong the trap-door would be!) I made it with the image in my mind that my sister would pull it open at the end of the night (after it had served it's dual purpose as a glitter ball decoration) and get showered with confetti and glitter.
It worked well except that there was no where to hang it!

Strictly Come Dancing Surprise Party!

This weekend was my sister's surprise 30th birthday party. So now I can post freely without fear of giving the game away! 

As usual I had a few creative ideas up my sleeves that I just couldn't stop myself making! 

First I made some judges paddles. I envisioned everyone holding them up as she walked in. A bit cruel but as the older sister I feel I am entitled! So I made these out of cardboard, spray painted the fronts gold and silver with a bit of extra glitter. I painted the backs black and then using a homemade template sprayed the number 30 on the front using black spray paint, for speed. They didn't have the most perfect finish but they got the point across!!!

They also doubled as fans for the entire evening as a bonus!

More strictly party posts to follow...

Cookie monster beanbag aim & throw game

This was another monster inspired game that we made and played at Max's monster party. Simple as simple can be, just a cardboard box, painted blue with a mouth cut out and two eyes stuck on to look as much like Sesame streets cookie monster as possible. And some simple felt, cookie shaped, beanbags to toss into the target from a distance. All cobbled together in less than 30mins and cost basically nothing!

Other monster games we played (other than the monster modelling kits shown below), included;

Monster Tag

Pass the monster

Monster statues

Monster dancing to 'monster tunes' such as Monster mash, Lady gaga Monster, She's a monster, a beautiful monster & What's that coming over the hill?Is it a monster?

Monster modelling kits as a Monster party game

More from the monster back log! Here are some homemade monster modelling playdough kits I made as in-party entertainment! They made for a nice change to the usual party games. They were super easy to pull together, I just made a couple of batches of homemade playdough (see the homemade playdough post) and put a couple of balls in a sandwich bag with some googly eyes, pipe cleaners and cut up straws. I then made up a header on powerpoint, printed them off and stuck them to the top of the bags.
We broke them out during the party but you could just as easily give them as great monster party favours.

This was my favourite though!

Monster mouths

What a super cheeky monster1

I just realised there is a load of stuff I intended to post from Max's party that I never finished. So here is one about some special straws I made, to make the monsters that came even more monstery! Inspired by another pin. This one in fact. I made them from foam sheets like I used for the feet, just glueing together with pritt stick and making up some mouth shapes.

Fresh strawberry Bircher's Muesli

This Saturday our family breakfast was a little more summery. We made a batch of Birchers with a difference. This batch was oats, pineapple juice, natural yoghurt, a spoonful of homemade strawberry jam and lots of chopped fresh strawberries.

Junk modelling -Craney truck

Cheese and Chutney Picnic Loaf

We are in the process of trying to pack to move house and we have a whole shelf of homemade chutney. It seems crazy to pack a whole box just with chutney so we need to eat more! This came to me as an idea to use some up....

I made our regular 50/50 white/wholemeal loaf but decided after it's first proof to flatten into a rectangle and spread with nearly a whole jar of homemade chutney and sprinkle with some grated cheddar. Roll it up into a swiss roll type thing and then made into a ring. I left this to rise again before baking as usual.

It was lovely with a hearty stew for lunch. And it was even more delicious cold in packed lunches the next day!

There are all sorts of possibilities for this. I am thinking goats cheese with the caramelised onion chutney, blue cheese and chutney, the possibilities are endless.

Omelette Layer Cake

This was a great way to do something different and yummy with eggs for family breakfast this weekend. I made thin omelette pancakes (using just eggs, milk, and herbs) which I layered alternately with smoked salmon (with lemon juice and pepper) and chopped spinach folded into Philadelphia. There were 2 layers of each and then finished the top with a sprinkle of feta. It was utterly delicious both warm and, later on, cold as leftovers. It was also surprising filling with just a little slice needed to satisfy.

Monster birthday cake

Here is the monster birthday cake I made for Max's Monster Birthday party. It was inspired thanks to this pin.

It was just a regular chocolate sponge, plus some star nozzle piped orange flavour (used squash concentrate) butter icing. The cake pops were made with a chocolate and marmalade cake I baked, mushed with chocolate fudge icing (shop bought), dipped in melted white chocolate with fondant icing eye lids, iris and pupils. The mouth is fondant icing also.

Monster teddies

As there are only a few kids coming to Max's Monster birthday party I thought I would make them each a Monster stuffed toy to take home instead of a party bag filled with crap they don't need and stacks of sweets!
So here they are...
Meet the Monsters!

The idea came from a stuffed toy a friend bought Ollie 6 years ago. I think it was called an Ugly Doll.

The ones I made are made from acrylic felt and the hollow fibre stuffing from a pillow. I just hope they hold up to the battering they get. Surprisingly all three of my boys love them. I was sure the 6 year old would think they were too babyish but he wants me to make him one too!

There will be a few more 'monster' posts over the next couple of days as plans for the party come together...

Monster feet

More monster party preparations.
I made these monster feet from A5 foam sheets purchased at the pound shop.
I am envisioning them wearing them to play monster tag, or monster statues, or monster bumps.
Idea and pattern from here