Sunday, December 23, 2012

HO HO HO...Merry Christmas...

 


Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2013!!


 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

A Christmas Feast....

 
Last weekend my friends Mary-Jane, Vanessa and I put on a Christmas Dinner for our parents. We decided on a traditional Christmas feast. All the meals were made by the 3 of us. There were 11 people altogether, unfortunately my Dad wasn't well and couldn't make it.
 
Bailey was ready to welcome all the guests...
 
This is the lovely set table, along with menu scrolls, place cards and bon bons.

Everyone seated ready to eat...hope they like it.
 
For entree we had Roasted Pear with a breadcrumb herb crumble, prosciutto wrapped around the pear and fried haloumi cheese on top with a balsamic dressing.
 
For main there was Roast Pork, Leg of Lamb, Roasted Parmesan Potatoes,


 and mixed greens with a garlic herb butter.
 
 Mary-Jane made the bread, one was Multigrain and the other Rye.
 
 For dessert there was a mini Plum Pudding & a mini Lemon Meringue Tart. Mary-Jane did a great job on the plum pudding, perfect shape!
 
 We also made up a gift bag for each person for them to take home.
 
Each bag included a mini Fruit cake (made by Vanessa), a couple of Choc Chip Cookies & mini Honey Jumbles (made by Mary-Jane) and Shortbread (made by me) which I forgot to add to photo.

This is Jake with his bow tie on, he was the hired help for the night, oh that reminds me I haven't paid him yet...haha!


It was a great night and everyone had a wonderful time.  I think it might become an annual event!
 
Busy, busy, busy.....I have been doing some baking for Christmas gifts....
 
Cherry Shortbread

 
Rocky Road
 
 This year I tried a cake I haven't made for a long time...Creamy Light Fruit Cake....it is so yummy. I decided to make mini ones instead of a square cake that way I can give as gifts.

A bit more baking is still to be done this week and a get together on Saturday night then rest until Christmas Day.....hopefully!!
 
A couple of weeks ago I went to trim back the lavender as it was getting untidy and this is what I found....
 
 One of the black birds that make a mess digging in my garden has made a nest at the top of the lavender bush...they originally built a nest in the rose on the arch at the front gate but that obviously wasn't good enough so she built this nest, a weird place as I thought birds nested up high.

I know I shouldn't be encouraging them to make more babies that will dig up my garden, but how could I resist with those cute little blue speckled eggs! How amazing are bird nests, so round and well packed!


Lastly, I would like to say my thoughts are with all the families in the US which have had their loved ones taken from them in such a horrible way.....so young and innocent....

Enjoy your day!
xx

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Christmas Card Making....

 
A couple of weeks ago I went to my friend Meighan's house to have an afternoon of card making.  Meighan has been making cards for years so I decided to give it a go.  We had a great afternoon!
 
These are the four patterns that I made, which Meighan designed herself. Quite easy to do and I didn't stuff them up.  We ended up doing 8 cards altogether, 2 of each card. The top left one is upside down...oops!
 
My tomatoes have been growing like crazy so I have been picking them green so the plant will grow more fruit and the bugs don't eat them.  I also picked over the weekend some of my first beans....yippy...love beans!
 
This last Saturday was very hot....40 degrees.  It was so hard to get motivated. On the Saturday I had my neighbours son's 5th birthday party....wow, how were we going to cope in that heat. Well, the kids were fine, there was a mini pool with slide into it, a slip and slide and water pistols, so all the kids had a ball of a time, while the adults were at boiling point.  We would duck inside to the air conditioning to cool off for a while and back out the heatwave. They had a clown for games, making balloon animals and face painting...boy she must of been hot...I kept waiting for her makeup to start running down her face...ha ha.   The main thing was that all the kids had a great time....and they sure did!!




 Enjoy your day!
xx
 

Monday, November 26, 2012

Christmas Decorating...


Wow how hot was it yesterday...38 degrees out my way and they say it could be 42 degrees next Saturday...I have a kids birthday party to go to, so it is going to be a very warm day. Since it was so hot yesterday I took photos of my Christmas decorations....I hope you don't get too bored as there are a few photos!!
 
First off is one my new trees.  I decided I wanted to put a tree on my front porch this year, I put up Christmas light on the front of the porch and the garage every year so I thought I would add an extra touch this year. I have put the tree in an old rusty hat box that I got at a market for $15.  I also found this great Letters to Santa mailbox...I love it!
 
This is a close up of the ornaments on the tree...so cute!
 
I also purchased this year a reindeer and sleigh that lights up which I have placed on the porch railing.
 
Wreath on the front door.
 
Ok...lets move inside to the hallway.

 
In the main bedroom. Santa's nightgown and small silver tree.
 
Other front bedroom.
 
This is the main tree in the sitting room.
 
For a change this year I decided to put the white lights on it instead of the multicolour.
 
These are some of the decorations on this tree.


 

  
 
The fireplace mantle.
 
Cookies for Santa and food for the Reindeers!
 
 Another of Santa's nightgown....I wish he would not leave them lying all around the house!
 
Dining room table.
 
Side cupboard behind dining table.
 
 
I love the little mittens and horses on this tree.
 
This is the other new tree (same as the front porch), I got them both for a bargain the in the sales after last xmas.  They are both slim trees. This one I have a top hat as the tree topper...I seen a photo of one and it looked really good...I think I need to adjust mine and add more ornaments. I have decided that next year this will be the snowman tree and will have all snowman ornaments on it...since it has the top hat that snowmen wear.
 
Kitchen bench.
 
Blackboard countdown...out by a few days!
 
Loungeroom coffee table. 
 
I think the rusty balls look good on the garland on the TV cabinet.
 
This tree I call my vintage decoration tree.
 
A close up of the vintage decorations.


 
 This is the wreath on the back door.
 
 That's it for the Christmas decorations....I hope I didn't bore you!
 
I picked some of my tomatoes on the weekend as I didn't want the pests to get them.
 
My beans are starting to grow....these are the purple beans.
 
 
 Enjoy your day!
xx