My Christmas Wish List

If money was not a factor...

Cuisinart 2L ice-cream, frozen yogurt & sorbet maker

 

Cuisinart Bread maker

Kitchen-aid food processor & standing mixer

 

Petunia Picklebottom Apple Tart nappy bag

Exercise equipment

 

 

 

Yellow dress

New shoes

 

a massage...

or two...

One of these...

to somewhere like this...

 or this...

and last but not least....

the house of my dreams :)

too much to ask?

Well, for now I am more than happy with my healthy baby girl, my loving husband, modern inventions like my dishwasher, air-con, swimming pool, good food, family, friends and a host of other things :) oh and our trip to Texas coming up very soon! yay!

Pumpkin soup two ways!

Serves 4 or more...

Way 1.
Half a butternut pumpkin
One large sweet potato
2 cups of chicken stock
1/3 cup of sour cream
1 lemon juiced
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
black pepper

Way 2.
A whole butternut pumpkin
One small/med sized sweet potato
2 cups of chicken stock
half a brown onion
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tsp fresh grated ginger or 1 tsp of dried ginger
2 limes juiced (some reserved for squeezing on individual servings)
lime zest
2 tsp curry powder (or more to taste)
salt & pepper

Peel & cut up the squash & sweet potato into cubes, boil til tender. Blend half the veggies with 2 cups of the water you just boiled them in. Then drain the rest of the veggies and blend them with 2 cups of chicken stock, combine all together. (with way 2, fry the onion and garlic til soft and blend into veggies). Then mix through sour cream, curry powder, salt & pepper, lime or lemon juice. Serve way 1 with a squeeze of lemon, a teaspoon of sour cream & some chopped garlic chives on top. Serve way 2 with a squeeze of lime, a grating of lime zest and a teaspoon of sour cream. Way 2 is even yummier if you first roast the pumpkin in the oven with some butter & a sprinkling of s&p & brown sugar. Then once roasted, blend with 4 cups of stock or more as needed and follow rest of recipe.

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

 Gnomeo + Juliet = baby gnome :)

Looking forward to Thanksgiving

I reckon Thanksgiving is my second favourite holiday... adopted holiday :) Christmas is definitely number 1, but there is just something about Thanksgiving that I love. It's a wonderful reason to get together with family, eat a delicious home cooked meal, be thankful for the most important things/people in life, not have to worry about giving/getting gifts, and pumpkin -I can't get enough of it! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin spiced candles etc... love it! I'm excited to do some baking and share a yummy meal with my family this Thanksgiving.

Some inspiration...

 

 

 

 

My baby shower was featured...

Go here:
http://ourloveinoctober.blogspot.com/2011/10/eclairs-for-breakfast-sweet-country.html

The Baby Shower :)

I finished work one week before my shower so that I would have time to get everything prepared... thinking I would be able to relax after the shower was over but ending up with only 3 days to myself before bub made her arrival :) oh well! Couldn't be happier!

The theme was a mixture of southern chic, country & western, farmyard & cutesy cowgirl. :) 

The inspiration behind my baby shower came from my husband being from Texas, cute little crocheted cowgirl boots a friend made for bub & my love of outdoors. I also follow the Hostess with the Mostess Blog which has tons of inspiration! 

We had a variety of savory & sweet foods all made from scratch by my mother & myself. On the savory side there were mini quiches, croissants with turkey, brie, cranberry & sprouts, bacon on skewers & cheesy corn puddings. Sweets - mini french toast with maple syrup, individual serves of bircher muesli with yogurt & mixed berry compote, caramel apples, button sugar cookies, apple pie pops (the love hearts), peach & apricot pies, mini pecan pies, lemon poppyseed muffins, banana choc-chip muffins & coconut ice! We also served a variety of juice & chocolate & strawberry milk.  The cute cake however was made by a good friend of mine. 

Mum & I went to the flower market and just chose a few bunches of my favourite flowers, daisies :) and sunflowers and some others which on the day my sister & I arranged pretty arbitrarily among various glass jars, cans & in drawers of the desk used for the gift table. We stuck some of the sunflowers in the garden bed to look like they were growing there naturally :) fooled everyone! 

Each guest received their own handmade sheriff badge nametag upon arrival and I had individual jars of strawberry jam as favours - I made both the badges & the jam. I made all my decorations - the fabric streamers, bunting, painted letters, pom poms etc.. hired the hay bales & wagon wheel. 

It was a big event and took hours of preparation, but definitely was worth it! I absolutely love how it all turned out and am glad everyone else enjoyed it aswell :)