Friends for dinner- Table Styling Ideas.

Friends over for dinner, perhaps a backyard dinner .Here is a lovely table styling idea in black and white.

Fabric for the table runner is available from Ikea. The table runner is made of a plastic fabric, so it does not matter what is spilt on it as it wipes off easily. The Fabric was $11 a metre. I purchased 2 metres of fabric ,which is enough for 3 table runners. These runners can be used at a later date and run along each side of a table as place mats. I will show you this styling idea at a later date. There is no waste. The place mats were made from  black and white tea towels. I purchased the tea towels from Wheel and Barrow in Armadale and they cost $4.95 each and one tea towel makes 2 place mats( $15 roughly for 6 place mats). I simply cut them   and hemmed them.

The roses are sitting in old jam jars, that I recycle as they make fantastic vases.  The roses were 2 bunches for $10 ( I used 4 bunches so total cost $20).

The napkins cost $2 for 24 from the $2 shop in Ashburton.

Total cost for table setting was $59 and remember everything can be used again except for the paper napkins and roses.

Remember the comfort of your guests is always important, so I place a cushion for the guest at the back of their seat, as sitting for long periods can make you uncomfortable.

Mood is also, very important so don't forget the candles, they provide both light and atmosphere.

Now pray for good weather and enjoy your evening.

Jo

Melbourne what a beautiful city!

What a beautiful city we live in, Melbourne!.

Last year as Andrea and I commenced on our journey to write and photograph our cookbook we joined the Rotary Club of Monash & Nunawading digital photography course. That meant purchasing a camera each. Andrea and David went out on the hunt and researched what was the best camera for us to purchase. Off we went to Ted's Camera store and purchased a Nikon D90 each. The course was run by Malcolm Brownlee and was absolutely fantastic. I would highly recommend the course  to anyone interested in photography.

One of excursions was into the beautiful city of Melbourne at night to take some photo's. What a fabulous night it turned out to be. We thought we would share some of our photos with you. 





Jo's photo looking back over the city from the Flinder's street bridge.

 



Andrea's photo looking back over St Patrick's Cathedral.

 





Jo's photo of Flinder's street station

Andrea's view of the architectural features of the Windsor Hotel a Melbourne landmark





Go out and discover Melbourne, we have wonderful restaurants, bars, theatre's and lets not
forget the shopping, and of course the food is out of this world.

Some of our favourite places:

Laurent Bakery- City
Brunetti's Cafe - Carlton
Haigh's Chocolates-City
Hopetourn Tea Rooms-City

What are your favourite places in Melbourne?
Jo



The Weet-Bix Challenge

My youngest son Edward requested that I buy more Weet-Bix today. Why? was my reply because we simply cannot run out. I love Weet-Bix Mum and with that it set my mind ticking, how many Weet-Bix does my family eat per week. Edward eats 9 a day, 3 at breakfast, 3 after school and 3 before he goes to sleep. Will has 3 for breakfast and then again at afternoon  tea, that's 6 per day and Chris has about 2 a day, that brings the grand total up to 119 Weet-Bix per week. That to me seems like an extraordinary amount. No wonder I can't keep the cupboards full. Does anyone out there consume that many Weet-Bix?.
Should I be cutting my families supply down or better still I should buy shares in Sanitarium. Costco here I come.

Will has also come home sporting a very swollen nose from school today, lets hope its not broken!.This is one of my "speedy dinner's" on the table in 30 minutes.


Dinner tonight:

Beef Stir fry served with Jasmine rice.

This meal is completely Gluten Free also.

Fillet steak sliced ( as much as you like) this also works equally well with chicken or pork

1 Purple onion

2 Carrots small ,sliced into sticks

1 Bunch baby Broccoli

1 Red Capsicum

1 bunch of Beans

1 bunch of Bok Choy

2 small Zucchini sliced thinly

Olive oil

Sauce:

1/4 cup of Gluten Free Soy

3 tablespoons of Yeo's Satay sauce

Sweet Chili Sauce ( gluten free) a generous splash

To serve:

Steamed Jasmine rice and sprinkle with fried shallots.

Heat the wok til very hot, add a small amount of oil, then add sliced veges starting with 1/2 the onion, then carrot broccoli, beans, capsicum and zucchini. Stir fry til a little golden then remove from pan. Allow pan to get hot again and add the meat and remaining onion and fry til the meat is golden then return the vegetables and add the finely sliced bok choy. Add 1/4 cup of Gluten free soy sauce, a generous splash of sweet chili sauce and  3 tablespoons of  Yeo's gluten free Satay Sauce. Stir through well and the sauce will slightly thicken and serve on steamed Jasmine rice and I always sprinkle over Fried Shallots, ( the packaged ones from the Asian shops, they add a nice crunch). I use a lot of veges as it is the only time my boys will eat them willingly.

Jo

 

Taken on our last visit to the farm in Wagga Wagga

The meaning of random

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Who has a 14 year old with attitude? I do, he keeps referring to everything as “random”. This morning I finally said "Will, what does random mean?" he replied  "Mum remember what happened to Dad at Bondi beach? Well that was random."

We were to attend a family wedding in Sydney and my brother Gerard offered to lend us his beautiful apartment on Bondi beach. Preparations began, I exercised and almost starved myself for 6 weeks prior to the trip to achieve the best body I could. Fake tan was applied, hair coloured, new swimsuit purchased; I was ready to strut the beach. I had delusions of myself running up the beach like Bo Derek in "10" with my husband, Chris, eagerly running along behind!


The first day we went off to the beach, I was done up to the nines; waterproof makeup and all. Chris, my 2 boys and my brother's 5 children as well. The day started beautifully until one of the children got into trouble in the water. I ran to the rescue, but the lifesaver retrieved the child first. Meanwhile I got dumped by waves several times, so much for the fake tan and waterproof makeup. 


I emerged from the water with a huge bump on my head, covered with seaweed and sand to find Chris surrounded by the 7 children and what was a “random” woman (who was topless I might add), in his arms - she had run out of the water and leapt onto him and wrapped her legs around his waist!


Maybe she thought Chris was some sort of fertility God, given that he was surrounded by 7 children! We were all gobsmacked. And we all still laugh about it.


Of course, Chris and my brothers ran along the beach everyday after the event in hope that they might be lucky enough to meet this topless beauty again. It was not to be.


So as Will explained, this is what random means.


Here is a lovely table idea for tonight. 

Domestic Madness & the best tasting Chocolate Cake

Have you ever had one of those days when nothing goes right and domestic madness occurs? Well, I can answer "yes" to that today. My day started at the crack of dawn due to my boys cricket commitments. Up at 6am, bacon sandwiches all round, 3 loads of washing  and ironing by 7am, then off to cricket. There are 2 different cricket grounds of course; home to supervise the homework that was not done yesterday, shopping to do, lunches to be made and its only midday. I thought Sunday was supposed to be a sacred day of rest.

Well this is where I really want to be today. Any one of those boats would make a great getaway vehicle. What do you think?

This is the bay at Sorrento, doesn't it look gorgeous

We're going to share with you not only our successes in the kitchen but also our failures. Today I set out to make a chocolate cake for my boys for Valentine's day tomorrow, the cake turned out perfectly but the icing all melted. It tastes great but sometimes things just don't always turn out the way we hope. Never mind. Perfection is not everything.


The best tasting Chocolate Cake:


This is a recipe my mum used to make for us and I think she got it from the back of a cocoa packet many years ago. It's quick, simple and delicious.


1/4 cup of cocoa
1 cup of water
150grams of butter
1  1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of bicarb of soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of self raising flour ( can use white wings gluten free )
1 teaspoon of instant coffee powder


Method:


Preheat oven to 180c.


In a saucepan place the water, butter, sugar, cocoa, instant coffee powder, and bicarb of soda. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally until you see the mixture start to froth up. Remove from heat and set aside and cool. Whisk the eggs lightly and add to the cooled chocolate mixture, then add sifted self raising flour and mix well. Pour into a greased baking pan( 20cm) and bake for about 50 minutes. Test to see if the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake and if it comes out clean the cake is cooked... ice with your favourite icing.



I will let you in on a secret. Andrea is the fabulous photographer in this partnership not me. I am just a beginner.

Excuse my photo today, I'm not at my best  today as I have just rescued the dog from our fountain. She decided it was fun to hunt  for the golfish today.

I used Maltesers on the top of the cake along with 2 chocolate hearts, the boys will have it later with ice cream.

My gorgeous dog Miss Poly is the only one in the James family who behaved herself today or almost behaved. May be she can come away with me on the boat.She is hiding in the grass as the boys are having a very competitive game of cricket in the backyard and she and I get very scared as to where the ball will land. Duck Poly!!!

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Playing cricket, Eddie in the red shirt.



The getaway boat fuelled and ready to go!

Jo

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