For my birthday celebrations with my parents and sisters this year, I decided on a menu of delicious favourites. I served light snacks before main lunch comprising potato chips, rice cakes, salt crackers with sweet chili cream cheese as well as my new favourite, rosemary crostini with a choice of avocado or almond oil. Since we were celebrating my birthday, some dry sparkling wine seemed appropriate for the occasion.

For mains, I finally got the chance to make my juicy brandy bacon chicken roasted in the oven to perfection. A quick, easy and delicious roasted chicken recipe that falls off the bone. Together with the chicken, I served crispy roasted potatoes, cheesy cauliflower and broccoli bake, homemade coleslaw with a touch of honey, and ciabatta - a garlic loaf as well as a fresh loaf. THe perfect combination for an autumn lunch with the family.

The perfect ending to the family autumn birthday lunch was a warm chocolaty pudding with chocolate ganache, topped with freshly whipped cream and crushed crunchie - honeycomb is a good alternative. 

Preparation for this occasion was easy, especially with the little ones demanding attention the whole time. A Definite go-to for quick lunches in future.

For my 36th birthday, I decided on a 6-course meal party, with each course starting with a letter of my name, hence the E.L.A.I.N.E. course meal celebration. The meal could be a cuisine, a drink or just an ingredient, and a really fun theme to play around with. I decided to place all the letters of my name on the table (from a previous children's birthday party) and moved the letter of the meal as the dishes were served. I wanted to play a game such as "guess the meal" but as the party started it completely slipped my mind. Perhaps I should look into doing "Games Night vol. 2".

 To start the evening of with and celebrate the first letter of my name - E - I served an Easy Breeze Cocktail. This cocktail is a combination of vanilla vodka (actually requires grapefruit vodka), cranberry juice, grapefruit tonic (in the absence of the grapefruit vodka), lime cordial, a slice of lime and ice. It had a slight bitter taste due to the grapefruit but really enjoyable and one can easily go for a second one! I made this cocktail extra strong to get the party started quickly.

For the second letter of my name - L - I served lettuce cups as an appetiser. I filled these with chicken, coleslaw mix, green salad onions, made a mayo and honey sauce and drizzled with almond oil. These bites were deliciously fresh and crunchy. These were particularly nice at it could be rolled as a wrap which makes it the perfect party snack.

For the A-course meal, I decided to use avocados in the form of mashed avo and avocado oil. Together with the avo items I served various elements of which one was nacho based with nacho chips, cream cheese, sour cream, feta and cheddar cheese, sliced jalapeños, spicy salsa and black beans. Other elements comprised mini wraps, rice cakes and crostinis which went perfectly with the avocado oil. It turns out that this is one of my new favourites which I'll definitely serve in future.

The letter I served as the main meal of the evening. I did decide to serve N before I - but let's focus on I for now. The final choice was Indian cuisine - one of my favourites and regular lunch treats! For this occasion, I ordered from my favourite Indian restaurtant - making Indian is on my to-do list (after two failed attempts already). On the menu was butter and garlic naan bread, basmati rice, mild lamb korma as well as mild and medium butter chicken! This was definitely a favourite of the evening, with sadly barely any leftovers.

For the letter N, I decided on a shooter, but because my last course also entailed a shooter, I decided to swop around N and I, serving the shooter before the main meal. This shooter is called a Ninja Turtle shooter and consists of coconut liqueur, melon liqueur and pineapple juice. To finish off the shooters, each shot glass required a TMNT colour on the rind of the glass made from coloured sugar, however at this time of the evening, I wasn't in the mood. Nevertheless, the shots were divine and had a very tropical taste. 

For the last letter of my name, dessert was the most obvious choice. As I have two E's in my name, I found it fitting to have two items on the dessert menu - espresso liqueur and eclairs - the chocolaty and creamy kind! The perfect sweet to end my E.L.A.I.N.E. course birthday party!

Our little blonde haired boy turned three and we decided on an airplane birthday party theme as he loves airplanes so much. I tried to create an airport feel with an entrance to 'Cronjé International Airport' with a few  balloons and shiny Christmas lights. The photo doesn't justify the actual look and feel of the shiny entrance.
For the occasion, I made a blue shirt (thanks Dino Dilly Kids) with our little boy's name inside a cloud and a red airplane with the number 3 cut out, all made with iron-on vinyl. 

Once the guests entered 'Cronjé International Airport' they walked into the luggage station (Bagasie Stasie indicated in blue) with a picture of our little boy as the pilot. Here the kids picked up their party boxes, decorated with airplanes and clouds - more on this below. I also decorated the space with white clouds and red and blue airplanes hanging from the roof. On the wall I added balloons and a name banner with my son's name and age, with shiny blue glitter cardstock. It looked really pretty, but took some time to make.

As mentioned, each child received a party box as they entered through the doors. The boxes were light blue decorated with airplanes cut out in blue and red felt material, as well as white glitter foam used to cut out clouds. Each child's party box was marked with a name tag and each received two tickets for activities throughout the day - details below. Within the party box was chips, smarties, marshmallow ice creams, sour sticks, a lollipop, and a colddrink.

I also made three snacks to add to the party boxes. The first was cloud meringues, some came out nicely and others looked a bit misformed, but nonetheless delicious. I also attempted marshmallow propellers which comprised blue marshmallows dipped in red chocolate. For the propellers I used yellow banana sweets and topped off with a small black piece of licorice. Lastly, I made airplanes with finger biscuits and wafer cookies, decorated with smarties which made it extra delicious.

Within each party box I also placed partyblowers with a self-made airplane theme, a set of six airplane stickers which I printed and I got these cute airplane toys which I added to the party boxes.

Let's talk about the tickets mentioned earlier. For the party, I attempted paint-your-own (PYO) royal icing cookies. To bake is easy and came out perfect, but the decorating skills weren't on my side. I covered the cookies with white royal icing frosting and painted an outline of an airplane with a stencil I made. I also added a pallet with four colours for the painting. I hindsight, I would use smarties or a different way for the pallet as the icing dried and didn't work well for painting, but the kids still enjoyed it.

The tickets came into play when I called all the kids to bring their royal icing cookie admission tickets to receive the cookie with a small paint brush and a cup with water to work on their masterpieces, and enjoy the cookie afterwards. Some attempted to paint but others went straight to eating. The second tickets came into play when it was time to get their bubbles with a self-made airplane theme.

​Even though my artistic skills still need a bit of work, it was really fun to do the ticket activities. We also hired a red and blue jumping castle to fit the theme and keep the kids busy. Some swimming was also done on the hot summary day.

Now the snack table for the adults (and most kids). I decorated the wall with the 'Aidan Airways' sign I made and decorated the table with a light blue table cloth and white clouds. I decided to place plain red and white paper plates and cups with striped napkins on the table. The drinks comprised blue, red and white soft drinks, as well as fruit juice and ice tea. I served a plate with potato chips and another with mini pizzas, cocktail viennas and a variety of cocktail pies. For a fresh element, I served red and white grapes. Finally, I added pretzels, which is such a pilot snack, peanuts and raisins, and a combination of caramel and rainbow coloured popcorn - combining sweet and savoury really is the best.

For lunch we served hamburgers. Again the snacks were a bit too much (and I should've informed the guests that there will be actual food served), so not many ate lunch, but now we have lots of leftovers to freeze and easily take out on lazy evenings. I also ended off the afternoon with ice cream in a cone with delicious strawberry and bubblegum sauce.

Finally, the cake! I decided to make an airplane cake but built it from pieces of cake as I couldn't find an airplane cake tin in time. This was so easy and fun, I would do it this way again. The cake was a plan vanilla cake and I baked a rectangle cake as well as a round one. The cake was put together with caramel - something a cake cannot go without! Finally, I created a banner to fit the theme and added on top of the cake. 

For my son's school birthday party, I decided to bake cupcakes only. Again plane vanilla cupcakes, which I decorated with white icing sugar with a blue icing edge, topped with blue and red sprinkles and finished off with different coloured airplanes which I bought. 

This was such a fun theme to plan, and I really enjoyed making most of the decorations myself, even though it took quite some time. The perfect theme for our in-charge eldest son!

I've been wanting to do a pumpkin theme since Halloween, and finally got the chance to experiment for New Year's. For the theme I included other food as well, in case the pumpkin snacks did not turn out too well. What was interesting is that most dished did not even taste like pumpkin - a clever idea to get pumpkin into the fussy eaters! 

To start off the New Year's party, I made pumpkin jelly shots, with vanilla vodka, topped off with cream and cinnamon. When making the jelly shots, I was scared that it won't have enough kick, so my hand was a bit heavy - turns out, too heavy. It was extremely strong in the end. But irrespective, what an interesting shooter to start the party of with.

My plan for the evening was to have snacks all evening round, to at least get through to the count down. The snacks were a combination of pumpkin and non-pumpkin treats. 

The non-pumpkin snacks comprised potato chips, vegetable spring rolls with a sweet and sour dipping sauce, a salt cracker platter with cheese and cold meat, including fresh grapes and cherry tomatoes, biltong and cheese sticks, a meat and haloumi platter with different types cocktail sausages, beef and chicken meatballs, jalapeño poppers and chicken strips, with a choice of chutney, sweet chili or tomato dipping sauce. I also used store bought pastry cups (I just couldn't get the time to make my own) and filled with mango and passionfruit cream cheese filling (left over from Christmas), caramel treat with cream and a pumpkin pie mixture - my least favourite of the three cups to be honest. 

For the other pumpkin based snack I made my own pumpkin bread sticks with mixed seeds and tasted like mini bread rolls. This was really delicious and I'll add this to future menus. It is a bit time consuming though, making the dough, letting it rest and baking, but in the end it was worth it. And a plus - the kids loved it! Future lunch box ideas here we come!

For mains my husband and I tried to stay as casual and simple as possible - I even served the food in hamburger boxes! My husband wanted to braai short rib, in his special sauce and made vegetable kebabs to braai. We also served garlic bread, oepsies and chicken sosaties. For sides I served creamy coleslaw, potato tots with a tomato sauce and delicious pumpkin fritters with a caramel sauce.

For dessert I made the long awaiting pumpkin ice cream, served on top of pumpkin cake and decorated with a pecan nut. I was so excited to make this ice cream, and it was really nice and something different. I'm not a big fan of cinnamon, so next time I'll keep the spices to a minimum.

This pumpkin menu was really interesting and fun to play around with, however I think I've had enough pumpkin (and cinnamon) dishes for a while and don't think I'll attempt a full pumpkin evening soon.

Christmas really is the best time of the year. We were so blessed to have a warm and sunny day to spend with the family. And what a bonus to see the children laugh and play in our chilly swimming pool.

​To start of this wonderful day, I made a special Christmas cocktail called 'The Grinch". It's a sweet fruity drink made from melon liqueur (not easy to find), vodka and Sprite, finished off with a sweet blushing red cherry. The melon liqueur made the cocktail sweet and refreshing, and I went back for more. Definitely a new flavour I'll use in future cocktails. 

In our family, it is tradition to have yummy snacks before Santa hands out the presents. Initially I wanted to move away from snacks this year but I kept on coming back to it, and decided that it's a must for the menu. Although we only did secret Santa for the adults, we gave presents to all the children, so snacks were appropriate in this case. I made three different snack platters, in the form of Christmas trees - so cute! The first platter consisted of fresh elements, mostly fruit, including watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe and honeydew melon and sweet and tangy gherkins. 

The second platter comprised crackers, cheese and cold meat. I decided on four different salt crackers, three types of cold meat, one of which was salami and the other two variations of sliced ham. Finally the cheeses - blue cheese, cheddar cheese slices and mini cheese cubes, mainly for the kids.

Lastly the best of the best if I were the judge of it all. A meat and cheese platter, with two types of cocktail sausages, the best meatballs (thank you Mom), sweet milk cheese triangles, tomatoes and some of the best grilled halloumi cheese one will ever find! The perfect start to the festive day!

I wanted to serve a small starter to compliment the main meal, but still light to leave enough room for the delicious main meal. A go-to of mine is phyllo pastry cups, easy to make and so many filling options. For fillings, I decided on a prosciutto and melon salsa, spicy avo and tomato mix and creamed spinach with feta cheese. I must admit, prosciutto isn't my cup of tea and wasn't for most of the family, but now I know and I'll never attempt this combo again! The avo mix was nice, if spicy was your thing, and creamed spinach with feta is always a winner. At the end of the day, not much were left!

For mains, I tried not to go all out, but I never seem to be successful in this task. As I was a late sleeper to get table decorations, I could only get hold of a red and beige table runner with an additional small Christmas tree. In hindsight, this was enough as the table would've been too full with more decorations. I was lucky enough to get the good looking Christmas crackers.

I decided to serve two meat dishes for the mains, juicy chicken breasts covered in smoked red pepper puree (which is also a great sauce for pastas) topped with pecorino shavings as well as pork fillets wrapped in bacon - you can never go wrong with bacon - accompanied by deliciously sweet cranberry sauce.

To accompany the juicy meat dishes, I served crispy baked baby potatoes, grilled cauliflower and broccoli (my husband's handy work), delicious ciabatta as well as garlic ciabatta warmed to perfection, with three salads. The first salad was an all time favourite, roast pumpkin and beetroot salad with baby spinach, feta cheese and pumpkin seeds (I later realised I forgot to add the pecan nuts). The second salad was a refreshing coleslaw with a touch of honey, which is always a winner, especially with the pork. And lastly, a grilled peach and apricot, and fresh plum salad, with a mix of watercress, rocket and baby spinach leaves, toasted almond shavings and pecorino shavings, drizzled with almond oil. I must admit, the grilled apricots went a bit acidic to my taste and the cheese was a bit strong, but overall the salad was good.

I came across a mango and passionfruit cheesecake recipe and decided that this had to be the star of Christmas menu. I decided on one mini cheesecake per person instead of one large cheesecake. To make the cheesecake base and filling was extremely easy, and so good to eat! The base of the cheesecake was a combination of delicious caramelised oats and ginger biscuits. The cheesecake filling comprised cream cheese, sour cream, fresh mango puree, passionfruit curd and lime. After the cheesecakes were set and ready to serve, I topped each one off with a fresh cherry and a slice of dark chocolate with mango and almond. This is a definite go-to dessert for future events and dinners. 

I invited my youngest sister over to celebrate her birthday the mexican way. It was a small get together, but I wanted to make it special and serve one of her favourite cuisines - Mexican! I didn't do much for decoration, but added a piñatas birthday banner with small mexican hats and an inflatable cactus on top of the table. 

For welcome drinks, I decided on the popular Mexican drink called Paloma - which is a tequila and grapefruit based drink. I used grapefruit tonic as a mix and it was a total hit - a bit of a deviation from the traditional way, but a definite go-to cocktail. I decorated the glasses with slices of lime and grapefruit as well as green cactus cocktail spoon. To make the evening a bit more Mexican, I also bought Mexican beer to celebrate the occasion.

I served four different starters, and what a difficult decision to choose only a few. In the end, I decided on jalapeño poppers with a sour cream dipping sauce, which a always a must at Mexican-themed evenings. As chargrilled corn is well known in Mexican cuisine, I decided to serve grilled baby corn with a sour cream and parmesan dip. Another delicious snack was black beans tostadas, which is grilled cheese on top of mini wraps with black bean puree, topped with mashed avo, tomatoes and coriander. And finally, my favourite, cheesy nachos, with melted cream cheese, baked to perfection, topped with guacamole, sour cream, tomatoes and jalapeños. I just couldn't stop myself from eating all the nachos.

For mains, I decided on only three dishes, which was a very good decision because the starters made us quite full. I made a creamy, smooth corn soup, topped with crispy charred corn and fresh coriander, served with nacho chips for the much needed crunch. What a delight this soup was. I also served cheesy chicken quesadillas with a medley of sweet grilled peppers and lots of cheese. And last, but not least, build-your-own soft shell tacos with smoky pulled pork, cheese, black beans, guacamole and all the delicious toppings that go with tacos. Although this menu was quite filling, it was still delicious to eat - something I'll do again and again.

For dessert, I went with traditional Mexican flan, with burnt caramel, served with a thin slice of chili and a chili flavoured chocolate piece. Although I took the burnt caramel a tad bit too far, the bitterness did cut through the sweet custard. It was even better the next day when heated up a little.

This was by far one of the most fun themed evenings I've done. Most probably because it's also one of my favourite cuisines to eat and play around with.

I had the honour of seeing my dear friend living more than 11 000 km away and my parents on the same day - what a treat! For this occasion I wanted to do something authentically South African to celebrate and remember this day. As "melktert" is one of the infamous desserts of South Africa, I found it fitting to serve delicious "melktertjie" shots to celebrate the get together. Really yum!

I served a few snacks to keep everyone busy while my husband braaied the delicious food for mains. No snack table can be classified South African without biltong and droëwors, and that was my theme for the snacks table. Together with the dried meat snacks, chips and grapes, I served dried fruit and mixed nuts and made two additional biltong elements which turned out really delicious. The first was biltong quiche with onion, peppers and cheese. The second element was cream cheese biltong balls with a hint of mustard served with cream crackers. To finish off the snacks table, I served Boerenkaas which could be eaten together with the cream crackers as well, and felt fitting for the occasion.

For mains we tried to keep it simple, yet delicious. My husband braaied boerewors, oepsies and chicken "sosaties" (to translate feels so wrong), as well as buttery garlic bread. We also served a ciabatta (although not South African) for those who did not fancy garlic bread - which can only be a sin!! The warm side dish was cauliflower and broccoli bake with mushrooms, bacon and cheese accompanied by two salads which I quite enjoyed - carrot and pineapple salad and three bean salad (mom's recipe), the absolute best. This was a really satisfying menu.

For dessert, I attempted a malva pudding ice cream. I was inspired by malva pudding as it's very South African. I found out that malva pudding comes from the Afrikaans word "malva" which translates to marshmallows, and the malva pudding is fluffy like marshmallows, hence the name. I made malva pudding ice cream by making a plain vanilla ice cream, but adding ideal milk instead of cow's milk to add the malva pudding flavour. For the base of the dessert I made malva pudding cupcakes with the deliciously sweet sauce that makes this dessert so unique, then topped with the homemade ice cream. To finalise, the guests had a choice of Amarula cream to add an alcoholic kick, custard and chopped almonds. All in all, this was such a fun menu to plan and serve my special guests.

Finally time to share one of the most difficult birthday party themes I ever had to deal with - Space Invader.  Because our baby boy always invaded the space of his twin sister when they were younger, my husband dubbed him our little space invader and really wanted this theme for his birthday - and what a challenge. If you missed out on our baby girl's berry themed birthday party, click here.

As with the berry theme, I kept the decorations simple. The entrance hall was decorated with printed space invader characters, specifically the one that represented our little boy's moves, with text indicating our little boy's game begins. Outside on the patio I had two sets of printed decorations, the first was a collage of photos, as with our little girl, one for each day of our little boy's first year, with a level 1 description on top. Our little boy's name was printed with letters filled with little space invader characters falling down. As mentioned in the berry theme blog, one wall wasn't large enough for all the photos because I was hosting a party for two, so it had to run over to the wall above the snacks table. The main decoration for this wall was printed letters with space invader characters hiding behind the letters, to spell our little boy's name together the number one.

For something to eat with more sustenance I served mini margarita pizzas which I baked in the oven and called flying saucers. I also baked cheese puff pies as well as spinach and feta puff pies which I dubbed gigabytes. For the last food element of the space invader theme, I served a variety of sweet and savoury popcorn - aka ammunition. The ideas was for each guest to build a cup of their choice of popcorn using the green muffin liners. The nice thing about this was that the guests didn't have to carry a plate around with just popcorn but rather the easy to use cups.

To quench the thirst, I served coconut and lime cordial. The colour was perfect and was exactly what I was looking for to fit with the theme. I also made a few straws with space invader characters, as with the berry theme. I also made cupcakes for the guests to enjoy, as the cake was for the little one's cake smash. I baked green coloured caramel and coconut flavoured cupcakes, filled with caramel and topped with deep chocolate frosting which I tried to colour black. I finished off the cupcakes with space invader cake toppers I made.

I served red sweetie pies as thank you gifts to fit with the space invader theme, with a cute little note saying "game over".

​For lunch, we served delicious lasagna with cocktail buns - easy to serve and warm for winter. Not all guests ate the food because they filled up with too many delicious snacks! I didn't make paper plates and cups this time around, but rather used the plastic plates and cups I used for my 80's themed birthday party (click here).

I couldn't believe when the time arrived to host our twins' first birthday party - time really flies when you're having fun - or on autopilot in this case! What a blessing the twins have been so far! For our son's first birthday, my husband really wanted to do space invader (click here) and I felt it appropriate to have an individual theme for each twin. But what a mammoth task to organise a dual themed birthday party. For our little girl the berry theme really attracted me - her berry first year!

This post focuses on our little girl's berry theme. The next post will contain detail on the little space invader theme. For decorations I kept it simple. The entrance hall was decorated with printed berries, matching the invitation with text indicating our little girl's berry garden. The idea with this was that the guests would walk from the entrance hall onto the patio into a berry garden, with all the treats that were berry related. Outside on the patio I had two sets of printed decorations, the first was a collage of photos, one for each day of our little girl's first year, with a berry first year description on top. Our little girl's name was printed as strawberry filled letters. Because I was hosting a party for twins, one wall wasn't large enough for all the photos, so it had to run over to the wall above the snacks table. The main decoration for this wall was printed letters on top of strawberries to spell our little girl's name with the number one.

The snacks for the berry theme focused on the sweet side, whereas the space invader side was more savoury. I bought most of the snacks and focused on baking only a few things. The first couple of sweets I served were a variety to strawberry wafers and strawberry jam filled cookies, strawberry and cream jelly sweets and strawberry and blueberry balls which I called berry balls. I also served mini pink meringues which I initially bought to use on the cake, and decided to serve the leftovers, which I called strawberry foam. I also created a bowl called strawberry garden which consisted of strawberry marshmallows covered in chocolate, fluffy and fuzzy pink strawberry flavoured marshmallows as well as green fuzzy cream soda flavoured marshmallows. These were absolutely soft and fluffy and had this fuzzy taste, what a treat!

I baked profiteroles, filled with cream and caramel and made a pink glaze to pour on top, and decorated with edible rose petals. This is always a hit - I give credit to the caramel and cream combo! To finish off the berry theme I served a variety of fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries) as well as three different types of grapes (white, red and black) and served with a choice of whipped cream, custard and chocolate sauce. The idea was for each guest to build their own berry cup, using the pink muffin liners as small bowls, and adding berries, grapes and toppings to their liking. I absolutely loved this and found it to be something different. This also added a fresh element to the table.

To quench the thirst, I served strawberry and mint cordial. I absolutely loved the colour and the taste was divine. I made a few straws by adding berry pictures of the theme to the straws I had left over from my 80's themed birthday party (click here). As the cake was for the little one's cake smash I baked strawberry flavoured pink velvet cupcakes, , filled with caramel, decorated with strawberry and vanilla flavoured frosting, topped with a fresh raspberry. I served the cupcakes in red and white polka dot cupcake liners and placed  a strawberry cupcake topper on top of each cupcake. My idea was for these cupcakes to taste like a big strawberry and it absolutely turned out fantastic.  When eating these moist cupcakes, it was like eating a delicious berry. This one is a keeper!

Instead of getting each guest a thank you gift that will become a white elephant in a cupboard, I served pink sweetie pies to fit with the berry theme, with a cute little note saying "thank you berry much".

​For lunch, we served delicious lasagna with cocktail buns - easy to serve and warm for winter. Not all guests ate the food because they filled up with too many delicious snacks! I didn't make paper plates and cups this time around, but rather used the plastic plates and cups I used for my 80's themed birthday party (click here).

To make the occasion more special, I designed and printed a shirt for each twin to wear on the special day, to fit with their individual themes. For the cake smash I only made a small 15cm one layered cake. The cake was plain vanilla cake, decorated with pink frosting at the sides and white frosting at the top. To make the cake more fun to eat for our little girl, I added a few Flings chips and pink meringues as decoration. I also plotted the letter D with mini pink marshmallows cut in half. There was also a candle with the number 1 which we blew out on behalf of our little princess.

This was a really fun theme to play around with, and there is so much more to add to this theme. Be on the lookout for part two - space invader level 1!

For my birthday this year, I decided to go Spanish style - the tapas way! And what a fun theme to play around with! I tried to go as authentic as possible, but added a twist here and there. Although not traditional, I served three courses of tapas, one for starters, the next to serve as a main meal and finally something sweet to finish the night of with.

To make the celebration more special, I purchased Spanish sparkling wine, Cava Brut, as well as a Spanish red wine called Vino Pomal Rioja Crianza. Both bottles were surprisingly smooth on the palate and went extremely well with the mains tapas platter I served. But first things first....

For decorations I kept it simple by printing the menu in the form of the Spanish flag, with the first flag stating the origin of tapas. I also used this as a game - I informed the guests that there will be a quiz, with the answer right in front of their eyes. The quiz, or one question I asked during the evening, was relating to information on one of the printed flags. The prize - a bottle of wine!

For welcome shots, I attempted a shooter call 'The Spanish Flag'. For some reason my concoction did not create the layers to represent the red-yellow-red combination, and in the end it was one big red shooter, however, with the strawberry liqueur it was nice and sweet, and a great way to start the birthday celebrations!

Together with the starter tapas platter I served delicious Sangria, it was surprisingly good, given I'm a wine purist! This starter platter comprised a variety of Spanish (and non-Spanish) snacks. The Spanish snacks I was able to get hold of were olives (Spanish style), Serrano ham, Chorizo wheels, Manchego cheese and cream cheese with Spanish chili. The other snacks were gherkins, almonds (I tried really hard to get Marcona almonds, but a failed attempt at the end of the day), salami (Italian and Swedish), white grapes, tomatoes on the stick, figs, Baguette slices, bread sticks, salted crackers, smoked Dutch cheese, fig jam, smoked red pepper pesto and mashed avo.

As I served the main meal tapas platters, we popped the bubbly and opened the divine Spanish red wine. For the mains, I served five dishes, of which four were authentically Spanish. Although all dishes are traditionally served warm, I served it cold as I prepared everything in advance, and it worked perfectly! The first dish was tortilla de patatas, a traditional Spanish omelet with egg and potato, including onions, garlic, red peppers and chili flakes. This dish is made by frying the potatoes and onions until almost cooked, then adding the red peppers and garlic, and lastly adding the whisked eggs and chili flakes. Once combined, bake in the oven until cooked, then cut into squares.

Next up, the infamous croquetas de jamón serrano, which is Spanish ham (Serrano ham) croquettes served with garlic aioli. Third on the menu was Spanish chicken pintxo, which is chicken skewers, marinated over night in a Spanish marinade, then grilled to perfection. I decided to serve the chicken pieces loose, instead of in skewer form. Firstly to save time, and secondly, it was way easier to take one delicious chicken piece at a time than eating a whole skewer and not having space for the remainder of the delicious food. The chicken pieces was accompanied by a chimichurri sauce.

​The last authentic Spanish dish was patatas bravas, which is basically roasted potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce. Last but not least, roasted cauliflower served with aioli. All of these Spanish dishes were absolutely delicious and it was difficult to decide which dishes were worthy of a second bite, to still leave enough room for the amazing dessert platter!

Finally the non-traditional dessert tapas platter, full of authenticated Spanish dishes. It was so difficult to choose which Spanish desserts to serve, but in the end I decided on four delicious desserts. Since my husband bought me an ice cream machine, I always try and incorporate an ice cream or sorbet into the menu, and this time around I was intrigued to make a Spanish ice cream called helado de canela, which is mainly a cinnamon flavoured ice cream. I so enjoyed making this dish and it had the perfect balance of sweet and spicy, with a bit of a kick! Not suitable for children!

The next big Spanish dessert was the crema catalana, almost like a crème brûlée, only Spanish style. The main flavours of this dessert are citrus and cinnamon, which was surprisinglyl good. A very nice alternative to the traditional crème brûlée. Next was torrijas - Spanish style french toast, by using cinnamon infused milk and sprinkled with powdered sugar. I also served this with honey that every guest could drizzle over as they please. Lastly, what other than churros, served with warm chocolate sauce! This was the perfect way to end the night!

For our eldest son's second birthday party I decided on a theme based on mud and bugs. The inspiration came from our little boy enjoying playing outside and who absolutely thrives being free and getting dirty outside in the garden. This was a really fun theme to play around with. For the snacks I served a variety of savoury and sweet. I made four balloons for decoration - a lady bug, a bee, a frog (which turned out nothing like a frog) and a worm. These I made the night before the party, and although it could probably look better, it was really quick and easy to make last minute. When planning the party and theme, I came across these cute bug pictures online which included a bug alphabet, so I used it to print my son's name and age, and stuck on the wall. Very simple decorations but so easy and fun to do.

My husband printed a shirt for the birthday boy with the number two shaped like a bug. This was so cute, and quite affordable, which was a plus! I found it to be quite unique.  A few friends my son's age were invited to the party, and I decided on one activity for them to do, besides playing and swimming. I bought a bucket with a spade for each friend and found these mini magnifying glasses. Each friend could take these home afterwards, a small thank you gift for making the day extra special. The aim of the activity was to find the hidden bugs in the garden. I bought a few toy bugs and placed at three places in and around the garden. I, and some parents, went with the kids to find the bugs, it was fun but also difficult to contain the kids, as some ran ahead and others trailed behind, but in the end it was fun, and each friend ended up with a few bugs in their bucket.

As the cute bug pictures were the center of the theme for the party, I decided to make paper cups and plates to fit with the theme. I printed a few different bugs on white paper and coloured them myself, which was fun but took some time, and pasted on dark green paper cups, small orange paper plates for the snacks and large square green plates for the food. For the kids, I made small bowls rather than using the plates, so that the snacks don't fall out, this really worked well. I also added a different bug to each side of the paper bowl and a happy birthday snail at the bottom.

The snacks were a combination of savoury and sweet, and I named each snack to match with something buggy, muddy or gardeny. The savoury snacks and name combo's were:

• Puff chips which I called bug larva.
• I served a few fresh vegetables (sugar snap peas, cut carrots and baby corn) with a dipping sauce and named the whole serving 'bugs should also eat'.
• An easy one was salty stick pretzels which were of course, stick insects.
• Another fresh (and sweet) snack was strawberries that could be nothing else than lady bugs.
• I discovered small chicken pops which is easy to make in the oven and decided to dub it dung beetle balls.
• A must serve is always mini meat pies or sausage rolls and decided to name these coal blankets.
• Lastly, I made cheese puff snacks which I called garden snails. I cut puff pastry into isosceles triangles, added a slice of cheese on top and rolled the triangles towards the end point, stopping about one centimeter from the edge, to get an effect of a snail's shell and a head sticking out. Then popped in the oven until golden brown. In the end it might not have looked like I envisioned but it was one of the hits of the day.

For the sweet snacks, I tried to stick to only a few, and it was so difficult as there are so many things to do regarding bugs and mud. Firstly, I just want to thank Mother Goose's cupcakes and cookies (click here) for making these divine and perfectly sized sugar cookies. These were perfectly sized for the little ones and exactly as I imagined it to be. The small bug cookies had a variety of bugs, including lady bugs, spiders, worms, snails, mushrooms and bees. I even got a number two cookie. Definitely a go-to for any kind and design of sugar cookie. The remaining sweet treats and names were:

• Water with slices of lime which I called irrigation water.
• Cream soda flavoured soft drink called grass juice.
• For each child, I made a small bottle of chocolate milk and named it mud water. My little boy couldn't get enough of this!
• I discovered these soft shell, white chocolate eggs and placed it on the table as bug eggs.
• I also made mud cups, which comprised instant chocolate pudding with a few sour worms in each. This pudding was so nice, some guests thought it to be mousse!
• I had this idea to make fallen tree logs, and made this snack from chocolate filled marshmallows, stuck a chocolate covered pretzel stick into each one, painted melted chocolate on top of each marshmallow and then topped with jelly tots. I placed these in the fridge to set for a few minutes.
• I really wanted to do something with Oreo cookies, and the idea was to melt green chocolate, cover with green melted chocolate and top with green coloured desiccated coconut, which represented moss - the idea was to make moss cookies. The chocolate bits I bought did not melt well, so I decided to stick the mint chocolate chunks to the Oreo cookies with melted chocolate and still sprinkle over the moss I made. You can never go wrong with Oreos!
• The last sweet snack, which was actually the first snack I thought of when planning the party, was rocks, which I made with chocolate Coco Pops and mixed with melted chocolate. I scooped the equal amounts of the mixture into cupcake wrappers which I placed in muffin tins to hold the shape, and kept in the fridge until set and ready to serve.

For lunch we served mini burgers, or sliders, the same we served at my husband's birthday party last year (click here). Before we served the delicious and juicy mini burgers, we sang Happy Birthday to our big boy, he blew out the candles (or tried to) and cut the cake. We all enjoyed a small piece of cake before heading over to the delicious and juicy mini burgers.

I wanted to make a mud and dirt cake, but since I already had a mud cake theme (click here), I tried a different approach. The idea was to have a cake covered in dirt with the number two raked into the cake, like a neatly raked garden bed. In the end the number two didn't really feature as much as I envisioned, but it is what it is. The cake itself was a vanilla flavoured cake, which was double layered, stuck to each other with Caramel Treat. I also topped the cake with Caramel Treat before adding the chocolate icing sugar. I then scratched the number two out of the frosting with a fork. Around the number two I sprinkled chocolate chards and broken up Oreo cookies, to represent heaps of dirt as well as grass, which was green coloured desiccated coconut. I also sprinkled some mint chocolate chunks for a bit more green and I made a little mud pool from chocolate ganache for the little worms could feast on. I found these cute, ready made edible bugs which I placed around the cake, and finally I wrote my son's name with mini candy coated chocolate. The cake might not have gotten the shine I intended it to get, but it sure was delicious, and I finally found a go-to vanilla cake recipe!

For my son's birthday party at school, I made party boxes from hamburger boxes and pasted the same bugs I used for his birthday party onto the boxes. This time around I printed the pictures onto different coloured paper. This took some time to make as each classmate received a party box, and I also printed eyes for each bug, which took even longer to cut out and paste, lesson learnt. But they looked so cute, was fun and affordable to make. Each party box received puff chips, a marshmallow cupcake, a chocolate wafer cookie, a marshmallow snake and a bug sugar cookie. The parents absolutely loved the sugar cookies and couldn't stop asking where I got them from - thanks again ​​Mother Goose's cupcakes and cookies.

My husband and I don't normally do something special for Valentine's Day, it's just not our thing. But this year I wanted to do something special. I've been planning to make this menu for a while and thought it appropriate to use it for Valentine's Day this year. Off course, we couldn't dare having a special night alone, as our baby girl reminded us all too well that spending an evening alone is just too much to ask for. In hindsight, the evening was quite special spending it alone with our little girl while the two boys went off to dreamland. 

To start the evening off, I made a delicious Valentine's Day cocktail consisting of cranberry juice, grenadine and vodka, topped off with Prosecco. The recipe calls for one fresh raspberry but I rather used strawberries. This cocktail was absolutely divine, and my husband even liked it, where he normally isn't a fan of sweet drinks. This is definitely a recipe to keep safe!

For starters I made two small appetisers. The first one was roasted cauliflower topped with parmesan cheese and grilled to perfection, served with two dipping sauces, sweet chili sauce and burger mayo sauce. Both went extremely well with the roasted cauliflower. The second starter was mushrooms, hollowed out and filled with tomato and basil pasta sauce, covered with mozzarella cheese, topped with salami slices and baked in the oven. Both appetisers were really delicious, but I quite enjoyed the roasted cauliflower with grilled cheese - easy and on the healthy side!

After the Valentine's Day cocktails were finished, we decided to finish off the bottle of Prosecco, which were really delicious and one of my new favourites. It also went well with the mains I made for our Valentine's Day dinner.

The main meal wasn't too big, with a lot of easy-to-make items on the plate. The meat was beef fillet, wrapped in semi-cooked bacon strips, seared in a pan and baked in the oven. I also made a mushroom sauce to go with the meat. I tried a new recipe but I wasn't a fan, but my husband on the other hand, insisted that I keep the leftovers. Regardless of the mushroom sauce disaster, the meat was delicious and succulently tender.

For the three sides I made baby potato stacks, covered in bacon and parmesan cheese, baked to the crisp in the oven, roasted broccoli florets, grilled as far as it can go - I absolutely love the taste of almost-burnt greens - and finally butternut wheels, roasted in the oven to perfection, topped with pecan nuts, Danish feta cheese and honey. This combination of meat, vegetables and starch was perfect, and an easy and delicious dinner to serve guests. With the little ones seeking a lot of attention during the day and little time to cook a proper meal in our current household, it was the perfect menu, as most things could be prepared beforehand, and just finished off in the oven in time for dinner.  

For dessert I really wanted to make a jellied champagne dessert. To make the dessert is quite easy by heating gelatin, grape juice (to add a bit of sweetness) or sparkling wine and sugar, until dissolved. After combined, pour half of the mixture into glasses with a fresh strawberry (or raspberry), then place in the fridge (not the freezer like I did). The remaining mixture should also be placed in the fridge to chill for an hour. After chilling, the remaining mixture was blended until foamy, then added to the half full glasses. This gave the foamy look on top. Once done, place back in the fridge to chill for about three hours. A very easy dessert and so delicious, almost like eating champagne.

As a second treat, my husband bought one of our regular favourites - lamingtons! It was the perfect chocolate dessert to finish the evening off with.

My mother did an amazing job with my sister's first baby shower for her little girl a few years back, and this time around it was my turn. Of course, I can't hold a candle against my mom's planning and execution skills but  I guess everyone has to start somewhere. This baby shower, or baby sprinkle as they say for a second child, was for my sister's little boy and I decided on the Little Man theme. We held the event at one of my sister's friends' houses, which is absolutely amazing for entertainment, so I did not go all out with the decorations, but rather spent a bit more time on food and gifts!

For this event, I tried to use as many disposable items as possible - guilty of ruining the world - but I thought it more time efficient (little to no dishes!). I decided to make plates and cups with the theme myself, by using plain light blue and green paper cups and light blue and silver paper plates, cut out little moustaches, bow ties and buttons out of black paper and covered with dc fix to stick to the plates and cups. Although the cutting out took some time, it was easy to make and I enjoyed making it! To fit with the theme, I bought green and white polka dot, blue and white stripes and turquoise polka dot napkins.

For the coffee and tea station I bought disposable coffee cups with lids for easy clean up later on. I decided to buy small sachets of coffee and brown and white sugar instead of having one big bottle or bowl of coffee and sugar, to avoid contamination. I also served two types of tea, as a treat I added sachets of cappuccino, mocha and hot chocolate, and also found these cute milk pods that contain milk for a single serving. So I might have destroyed the world even further with all the paper and plastic disposable items, but at least I didn't have to throw away any contaminated items.

For snacks I served a variety of sweet and savoury bites, as well as a few fresh elements. My mom and youngest sister assisted with a lot of the savoury snacks and I covered the sweet treats! The savoury snacks comprised mince meat pies, made by my sister and some of the best I've ever had! My mom prepared two types of mini pizzas, margherita and bacon and cheese, cheese puff pies, spinach and feta pies and crumbed chicken bites. I prepared vegetable spring rolls, three different types of cocktail sausages - chicken, cheese grillers and sausage with chili - and the same egg, bacon and cheese bites I made for our Christmas Eve picnic (click here). The fresh elements comprised baby corn, sugar snap peas, carrots, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes and white and pink grapes, served with three choices of dipping sauces - feta and herb, humus and cream cheese with sweet chili sauce which my youngest sister made. For the dips I also placed small containers on the table which is very handy to keep the dip separate from the rest of the snacks.

On the table were also a few beverages - a container of fresh water with lime slices, and four different flavours of fruit juice for the guests to enjoy.

My mom also made packets with a few sweets for the children that attended the baby sprinkle with the cutest sweets. I took some leftovers home for my almost two-year-old son and now all he wants is 'whiets'.

I outsourced most of the sweet treats for this event. I bought koeksisters, which is always a hit and I also made the same pumpkin cupcakes I made for our Christmas Eve picnic (click here), but only decorating with baby blue and spring green glitter to go with the theme. I could not believe what a hit these little pumpkin treats were! I ordered mini doughnuts from our bakery, which is normally very nice to eat, however there was a miscommunication on what the colour and texture should be like and in the end these were a bit difficult to eat as the colouring stained the guests' mouths. These were supposed to be made with white chocolate with light blue and green colouring, however the baker made these with dark blue and green glaze with way too much food colouring. At least it gave a bit of a contrast to the table.

​The cupcake toppers I made myself, by cutting out little moustaches out of black cardboard paper and sticking to mini kebab sticks with double sided tape. It worked like a charm! The cupcakes and macarons I ordered from Totally Caked (click here). The cupcakes were a combination of vanilla and chocolate and absolutely divine! The icing was just the right amount of sweet and the perfect combination with the sponge itself. The macarons was also perfect and so yummy, I ate (in secret) most of the leftovers myself. The green ones had a small amount of mint caramel treat inside which made it an absolute hit!

I also ordered sugar cookies from Cookie Tales (click here) and used as thank you gifts to fit with the theme. These were absolutely amazing and the guests fought over who was getting which design! I was so impressed with the designs and colours! This is the same lady that made the dinosaur feet sugar cookies for my son's first birthday (click here). A definite go-to supplier.

During the course of the day we played four games and in-between my sister unwrapped a few presents, so that it's not one long gift unwrapping affair. We did the same with my sister's first baby shower and it works like a bomb.

The first game was an ice breaker, which was similar to my sister's first baby shower (stealing ideas), but this time around I focused on items the new baby will require. This game I called 'the diaper bag and dress-up' game. As the guests arrived they received an item or two which they had to keep safe for this game. I read a story and whenever the items was mentioned the guest had to place the item in the diaper bag. The game started off by placing a mom-to-be sash around my sister and handing her the diaper bag. I then started to read the story... The items consisted of clothing, surgical spirits, cotton wool and earbuds, grooming kit and thermometer, baby soap and lotion, medicine dispensers, a soft toy as well as an educational texture toy, disposable nappy bags, vaseline, bum cream and a photo frame with the invitation printed out to remember the day by.
 
Each guest also received a plastic sheet sleeve with an answer sheet and stickers to answer the questions. I thought it would be a bit different to do it this way rather than using a pen or pencil to fill in the answers, but at the end of the day it was a lot more work for me to prepare but I think the guests enjoyed it.

After having a few snacks we played the first game. This game consisted of 10 questions and the topic was boys and girls. All the questions were about the development of boys and girls. Depending on the question, the guests had to place a sticker to the options provided - boys or girls, or true or false. The game intrigued me because my sister already has a girl and is now getting a baby boy and also due to my twins and how the two of them develop differently due to gender differences. The two guests with the highest number of correct answers could draw a prize out of the bag - which were either chocolate creams or wafer sticks.

After opening a few presents and enjoying more snacks we progressed to the second game called 'Name the baby animal'. I supplied the guests with 20 options of baby animals (of which some were made up words) but there were only 10 questions. As I read out the parent animal, the guests had to choose the correct baby animal. This was a tricky one as Afrikaans doesn't have a lot of different names for baby animals. The game was still fun and there were a few guests with a surprisingly high score, but my new mom-to-be sister was the ultimate winner.

The third and final game I invented, was perhaps a bit complex, however the guests seemed to enjoy it at the end of the day. This game had five questions (because new baby's name consists of five letters) and each question had five options, but the options were different letters of the alphabet and not in numerical order. As I read out the multiple answers to the questions, the guests had to choose a letter to answer the question. Within each question was one letter of the little man's name, which was the correct answer to the question. I also decided that each question will not count the same number of points, but rather my sister had to throw a large die and whatever number it fell on was the number of marks a correct answer would be, so lucky for the ones that got the answers correct with the highest points. In the end I did not execute the game as I planned. The plan was then for the guests to guess the baby's name given the correct answers, but since no one got all the questions right, I gave a list of letters to each guest and the one who managed to unscramble the letters and got it right, won.

All in all the baby sprinkle was a huge success, and now I can tick this event type off my list!

"Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!", is what the Santa Clause music doll sings at my parents' house. We spent Christmas day with my family this year, away from home, but I really wanted to do something special for our small family of five to exchange our personal gifts. Although not traditional, we decided to have a picnic on Christmas Eve day with only a few snacks. I also thought a picnic would be fun for our toddler, to enjoy the snacks outside on the grass - however, after a snack or two he got bored and my husband and I decided to call it a day and enjoy the rest of the snacks inside the house and start with the gift exchanging.

To make the picnic a bit more fun for the grown ups, I made a green Christmassy cocktail, which turned out to be very cool and refreshing on the hot summer's day. The only way I could think of making the drink green (without using food colouring) was by using peppermint liqueur. I came across this cocktail called Amaretto Stinger, which calls for one part white mint liqueur and two parts Amaretto liqueur. My final mix to get the Christmassy green cocktail (with the shiny red and white paper straw) was one shot peppermint liqueur, two shots Amaretto liqueur, a handful of ice ice, topped with Sprite. The Amaretto liqueur definitely breaks the strong peppermint flavour - perfect for a hot summer's day.

For the picnic snacks, I made some and bought some. The savoury snacks comprised fresh cherry tomatoes, grilled smoked viennas, chicken as well as cheese griller cocktail sausages which I quickly grilled and served with a burger mayo dip, cheesy chicken nuggets, sandwiches with salami, cheese and mayo and mini egg bites - with crispy bacon bits and cheese. These were really easy to make and the recipe is flexible by adding anything to the egg that you desire.

The sweet snacks were toasted coconut covered marshmallows, which is one of my favourite treats, as well as deliciously moist and easy to make pumpkin cupcakes - details below. 

Initially I wanted to make mini pumpkin pies but decided it will be too much effort with the little ones. I then came across a pumpkin cake recipe (who would've thought that something like this existed) and decided to rather make mini pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. These cakes were deliciously fluffy and easy to make, and made me think of carrot cake (also a favourite of mine) with the gingery taste. The recipe calls for canned pumpkin puree, but I roasted and pureed my own pumpkin. To combine the cake mixture was easy and straight forward, and baked quite quickly in the mini cupcake pans. After cooled down, I added the cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with red and green edible glitter for that Christmassy look and finished off with broken up pecan nuts. 

For my husband's fortieth birthday, we wanted to do a wine theme, as we as a couple are known for drinking red wine and our knowledge thereof. The aim of the party was to share our love and experience of wine with our guests, but of course they could bring beverages to their own liking as well. On the table we served a selection of red and white wine as well as Brut Champagne and non-alcoholic sparkling wine.

To get the party started, each guest was served a double shot of tequila - of my husband's choice. For snacks I wanted to serve something that go well with wine, and what else than cheese and more cheese. My sister bought my husband a variety of cheeses for his birthday and we decided to share these delicious cheeses with our guests. The cheeses comprised two cream cheese varieties (chilli caramel and sweet chilli with lime), Cheddar with red onion and Blue cheese. I also added plain cream cheese topped with sweet chilli sauce to the table. To accompany the various cheeses, I served a variety of salted crackers with a few fresh elements - dates, white grapes, sugar snap peas and baby corn with a feta and herb dipping sauce.

For mains, my husband really wanted to serve sliders, so he organised and prepared the buns and patties, which were really delicious on it's own. For toppings we decided on three different theme options. I had this idea in my head that each theme will have separate sections on the table, but in the end it all came out intertwined and I think the themes were a bit of a miss in the end. At least it didn't affect the taste of the food!

The first option was Hawaiian (aka Aloha). The toppings were a pineapple and melon salsa, with a medley of peppers and red onion, barbeque sauce, Hawaiian black salt, baby spinach leaves and a choice of coriander or lime olive oil. I decorated this part of the table with a whole coconut and pineapple, and flower leis.

The second option was the spicy or hot option (aka Scorcher). The toppings were pepper sauce, red pepper and Calabrian chilli pesto, caramelised onions, baby spinach leaves, Edam cheese and Jalapeño olive oil. I decorated this part of the table with a fireman role play costume, a small fire truck and red and yellow party pom-poms to represent fire.

The third option was mushrooms (aka fungi in phonetic language). The toppings were whole Portabellini mushrooms fried in a pan with thyme, feta cheese, caramalised onions, fried medley of peppers, baby spinach leaves, cabernet sauvignon balsamic vinegar and a choice of lemon or garlic olive oil. I decorated this part of the table with a planter pot filled with sand and added a spade, topped with a few mushroom stems and whole mushrooms.

Although the different themes were intertwined, the sliders were still a hit and all the toppings were enjoyed thoroughly, even if not used as intended. The nice thing about sliders is that our guests could have more than one burger and enjoy the different topping options.

For dessert, I used the cake pop as inspiration. For this dessert, I sadly, and embarrassingly, have to admit that I used premix cake mix. As the dessert was not about the cake itself and with the limited time I have lately with the three little ones, I thought it best to do a quick an easy cake instead. The base of the dessert was a plain vanilla cake, which I cut into small circles. The top part was a red velvet cake crumbled and mixed with cream cheese icing, then made into small spheres by using a silicon mold and placed in the fridge to set. The two layers were held together with the leftover cream cheese icing. Once the two cakes were combined, I added a small amount of coconut essence on top of each red velvet cake pop sphere and topped with melted white chocolate. Once the chocolate was set, I sprinkled a little bit of red edible glitter on top.

When I melted the white chocolate initially, I added the coconut essence to the chocolate but the chocolate ceased. I guess I should've added coconut oil instead, so I melted another batch of white chocolate, this time not adding anything to it, hence the coconut essence added to the mini cakes.

The mini cakes were served in mini cupcake papers to make it easier to serve and eat. This was a really delicious treat, as the coconut essence added a taste of alcohol. The perfect mini cake to finish the night of with.

​But first, we had to finish all the wine before the night could end...

My little sister turned 30, and we had the honour of opening up our home to her for this celebratory event. My sister did most of the planning, but I wanted to make it special, instead of it being a normal lunch with close family and friends.

My sister was in charge of the snacks and lunch, but I couldn't resist to make the dessert. While planning this delicious chocolatey dessert - as per my sister's instructions - I decided to use the theme of black and gold throughout. 

For a celebratory welcome drink, I served a non-traditional Top-deck shooter. The glasses were decorated with white and chocolate sprinkles, making the drink even more sweet! The shooter consisted of two parts chocolate vodka, and one part Amarula cream liqueur. I was very proud of myself of getting the layers done perfectly, as my previous attempt of the Springbokkie shooter did not look so good - more details here. The Top-deck was just the right amount of sweet to start the afternoon of with.

For snacks, my sister served homemade meat pies (one of the best I've ever tasted), a variety of chips, pretzels, crackers and cheese. And don't forget about the chocolates, for the sweet tooth!

For lunch, my sister did an exceptional job with the menu. Three types of meat - boerewors, chicken kebabs and pork rashers, two choices of bread - buttery garlic bread and olive ciabatta, and a choice of two salads - creamy potato salad (with a touch of bacon) and beetroot and feta salad (thanks to my mom).

Now for the dessert I built my whole theme around! After assembling the dessert in the food moulds, I realised it would be a struggle to get the desserts out (palm-to-face moment), hence the disastrous look of my dessert. However, it was absolutely divine. This dessert consisted of many, many chocolate layers. The layers comprised a moist dark chocolate cake, topped with caramel treat and covered with dark chocolate ganache. The next three layers were dark chocolate mousse, milk chocolate mousse, and caramel infused cream. Topped with chopped almonds for a crunchy effect. 

For a fresh element, I served home made strawberry sorbet, finished off with a fresh mint leaf. The sorbet melted quite quickly on the warm spring day, but it surely added freshness to the rich and creamy chocolate dessert.

I finally got around to hosting another dinner party in our busy household with the new born twins and a tantrummy toddler. As we were approaching the end of winter, I thought it appropriate to have a soup evening to bid winter farewell. Another reason for soup is that it can be made in advance and reheated when needed, the perfect meal for a busy household. It all worked out well, as that evening was especially cold. I decided to keep it small and invite only my youngest sister - should the kids make things difficult, I wouldn't be too embarrassed if the evening should fail.

I wanted to do everything soup, from welcome drinks through to dessert. When planning the menu, I just couldn't decide which soups to leave and which not, so in the end I made eight different soup dishes. As Murphy's law has it, the kids decided to break routine that evening, so we had to cram all the courses into a shorter time span, making it a bit difficult to thoroughly enjoy dessert. 

We started off the evening with a Vodka and tomato soup shooter, topped with a sundried tomato and basil leaf. This was served cold. I added extra Vodka when serving the drinks, even though the tomato soup mixture included Vodka. For some of us it wasn't easy to drink the whole shooter in one go, so we rather took small sips and drank as a sherry. I regretted adding the cream in the soup mixture, it also made the colour less red, so next time I'll omit this ingredient.

To accompany the welcome drinks, I served warm creamy potato soup bites with crispy bacon - this was served as an amuse-bouche. I left the potato soup a bit chunky and didn't mash all the way through. This potato soup is quick and easy to make, consisting of potatoes, onions, bacon, paprika, cream, milk, and salt and pepper to taste. This was a definite hit to start the evening of with.

At this early point in the evening, the kids decided to seek attention, so we had to put the 'souping' on hold for a while, this wasn't the plan, but at least we could be flexible.

After feeding and putting the children to bed, we could finally continue with the evening. The next course, or appetiser, was baby marrow soup with a dollop of crème fraîche, fresh basil and parsley, served with a side of basil pesto and sundried tomato toasted slices. Who would've thought that the plain old baby marrow could make such a delicious soup! The combination of the soup and toasties were an absolute winner and something different to serve guests. I will definitely keep this recipe for future use.

The first course before the main meal was creamy mushroom and biltong soup, topped with slices of biltong, fresh sliced mushrooms and rosemary, served with Gruyere cheese toasted slices. What a fantastic combination and the dish of the evening for me. The soup was chunky with a deep meaty flavour - everything a soup should be. My only regret - I only made enough for this one serving.

For the second course before the main meal, I served mini French onion soup bread bombs, and what a mouth bomb it was! I used hollowed out mini panini's, topped with Emmenthaler cheese and melted in the oven. Once melted to percfection, I filled each panini with French onion soup and topped with Gruyere cheese, and again melted in the oven. I also used the cut-off lids and melted Emmenthaler cheese on top. This was a cheesy and creamy treat, that is a perfect party starter. 

Finally the main meal - barley and vegetable soup. I served the soup with a side choice of rye bread and Mozzarella and herb bread. I also bought mini pitas to toast, but we were quite full, so decided to not serve it. Only I managed to eat all my soup, my poor husband and sister were so full, that they couldn't finish theirs - or so they said. This was my least favourite of all dishes. I do think soup require a deep meaty flavour to be a success. At least my husband had a lot of leftover soup for lunch the next few weeks.

A creamy cucumber and avocado soup was on the table as a palate cleanser, topped with dill. For me, this was really refreshing, my husband however, couldn't stomach the soup at all. This was so funny, as it's the first dish I've made that he couldn't eat, or bluntly refused, and I've made a lot of failed dishes in our time together. I bet it's because he was so full from the previous courses, but he felt real bad. One moment we will always joke about!

Dessert was a simple chocolate soup, topped with almond flavoured whipped cream and a basil leaf. The basil really complimented the dark chocolate flavour of the soup. This soup can be served hot or cold, so we voted on serving it hot, since it was such a cold night. The perfect chocolaty dessert to end a soup-tastic evening!

Having an all soup dinner was really interesting and fun to plan and experience. Who would've thought that a soup could be served as any course in a meal. This is a definite go-to type of evening for the winter, and perhaps a soup buffet evening is on the cards for the future. 

Welcome to the final Christmas celebration of the year! This was our little one's first ever Christmas - celebrated on Christmas day! We also dressed our two dogs in their Christmas gear - they look so cute! My youngest sister went on a Thailand expedition, so unfortunately we couldn't be a full house. My other sister, her husband and their precious little girl stayed over from the night before, so this Christmas morning we had a quick get together with them and my parents at our house.

Since it was a morning get together, I decided to serve breakfast snacks, with an option of coffee, tea or whatever everyone felt like - almost a tradition in my childhood house! I couldn't make and bake everything I wanted to, so most of the food served were store bought, but I could at least boil eggs, make French toast and bake my delicious scones - again with assistance from my husband and sister, who did a fantastic job in baking it to perfection!

The French toast were made out of a fresh French loaf, and my dear sister assisted with frying it deliciously. I added two different toppings, the first topping was whipped cream topped with fresh cut strawberries, and the second topping drizzled honey topped with crispy oven baked bacon strips. Bacon and French toast is one of my favourite snacks to eat!! The mini scones were cut into half and served with a choice of cheese, whipped cream, strawberry or fig jam. Strawberry jam and cream on these savoury scones is my absolute favourite - just the right amount of salt and sweet!​

And the breakfast continues.... I also served bacon and pork sausages, fried and cut, served with decorative fresh cherry tomatoes. You can never go wrong with a fresh element! Hard boiled eggs cut in half is an absolute must with breakfast snacks! The mini chicken barbeque pancakes was absolutely divine. I originally wanted to make mini quiches but the mini pancakes hit the right spot. Finally the sweet element - mini chocolate eclairs filled with cream! I love making these eclairs, fill with cream and caramel, and dip in chocolate. These ones I sadly had to buy, and it was very delicious, but of course, mine is better ;) ! 

After we were fully satisfied by all the breakfast snacks, the kids opened their presents - what a precious site. Afterwards, my sister, brother-in-law and niece left for their last Christmas get together with the in-laws.

For Sunday lunch, I had these amazing plans to prepare the perfect Christmas lunch - brandied bacony chicken, pumpkin fritters, baked potato wedges, creamy spinach and a fresh salad. However, majority had to be store bought, but I think the items did do Christmas justice. We got a delicious chicken and mushroom pie, heated in the oven, creamy spinach, sweet potato fritters, my infamous pumpkin salad, consisting of roasted butternut, baby spinach leaves, feta cheese, pumpkin seeds and a handful of pecan nuts. Lastly we served freshly oven baked potato wedges - absolutely divine. It does not seem much, but it really filled our tummies, especially after all those breakfast snacks.

For dessert I wanted to serve chocolate fondant with ice cream and strawberries, but yet again had to get a store bought dessert. I decided on a strawberry cheesecake. Before serving I added some crushed chocolate on top - no dessert should go without chocolate. This was really delicious, and another go-to store bought dessert, should I be prevented from making my own dessert.

Hopefully next Christmas I can go all out with my own recipes and creations!

Another Christmas celebration with family! This was our fourth Christmas get together and the second hosted by us. On Christmas Eve, my sister, her husband and sweet little girl came over for a relaxed Christmas Eve dinner. At this time I was already booked off to take things easy due to my pregnancy, so I couldn't go all out as I planned, but with help from my fantastic husband and sister, I managed  to put something similar on the table to what I originally planned.

For welcome drinks I served strawberry and vodka jelly shots - of course I made a non-alcoholic drink for myself. On top of the set jelly mixture I added whipped cream with a strawberry on top of each drink with a dollop of whipped cream at the top of the strawberry. It looked like little Santa hats - so cute! The shot itself was really delicious! My husband couldn't get enough of the leftover strawberry and vodka mixture - definitely an easy to make and go-to welcome drink!

For the snacks I didn't go to too much effort. I made tortilla chips, cut small circles from three different tortillas - beetroot, turmeric and plain flour tortillas, baked in the oven for a few minutes. I also only served three dips with these - a tomato salsa (not too spicy), guacamole (a must!) and sour cream mixed with chives.

I had so many plans for the mains, but with my limitations I had to keep it simple. My husband braaied for us - chicken and bacon kebabs (the absolute best!), soft and juicy fillet and boerewors. We bought a garlic ciabatta which we heated in the oven - delicious! I really wanted to make a halloumi salad, so my sister assisted with frying the halloumi cheese - the master of frying halloumi! The halloumi salad consisted of halloumi cheese - fried and cooled down, fresh rocket leaves and cherry tomatoes - quickly fried and cooled.

Initially, I wanted to make a cheesecake for this Christmas but my plans are put on hold until I can live normally again. For this Christmas Eve dessert, I decided to buy a lemon cheesecake, decorated with cut strawberries and crushed chocolate pieces. Although store bought, this was really delicious, and the strawberries and chocolate made the dessert perfect! If I ever need to buy a dessert again, this one is on the top of my list. 

Let's rewind back to Christmas! It is indeed 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year'! This year, we had the privilege to be part of five Christmas get togethers, three of which I hosted!  This year for Christmas dinner with friends we kept it simple. I tried to make raspberries the theme of the evening, so it was the main ingredient in both the welcome drinks and dessert.

The welcome drink was raspberry and vodka based. I mashed the raspberries and mint leaves with a spoon, then added vodka and Sprite to taste, together with a dash of lime juice. Once poured into the glasses, I topped each glass off with another mint leaf. This was really delicious and naturally sweet, however next time I'll rather use a food processor to mash the raspberries, as the larger pieces of raspberries made it difficult to drink.

The starters I really looked forward to! I initially wanted to make crostini - something I've been wanting to make for quite some time - but I was a bit scared that the toasted bread will be a bit too crunchy, so I decided to use a fresh French loaf instead. I decided on three toppings, and all were really easy to make.

For the first topping, I just had to use avocado. I spread mashed avo onto each slice of bread, added crispy oven baked bacon pieces and topped with delicious soft feta cheese. To make this topping more Christmassy, I added a few Peppadews to each. You can never go wrong with bacon!

The second topping was mushroom based. I made a very quick an easy mushroom sauce - chopped mushrooms, onions, thyme, dry mushroom soup, cream and a very secret ingredient to give that amazing colour. When adding the cooled off sauce to the slices, I finished each one off with a sprig of fresh thyme. Mushroom and thyme goes really well together!

Lastly, for a fresh element, I mixed cream cheese, soft feta cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and chives. I added the spread to each slice of bread, then added freshly sliced medley of tomatoes and finished off with a fresh basil leaf.  

My husband really wanted to serve wraps for this Christmas dinner, so to keep with a Christmassy theme, I decided to get beetroot and turmeric flavoured tortillas, instead of the plain flour tortillas. The purple and yellow really brightened up the table, and the taste was very interesting. My husband braaied the protein for us, which was soft juicy delicious fillet. The remaining toppings were black beans, guacamole, crushed pineapple, cheddar cheese, sliced tomatoes, mixed coleslaw, cream cheese and a few choices of condiments. Wraps are always a great hit, and very easy to prepare.

For dessert, I wanted to attempt mini lemon and raspberry cheesecakes. I found this easy recipe, only to realise later that this was more of an ice cream dessert than anything else. The dish as a whole was still very delicious and a great hit - almost like we were in a five star restaurant! For the base of the cheese cake, I crushed biscuits and mixed with melted butter. The mixture was pressed into silicone cupcake moulds and placed in the freezer to set.

For the cheesecake mixture I combined cream and condensed milk, then added raspberry puree. Once combined, it was poured into the silicon cupcake moulds on top of the set biscuit base. This goes back into the freezer for about 6 hours until the mixture is set. The raspberry puree consists of raspberries, sugar, lemon rind and lemon juice, cooked until the sugar is dissolved, then strained to remove the raspberry bits.

I took the cheesecakes out of the freezer about 15 minutes before serving, so that it's not too hard to eat. Before serving I added some of the remaining raspberry puree to each, topped with fresh raspberries and a mint leaf. This was quite quick to make, it's just the time to set that takes long. I'll definitely try this again, perhaps with different flavours, but I still want to attempt an actual cheesecake!

It was our son's first birthday recently and I just had to post this event, before I posted all of the Christmas festivities! It was by coincidence that dinosaurs formed part of our little boy's first year, so I decided to go with a dinosaur themed first birthday party.

I was put on bed rest during the time of the preparations, but luckily my mom came to the rescue - I gave my ideas and my mom did most of the baking. We decided to keep it small and invite only close family, this was due to COVID-19 as well as me being on bed rest - I'm not capable to entertain too many people at once at the moment. 

For this event, I couldn't resist getting a theme appropriate outfit - ONE-A-SAURUS with his name printed below. Our little boy looked so cute! To fit with the theme, I created a gave like feel as the guests entered, with decorations I made myself. As the guests entered it read 'Naam se Grot' (aka Name's Cave). Our boy's name was printed and pasted on black paper, then I created a mosaic look with leftover coloured cardboard paper, the cave (or 'grot') part was made out of printed letters, covered with parts of an egg box as well as dried out leaves. We also have two dinosaur blankets which I used to cover part of the curtains, with one side serving as the gift table.

I also created dinosaur shadows from coloured cardboard paper, to add a bit more dinosaur to the entrance. These were made out of dinosaur printouts I used on the food table, traced and cut out. So easy to make.

Next up - the Roar of Fame! I really looked forward to this. During our son's first year, I took a photo of him every single day. I decided to use these photos to create a Roar (or Wall) of Fame. I also included the photos I took during the pregnancy, displaying the fruit per week as the pregnancy progressed. This was really special, and all the guests could see how our tiny baby has grown into a big boy over 365 days!

For the Roar of Fame part, I coloured our's son's name with crayons, using the wall as a table to create a textured look. The 'Roar' was created with sand, rocks and weeds, 'of' was decorated with grass, and 'Fame' was decorated with leaves, twigs and acorns (from out acorn tree). All to give it a wilderness feel. 

Another decoration I could prepare was the dinosaur balloons. It was so much fun to create the dinosaur parts out of cardboard paper. I used double sided sellotape to stick the parts to the balloon - although once stuck, you cannot remove without the balloon popping, so be careful when applying the tape. I decided on five balloons - a red T-Rex, a green Stegosaurus, a blue Brontosaurus, a yellow Triceratops and an orange Pterodactyl. 

I also made dinosaur themed paper plates, cups and straws. The main reason was because I couldn't find anything (affordable and cute) that I liked, so I decided to tap into my creative side. I bought small yellow plates for the snacks, big blue square plates for lunch (which was plain and simple boerewors rolls) and orange paper cups. I used a variety of colours for the straws (still left over from my 80's themed birthday - click here).

I used 20 different dinosaur images for the plates, and reused it for the cups and straws, but just smaller in size. Each paper plate received a different dinosaur, with one cloud and two pieces of grass each. I then covered the plates with DC fix (or adhesive film) to prevent the food from damaging the pictures (or accidentally eating the paper). On the paper cups I added two small dinosaurs on opposite sides, with four colourful dots in between, two large and small of different colours. I added an even smaller dinosaur on each of the colourful straws - see below. Again, what fun!!

Welcome to my dino-roar table! For the wall decoration, my son and I made foot and hand art - what a mission if I might add. Each letter of his name and the number one, was created using one colour and prints of his feet or hands. We also bought plastic leaves as decoration, added a few balloons and hanged the remaining dinosaur shadows. My poor sister and brother-in-law worked very hard to get all the decorations up in time. I also printed dinosaur images and stuck onto kebab sticks, to serve as dinosaur flower arrangements. Lastly I bought small red, and green and white polka dot serviettes to add a bit of colour to the table.

Now for the snacks my mom worked so hard on - and what a success! Thank you Mom! I gave my mom a few ideas of what I was thinking of doing and she got the creative juices flowing. I printed an image of dinosaurs for each snack with a description thereof. The snacks on the table:

• Three types of maize and corn crisps:
  • Spinosaurus toenails: 3-D triangle crisps.
  • Stegosaurus scales: Flat triangle chips.
  • Velociraptor bones: Cheesy hardened puffs.
• Triceratops crisps: Rice Krispies treats in the form of Triceratops, coloured orange with a bit of white chocolate coloured purple to create the main or mantle.
• Pterodactyl egg nests: Salty pretzels coated in dark chocolate, made into small nests. My mom found these amazing green, red and white mini eggs, which we added to each nest.
• Mammoth sweat: Green fuzzy soft drink.
• Mammoth saliva: Red fuzzy soft drink.
• Dino rock paintings: Coloured white chocolate, poured into dinosaur moulds.
• Brontosaurus foam: Meringues in the form of Brontosaurus dinosaurs.
• Tyrannosaurus Rex feet: My mom knows a lady that makes these delicious cookies with icing.
• Parasaurolophus swamp: Jelly cups (the one thing I could make), comprised red, orange and yellow jelly, topped with crushed chocolate.​
• Dino fossils: My mom found these cute dinosaur marshmallows.
• Apatosaurus heads: Marshmallows cut into the form of a dinosaur head, dipped in purple coloured white chocolate, with cute eyes, noses and scales.

Although the table was very sweet and there were more adults that children, I just had to do this for our son's birthday, even though we now sit with a lot of left over sweets.

I was so chuffed with myself when creating the dinosaur cupcake wrappers. I used five different cardboard paper colours, and decided on five of the dinosaurs I printed for the plates, which I traced and cut out. I stuck them together with thick double sided tape, so the dinosaurs create a 3-D effect. My mom baked the cupcakes and decorated with four colours of frosting - blue, green, purple orange. I then placed liquorice cut into triangles on top of the cupcakes and placed inside the cupcake wrappers. Thank you sis for cutting so many triangles for me! 

Finally the cake! This cake was made for our son to smash, eat, or do whatever he wanted - as it's tradition for a first birthday (in my opinion - my husband will differ). My mom baked the cake and shaped it into a Triceratops. I added the sweets to the cake. Finger biscuits for the main or mantle, blue liquorice sweets for colour and humps on the back, baby friendly baked puffs for the two horns, a wafer cut into a triangle for the nose, a marshmallow cut to create the eyes with black food colouring representing the pupils, red liquorice sweets cut into small pieces to create a mouth, and mini marshmallows cut in half to represent the tows.

In the end, our son barely ate the cake, he ate one finger biscuit and a puff, smeared his name written in icing and decided to crawl to the steps. At least we have lots of cake in the freezer for those evenings we run out of dessert.

Thank you to my husband, mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law for baking and decorating the place on my behalf. It did not go unnoticed!

This year for my husband's birthday I was banned from doing anything special. My husband wanted something chilled with plain sandwiches. Naturally, I couldn't allow that, so I suggested a sandwich bar - I just had to wiggle myself into the preparations in some way.

For welcome drinks I made a simple Kamikaze shot, which is very easy to make. All you need is 3 parts vodka, 1 part triple sec, and a dash of lime juice. I decorated the glasses with a slice of lime and smeared the rind of each glass with fresh lime juice for an extra sour surprise. There were mixed feelings regarding this drink - some found it too sour, others enjoyed it thoroughly.

For snacks I wasn't allowed to do anything, sadly, except place the snacks in a bowl. My husband wanted to serve chips only, so he decided on three types of good quality crisps, one of which was a hot and spicy flavour. I recommended a dip for a cooling effect, but what do I know? It was a bit spicy for the guests after a few helpings. Perhaps my recommendations will be taken seriously next time...

Finally, the sandwich bar!! My husband wanted to braai fillet - plain and juicy. For the bread options we served slices of Ciabatta, hamburger buns and tortilla wraps. Fillings included two types of cheese, tomatoes, smoky roasted peppers, mixed coleslaw salad leaves, gherkins, peppadews and my final touches - bacon, avocado and Danish feta. Making the perfect sandwich!

The guests also had the option to eat the sandwiches as is, roast or heat on the braai, or make a proper sandwich with a sandwich maker. We all ate on the grass, which gave the evening a chilled, picnic-like feel. Most guests went for second or even third helpings. A definite winner between my husband and myself.

For dessert, my husband wanted a cake, with a mix of chocolate and vanilla batter, finished off with Astros. For the occasion I made cupcakes and a cake.  When making the cupcakes, I placed batter of each flavour in one half of the cupcake tin and gave it a swirl, after which I added a few Astros to each cupcake. The same was done when making the cake. In the end we decided to serve the cupcakes only. The cupcakes were decorated with Lindt dark chocolate and hazelnut spread, topped with a salted caramel chocolate ball, with almond flavoured icing sugar as decoration and some decorative pearls.

This was a great hit, especially the salted caramel chocolate balls with the oozing center. Some of the leftover cake we had to freeze. My husband and I soon realised that the cake was a treat on it's own, and did not require any frosting or add-ons. I will definitely make something like this again. Quick, easy and delicious.

After our last taco main meal in Mexico City, we headed off to the United States for the first dessert item. This popular choc chip cookie was created in the early 1900s (although there is a myth that it was created accidentally).  Since there were so many dishes to prepare for this evening, the cookies were store bought. It was, however, the most delicious choc chip cookie I have ever had!

For the next stop, I tried to redeem myself and attempted the infamous French macaron yet again! So naturally, the next stop was France. This time I tried a different recipe, and made chocolate macarons. It turned out more like a hard cookie (I must admit, the recipe did seem a bit odd to begin with). At least now I know what type of recipe to use, should I take on the macaron challenge once more!

Next stop - Turkey. And what other than Turkish delight? Initially, I wanted to make a Greek dessert, but with the olive debacle (see Part I of the tour) I decided to add Turkey to the dessert tour. This was store bought, but extremely soft and fluffy, and I will definitely buy this again. When planning the menu, I wasn't aware that my sister does not like Turkish delight at all. She amused me by taking one bite, but alas, it's not her cup of tea. At least my husband and I had lots left for the next week for after dinner delights.

To match the fluffy and soft Turkish delight from Turkey, I added mini marshmallows to the menu. Who would've thought that this delicious treat has its origin in Egypt, especially reserved for royalty?

Ah, the lamington! There is debate about the actual origin, but it is considered one of Australia's favourite desserts! It seemed fitting to serve these on my authentic Australian coasters. Although I have a delicious recipe from my great-grandmother, I bought lamingtons. (I made these a few years ago, and it took some time.) Given the little time I had, I didn't bake it for this get-together - perhaps another time.

After all those sweet treats, we returned to South Africa, and finished off the evening with home-made mini milk tarts! One of South Africa's favourite and famous (Afrikaans) desserts. I made my great-grandmother's recipe, and it really is fail-safe and a hit every time. What a great way to end the desserts tour and the eventful evening!

This concludes the desserts tour and the Trip Around the World During Lockdown. I hope you enjoyed reading about each leg of the tour as much as I did creating it. Perhaps I will do something like this again in future... And invite a few more guests!

Before we boarded the plane for the mains leg, we enjoyed a traditional favourite South African meal - hoenderpastei (chicken pie). I made each of us a mini pie to enjoy - and it was a delicious start to the mains tour! This simple dish consisted of chicken, onions, carrots and celery cooked in chicken stock. Once the mixture thickened, I divided the mixture into three ramekins, with puff pastry on top, which I glazed with egg wash. It was cooked in the oven until the pastry was deliciously golden brown. Quick and easy, and a definite winner. My only regret is that I only made enough filling for the three pies.

As chicken pie is of British origin, it was fitting to stop in Britain next and enjoy the dish England is famous for - fish and chips. I'm proud to say that the battered fish was 100% homemade. I used hake instead of traditional cod, and the batter was a quickly googled recipe. The recipe called for dark beer and sparkling water, but I used leftover Belgium beer (Stella Artois), and it worked brilliantly! This dish was the perfect combination of oily and homey, but who eats fish and chips without tartar sauce...?

Hence the stop in France - the home of tartar sauce. This really rounded the fish and chips dish and broke the oiliness just enough that we could not stop eating. This again was a store-bought item to save time.

After the oily, yet delicious, fish and chips, we hopped over to Italy for some plain and simple Cacio e Pepe, which translates to 'cheese and pepper.' I wanted to use authentic ingredients, so Pecorino Romano cheese and my cute Italian guy grater felt appropriate.  This basically served as a palate cleanser and it is really quick and easy to make - spaghetti, pepper and cheese.

Next stop - Thailand. I particularly looked forward to this dish. My sister went to Thailand a few years ago and she discovered Thai Cashew Chicken, which she absolutely loves. I wanted to treat her with this delicious meal. In my inexperience with chilis, I added way too many chilis (including the seeds), which made the dish completely unbearable for me. My sister and husband can handle a bit more spiciness than me and they ate the dish as far as they could. If it weren't for the overwhelming spiciness, this would've been the hit of the evening. I will have to make this dish again to redeem my reputation, hopefully my sister is willing to be the guinea pig yet again!

Last stop - the great city of Mexico! Mexican is one of my favourite cuisines, especially tacos with pulled pork. And this is exactly what I served. Delicious hard-shell tacos, pulled pork, coleslaw, black beans and guacamole with a hint of lime. We skipped the jalapenos as everyone's mouths were still on fire after the Thai Cashew chicken mishap.

This concludes the mains leg of the tour - we now await our plane to embark on the last part of the tour - desserts, hosted by Madam Nagerecht! Not to be missed!

Welcome to the second leg of the Trip Around the World During Lockdown tour! Be sure to read my previous blog on the first leg of our trip around the world here, if you missed it. 

The second leg of the tour was hosted by Knight Antipasto (aka Knight 'traditional first course of a formal Italian meal'). So naturally, this trip consisted of various snacks and starters from around the world. Get your appetite ready and let the mouth-watering tour begin!

The first leg of our trip, the drinks leg, ended in Poland. From there, we hopped over to Germany for the first stop of leg two. Since Germany is famous for its sausages, the infamous Brockwurst was the obvious choice. I prepared these in advance, and it was proven that good sausage remains good, whether served hot or cold. As they say in Germany: Genieße deine Wurst!

From Germany we hopped over to Greece! And how could I not serve Kalamata olives? Originally I wanted to do a Greek dessert and serve Gemlik olives from Turkey, but Kalamata olives are much easier to find, so I changed the menu slightly. In the spirit of the evening, all of us ate at least one olive, although none of us really likes purple olives. At least we got in some antioxidants!

Since we're kind of on the topic of Greek tapas, let's move on to the humus! You might think it originated in Greece, but actually the Egyptians came up with this delicious and super healthy chickpea spread! So we headed to Egypt and imagined ourselves enjoying humus among the pyramids and mummies! But of course humus is not meant to be eaten on its own ...

One continent over, we found some naan bread from India to enjoy with the humus. Naan bread was originally served as breakfast to noble families. Who would've thought! I also love butter chicken curry and felt the need to add another spread to accompany the naan bread. So instead of butter chicken, I created my own delicious curry dip! This dip consists of cream, a few curry spices and lots of love. My new go-to dip for parties!

Last stop - China! Delicious vegetable spring rolls (thank you, take-away restaurant ...) with a perfect sweet and sour dipping sauce. And as usual, we ate too much, too soon ...

This concluded the snacks tour. We went back to sunny South Africa for a short break before eagerly embarking on leg three of the world tour. Be on the lookout for the next post about our journey - mains hosted by Monsieur Repas Principal - not to be missed!