Time To Party

Max is turning 1! This is an updated picture of him smashing his 11 month cake, I snapped it on my phone at a cake smash photo shoot we did with Andie who has guest blogged on here before. Of course we are throwing a party to celebrate, it is also doubling as a leaving party since our family has relocated to Taranaki (from Auckland) as of a week ago – which means a trip up to Auckland, the first of many to come I am sure.

I started looking for ideas for Maxie’s party when he was about 5 months old and and decided on a robots and rockets theme to match the bedroom theme we picked before he was born, after settling on the theme I created this little inspiration board…


I have had lots of fun coming up with decorating ideas and planning lots of yummy food. Since we don’t have a house in Auckland to have the party in we have hired a venue at the botanical gardens, I will only have half an hour set up time so I have to have all my decorations ready to go and the food has to look and taste delicious but easy to transport. Below are my two updated inspiration boards and a sneak peek at some of the goodies I have collected!

   
I will be sure to share all the yummy goodies with you after the party and I am sure I will be testing out my new kitchen once we are properly settled in our new home, I’m having serious baking withdrawals!

Lunchbox Bakes – Berry and Oat Muffins

These muffins are pretty tasty and they are easy to whip up.  I find them quite filling too.  They are suitable to freeze for later as well.  Lets get started…

Makes 8.

1 ½ cups self raising flour
⅓ cup caster sugar
1 cup rolled oats
¾ cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon grated lemon or lime rind
1 cup mixed berries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 200°C.  Line 8 holes of a 12-hole muffin pan with paper cases.

Combine the flour, sugar and oats in a large bowl.  Combine the milk, egg, oil and rind in a separate bowl.  Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.  Stir in the berries, leaving a few out to decorate the tops of the muffins.

Divide the mixture into the muffin cases.  Place the remaining berries on the top.  If you want to be extra fancy you could sprinkle some coffee sugar over the tops or decorate each muffin with a banana chip – I had both to try but forgot!  Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the muffin comes out cleanly.  Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.

So that is my first recipe for Lunchbox Bakes, a new feature that I introduced to you yesterday.  Remember you can take part too and get a link to your blog up on our next Lunchbox Bakes post.  If you are interested, there are more details on the Lunchbox Bakes page :)
If you make one of the recipes from our blog, leave a comment on the post or take a pic and post it up on our facebook page!

New Feature – Lunchbox Bakes!

I’m starting up a new feature on our blog (conveniently just in time for the start of the school year too!) called ‘Lunchbox Bakes’.

Basically each fortnight (or weekly if I can manage it) I am going to post up a recipe of something I have made to take to work as part of my lunch for the week.

Why?  Well, I want to eat healthier but I do want to keep up my baking.  I’m aiming to make some stuff with less sugar and chocolate than most of the recipes I have posted up on here, but hopefully they will be yummy enough that buying something from the cafe will not be a temptation.  I also like the idea that since I’ve cooked it, I’ll know what is in it unlike some of the offerings at the supermarket.

You can join in too!  If you have a blog and have made something appropriate for lunch, share your blog post with us.  Grab the Lunchbox Bakes badge (see the buttons page) or logo and put this and/or a link back to our homepage on your post if you want to participate.  Then send us an email (bmtbblog@gmail.com) that includes the names of: you, your recipe, your blog and a link to your blog post.  I’ve made a page for this new feature, which you can access through our menu bar if you need to check back on the details.

I’ve already baked my first lunchbox treat, so I’ll share that with you tomorrow.  Each time I put up a new Lunchbox Bakes post after that, I will include a list of of people who have emailed in and linked up for the feature :)

In other news, Courtenay and her little family have moved down to New Plymouth and seem to be settling in well from the few pics she has managed to post up on facebook.  She is still waiting for her internet to be connected up, but once it is she will be back and posting.  It’s Max’s first birthday party this weekend (exciting!) so no doubt there will be some mouth watering recipes from the event making their way onto the blog in the coming weeks!

So, that’s the latest.  Get involved in Lunchbox Bakes and send us an email with your details to get your link posted on our site!

Shaky Isles

I can’t believe we haven’t written about Shaky Isles before - I go here quite a bit and love it.  I’ve also introduced Courtenay to it, who likes it too.

There are two Shaky Isles cafés; one in Britomart and the original in Kingsland.  Shaky Isles in Kingsland is small and intimate (the pics in the post were taken at Shaky Isles Kingsland), while the one in Britomart is a larger, more loft-like space.  However, both places share the same great decor of exposed brick and plaster, quirky lighting and cute cartoon pictures dotted around the place.  Both also have open wireless networks.

The menu is great – the food is reasonably priced and offers something a little different to other places.  On my recent visit I had the Brioche Bene with kransky (their kransky are yum!) and my friend had one of their Bruschetta meals.

Their hot chocolates and mochas come with a Whittakers sante bar and are always served with a pretty vintage teaspoon.  Shaky Isles also make delicious milkshakes – quite often you can look around the place and see someone with a ‘World’s longest drink’ cup on pretty much every table.

The Kingsland branch can get quite packed on weekend, but that is only because everyone knows Shaky Isles is a great place for a coffee and a bite to eat :)

Shaky Isles Kingsland
492 New North Road, Kingsland, Auckland
Ph: 09 815 3591

Shaky Isles Britomart
22 Customs Street East, Britomart, Auckland
Ph: 09 377 9310

E: info@shakyisles.co.nz
www.shakyisles.co.nz

White Chocolate Tart

Last night I hosted a catch up for the girls I met and made friends with while I worked in retail during my Uni years.  It was so much fun; I don’t think we have all been in the same room for about 4-5 years.  Dinner was just pizza so I decided to make us something a bit more special for dessert.  This White Chocolate Tart went down a real treat :)

The tart is actually really simple to make.  I made my pastry from scratch, but if you buy some pre-made pastry or a ready-made shell, making the tart would probably take only 10 minutes!

You will need:
1 quantity of short crust pastry (I used this recipe that I have previously posted up)
300g white chocolate (I used a mix of Whittakers white choc and Nestlé choc melts)
50g crème fraîche
100g soft butter
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
Your choice of decoration

Prepare and bake your short crust pastry then allow to cool (I followed this recipe).

Chop the chocolate and melt in a bowl over the top of a pan of hot water.  Heat the crème fraîche for 10 seconds in the microwave then add to the chocolate.  Stir to combine.  Gradually add and stir in the soft butter.  Pour the mixture into the pastry shell, spread smoothly and chill.

I decorated my tart with lots of berries.  I purchased a bag of frozen berries from the supermarket, defrosted them and mixed them with icing sugar to taste (fresh ones were way to expensive).  You could decorate it with just few berries and some raspberry sauce, or shards of dark chocolate would look quite fancy.

Waterfront Café and Bar

My only plan for my summer holidays has been sleep ins and café lunches.  So far, so good!

Apparently our Auckland weather is going to finally sort itself out and we’re about to get the Summer sun we have been waiting for.  Waterfront is the perfect café to head along to for lunch and a drink while soaking up the sun.  Sit out on the deck out the back and watch the coming and goings of the boats nearby.

I chose to come here for lunch the other day with my friend Michelle because they have a good selection of offerings on their menu and it is in the Entertainment book, which gives you a voucher entitling you to some $$ off your meal.  Also, I hadn’t been there for a while.  I had the Smoked Chicken Panini and like all the other plates I saw at neighbouring tables, there was a massive amount of food!  The service was good, but someone could have come back to check if we wanted more drinks.

Waterfront is also a restaurant and a bar, so it’s pretty much always open.  Brunch, lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks and dancing – I’ve done the lot here.
If you are looking for somewhere to unwind pop on in; it’s not fine dining but it is a nice place in the Viaduct with a good atmosphere and setting :)

Waterfront Café and Bar
Maritime Museum, Viaduct Basin, Auckland, New Zealand
Ph: 09 359 9914
E: info@thewaterfrontcafe.co.nz

Plum Jam

For the past year, Simon and I have been unsure about a couple of the trees that are in our garden; we couldn’t figure out what variety of fruit tree they were.  Turns out they were a couple of different types of plums.  So, the other day I picked all the ripe fruit and I made jam.
It turns out making Plum Jam is really easy – you don’t need anything fancy because as my research has told me, Plums have a lot of natural Pectin in them.  That’s the stuff that helps the jam to set, which means you don’t need to add anything.


Our lovely trees gave me 2.7 kg of fruit before I cut them up to remove the stones.
You will need:
Equal weight of plums and sugar (at least 1.5kg – just reduce the amount of water if you have less)
A little bit of water (about ⅔ cup)


Chop up the plums, removing the stones and put into a large pot with a heavy base.  Add a little bit of water (I put in about ½ a cup for all my plums).


Bring the pot up to a boil and simmer uncovered for an hour, stirring occasionally.  The liquid should be reduced by ⅔ and the fruit should be soft.
Put a small plate into the freezer to make it cold for testing the jam later.
Add the sugar into the simmering fruit.  I would start with a small amount of sugar and taste the jam before adding more (I used about 1kg of sugar to my 2.7ish kgs of fruit because I found it sweet enough).  Stir until it is completely dissolved.Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a rapid boil while stirring.  Boil for 10 minutes.


Remove the plate from the freezer and place a blob of the mixture on to it.  Once the mixture has cooled a little, run your finger through it; if the mixture stays separated it is ready to be put into jars.  If the mixture comes back together, boil it for a few more minutes before testing again.  Once the mixture is ready, remove from the heat and pour into sterilised jam jars (I used some from the supermarket that have the lids that pop in when they have sealed.  There’s heaps of info about how to sterilise them on the internet.)

 

I found this You Tube video really helpful and recommend it if you are going to give making Plum Jam a go.
Once opened the jars of jam will last for about 8 weeks.