Thanksgiving Dedication & 30th Birthday Cakes

Both myself and my husband are 30 this year which feels like a significant milestone, so we chose to celebrate combining a dedication ceremony of thanksgiving for our son and a big party with family and friends. But every party needs a cake... 

Here are the efforts of my first fruit cake using a good old traditional recipe from the Be-Ro cookery book, iced with marzipan and ready to roll icing. The leaves, writing and other details are piped on using royal icing of different autumnal colours. Very impressed with the final outcome, now just hope everyone loves it, from it's appearance to it's taste!

Out Of This World @ 30

It's my husband's 30th birthday so I have been creating cake!

It's a lemon curd cake with lemon buttercream icing....scrummy.

Here's a close up of the sugar crafted rocket :)

Sausage & bean casserole

Ingredients:10 pork sausages

olive oil

1 onion, chopped finely

a handful of chopped fresh parsley 

1 carrot, chopped

half a swede

1 parsnip, chopped

1 tin of beans

1 tbsp tomato purée

1 tsp mustard 

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

300ml veg stock

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Place sausages in the casserole dish and put in the oven to cook.
3. Heat the oil in a pan & add the onion & half the parsley for a minute.
4. Add the chopped vegetables (carrots, swede, parsnip) & fry for 4-5 minutes.
5. Add the veg stock, beans, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce & mustard along with the remaining parsley, allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Once sausages are cooked, add the simmering ingredients from the pan on top of the sausages & place back in the oven for 30 mins.

Serve with mashed or jacket potatoes and some fresh green beans or broccoli.

Autumnal Table Decor

A few photos of some creative table decor...

...a sneaky peek!

Ratatouille

Ingredients:

1 aubergine, chopped

2 courgettes, chopped

1 carrot, chopped
2 peppers, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

a handful of fresh basil, finely chopped (I was able to use fresh basil from the garden)

2 tins of tomatoes

1 tbsp of red wine vinegar
Olive oil

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan. On a medium heat fry the onion, garlic and half the basil for a few minutes.
2. Add the aubergine, courgettes, peppers and carrots for a 4-5 minutes.
3. Add the tinned tomatoes, red wine vinegar and rest of the basil and bring to simmer.
4. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
5. Serve with pasta or crusty bread, topped with some grated parmesan cheese.

Poppies at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Last year there was a magnificent display of ceramic poppies in the moat of the Tower of London. Each poppy represented a man from the Commonwealth who had fallen during World War 1. It was an amazing display and proved very popular. Sadly, I was unable to make the trip to London to see the piece of artwork, but saw many photos of it.

Now, some (not all) of the poppies are touring different places in the UK, one being the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP). As we did not get to London and YSP is on our doorstep we took a trip to see them.

Here are some of my photos from the exhibition...