Happy Birthday to me

After having a horrible birthday this year, I decided to change the date to make sure that my new birthday was with people that I loved. So indeed it was post-poned a few days and I spent it with some of my favourite people in a small country cottage with great food, wine and a lovely home made birthday cake.

The simple things in life are the best things and I am glad I moved my birthday date a few days forward! A dirty seagull swooped down and ate some chips from my plate on my birthday this year -gross (that was only one of the bad bits!). My special Easter/Birthday lamb dinner was prepared with love and was probably better than most 5 star restaurants and my banana birthday cake with one candle (to signify turning 21, of course!) was just what was needed for a great birthday.

Thanks to the Bunny for making my special cake and to the D&E for a fantastic weekend!

Hope everyone had a happy Easter with loved ones.

Mmm, I love a bit of cake!
As Marjorie from Little Britain says, ‘Mmm I love a bit of cake’, as she is telling everyone in her Fat Fighters class that they are all morbidly obese. You should watch the DVDs if you can as that character is hilarious.

It has been a hectic week with work and have been in Switzerland and Prague in the last few days. I have loads of pictures to upload and lots of food stories to write about. I need to show you ‘Fritzy’s' phone and hotel room that my colleagues enjoyed, while we luckily (yay!) got upgraded to the Hilton. We had the most delightful fruit juices after our early morning trek to Basel, mixed by the most detail oriented bartender ever; watching him make our juices was like watching a master chef.

More to follow... and since it was my birthday too, I am trying to fill up on cake before the next round of cake comes along with the Dolce’s next week. Happy Birthday to all the Aries born in the last few days – best wishes to my favourite Godson Prince James-y in particular!

The cake in the photo is from Marks and Spencer, isn't it lovely? For 40quid, it can be yours.

Sunny Sicily
Am in sunny Sicily doing some more cookbook photos and research, of course this involves lots of eating which is tough but someone has to do it.

Will post pics and stories of my food adventures when I return. Am enjoying the sunshine and 27degree weather (which they consider cold!?) and the vast quantities of food my family is feeding me.

This is Mario Puzzo's 21st bday cake, not The Godfather author, my cousin!

Hale-e-luia!
Who's that handsome man cutting the cake? Well it is the man of the hour, Mr. Hale!
Pics are from a celebration on the Hale farm for Robbie's 60th. Am getting details on who made the cake (as it looks like there are Smarties on it) and what they are carving up for the guests to eat. Look at the lovely land they live on, lush green fields and gentle rolling hills.

My NZ mother Pat, the best lemon pie maker, is also in the pic with her hubby below.

Birthday wishes and hugs from the UK xo

Fit , fabulous and forty!A very nice cake served at a Mr.D's 40th bday party...am just not sure of the cake cutter's hand on the corner piece, am sure he washed his hands. I definitely grabbed a piece from the left hand side of the slab!

It was a vanilla sort of cake but all I really remember is eating the icing (sans hand prints) mmm.. so good. At the fest, they served watermelon martinis, which were divine. It was nice to have such a summery drink in such winter-y weather! When is the sun coming back to London?

TLCA mother's love for her sons was a topic of conversation yesterday. It is a great thing to hear about or witness first hand. A & I spoke about it over lunch at Mercatto on Toronto Street (yum!), he mentioned how he really appreciates his mother and really can see how much she means to him more and more as an adult.

I see it with my sister and her two little boys, who are under the age of 5, who are completely smitten with their momma. Then there is teacher Tami has three little males in the house that she is completely enamored with, rightly so, as they are all wonderful little people. She made these cakes for two of their birthdays; she and her husband the Karate Kid were up until midnight crafting these yummy, lactose-free creations. The soccer ball was a difficult one to make and needed extra engineering at the last minute. Will try and post the recipe - you could never tell that there was no milk in any of these cakes.
Not sure if this is completely accurate but perhaps, like fine wine, men appreciated their mothers more with age?

Minnie & MeHad a fabulous bday weekend, the only thing missing was a cake with Minnie Mouse on it. How come adult's don't get really fun cakes? I made a wish and blew out one candle on a piece of gorgeous chocolate, caramel, pecan, date and chocolate cake - 21 candles would not fit on that little dessert?! Thanks to all the birthday messages from all in the UK and Canada. I feel younger each day. Next year am buying a fun cake with Minnie Mouse on it.

;)

Home made doggyLook at this masterpiece made by Mrs. Lio. It is actually a character called Blues Clues, for those of you not up to speed with children's characters.