Birthday helper

It was Mr Meet-Cute's birthday last month and Ray helped me with decorating and wrapping some presents.

We used these 'playon' crayons, that are good for little hands. Ray was quite interested in how they tasted. Not so much with the scribbling on the paper.

He was quite good at putting the 'finishing touch' stickers on the parcels after they were wrapped. He also contributed some lovely dribble spots.

The card!

The cake! I used this recipe to make a delicious, moist orange cake with a crunchy top. I felt it needed a bit more birthday festive-ness though so I added the heap of chocolate ganache to top it off.

TD update

Mr Meet-Cute made me this ace card for my birthday yesterday. Was a pretty low key day seeing as I'm still in hospital! But, even though it's quite depressing having your birthday in hospital, it's good I'm still here because it means that Tiny Dugong has been staying put. I'm in my 28th week now, and third trimester, so if I did go into labour now the risks associated with premature babies at this stage are a lot lower.

Thanks Grumpy Cat!

I'd been feeling pretty emo and crappy all week, I blame preggo hormones and being really really over being stuck here! I wasn't going to bother trying to do anything birthday related, but then last minute changed my mind and ended up having a lovely birthday evening, with pizza and cheesecake and faux bubbles!

Christmas treats

 {Mrs Oliver's massive retro trifle}

I'm spending Christmas in Melbourne again this year. The city is so nice and quiet during this time, and being quite the homebody, I just love being able to potter about being a slob during the holidays! We're heading to a friends place on Christmas Day and are on desserts, so I've been researching a few delicious recipes.

{cake with cranberries // peppermint icecream candyland cake}

{christmas candy cheesecake}

{frozen chocolate-peppermint Bûche de Noël}

 {white chocolate tiramisu trifle // raspberry, white chocolate and almosnd trifle}

{winter pudding bombe // frozen grand marnier torte with dark chocolate crust and spiced cranberries}

{candycane white chocolate mousse}

{gingerbread gnome house I'm not seriously considering making this, but it is adorable!}

{ginger shortbread with raspberry icing // gelatina de navidad}

Spring time eats

What I ate this Spring. First of all: lots of fruit!

On muesli for breakfast, and smothering this amazing pavlova made by some friends.

Second of all: Lots of avocado.

And in less healthy eating news, I made this huge orange-chocolate cake for Mr Meet-Cute's birthday.

I enjoyed some good cafe breakfasts, like this porridge with macadamia and stewed rhubard at Milkwood.

Mitte is another cute neighbourhood cafe that does amazing breakfasts.

Some simple dinners at home: freekah salad with salmon, sausages, bread and salad, and my Mum's tuna quiche.

And some dinners out and about: Longrain thai salad, and fried chicken and slaw, and burgers from Belle's Diner (their fried green tomato burger is amaze).

Afghans! For some reason I got them on the brain and wasn't satisfied until I'd made some.

Reuben sandwich from Woolly Bully.

Spring has also been the season of smoothies.

Tea and scones, a winner whatever the season.

The joyous face of someone clutching a pizza from Al Albero.

Autumn Eats

Since discovering Sarah Britton's My New Roots website, I've been inspired to start eating a lot more from the 'legume family'.

Such as chickpeas! As in this bowl of chickpea, eggplant and pumpkin, with a tahini, yoghurt and sweet chilli sauce.

It hasn't all been healthy eating though (far from it). This was back at the start of Autumn in Auckland, when it was still sunny.

My birthday cake! Made by Mr Meet-Cute. This was over a month after my birthday, by the way. Not that I'm complaining.

Amazing whitebait fritters. Now that it's dark in the evenings my dinner shots are all turning out weird like this. It looks like the plate is on it's side - magical levitating fritters!

Mr Meet-Cute tried out this new technique for cooking eggs. It was a bit fiddly but worth the effort.

It's hard to go back to regular poached eggs once you've tried this version.

A delicious meal at Abla's was ended with these treats: coffee, baklava, turkish delight and halwa. I've had halwa again since this with some friends and no one else was into it. Which was great for me because I love it. Like eating delicious sand.

Snacks at home: hummus on toast and eggs on toast, tea on the side.

Takeaway treat from Milkwood.

Bibimbap

Eggs benedict, smothered in hollandaise, in Auckland. I love how kiwi cafes always have eggs benedict on the menu.

Cauliflower fritters topped with salmon for lunch, also in Auckland. I rarely go out for lunch, it's usually dinner or more likely breakfast. I'm pretty lucky to have some fantastic breakfast options in my neighbourhood. I'm mulling over doing a post that will round up some of my favourites. Stay tuned foodie blog readers!