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from the archives 2011 ..... flower themed afternoon tea party

28/2/2018

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In February 2011 my daughter hosted a flower themed afternoon tea party.  We had cupcakes, biscuits in flower shapes (of course), sandwiches, scones and chocolate covered strawberries.  It was a lovely afternoon and almost all of the decorations were made by myself with my daughter’s ‘help’!  It is really quite amazing if you think outside the box and use what you already have around the house.  One thing I did learn was the type of food was a bit too fancy for the 9 year old girls -they did not like the white chocolate scones or the flourless orange cake, luckily the adults did so next time I will just host one of these for my friends rather than my daughter’s!
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from the archives 2011 ..... two cakes in two days

28/2/2018

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in June 2011, I was commissioned to make two cakes for two very different occasions: a boys’ 7th birthday party; and a baby shower for a friend.  I was asked whether I could make a dune buggy cake, ‘sure I said’ then quickly searched dune buggy cakes online to see what I was in for.  As you can see it turned out pretty good – I even put chocolate crackle mixture around the bottom of the cake so that the buggy was driving over rocks and sand!  The baby shower cake had to fit within a pink butterfly theme and this was what I came up with.

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from the archives 2011 ......my daughter’s 9th birthday

28/2/2018

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each year my daughter picks a theme for her birthday party.  In 2011 it was a handbag party.  She chose it based on the handbag cake shown in a cake book.  As the cake was pink, the colour theme had to be pink, black and silver. 

​The cake
I baked a rich chocolate cake, iced it in chocolate ganache and rolled icing.  To save time and to make it more authentic, I bought black plastic handles and placed them on the cake.  I had a number of people having to take a second look as they thought it was a real handbag rather than a cake!

Wait a minute, this is a cake NOT a handbag!

Decorations
I made 21 tissue pom poms in various sizes in pink, black and silver and hung them around the dinner table and lounge room.  They look awesome and a cheap way to decorate a room.  The only costs involved are sheets of tissue paper and string.  I also had some handbag images printed and stuck them around the place with blu tac.  Along with a Happy Birthday sign.  With some small groups of balloons the room looked fantastic.
Please let me know if you would like any further details on the handbag party as a theme for your next little girls birthday.

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what to do with an abundance of passion fruit?

17/2/2018

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our passion fruit vine has gone nuts this year and we have been patiently waiting for the hundreds of fruit to ripen.  They are now ripening at a rapid rate so I have had to find ways to use this fruit.
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here is the vine, it has completely taken over the kids trampoline!

so what did I make with the passion fruit that are ripening about 10 a day.  I made passionfruit muffins, banana & passionfruit bread and passionfruit curd.  The curd was great, that used about 16 passionfruit!
I will keep you posted as to my other creative ways to use passion fruit, other than just putting it over ice-cream!
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tips for a great night @ home

15/2/2018

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with February being the month of LOVE, I thought I would share my tips for a great date night at home!
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spanish tortilla anyone?

14/6/2017

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I got inspired whilst watching spanish week on 'A Chef's Line' on SBS and decided to whip up one of my own!

for my recipe I used 1/2 red onion finely chopped, 3 baby ruby lou potatoes peeled and finely sliced, salt and pepper, 2 tablespoons of garlic infused olive oil and 3 large eggs.

heat up the oil and add the onion and potatoes, season well with the salt and pepper, turn the pan down to low and gently cook the potatoes stirring them often so they do not colour at this stage.  After 10 minutes or so or when the potatoes start to look translucent, gently whisk the eggs and pour into the pan.  Move the potatoes around a little bit so the egg is mixed through.

leave the pan on low heat and gently cook the eggs and potatoes.  When you see that the egg is cooked around the edges of the pan and lifting it up it is golden brown it is ready to flip.  Place a plate over the top of the pan, making sure the plate is bigger than the pan, and flip over onto the plate.  The gently slide the tortilla back into the pan so the bottom can cook through.  This should take around 10 minutes. You know it is ready when you give the pan a bit of a shake and if it all moves together - done!  Turn off the heat and leave the tortilla for 15 minutes or so before serving.  It tastes fantastic cold.  Serve it with a salad and sliced jamon if you are going for that spanish flair!

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spoil your Mum - @ home lunch or dinner packages

9/5/2017

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Mothers Day, what a great excuse to spoil the Mum, mothers in law and grandmothers in your life.  This year I developed a spoil your Mum promotion where you could choose to have me come out to cook you, your Mum and the rest of the family a decadent, sumptuous five course meal or cook the meal yourself with a specially written guide with everything you need to make the meal a special event for your Mum without the stress for you.  The guide includes all of the menus, shopping lists, timelines and recipes with my cooking notes.

but GREAT NEWS, spoiling your Mum can be done anytime of the year and so the packages will be available all year round.  Click here for more details on how you can spoil your Mum.


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welcome to the parties cooking community

9/5/2017

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hi and welcome to the parties cooking community.

my hope for this community is that together we can cook up and test each others fantastic recipes, find some helpful advice and tidbits that will help you to host your next fabulous and stress-free party and generally have a good chit chat on food, cooking and parties!
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    Debbie Harrison-Stone

    hi, I'm Debbie, a food lover, cook and culinary creative!  

    it is here that I will showcase some of my culinary creativity, highlight recipes and ingredients that inspire me as well as try to impart some wisdom around how to host, plan, prep, cook and enjoy your next party!

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