Lunch Theft at work

For all you foodies out there who devote time into the perfect sandwich for lunch - only to have it stolen from the work fridge or locker. There is a plan :) Anti Theft Bags. When I heard the name I figured some sort of bag with a key or an alarm!

 

but no this clever company thought of printing what looks like green mold on the bag so people would be put off stealing your lunch :)

 so very clever - wish I had thought of this.

 Tada - nice and fresh for you to eat but looks nasty to others when in the bag. Ofcourse you can't tell your colleagues about this or they will start stealing your lunch again

You can get these cool lunch bags here

Things that make me smile

 . I love that it is Friday and the start of the weekend
 . I'm smiling because my husband is going to take me on a date this weekend
 . I am totally happy and grateful for my great family who will babysit for us
 . I can't wait to relax and think about nothing - sooo awesome
 . I love that the weather is so still and we live in such a beautiful place
 . I smile everyday when I consider all that we have -clothes, food and a roof over our heads
 . I am grateful for all my followers who read my blog - your comments make me smile :)

CUPCAKE WRAPPERS, TOPPERS - GIVE AWAY

So I have a giveaway for all you Cupcake lovers out there :) I know there are lots of you. All you party planning moms and foodies who love to bake and those of you who want to try your hand at some cool looking cupcakes :) yes really 

Thats A Wrap

I asked Beth from That's A Wrap how her cupcake wrappers and topppers came to be and she answered -

have been making cupcake wrappers and toppers for 4 months now. I have been paper crafting for over 15 years...... This spring, a friend of mine who is a baker suggested I make cupcake wrappers. Honestly, I had never even seen any handmade cupcake wrappers. I "researched" it and made some samples. I put those on my other etsy shop. They were a hit. So I opened up "That's A Wrap!" and the rest is history!!

Beth from That's A Wrap has a blog and of course an etsy store.

The giveaway: (there will be 3 winners)

1. A set of 24 black and white cupcake wrappers

2. $10 gift certificate to my shop

3. $5 gift certificate to my shop

You will get an entry for each thing that u do


You need to go look at That's A Wraps etsy store or blog and then comment in the comment section of this post which of her wrapper you love the best.

1) you need to be a follower of my blog

2) for an extra entry you can tweet about this giveaway
3) for another entry - you can blog about this giveaway

*please leave a link to tweets and blog posts in comment section below
** leave a separate comment for each thing that you do

this is an international give away so anyone can enter :)

this competition closes on Thursday 14th October 2010 , winner will be announced on friday the 15th

DATE AND ALMOND TREATS - WHEAT FREE

 This is one of those great recipes that can be made by young and old and is good for teatime with friends (or by yourself), good for lunch boxes or good for a easy gift for someone - no matter how healthy they are.
And the really cool part is even as young as a 2 year old can help you roll out little balls or logs and dip them in the coconut :) so it's good for bonding/baking together or for pre-school teachers to do with there class.

So this is a win - win recipe :)

 Now before making these please take note that you can vary the quantities of the ingredients to suit you and if you have more of one ingredient and a little of another in the house vary it with something similar (like you can swap almonds for some other nuts you have or use some peanut butter if you have only a few dates)

INGREDIENTS
200g dates - fresh sticky dates (you can use the hard block of dates but they are not as good)
50 grams almonds (ground or flaked or whole) which ever you prefer
50 grams pecan nuts
a handful of raisins
1/2 a cup of fine shredded coconut
Extra fine coconut for rolling in

First off pulsate the nuts in the blender until they are varying in size between crumbs and largeish chunks. You can finely chop with a sharp knife if you don't have a blender. Take out the blender and set aside. Take the dates and cut in half, take out the pips and then cut up into small pieces with a knife or place in a blender and pulsate (minus pips).Add raisins and pulsate a little more. Now add the raisins and dates to the nuts and mix with your hands. Add enough coconut to stop the mixture from being to sticky. At this point you could add some whole raisins/nuts/cherries/small copped up pieces of dried fruit or dried berries or dark chocolate and then squish/roll into small balls or logs.
place the extra coconut on a large plate and roll the balls/logs in it coating well.

Serve or package in an airtight container and refrigerate until needed

 

FREE ADVERTISING, BLOGGER LINK UP >>>> PAY IT FORWARD

picture from here

So I was thinking about all you lovely bloggers out there who maybe looking for more traffic - i mean who wouldn't? I certainly do and I know there must be others out there who would like to be seen and heard. So I've been thinking - how do you get more traffic to your site without forking out money? There is google ad words or advertising but they cost money and until my blog makes money I'm not sure sure if I want to pay up yet - there has to be another way.
So this is what I've come up with so far - if you have a blog like me who would like to see if other people may find you and like you and possibly want to read you daily or weekly then I am proposing lets do some sort of link up or refering to each others blogs :) I would really like to show off South African bloggers but everyone is welcome. 
So 1 in the comment section below give me : 

• the name of your blog  
• address of the blog
• catergory of your blog - eg fashion, food, family etc...
• country your blog is from
• your email address (so I can email you about who you reccomending and who is recommending you)

then the 2nd thing I thought  I would do is take all the blogs I got - (even if there is just a few of us it doesn't matter) I would compile a list and give each person 2 or 3 blogs that they need to highlight on their blog to their readers (wether it be a post or a button link) and inturn some one will highlight your blog and hopefully it will spread around the internet. Even if we gain a few more followers or readers it would have been worth the post/link of reccomending someone else.
It is like that movie Pay It Forward - do to others what you would like to happen to you :)
so if you are interested leave the info in the comment section below.

Happy Blogging




ps maybe you'll find a blog below you like and want to read - that would be cool to :)

pps would you like me to group related or non re-lated blogs together? eg: if you have a fashion blog would you like to recommend on your blog another fashion blog or something different like a food or family blog? - thoughts?

THINGS I MADE or ATE THIS WEEKEND

Well the Long weekend was nice :)

• I made pickled chillies
• I didn't braai on friday which was national braai day - shock!!!
• Instead I made mexican wraps  (Tortillas) with home made salsa, avo and sour cream and chicken
• Saturday I had an impromptu dinner at my friends house - salad and chicken - so kind of her :)
• Sunday - sitting in front of the fire we ate more mexican wraps and played cribbage - we couldn't get enough of the mexican this weekend it was so delicious :)
• I really wanted to bake but didn't get round to it - I'm going to try this week :) *fingers crossed*

How was your weekend?

Funny Quote

INVITATIONS for The French Party

 These are my invites from The French Party i did for my 30th birthday - thought you may want to see.

 the front of the invite with the name sleeve pulled over

the invite wording and design once pulled out of the sleeve :)

 I designed the invites in mind that i didn't need to customise put a name on each one before printing. I put the names on the see through sleeves of each invite which was designed to be pulled out and read. I tried to make the look of the invites feel like old school Parisian chic and aptly called the party - A tough of Paris.
Dress code was: Black, white and bling or a touch of paris, so guests could decide for themselves.

Anyway now you know :)

The French Party

So a little over a month or so ago... I had my 30th Birthday. Which of course was a good reason to plan a party :) YAY!!!

As you can tell  I love planning parties and especially ones that I can do whatever I want. So being my own party I could decide exactly what i wanted to do :) which was double YAY!
Then there was the moola (money) I needed to pull off my awesome killer party - life size props and dancing waiters and giant birds :) just jokes but my brain was filling to the brim with ideas if money were no issue but I don't have a limitless gold card so I needed to consult my other half (the husband). After chatting to him we came to an agreement of a budget (which is good or i would've gone over the top and spent way to much money). He was great (he was also realistic) and then I was let loose to make it happen. Of course being the woman that I am I wanted everything (dancing birds, oops i mean dancing waiters - OK just kidding) as much as i could get for my money so:
I bought quality food and set pieces of decor.
But the other little pieces of decor that i wouldn't be keeping after my party I searched second hand charity shops for - and boy did i get some bargains :) what woman doesn't like a great bargain?
And so My PARIS PARTY came to life :) this is what i did:

the bar counter that we redid and bar chairs that we painted / my husbands old record player he's had since a child

an old pine desk that we restored and painted white (chocolate mousses and creme brulees are in the open desk drawers for guests to take) An old lamp and lamp stand that we painted and recovered. / old type writer that i picked up at a charity shop

cheese board with old silver butter dish / screen we got made and then hung black and white printed french pictures on (frames i bought from charity shops and then spray painted black)

Creme brulees housed in the white painted desk drawer / the corner seating with white painted box for a "coffee" table - black and white painting done by Lorraine Burt

our bar counter we made-over and then added a nice vase of white flowers and ofcourse champagne which is very french  / chocolate and turquoise macarons

chocolate mousses nestled in the desk drawer /  eiffel tower vinyl

Hoped you enjoyed looking at my french party. I enjoyed every minute of planning it :)
oh i didn't take any pics of my chandelier that the husband bought for my party - oh well, next time.

HAPPY FRIDAY

 So i thought i would write what makes me smile at the moment: (in no particular order)

. my lovely family and friends who put up with my craziness
. loud music in my car while driving
. a warm cup of tea when my hands are cold
. pretty blogs (especially ones with good recipes)
. my understanding man - even when I am hormonal and make crazy ridiculous remarks
. the mind of a small child :) they are so encouraging and honest
. a good walk on the beach - beautiful waves and fresh air
. accomplishing a clean kitchen - dishes and all


So what makes you smile? go on do share :)

CUPCAKES WITH A HINT OF LEMON

original recipe from here   - thanks to Lana of Lanalou who takes the most gorgeous photos of her once a month recipe (sweet treats) and blogs about it - i make these cupcakes often and use them for all the party cupcakes i make :) I have changed and tweaked the recipe to suit my family  - as we are wheat free and love to use real vanilla from the pod. Ofcourse you can use vanilla essence if you don't have vanilla pods or leave it out if you prefer.

Cupcakes with lemon zest

100g butter
⅔ cup sugar (i use brown organic sugar)
1 cup wheat-free flour (you can use regular wheat self raising flour too just leave out the baking powder below )

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
6 tbsp milk
2 large eggs
pinch salt
1 vanilla pod - seeds scraped out in mixture
1 tbsp grated lemon zest

Mix all ingredients together starting with the butter and sugar - slowly add the rest once the butter and sugar are nicely mixed together,  beat well
Pour the mixture into cupcake cases
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown at 180°C
 Makes ± 12 cupcakes depending on what size cupcake cases you use
         

LITTLE BIRDS BABY SHOWER

  

On Saturday I had the pleasure of decorating for my sister in laws baby shower. It didn't take much brain storming to come up with a theme for her baby shower as she knows she is having a girl and her nursery is going to have accents of little birds - so we went with pink and white with little birds :) taaa daaaa

 

 

 

 

  

Working along the theme of little birds we added bird related things like feathers and eggs- All in pink of course :) I added wording "baby bird" and "baby girl" to a few special cupcakes and the top of the cupcake display had two little birds facing each other.

 My sister in laws mom arranged all the eats to be brought and so to try and keep things as coordinated as possible i brought extra little fondant birds and a butterfly or two to be added to various plates and platters to tie them all together with the theme.  

I also printed a picture of little birds and their babies put it in a frame and used pink ribbon and tuile on the table and scattered little pink flowers. Of course it helps that I have a little girl so pink fabric etc is easy to come by in my house :)  

Some of the Pink and white eats included were: turkish delight, scones with strawberry jam and cream, strawberries dipped in chocolate (red but also ties in with the pink nicely), Cream cheese with sweet chilli sauce and crackers, speckled eggs (all the pink and purple ones), pink decorated cupcakes (which i made and decorated).

 

Champagne and Cupcakes

 i baked chocolate cupcakes and had some pretty champagne at my party

As I sit here and type this at 2.20 in the morning - it is deathly quiet outside and I am content with the world.
I have had a very productive and crazy last 2 weeks (hence the lack of blog posts). My husband is on leave and my 30th birthday is over and done with (phew). Food has been baked and eaten and dishes have been washed and mostly packed away. My lounge is yet to be re-arranged as i quite like how it looks from my party :)
I had a grand time and was so happy and blessed with all my family and friends who took the time to celebrate and spoil me - (Thank you oh crazy friends)
I did manage to take some photos (look at the one above) but have still got to sort and edit them and try to sort out in my head how to post party photos as well as before and after photos oh how my hubby and I decorated/remade our furniture etc....

Just thought I would give you a hi/ hello world, I do still exist and a happy thank you to my friends, being brazen and simply Mel B and various others for sharing my birthday with me :)

well odious 20's and hello 30's

nighty nighty *yawn* I really should go to bed