Calvin's "Hulk Cake"

I made this white chocolate mudcake for Calvin's 5th Birthday - he had wanted a 'Hulk Cake' for months - so I had the cake toppers sent over from the US...

Elizabeth's Bridal Shower

For Elizabeth's bridal shower Mum did a fantastic lunch and made cheesecake and pavlova for dessert. I did my Death By Chocolate cake and Mum made party packs of little chocolate coconut biscuits with white chocolate icing to take home...mmmm...

Em's Birthday Cakes

On Em's 2nd birthday she had a delicious Baskin Robbins ice-cream cake with my favourite ice-cream - Chocolate Mousse Royale - and Cotton Candy ice-cream cones on the top...she also had little butterfly cakes and cupcakes for afternoon tea...

Handmade Belgian Chocolate in Katoomba...

We had lovely hot chocolate here made by The Blue Mountains Chocolate Company...the Belgian chocolatier who is making the chocolate has won lots of awards since opening in Katoomba last year...they also make ice-cream!

http://www.bluemountainschocolate.com.au/

Dinner at the Hydro Majestic...

The dinner itself was perfect - the only pickle being that the restaurant was quite understaffed...

http://www.hydromajestic.com.au/

I love it when restaurants have their menus online...

For Entree:
GRILLED FRESH WATER SCAMPI (Tim)
On a won-bok, crisp noodle salad
with a orange saffron dressing

VENISON CARPACCIO (Sarah)
Served with Celeraic Remoulade
and Lilypilly jelly

Main:

HERB CRUSTED LAMB RACK (Tim & Sarah - and - no, we didn't share!)
With Eggplant Parmigiano, parisienne potatoes
& Port Wine Reduction

Dessert:

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE ROULADE (Sarah)
Served with Bourbon mousse
and Berry Compote

BUTTERMILK PANACOTTA (Tim - this one was the winner - absolutely excellent!!)
served with Orange Caramel Glaze

P.S.

The 'make your own' waffles at breakfast are highly recommended - but watch out for the maple syrup drips!!

High Tea at the Hydro Majestic

Tim and I had a lovely time in the Blue Mountains - we stayed (and ate) at the Hydro Majestic - in the Deco wing with a stunning (unless it was foggy - which it was quite a bit) view of the Megallong Valley... This high tea was amazing (as was the Josophan's chocolate Easter sculpture in the lobby)!!

Jared's 3rd Birthday Cakes...

Tim and I made a red Lightning McQueen (from the Cars movie) cake for Jared's party - butter cake with very red fondant icing and vanilla buttercream.

The cupcake stand made another appearance...Mum made lots of yellow (Jared's favourite colour) cupcakes with the letter 'J' and 'Jared' on them. I did some with little racing cars made using M&Ms...

Valentine's Day Dinner...

After not going out for dinner last year (the first time ever - but we did celebrate at home with nice take-away pasta) we decided to go to The Hermitage in Leumeah again this year (we also went there on Valentine's Day in 2005)...

For entree I had baked mushrooms stuffed with gruyere cheese and something else I've now forgotten while Tim had scallops. I have a total blank for the mains!!!

For dessert Tim had a favourite: the nougat terrine encrusted with toffee and hazelnuts and I had (and was very pleased with) a mango mille feuille with marscapone and a tart lime sorbet heart... Excellent as always and still one of my favourite two local restaurants...the other fav. is Relish in Camden...

Our 10th Wedding Anniversary Dinner - Ports O' Call in Fiji...

What a perfect evening - we had booked to eat at what is supposed to be Denarau Island's best restaurant - Ports O' Call at the neighbouring Sheraton Hotel.

We caught the Bula bus (which leaves every five minutes and travels around Denarau Island - about a 10 mintue trip) to the Sheraton...

The dinner was absolutely perfect - the service was exquisite - and the food was fantastic...

We had such tasty homemade warm pesto and chive rolls (complimentary) when we arrived. It was a surprise when the chef's specialty of a Fijian chicken and rice dish with sweet chili sauce came out. We were entertained by a lovely pianist playing at a baby grand right in the restaurant and had an excellent tapas plate for our entree...this was (of course) follwed by a palate cleansing lime sorbet set on an half an orange and a slice of fresh pineapple...

Our mains were the best - Tim had a fillet steak on a chive and garlic bed of mashed potato with vegetables while I had French style rack of lamb with garlic, rosemary and mint with a beautiful serve of baked scalloped potatoes...

Dessert was perfect. Tim had a modern style tiramisu while I had the most delightful rich chocolate pudding...the chocolate decorations were miniature works of Fijian art!!

Definitely our most amazing wedding anniversary dinner - an absolutely wonderful evening!!

Our second day in Fiji...Teppanyaki at the Hamacho...

On our second day in Fiji we had breakfast at the Westin's Ocean Terrace Restaurant (which we did each day) - the food was perfect....and the fresh pineapple amazing!



For dinner we went to the Westin's Hamacho Japanese restaurant for Teppanyaki...we started with miso soup, then had gorgeous lobster dumplings. The chef then cooked us a mixture of really tender steak, chicken, lamb cutlets, fish, fried rice and noodles served with a salad and yummy sauces. For dessert we had chocolate and green tea ice-cream - and Tim tried some Japanese tea...definitely our best ever Teppanyaki!

Dinner in Fiji - the first night...The Steakhouse Bar & Grill...

We thought that we would be too late for dinner on our first night in Fiji, but we were able to get in at the Steakhouse and Grill at the Westin for dinner at 9pm (8pm in Australia) and had some really excellent steaks and amazing looking desserts...

Fi and Nigel's Wedding Cake

Fi and Nigel's Wedding cake was gorgeous - I loved the white chocolate raspberry swirl mudcake...and the roses were really beautiful...

Fi's Hen's Night

Fi's Chocolate Brownie Tower and Chocolate Mousse...mmmmm....

Tiffany Cake

My friend Catherine was having a 'breakfast at Tiffany's' themed party for her birthday this year, so had a go at making a bow with moulding paste brushed with some pearly powder. Used Eucalyptus paste and a bit of yellow colouring in vanilla buttercream to get the colour - inspired by Toni Braxton's wedding cake...silver hearts as inspired by the Elsa Peretti collection...

Retirement Dinner Cake

This cake was a white chocolate mud with cointreau (11" square) with a pale pink vanilla buttercream frosting for three ladies who are retiring from our school this year...

Fi's Engagement Cake

Fi's Engagement Cake was a chocolate hazelnut swirl mudcake...