Another Christmas Over

Christmas is over for another year.  

I would like to wish Everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year for 2012.

We gave the above ramekin dishes to my son for Christmas

He has asked for these dishes forever.

A taste of what is to come for 2012

Ben will be busy preparing desserts for the ramekins.

I tried to arrange them to look like a Christmas Tree.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas.

I know I did

Best wishes

Kelly

P.s  See you in 2012

Gifts to Go!! Share the love

Almost there!!  One more present to buy.  Made some more Christmas Puds and Candy Cane Treats , both courtesy of Pinterest.   The recipes can be found here and here.   Presented the gifts in red noodle boxes. Made a little card and stamped it with stamp I purchased a few years ago.  (A bear holding a Christmas Tree)
I got the idea of the noodle boxes from a blog that I was reading a couple of days ago. I have been back over several blogs trying to find which one it was. I have used noodle boxes before and don't know why I didn't think of it.  So thanks to the lady of the blog that jogged my memory.

Last day for my daughter at school (Now on holidays for six weeks) I surprised her and three neighbours with a hot chocolate when they arrived home.  It was warm here but they still enjoyed it.

I will be linking up to 2805 Potpourri Friday. and Shabby Art Boutique (Inspiration Friday)

kelly

Ho Ho Ho Santa's already been to our house

Reluctantly , I packed away the Christmas table today.   We celebrate Christmas day with mum and my side , the week before Christmas. We can all get together on this weekend  and celebrate. It was a great day. I hate packing the table away.........  I do however set up a smaller table that stays until the new year. 

The day was perfect.   We chatted to overseas relatives via skype. (Which was a great surprise for Nan)

I love catching up with family , but it is over all too soon.  


Still we do have Christmas day and further festivities.

(I forgot to add in that I found the recipe of the Christmas pudding Truffles on Pinterest. The recipe can be found here.   Really easy and very yummy

I am linking up to French Country Cottage (Feathered Nest Friday) and At the Picket Fence (Inspiration Friday)

Kelly

Hot Chocolate Mousse

Dear Friends,

I present for you today, Hot Chocolate Mousse. My son Ben is definately a sweet tooth like his mother.  He set about finding another Christmas treat he could make and he settled on this one.  The place where we found the inspirational photo and recipe can be found here   Ben presented them in the dinner ware I am using for my christmas tablescape.  We hosted my mum's christmas here on Saturday and it was wonderful. We are off to my brother-in laws for Christmas day.   This chocolate mousse tastes superb.

This one looks to nice to eat.

Today I am linking too

Shabby Art Boutique                Inspiration Friday
5 Minutes Just for Me              I will be home for Christmas
The House in the Roses           Show Off Your Cottage Monday
2805                                         Potpourri Party
The Girl Creative                    Just something I whipped Up

Two Cups with a touch of Caramel

Ben's "Two Cups with a touch of Caramel"


Well here we are again.  Christmas is almost with us.

As part of our Advent activities we set a challenge for the children. They each had to make a Caramel Milkshake and present it to their father.  Dad was the judge.  (He didn't know who made which one)  Ben my 13 yr old made one he named "Two Cups with a touch of Caramel" and  Madeleine my 11 year old called hers "Caramel Boom Boom"  The children loved the challenge and went all out to win.  Of course , I took the photos.( As I do.)  Ben is sitting here with and keeps saying "Don't forget to say I won"  So there you have it. Ben won by .1!!  Very close competition. We love doing our Advent activities!!

I am linking to  5 minutes just for me (I will be home for christmas) and Simply Christmas Shabby Art Boutique.

Madeleine's  "Caramel Boom Boom"

Bens "Two Cups with a touch of Caramel"

The milkshakes were delish!!  The presentation was fabulous.  Well done kiddos.

A Family Tradition - Three generations of Of Wonderful Chefs (Not)

Well I can proudly say that we have handed down from my nana (on mum's side)  a tradition of not being able to cook!  But in saying that we do each have a signature dish.  That one thing that someone made the mistake of saying they liked  and we keep on dishing it up. The running joke when I was much younger and living at home was that if we told mum we liked something the next day a truck would arrive  with a years supply.  

Nan's signature dish is Trifle (Very nice)    Every family gathering ,birthday, anniversary etc.... (except christmas) without fail Nan does the trifle . Even last weekend Nan made the trifle for my Uncle's 60th birthday.  People there that hadn't seen nan for years said "Oh Yes Nana's trifle" Not a bad effort for nan who turned 97 this year. She is fantastic for her age  Nan still loves a good giggle,and  last weekend enjoyed a couple of  glasses of  gin and tonic.

Mum's signature dish is Irish Stew,  (Morning, Noon and Night. Slightly exaggerated)

I make a mean Pasta salad. People make the mistake of repeatedly telling me how nice it is....... and of course I keep making it.
I thought my daughter would break with tradition  and actually learn to cook, but of late my son has shown more promise.  My hubby is a great cook and so was my father.

I bring to you today Our Family Tradition of  buying a handmade Christmas Pudding. I have been for approx. three years wanting to purchase a handmade pudding from Mandi's Kitchen   I have seen them often at the Mornington Craft Market. I have finally purchased one. I also purchased her Brandy Sauce. 

The kids love her stand as they get to taste each of the puddings.   They are happy to buy each one.

Mmmmmm  Can't wait to eat it.   

I am linking to 5 Minutes Just for Me. I will be home for Christmas

and

Simply Christmas - Inspiration Friday

Have a great weekend.

Advent Calendar

Hi Everybody,

It's now getting to that time of year again.  I have been following Pinterest for awhile and have been inspired by Kimberley Peterson's Advent calendar. It is a very popular pin on Pinterest.  I will be sharing this post with Shabby Boutique's Simply Christmas event. I was inspired last year by Kerryanne's Simply Christmas to start the Advent Calendar. There are four of us in the family and each of us will have 6 activities to take care of. The activities will be kept secret from each other and NO PEEKING before the date.  I will start off  decorating the tree on Dec 1st.....  The family loved doing this last year and look very forward to this years activities.  The examples of activities we did last year were,  Having breakfast together (on a weekday ), Barefoot bowling, Go out looking at Christmas lights, etc........ If you haven't visited Pinterest before then take a look here.  It is very addictive. It is a virtual pinboard , and pinners pin their favourite ideas, images , etc to their own pinboard. There are so many great ideas.  My Christmas board is here for you to take a look at.  I have use alot of leftover christmas paper and stickers. I have sourced the words from a printable pin. I have tried to look for the source tonight and have been unable to find where I obtained it from. I will add it here when I find it. It was from Pinterest.

How I put the Advent together.

Gathering Tools and Supplies
1. Fiskars cutting tool
2.  Tag Maker
3.  Circle Maker
4.  Creative Memories cutting board
5. Hole Punch
6. Two pieces of  12 x 12 cardstock paper
7. Other scraps of cardstock.  (Colours that compliment your 12 x12)
8. Double sided tape
9. Ribbon  (That will fit through your hole punched holes)
10 Letters & Number stickers
11 Christmas Embellishments to your liking.




I cut the scraps of cardstock 2 by 3 inches. I used this measurement so I could fit all 24 pockets in.

Use double sided tape on 3 sides of your pocket.  My pockets are only able to accommodate the tag.














Using the tag maker , punch 24 tags.  The tag is actually too wide for the pocket. I then use the Fiskars cutter to crop the tags down to the right size.

Embellish the pockets to suit your own taste. Also use the hole punch to punch out some circles. I have numbered each circle accordingly.

Using the ribbon tie each of the cardstock pieces together. Tie ribbon to the top hole.

 (to allow you to hang the calendar)  Don't forget to tie ribbon to each individual tag. 

Hope this has helped

School Holidays

We are enjoying the second week of the school hols. The weather is wet and miserable.  Once you rug up and get moving it's easy to forget about the bad weather.  We took the van away and spent a few lovely days at a place called Echuca.What a lovely relaxing way to sit back and observe the family.

Is it a fish!!

Where are the kids???

Hope everyone is enjoying their time with their family.

I am linking to

A Beach Cottage - Good Life Wednesday

Have a great day.

Kelly