Couldn't Resist - another Bazaar find

I love vintage!

There's just something about having something that's handed down from someone else that gives you a sense of history... and well for lack of a better word, connectedness. Maybe it is because I grew up with hand-my-downs most of my childhood being the youngest of four girls! LOL!

This darling, oh so darling tray isn't quite vintage but it looks it doesn't it? M's response when he saw this - "It looks old! Is that rust??" Pretty convincing I must say :) The rust spots look almost real, but they are carefully painted on to give it that weathered look. 

I couldn't resist. Just couldn't. Vintage. Cute. Cupcakes. I was sold! 

Making it Personal

We were blessed to be hosted by our friends over the June holidays. Before we left I searched for a simple but practical gift for them. And of course it had to be cute too :)

Here's what I found at a Bazaar - a pretty darling vintage metal box to keep notepads or whatever else they fancied.

I personalized it by adding a clear label with a simple Thank You note from all of us...

...and added a stack of home-printed and designed note paper stationary to place inside! These were cut carefully from A4 paper with a small cutter by my most helpful assistant, N :)

We had a great time - and our hosts were so wonderful! Can you imagine stocking up on snacks for the kids so we could bring it along on our outings?? Thanks again D and LP! Hope you liked the simple personalized gift from us :)

Father's Day Desert

Scrummy apple mango cranberry pie topped with vanilla ice cream! 

To celebrate Father's Day for the girls' awesome daddy, M, we decided to prepare him a delicious home cooked meal :) While he relaxed with a good book, N and I got our elbows dirty and prepared dinner and desert! K was blissfully taking her nap but I promised her she will get to put the finishing touches on Daddy's meal. 

Apple Mango Cranberry Pie Recipe

4 small green apples - cored, skinned and cut into cubes

1 small apple mango - remove skin and chop flesh into cubes

Handful of frozen cranberries

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1/2 tbs molasses (or brown sugar)

3 small squares of frozen puff pastry

1- Put the apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and molasses in a bowl and mix well. Add the mango and cranberries and mix again. N helped to cut the apples and mix everything together.

2 - Spray or coat the baking dish with oil

3 - Pour the fruit into the baking dish.

4 - Tear the small squares of puff pastry sheets into small pieces. N did a great job of this altho her fingers felt frozen after a while :)

5 - Place the pieces evenly onto the baking dish of fruit

6 - Add a few bits of butter unto the pastry

7 - Pop it into a pre-heated oven 180C for 30mins till pastry is nicely browned

8 - Serve with a generous scoop of vanilla ice-cream and enjoy it with your kid's hero :)

This Hits the Spot! Strawberry Sorbet on Vanilla Ice Cream

Last week we had a couple of people over and at the end of dinner the ultimate question was posed - Any dessert? I had the boring option of grapes or vanilla ice cream. Then it came - why not have all the above with an added zing! 

Vanilla ice cream topped with strawberry sorbet and grapes... All I needed for the sorbet was 

1 cup of frozen strawberries

One packham pear - skinned and seeded

About 1/2 cup of organic oat milk

 Threw all that into the blender and ta-da! Lovely strawberry sorbet to top a scoop or two of Bud's Vanilla Ice Cream. Perfect! As my dear friend said - she was looking for something to fill this "hole" in her tummy, and she found that this simple dessert hit the spot! It sure hit the spot for me, although I didn't even know I had one to hit :)

Here's a not so pretty picture I almost didn't take cause we were all too busy enjoying this yummy dessert!