I know some people don't care for Mother's days and call them yet another 'Hallmark holiday'. I don't think big expensive presents should be bought, but I do think having a day for things like this is a positive thing, and in NZ we often don't like to make a big fuss of these things (how tall poppy of us) and I think it is a good time to celebrate the people we love and have a reason to party! I know my Mum loves Mother's day and it means a lot to her so I arranged a party at the parents house for mums/aunts/grandmas.
I also did a
very un-kiwi thing (to the horror of some around the table) and made everyone go round the table recounting a favourite memory of them and their Mum. When the shock passed, it actually turned out to be a lovely experience. The story my Grandma's husband shared was particularly touching:
"I wasn't very close to my mother, rather my grandmother. I don't have many happy memories of my mother but one thing I do remember was that she worked six days a week, but every Tues came on the tram to Papanui visit us. (Christchurch's trams were heavily featured in these stories!) She used to give me and my sibling/s a threepence or sixpence. Somedays she would even give us a shilling, which in those days was a lot of money. When she was leaving, we waved goodbye to her on the tram. She did this for years. Only when we were older did we find out that she used to only ride the tram to the next stop and get off to walk the rest of the way home because she couldn't afford to go any further, she had given all she had to us."
I thought that was such a wonderful little story... and I'm very glad that I made everyone share. Cause look what things you find out! There were many more cute/funny stories too. I think it made the Mum's present quite happy :-)
Anyway! Here is what featured food wise...
My working space at 3.30am early Sunday morning.
I've wanted to use these for decoration for ages! Nom nom.
The finished cupcakes! I decorated a plate with icing writing too.
This is the pumpkin, spinach and feta cheese quiche I made.
I made up the recipe as I went along:
It was pretty much a simple short pastry with a skint 4 cups of flour, and a bit of wholemeal to top it up.
300 grams cold butter rubbed in and aprox 1/2cup of water to make it into a dough.
I then pushed it into the dish and blind baked it for 10ish minutes.
I filled it with:
-half of a green butternut pumpkin, diced largely and pre cooked,
-a bunch of spinach roughly chopped
-a block of feta cheese cut into chunks
-1/2 cup of cream
-6 egg yolks
-a dash of extra virgin olive oil
-salt and pepper to taste
I then whisked up the 6 egg whites and folded them into the rest of the mixture.
I cooked it on 180c for 30ish minutes then cooled, refrigerated and cut.
On the Sunday I heated it in the oven on 50c.
It was yummy!
My Aunty Debs made these red peper, rare beef and horseradish sauce hors d'oeuvres.
And she also made these chicken, cheese and grilled tomato hors d'oeuvres, she even made the pastry, what a star!
The sweet foods were the real feature of the afternoon though...
My 12yr old cousin made this lemon meringue pie
It was really yummy.
And his 15yr old brother made this amazing tower of custard filled profiteroles!
They were all stuck together with toffee and dotted with fresh raspberries.
NZ totally needs a kids masterchef for him to go on.
He also made these banana & chocolate ones too. OMG so good.
Chocolate mousse that my sister Renee and I made. (I had to use the eatable straws for something, they were sitting in the cupboard all sad and unopened from xmas)
Kisses left over from the cupcake decorating. And my fondant star! (I made marbled hearts too.)
The dessert spread...
Yes, I did try everything.
Lastly... Every Mother's day I think about those who don't get to celebrate it. The silly media makes such a big thing out of happy Mother's days, but for a lot of people it is not reality. Either their Mother has passed away, lives overseas or they don't get on with their Mother for some reason or another. Also for Mum's with new babies, babies who are clearly too young to tell their Mum how cool they are! So I like to make little gifts for these people to know that they are awesome.
I did a special cupcake and card for them each.
I wrapped them in celo and tied a curly ribbon around each!
Charlie helped me be Santa and deliver all the treats. It was a great success!
Maybe next Mother's /Father's day you could do something like this too?
<3
