On Saturday, we had an early Canada Day BBQ with around 50 adults and kids in attendance. Yes, we're mad. Thankfully, my superduper fantastic in-laws were here to help. They did so much, it was amazing. We all had a brilliant time and Caroline made her best beaver pinata yet! The gods of good weather smiled on us (although they did piddle a little on us at one point) and Paul made absolutely delicious food. He did ribs and pulled chicken on the smoker, and grilled sausages, burgers, and spicy lamb kebabs. He followed my Super Secret Homemade BBQ Sauce recipe (okay, not that secret - it's in my recipe binder) and made a gorgeous sauce for the ribs and chicken. The annoying thing about being hugely pregnant is the fact that baby takes up all your valuable stomach space, making pigging out impossible. I managed a burger and kebab, with a little salad. I had to eat in installments, so I was able to sample a rib and one sausage with supper. As usual, we bought far too much food and now have a freezerful of uncooked sausages and burgers, and a year's supply of bread rolls.
I decided to make a cake for Mia's birthday along with some cupcakes. The cake went very well, thanks to Nigella's failsafe Victoria sponge recipe and huge globs of fresh cream, strawberries, and good quality strawberry jam. The cupcakes, on the other hand, went very badly. They tasted fine, but a decorator I am not. I painstakingly cut out a bazillion icing daisies the night before and put them on plates overnight, only to discover in the morning that most of them stuck. When I tried to remove them, they crumbled. I swore. A lot. I salvaged enough to decorate sparingly, armed with the knowledge that greaseproof paper will be my friend next time. I also didn't realise that I should lop off the tops of any cakes that went pointy in the oven, making them nice and level for icing. Argh...just argh. Here's a photo that makes it all look much better than reality.
The rest of the day's photos can be seen
here.
No comments:
Post a Comment