Cinnamon & olive oil pancakes with salted butter caramelized bananas

That's why I'm easy...I'm easy like Sunday morning ~ Lionel Ritchie

Lazy Sunday brunches are one of my favourite meals. 

I would go so far as to say my husband and I are brunchaholics.  We used to brunch it up every weekend making our way round the plethora of cafes in Auckland (how we managed to afford to as poor students I have no idea!).

These days though, we tend to have our brunch dates at home.   I'd like to think it's coz we are just more comfortable at home but really it's probably coz we're just too lazy to go out.

Having said that, there are few things more satisfying than whipping up a massive stack of pancakes, fluffy french toast, super quick eggs bene, creamy balsamic mushrooms or fruity bircher muesli and getting to enjoy it while still in the comfort of your jamies and ugg boots.  Why go out when you can laze around at home, test each other with the brain teaser quiz in the newspaper and have as much delicious brunch food as you like for a fraction of the price?       
 
And if these Cinnamon & Olive Oil Pancakes with Salted Butter Caramelized Bananas don't completely convince you to give the at-home-brunch-date a go then I don't know what will!

Wedding = love Part 1: Getting ready, the ceremony & arty shots

{by jel photography}

A photograph is memory in the raw.  ~Carrie Latet

 
Our photos are here, our photos are here!!!

The DVD arrived yesterday and I am so so excited bout sharing them with you all!

The very talented team of Eleanor and James at Jel Photography, were our wedding photographers and we had an absolute blast with them!  So easy going, so happy and smiley and boy can they take gorgeous photos!

So without further ado...here's our Wedding = love Album!

(All photos taken by Jel Photography unless otherwise stated)

An ode to good mates, junk food and Trash Tuesdays

 

 

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. ~ Kahlil Gibran

 

From extreme highs and to another crushing low - life is definitely a roller coaster all right!  Just days after our amazing wedding, we got a bombshell: my uncle is very ill.  Terminally ill.  A few months they said.  

 

Devastating, heart-crushing news.

Not sure what it is about this year but I seem to be blogging about sad news rather often, our dear family friend, grandma and now this.  What a topsy turvy year.  So sorry about being such an Eeyore folks!  

 

What has been amazing though is the thoughtfulness of friends.  Mere days after sobbing it out to my mates, two massive parcels arrive on my doorstep chock-a-block full of chocolates, cookies and candies.  Ahhhh Junk Food: The Magic Cure All.  My gorgeous friends from my old team at work sent me down some of my fav sweet things to me to cheer me up.  Honestly, nothing beats sugary goodness when you are feeling low.  Absolute angels.  Love you, Lis, Alex and Pip.

The group of us used to go out for lunch on Tuesdays and get something gloriously greasy and trashy: McDonalds, KFC, butter chicken, pies - the trashier the better.  We called it: Trash Tuesdays.  So, as an ode to the good old days and as an homage to team GQ/DOH I'm starting a new post series by the same name to rant and rave about so-bad-but-so-good foods.  It might not be every Tuesday, but if it's trashy, you'll hear about it on Trash Tuesday.

 

Immediately upon receiving the parcels I attacked my two of favs: the Licorice Choc Logs and Pineapple Lumps.  I had every intention of photographing and blogging about them but they disappeared into my greedy tummy before my self control kicked in to make me stop and take photos.  I did get a couple shots of the licorice logs, but the pineapple lumps weren't so lucky.  The price they pay for being too addictive.

 

Winter down under: Feijoa, ginger & coconut loaf

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:  it is the time for home.  ~Edith Sitwell

It's getting mighty chilly down here in the south of the southern hemisphere.  Dunedin, is almost the most southern city in the world, beaten only by Invercargill.  When it blows a southerly in Dunedin, it feels like it's blown straight off an Antarctic iceberg.  Heck, it's so cold down here penguins roam the beaches.  I kid you not.

{C casually next to a penguin at Aramoana Bay}

Despite the cold feet, washing that won't dry and rainy dreary days, I actually quite like winter.  It's all about , steaming hot chocolate, baked puddings with lashings of cream and rib-sticking roast meals.  It's about family time, nights-in with a movie and Merlot, and snuggling under warm blankets.

In New Zealand, Autumn/Winter time is also feijoa time.  Practically nobody outside New Zealand knows what they are and everyone here had a tree in their backyard or knew someone who did.

Feijoas have a grainy texture like pears and guavas and taste like a crazy cocktail of pear, pineapple, guava and kiwifruit with a floral hint.  You either love them or hate them.

I love the crazy little things and couldn't wait to make this Feijoa, ginger and coconut loaf as soon as I got my greedy little hands on some.

Wedded bliss and a sneak peek

Life is not measured in the number of breaths we take, but in the moments that take our breath away ~ Hilary Cooper

Our wedding day was one of those days that just took my breath away.

I know it's so corny but it was the happiest day of my life.  Everything turned out perfectly and the things that didn't made hilarious stories.

The sheer overwhelming number of people who helped us make the day happen and the unbelievable generosity of people in their words, gifts and love was simply mind blowing.

You're surrounded all day by the people you care for the most in the world, people who know you inside out and want the best for you and getting to see them smile, enjoy the food and drink and have a good time gave us the BIGGEST buzz.

And to top it off, I got to say my vows to the person I love, in front of all our friends, family and God.

Amazing, overwhelming, indescribable.

Wedding nibbles: Spinach & feta mini quiches

6 days and counting...

Even as I type it out, I can't believe I am 6 days away from walking down the aisle.

It's been in the works for a year and a half now (and really 7 years in the making) but I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that this time next week I am going to be a Mrs. 

It's been a frantic, exciting, emotional roller-coaster ride of organising, baking and delegating.  From the excitement of the getting to celebrate with our loved ones, the giddy happiness of getting married to my man, to the profound sadness that my Dad will not be there to walk me down the aisle, see me in my dress or share in the big day.  It's been intense, stressful, exhilarating and all-consuming.

This week has been a frantic race to get all those last minute nitty gritty details nutted out - a making-lists and ticking-things-off-the-list kinda week.  

Luckily one of the things I had already sorted out, was my contribution to the ceremony nibbles which I made while back up in Auckland.  These bite sized Spinach and Feta Mini Quiches may not be the prettiest appetizer around, but they do pack a flavour punch, and are oh so convenient!

Sneak peek: My wedding cake

Whether you think you can or think you can't - you're right ~ Henry Ford

I think I must have a bit of a stubborn streak. 

Whenever someone tells me, no no you couldn't possibly do that, it just seems to make me want to do it more.

So when everyone was telling me I couldn't possibly bake my own wedding cake, by golly it just strengthened my resolve to do just that.   

Sure I've only ever used fondant once before, sure I've never made a multi-tier cake before, and sure I'm living in a different town and am only flying back 2 days before the wedding...she'll be right, mate I said.

Now with only 11 days to go till The Big Day, the stress levels are getting up there and whether baking my own wedding cake was the wisest decision in the world is yet to be seen.  So, my lovelies, here is a little sneak peek of my wedding cake in all its bumpy 1.5 kg worth of chocolate glory.  Wish me luck!

Weddings weddings weddings and a lemon raspberry & yoghurt roses cake with cream cheese frosting

Goin' to the chapel and we're 

Gonna married,

Goin' to the chapel and we're
Gonna get married
Gee, I really love you and we're
Gonna get married
Goin' to the chapel of love   

~ Dixie Cups

Wedding fever is in the air.

Now go on, admit it, you watched The Wedding too didn't you?

I swear I wasn't going to.  I was going to resist the hype.   But then, like millions of others all around the world, I got totally sucked in.  The outfits! The hats! That dress!  It's the water-cooler topic of the year.  Everyone has an opinion, from the Pippa vs Kate debate to that hat worn by a certain princess.  It is everyone's fairy tale and a bright happy moment in these tumultuous times.

For me, I have a double dose of wedding fever.  Not only was there the Royal wedding to obsess about but my own wedding is in *eek!* two and a half weeks so I most definitely have wedding on the brain.  I'm sleeping, eating and breathing wedding.  There is just so much to do!  So many decisions to make!  It's like the proverbial eight headed monster - you tick one job off the list and two more sprout in its wake.

So seeing as getting married is what all the cool kids are doing these days, it made sense to have a wedding-ey theme of Love & Marriage for the last round of Baking for Hospice.  For Round 15, I made Lemon Raspberry & Yoghurt Roses Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - it's an incredibly moist tangy lemon cake dotted with bright bursts of raspberries and covered in cream cheese frosting roses.  The rosettes idea is so gorgeous and so easy to do, had I not already baked my own wedding cake (sneak peek to come), I would have been happy to have one just like this on the big day.