Choo choo birthday fun!

Great work by Aunty Bree to get her hands on the local sushi train sign - nothing we couldn't fix without a little creative license and a printer!

Gorgeous weather for the special day

Bouncy castle - so much fun (even for the adults, but shhh, don't tell anyone!)

Zara and big cousin Millie (sister of the guest of honour, Boston)

Zara and birthday boy Boston having some down time on the rug.
Check out those stunning silver sandals that little Z is sporting!


Gosh - they haven't done themselves justice in the photo, but these were my train fairy pikelets - chocolate and vanilla pikelets spread with jam, nutella and honey and then sprinkled to please the kids

Fab effort on the support trains by Aunty Kel and Uncle Mark - who ever knew that cake decorating was such a competitive sport!

The piece de resistance!

A very happy Bosi Bear!

Fabulous party favours - right on theme!

The Walker girls were at it again last weekend at a very lucky one year old Boston's birthday party in Waterloo, just out of Clare in country South Australia. I was tickled pink to be included in the fun as an honorary family member and was blown away by the efforts they all went to to put on a party like none the region has seen in a very long time!

From blow up castles, to Dora the Explorer swimming pools, it had everything a kid could dream for! Sand pit games, treasure hunts, swing sets and party food til the eye could see. Even the big kids were catered for with to-die-for homemade yiros wraps, drinks aplenty and lots of games to keep the kids out of trouble, and the parents at ease!

Dessert was the icing on the cake for me, with the kids over the moon with their dixie cups of vanilla icecream and bowlfuls of lolly mix ins. As for the adults, heavenly Golden North Giant Twins. Yum!

The hero of the day was the birthday cake - and boy, was it a winner! We were all up til late on Saturday night, watching Abby (aka hostess with the mostest) and her mum Carol (aka Boston's Nanny) painstakingly decorating the cake and bringing it to life. Popcorn smoke streams, Kit Kat roof and Curly Wurly chains - the imagination ran wild!

It truly was a gorgeous celebration - well done to Abby, Greg, Milly and Boston for throwing a magical day and thank you for opening your home to welcome me as a Walker wannabe!

PS. Thanks for the pics, Kelly!

My my, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender

Is it really Monday tomorrow already? I have had a hectic but oh-so-fun weekend on the run. Friday was dinner with the crew down at Russell's at Willunga - so so good pizza, with Rockford Alicante to wash it down. Opening night of Fringe as well, so there was excitement in the air.

Saturday I got up early to make chocolate and vanilla pikelets for my take on train fairy bread - kids food is crazy! Then Bree and I headed up to Waterloo to celebrate Bree's nephew's first birthday. Yep, I'm pretty much an honorary Walker family member these days! Lots of fun, my cheeks hurt from laughing, my tummy muscles are tight from all the giggling and I'm on a sugar high that will last the week.

Will detail all the party efforts over the next week, Abby certainly turned on a fabulous show (Giant Twin ice creams for the adults' dessert - need I say any more!?).

There's something about a weekend in the country . . .

Image from weheartit

The Company Kitchen

There's something really special about getting out of the big smoke (ha ha, that's if you call Adelaide the 'big smoke') and heading in to the sticks for a spot of fresh air. Last weekend, after my beautiful lunch with Lill et al at Port Willunga, I headed up to the Barossa to catch up with Lib and her little one, Lucy.

It was fab, just what the doctor ordered. I slept like a baby, enjoyed having someone else cook for me and cherished play time with Lucy. I could get used to this!

Miss Bree and Jo Jo met us for lunch on Sunday to help celebrate Valentine's Day and we did it in style at The Company Kitchen in Angaston. Now, I fancy myself as someone who has a finger on the pulse when it comes to knowing good places to eat - but I'd never heard of this place. How stoked am I to now be let in on this secret!

The Company Kitchen is a gorgeous place for a long lunch on the verandah, a roll on the lawn or a cuppa on the deck. Would make for a stunning wedding on the lawns - such a gorgeous backdrop. The menu was awesome, it catered for all tastes and all budgets and I found it hard to choose - always a good sign of a good place.

With all these weddings creeping up on me far too quickly, I stuck to a low key lunch of stir fried asian greens with chicken and vermicelli noodles, but oh, how I longed for the cosy, warm, comfort food of Bree's lamb shank and mash. Yum. Lucky for me, she's a caring, sharing kind of girl (she'd need to be, dealing with me every morning at 6.30am on our daily walk!) so she did plate up a mouthful for me to taste. Bless!

Joey and Lib went for the Atlantic Salmon which looked great, just wish I'd got a pic. And best lemon, lime and bitters I've tasted in a long time.

So lovely catching up with the girls - if only life was one long lunch xo

Beachside bliss

Yes, that is a wedding going on down there - see the bride in white? Port Willunga (no, not Mexico!) is one of the most beautiful spots for a wedding. I'm not much of a fan of beach weddings, but this one gets my vote - the old jetty is a stunning setting and makes for gorgeous photos.

Back to the real world (and enough spying from the clifftops!), Lill and her parents invited me down to have lunch with them at the Star of Greece on the weekend - an old little fish and chip shop that happens to be one of my all time faves.

Check out the plastic chairs and the hole in the wall servery that still dishes out the best fish and chips in town.

Doesn't look like much from the outside (I could hear our American friends' minds ticking over at the sight of this tin shed!) but inside, it's the most eclectic, inspiring and mood lifiting fit out you could imagine.

Mis-matched chairs, corrugated iron walls, vintage posters, antique bottles . . . anything goes. They used to use old jam jars as glasses, but have upgraded to Ikea lately which was a bit of a shame. I loved that nothing used to match!

And just check out this view! Diners are welcome to enjoy a pre-dinner drink on the deck out the back, overlooking the stunning stretch of Port Willunga beach.

Gorgeous interior, it's just stunning. Great for an intimate, casual and unique wedding.

As for the food? Out of this world! D & G opted for the King George Whiting and chips - famous in these parts. I just LOVE the test tube bottle of salad dressing - great idea.

My choice - poached snapper, confit prawns, vegetables a la Grecque and carrot puree. Yum.

Zucchini flower tart for Mariana - awesome big wooden slab to serve it on.

We got two side salads - greek salad and this delightful little combination of peaches, witlof, fennel and goats curd. I loved it - and I'm not usually an aniseed kind of girl. Great blend of flavours and textures.

This is the only shot of dessert I got - we inhaled them all too quickly! Completely blown away by what was on offer, dear Donna kindly ordered one of each! We had 'Violet Crumble' - an amazing concoction of home made honeycomb, chocolate mousse and some kind of delicious mascarpone kind of mousse thing.

Then there was ginger cake with orange and carrot that was a bit boring, a slice of summer pudding with fresh berries, coulis and vanilla yoghurt icecream and to top it off, burnt orange gelati with a gorgeous fruit salad and delicious custard - oh, and that dodgy shaped thing? Meringue.

Yep, we didn't do too badly, did we?

Thanks to Donny and Geoff for a lovely, lovely lunch. Absolute pleasure to meet Dan and Mariana and hope to one day head over and visit them in Seattle.

And happy happy birthday to the gorgeous Miss L. May 2010 be everything you dreamed for xo

From where you'd rather be . . .

Guess where?

Nope, not Mexico, although I did have a random craving for a Corona with a generous wedge of lime as soon as we got there - I think it was the straw umbrellas that did it for me!

Hang around for my next post when I'll upload some pics of the most gorgeous birthday lunch I had with dear Miss L, her folks and her American friends on holiday.

Until then, adios!

Ode to the Daddio

This one's for Zara's "buff" Daddy (his words not mine!) who was quite upset he didn't get more air time on The Polkadot Pantry, nor the credit he deserved for the role he played in the big day.

Well done Mark, snaps to you!

PS. He's going to kill me for this!

One little birdie

I promised pics from the best first birthday party ever . . . and here they are. Thank you so much Kelly (above with the birthday girl) for sending them through, they are GORGEOUS and truly capture the spirit of the day. What a lucky little girl Zara is, if this is her first birthday, I can't wait til her 21st or wedding!

Just check out the effort they've gone to with the birdie theme and pink and brown throughout. Stunning colour palette and I'm a big fan of polka dots. Loving the lanterns in the tree and the Amy Atlas-esque buffet.


The birthday invites and pics for the frames were from Alannah Rose - gorgeous stationery. Kelly's sister Abby went for trains from the same place for her son Boston's first birthday which is coming up in a couple of weeks.

The table centrepiece was stunning - wild twigs with hand made felt little birdies. Would make for a fun Christmas tree too!

Miss Bree was in her element preparing a range of goodies - her teacups were a hit with the kids. So easy and so effective - tic toc biscuits for the saucers, marshmallows for the cup, half a musk lifesaver for the handle and freckles for the froth. Too cute!

Fairy bread! A friend of the family made a metal cookie cutter especially for the occasion. Talk about having it all under control!

Great cupcake decos, almost too good to destroy!

Bree knocked my socks off with these little birds' nests. The bottom layer were mini chocolate cupcakes with chocolate fairy floss (from Jones the Grocer) on top as the 'nest' the chocolate eggs topping it off. Thank goodness Easter is on its way!

Then on the second layer, we have some more rustic birds nest, simply made out of those fried noodles and melted chocolate. They're always a hit!

Great work on the sausage rolls, Abby! You can't beat a good home made country style version. YUM!

Yep, they thought of everything - even a mobile coffee van to come and keep the adults happy (at 9.30am on a Sunday morning, it was a welcome arrival!).

Proud Aunty Bree was kept busy by the BBQ, handing out these ah-mazing bacon and egg muffins. Such a good idea for a Sunday morning treat. They were delicately wrapped up in trendy napkins and secured with a wooden peg. Such a classy touch.

Yummo spinach and feta tarts in the bottom corner - a great savoury addition. And iced cookies in the back corner, so cute.

The most stylish party bags going around! It was a seriously chic affair and this was the perfect finishing touch. Well done to the Walker girls for all their hard work to pull it together - I know it was a real family effort. Watch out for these girls - they'll be a name to reckon with in event styling and management in years to come.

Tweet tweet xo