Mango Madness!

Oh, if we could only send mangos to all our family for Christmas! :) We've had a bounty this year and still have some coming from friends and neighbours. Love mangos!!!!

Eldon and Rhys picking mangos

This is only 1/3 of the original amount we had....these are the ones too green to process
Preserving mangos by the dozens

The finished product!

Thanksgiving 2010

Well I'm only a couple weeks out of date here! We've been to convention, which was wonderful, had a mini holiday, and now we are anticipating Christmas with our friends. I am missing our family this time of year! But we had a nice Thanksgiving (a little early) with some of our great friends here in Mount Isa!

Our feast - Turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and greens, and of course, rolls!
Dessert was equally fantastic....pear toffee cheesecake from Wendy

...pumpkin pie (half with topping and half without) courtesy of me...

...and apple crumble just to top it off!

We had a wonderful evening playing games and stuffing ourselves and we didn't even have to go home that night...so nice!

Gingerbread Competition

I had my first Christmas show on Friday night at my friend's house and we had a gingerbread decorating competition! What fun! We made such a mess but we had a blast!

Here I am with my product display

Closer up
Close up of my display gingerbread house

Tyron and Lachlan got roped into doing the whisk game...you have to beat 3 egg whites to stiff peaks and then hold it upside-down over your head...first one done wins...what fun!

This is how the kiddos entertained themselves that night...Eva the porcupine

don't know if it was Rhys or Eldon who was clipping them to her back...

The boys hard at work

Lachlan adding the santa to the chimney

And the finished products...#1

#2

#3..the boys' effort...notice the santa head first in the chimney...

...and the savage in the yard with his fire stick and bonfire behind him...
All three houses lined up together....no one could decide a winner, so we ended up sharing the prize, which was a plate of cookies! (like we needed any more sugar!)

The fate of these awesome houses....#1 is going to be raffled off at the respite center where one of our friends works...#2 is being saved for family coming for the holidays and #3...well...it's already more than half gone! Yum!

Busy Weekend

Well, what a weekend we had! It's almost Thursday and I'm still getting over it! :) Our local fishing competition was on this weekend so the boys were busy with that. So, of course, that's our cue to have a girls night! We made a scrumptious asian meal, put the kids to bed, and had a foot spa! It was a great start to the weekend. Saturday Danielle had a stall at the Arts and Crafts Fair selling her hand made breastfeeding covers, fabric boxes, burp rags, handbags, etc....very talented!! Wendy and I watched the kids for the first half of the day and then we all met up again at the lake in the evening for dinner and fireworks. A storm had come up overnight and made the boys' slumber party in the boat rather rocky...so they were ready for a good nights sleep! :) The boys didn't win anything...but they had a lot of fun doing it!

Danielle and the kids playing on the futon

Crispy Orange Beef...yummy!
Our meal...Shallot Chicken, Crispy Orange Beef, Fried Rice and Prawn crackers! And chocolate cheesecake for dessert! Truly spoiled!

Danielle at her stall

All of us at the lake ready for fireworks

Pictures from Pink Party Night

I had a "pink party" last Friday for Breast Cancer Awareness Month for my business, The Chefs Toolbox. It was a great night...lots of pink food and prizes too!

Rhys wearing my feather boa...unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of myself!

The pretty arrangement I made from several different bouquets to get all the pink!
food table

Chicken and Strawberry Salad

Beetroot and goats cheese pizza

Beetroot soup

Wendy and her pink outfit!

Nesta, Desley and Lorraine

My product display table