VIENNA

A few weeks ago we went to the night market at the Pakuranga Mall, we discovered this little Asian lady turning names into amazing works of art. You write down the name and then in just a few minutes she turns it into a beautiful sign, and if you like it you pay for it and get to keep it. She then added a little glitter to each letter - a step that I personally could have done without but it was too late to stop her. It cost $10 and I loved it!

I haven't decided how I will display it yet but will make it into a wall plaque for Vienna's bedroom.

Thomas the Tank Engine Cute Food Part 2

I created this delicous masterpiece for Hugo's party day with his family. 24 mini brownies - approx 6cm square (baked in my flash pan that Aunty Lyn couriered back from England for me - Yay for fantastic family!) decorated to be the carriages in Thomas' train. Note the co-ordinated wheels matching the goods they are carrying, the gummy bear passengers and coal. There were 12 with chocolate frosting and 12 with vanilla decorated in a variety of ways to give visual interest and a range of choices to the lucky party goers.


A big thanks to Ashley's Mum Evelyn for the brownie recipe! It was delicious with yummy chewy edges and a dense chocolatey centre - I will definitely be making it again.

Thomas the Tank Engine Cute Food

I made these mini 'Thomas the Tank Engine' inspired train cookies for Hugo's 2nd Birthday. They were yummy butter cookies with blue royal icing. Then I wrote on them with my foodoodler food colouring pens. I made 48 of them for him to take to Montessori to share with his friends on his birthday.


To go with the cookies were 24 chocolate mini cupcakes and 24 vanilla mini cupcakes, again in the Thomas the Tank Engine theme they were in red and blue paper cases and decorated with red and blue sprinkles.

I recently discovered that egg cartons are the perfect free packaging for mini cupcakes! How convenient. They fit perfectly, have lots of height so don't damage the frosting and fit a dozen!

Baby Led Weaning

As I sit watching Vienna eating her lunch, her faced smeared with marmite as she munches on freshly grown alfafa sprouts and a chunk of half eaten cucumber in her hand it amazes me that we still get questioned (with doubts) about baby led weaning. Baby Led Weaning is about allowing babies to learn to eat at their own pace the food that the rest of the family is eating, instead of specially prepared pureed baby foods. It is done all over the world and has been for many generations but now has a flash name and a website and book explaining it for you. We decided to follow this way of introducing Vienna to solids as it seemed simple, easy and just made sense to us. And yet ... we have had many people question us and doubt this way of life. Some of these questions have been presented directly to us and some not so. I think that it is because Vienna is a 'small' child that we have encounted so many negative responses, however Ashley and I were both 'small' as children and I think her size has a lot more to do with genetics. She is happy, healthy, energetic girl who is full of energy and is no way underfed. She does have a small appetite but she eats a wide range of healthy foods and doesn't over eat - even when it is a yummy 'treat' food. For me, who obviously has food issues, having a healthy attitute towards food and being able to understand and be in control of when she is full was a huge factor in this this choice. Now that Vienna is 17 months and I look back on her introduction to food I feel confident that we have done the right thing for us. Vienna controls what she eats, of course we give her a little help (especially with hard to manage things like yogurt), but she is in no way underfed or malnourished and no ... the reason is a 'small' child is not because she has been starved.