Following on from my previous blog post 'Party Time' the next birthday came at the end of July when my grandson Harrison would see his first birthday. His parents wanted a special occasion as it was Harrison's first. My son and daughter-in-law of course asked me if I would bake 'some stuff' for Harrison's birthday, of course I would.
Almost every member of the family was invited; from our side and our daughter-in-law's side. Their modest two bed semi was soon packed to the rafters on the day, not leaving a great deal of room for guests to move about. Fortunately however the weather was good so the bulk of the celebration took place out in the garden. Everybody had a great time with no disagreements, and of course the home-made baking went down a storm.
I had a budget of just £15 to cover the cost of all the ingredients. As it was a party with lots of guests I decided to do individual cakes or buns so anyone could have their own rather than a slice, plus this also makes the cakes easier to serve; no slicing and handing out portions, our son and his good lady had enough to do.
For the limited budget I managed to bake: 100 mini fairy cakes (very small fairy cakes aimed at young children), 24 Bakewell tarts, 24 lemon Bakewells (like normal Bakewells but with lemon curd instead of jam and a lemon flavour sponge topping), 24 butterfly buns, 24 jam tarts, 24 lemon curd tarts, 24 coconut tarts (pastry base, thin layer of jam, topped with coconut/egg/sugar/butter mix - a firm family favourite), 24 chocolate cakes, loads of cheese straws, and 48 iced fairy cakes. Hasten to add there was plenty to go round.
Didn't do bad for 15 quid did I? What's more, I still had enough ingredients left over to do half as much again.
The point is if you are working to a limited budget then baking your own is much better value for money, plus home-baked goods always taste better than shop-bought if done right.
The next one would be our grand-daughter Tiffany's birthday in August.
Click on this link or right click and 'save target as' to get a free PDF of the recipes.
Thursday 25 August 2011
Monday 8 August 2011
Party Time
As I mentioned in an earlier post I’ve been rather busy of late catering for a few birthday celebrations for the grandchildren.
The first one was for my youngest grand-daughter ‘Tizan’ for which I baked a variety of different snacks, both sweet and savoury. I then received a phone call from one of the guests, "Those cheese scones you made were gorgeous! Will you make me some please?" ‘Yes, no problem, of course I’ll make her some’ and proceeded to do so.
Why my daughter particularly wanted some cheese scones for her youngest daughter's birthday bash I’ll never know. But I baked what was requested, no questions asked. Ours is not to question why, but merely to question how and why not!
Co-incidently the following day whilst I was exiting the local Co-op I was shouted over by a large lady sat in a car in the car park, "Pete, come here, I want a word with you!" ‘Oh s**t!’, I thought, ‘What have I done now?" I recognised the lady, my second cousin’s wife who was also at the birthday bash, "Them cheese scones you made were bloody lovely!" , is what she wanted a word with me about. ‘Thank God for that, I’m not in trouble after all!’ I thought. "Thanks for the compliment!" was about all the words I could muster.
My point is this; if you are careful and do your stuff to the best of your ability then the compliments will come your way. I love getting positive comments and rave reviews about my cooking, it give me a great sense of achievement; and although my feet were aching from being stood in my kitchen all day when I did the baking – I might have gumbled a little but the compliments made it worthwhile after all.
On a final note, the first person who commented about those damn scones has since placed a regular order for them and a few other home-baked things (coconut tarts and lemon bakewells) for which she pays me handsomely for my effort. So it all makes it all worthwhile and might be the start of a little earner of a sideline.
Wish me luck!
The first one was for my youngest grand-daughter ‘Tizan’ for which I baked a variety of different snacks, both sweet and savoury. I then received a phone call from one of the guests, "Those cheese scones you made were gorgeous! Will you make me some please?" ‘Yes, no problem, of course I’ll make her some’ and proceeded to do so.
Why my daughter particularly wanted some cheese scones for her youngest daughter's birthday bash I’ll never know. But I baked what was requested, no questions asked. Ours is not to question why, but merely to question how and why not!
Co-incidently the following day whilst I was exiting the local Co-op I was shouted over by a large lady sat in a car in the car park, "Pete, come here, I want a word with you!" ‘Oh s**t!’, I thought, ‘What have I done now?" I recognised the lady, my second cousin’s wife who was also at the birthday bash, "Them cheese scones you made were bloody lovely!" , is what she wanted a word with me about. ‘Thank God for that, I’m not in trouble after all!’ I thought. "Thanks for the compliment!" was about all the words I could muster.
My point is this; if you are careful and do your stuff to the best of your ability then the compliments will come your way. I love getting positive comments and rave reviews about my cooking, it give me a great sense of achievement; and although my feet were aching from being stood in my kitchen all day when I did the baking – I might have gumbled a little but the compliments made it worthwhile after all.
On a final note, the first person who commented about those damn scones has since placed a regular order for them and a few other home-baked things (coconut tarts and lemon bakewells) for which she pays me handsomely for my effort. So it all makes it all worthwhile and might be the start of a little earner of a sideline.
Wish me luck!
Thursday 4 August 2011
The reason for my recent absence
Hello! I'm back!
Yes I know it's been a while since I last posted anything on here. I've been rather a busy fella. You see I'm in the process of setting up a website of my own as a platform to sell my stuff on. This is still in construction but will be online soon; hopefully!
Other than that my main reason for my absence is purely down to my family commitments. 'Family first' is a policy I've always stood by my whole life. Recently a few of my grandchildren have had birthdays, have you noticed how with birthdays they all seem to happen at about the same time of year?
You see as I am such a great cook and baker, lol, I have been recently commisioned by family members to supply all the baked goods for my grand-kids birthday parties. First it was my youngest grand-daughter only a few weeks ago, next my grand-son last weekend, and still yet to come this weekend one of my other grand-daughters, so my baking commitment as I call it is still on-going. All this coupled with days out (after all it's the six-week's holiday at the moment), my internet ventures, and various other lifestyle pressures something occasionally has to take a back seat; and unfortunately my blog posts are it.
But I'm back with a vengeance now, or at least from this weekend, yes there's still day trips and my other internet ventures but no more party baking until next month.
I'll post you soon!
Pete.
Yes I know it's been a while since I last posted anything on here. I've been rather a busy fella. You see I'm in the process of setting up a website of my own as a platform to sell my stuff on. This is still in construction but will be online soon; hopefully!
Other than that my main reason for my absence is purely down to my family commitments. 'Family first' is a policy I've always stood by my whole life. Recently a few of my grandchildren have had birthdays, have you noticed how with birthdays they all seem to happen at about the same time of year?
You see as I am such a great cook and baker, lol, I have been recently commisioned by family members to supply all the baked goods for my grand-kids birthday parties. First it was my youngest grand-daughter only a few weeks ago, next my grand-son last weekend, and still yet to come this weekend one of my other grand-daughters, so my baking commitment as I call it is still on-going. All this coupled with days out (after all it's the six-week's holiday at the moment), my internet ventures, and various other lifestyle pressures something occasionally has to take a back seat; and unfortunately my blog posts are it.
But I'm back with a vengeance now, or at least from this weekend, yes there's still day trips and my other internet ventures but no more party baking until next month.
I'll post you soon!
Pete.
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