Spoilt rotten...

Originally uploaded to Flickr by Theresa Thompson

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a lovely quiet day at home playing lego with Henry, reading and having a little nanna nap. Not that exciting for a birthday but as we tend to celebrate birthdays over a few days rather than just on the big day I felt free to do whatever I wanted. I think it's a lovely way to do things and as we all have October/ November birthdays it pretty much guarantees days full of happy celebrations from now until Christmas!

Birthday celebrations started Friday night when I got home from work to find two lovely cumquat trees in half-barrel tubs on the verandah. Saturday we had dinner at a great local restaurant (they are few and far between in out neck of the wood). We had Red Snapper with celeriac remoulade and grilled asparagus; chicken roasted with fresh thyme and served with a quinoa salad; slow cooked lamb meatballs and homemade dips and breads. For dessert we had caramelised popcorn sticks with chocolate amaretti dipping sauce and an amazing creation called a 'Ginger Wagon Wheel' which consisted of two pieces of chocolate-edged gingerbread sandwiched with fluffy marshmellow and a shock of glace ginger paste in the centre - sensational. No kids menu, starched white napkins and great coffee. When we got home I was given this book:

On Monday my friends at work took me out for afternoon tea with homemade banana cake and last night we celebrated again with chocolate ripple cake and more books. I've been coverting these for a while now...

You can have a bit of a look inside 'Recipes From An Italian Summer' here and Tessa Kiros' new book here. Talk about spoilt rotten...