Beautiful Baby Shower

I am feeling INCREDIBLY blessed, blissed and loved up right now.

What an AMAZING day for such a beautiful woman - it was my honour, my privelege, my joy to be involved in a small way with my beautiful friend's baby shower for bouncing baby number 3.

Much laughter, much love, much joy - I will be riding this high for days :)

Words cannot describe how I feel right now so I will leave you with a few piccies - and a message to the mama bear....

"There is power that comes to women when they give birth. They don't ask for it, it simply invades them. Accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it."  Sheryl Feldman

First Market Appearance

I can't believe I haven't written about this yet - it's been so hectic here lately (in a good way of course).

We attended our first market courtesy of Shining Stars Baby and Childrens Markets on February 5th 2011.

To say the day was INCREDIBLY hot is a massive understatement - I arrived to find no air conditioning and was instantly grateful for the cold bags I pack everything in.

I can now safely say that my chocolate will withstand high temperatures - by the time I left at 1.30pm it was pushing 44 degrees outside and inside all we had was some large ceiling fans - however it was enough air movement that the chocolates were *just* starting to go soft.

I had a brilliant day - met the beautiful Nicci (FINALLY!!!) from Cupcakes in Camden - I have been a massive fan of this incredibly talented (and humble) woman for a long time - to actually met her in person I *may* have had a little superstar moment.

It was fantastic to met so many people and I'm looking forward to the baby showers and children's parties to come - don't forget, we do our Choctacular Parties for adults as well :)



Baby Shower

One of my beautiful friends is having a Baby Shower in a few weeks - this is baby number three but first time round baby shower and I am BEYOND honoured to have been asked to help with favours and food.

With that in mind - here is the inspiration board I am working from - the theme colours are purple/turquoise and gold (mum knows the gender but not many people do - lucky to say I *might* know who she is baking away so beautifully) and Fairytales (for me that means a happily ever after that comes from the blissful love of children). To emphasis this beautiful woman's spiritual beliefs the Sun and Moon also play a major role.

I have my first official meeting with the beautiful goddess next week - I cannot wait :)

Love is in the Air

image courtesy flickr

Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

As part of our packaging for Valentine's Day - we include a small card for you to write a small message for the intended recipient.

But - you don't know what to say? How about one of these beautiful quotes....

• Love is nothing...To be loved is something....To love and be loved is everything.
• True love never dies, it only gets stronger with time
• To love someone deeply gives you strength, being loved by someone deeply gives you courage
• My heart longs for you, my soul dies for you, my eyes cry for you, my empty arms reach out for you
• When I met you my heart skipped a beat - the sun became the moon, and cold turned into heat. Roses weren't red, violets weren't blue - All because I fell in love with you
• A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.
• And think not you can Direct the course of love, For love, If it finds you worthy, Directs your course.
• Brief is life but love is long.
• Let your love be like the misty rains, coming softly, but flooding the river. 
• For you see, each day I love you more
  Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.
• Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
  And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
• The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort of a perfumed garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain singing to it.  You and you alone make me feel that I am alive.  Other men it is said have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough
• A hundred hearts would be too few
  To carry all my love for you.
• He felt now that he was not simply close to her, but that he did not know where he ended and she began
• You don't have to go looking for love when it's where you come from.
• Love me and the world is mine.
• You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
• Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.
• Will you love me in December as you do in May,
  Will you love me in the good old fashioned way?
  When my hair has all turned gray,
  Will you kiss me then and say,
  That you love me in December as you do in May?
• I need the starshine of your heavenly eyes,
  After the day's great sun.
• Open your heart and take us in,
  Love - love and me.
• me how many beads there are
  In a silver chain
  Of evening rain,
  Unravelled from the tumbling main,
  And threading the eye of a yellow star: -
  So many times do I love again.
• True love is when you put someone on a pedestal, and they fall - but you are there to catch them. 
• Trip over love, you can get up.  Fall in love and you fall forever.
• To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world
• It's so easy to fall in love but hard to find someone who will catch you.
• I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long.  If we're in each other's dreams, we can play together all night.
• Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine, love, thou art every day my Valentine! 
Love is a symbol of eternity.  It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end. 
• I've fallen in love many times... always with you.
• What I need to live has been given to me by the earth.  Why I need to live has been given to me by you.
• For twas not into my ear you whispered
  But into my heart
  Twas not my lips you kissed
  But my soul

And my personal favourite...

If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.

Sweet...but a different kind of sweet...

Yesterday was a major moment in our family - our twin girls started school.

Yes I know it's not a HUGE thing in the big scheme of things - but for us this is truly momentous.

It is a massive milestone - we have reached the age of entering school (they will be 5 in March, just before the end of term 1) and everyone is still alive and intact and most importantly thriving.

Not a tear was shed yesterday - by them or by me - there was no need for tears, if there were to be any it would be happy ones that we have come so far, not sad tears - this is the next step in their journey of life, the one where they start to form their own path.

As parents our natural instinct is to want to protect them forever, there comes a moment where we have to relinquish some of that protection and trust another human being will care for them as well as we do.

They sat in the hall yesterday, waiting for their name to be read out, knowing for months beforehand that they would be going in separate classes (it is school policy but is also our preference - it's hard enough for them being identical twins where people often refer to them as 'the twins' and cannot get their names right, let alone placing them in a classroom where sub-consciously they will be compared to each other, that and well frankly neither of our singleton children will have a 'buddy' when they start school and it's just a further extension of us wanting them to be completely individual rather than a 'unit' as such - that said we do respect friend's decisions to have their multiples in the same class - their children, their choice) - holding hands and gazing excitedly forward - Lily (twin 2) name was called first, she turned to Isabelle (twin 1), gave her a hug and said 'see you at lunchtime' and off she went to the front of the line, and starting chatting to the children around her like she had known them forever.

Isabelle was then called in the next class (apparently they wanted to lessen the emotional impact on us as parents by doing one after the other) and off she went - both waved as they walked out with their respective classes and that was that - no tears, no looking back.

When I went to pick them up last night I found that they had opened the doors between the rooms at lunchtime due to the heat - the techers were surprised they didn't want to play with each other - I wasn't -they knew the other was there and that was enough - they are focusing on making their own friends, and for me that shows how far we have come - that they are so confident that they don't *need* their sibling by their side constantly - such a fine line betwee nurturing the twin bond and it being an all consuming desire that they *must* be together because 'they are twins'.

Onto the next step - and thank the powers that be scrunchies come in different colours and you can pin ribbon to hats :)

Ice Cream without the Fuss

Ever wanted to make ice cream but don't have a machine and it all seems too hard?

I know for me it seemed a massive challenge - then I found this awesome recipe from the lovely Shannon (you have to love Facebook for having friends be able to post things like this) and it suddenly seems so much easier.

PERFECT for with our Chocolate Bark or just on it's own :)

No mess, no fuss, add whatever flavours you want - what could be simpler?

‎600mls Thickened cream
1 tin Sweetened condensed milk
Whatever flavouring you want to add (crushed honeycomb, mini m&m's, oreo biscuits etc etc)

 

Whip the cream to soft peaks, add half the tin of sweetened condensed milk, then add your flavorings. Taste. Add more SCM to taste. Pour into an old ice cream container. Freeze over night :)

 

You use an old 2l Ice Cream Container - fill to just below the top to allow for swelling during freezing.

 

You could add mixed berries for a 'healthier' option.

 

Thats it! Pure creamy bliss!

Countdown is on

Thank you for your patience.....only 8 days to go til product launch - teaser pictures will be appearing over the next few day :)



Choctacular Party

Every event can benefit from a little Chocolate right?

Looking for an easy Birthday Party idea that won't break your budget but at the same time be a hands on experience AND all the guests will have a take home gift that YOU haven't had to bag up/pack/pick out?

Introducting Sweet Science Choctacular Party

Making Your Facebook Page Count

In this age of social media marketing - any steps you can take to make it easier for your clientele to interact can only be a good thing :)

Special thanks to Binkd for instructions on adding the 'Suggest to Friends' tab.

I haven't included screenshots but if you need them - shoot me an email and I can do a picture based tutorial for you :)

Welcome Tab

1.       Edit Page

2.       Apps

3.       If you haven’t already – add the Static FBML Application

4.       Go To App

5.       Change Box Title to <3 Welcome <3

6.       In the FBML Code box add

<center>

<img src="http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d158/manfur_me/sweetsciencewelcometab.jpg">

</center>

Change the http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d158/manfur_me/sweetsciencewelcometab.jpg to your image source code (this is the direct link from photobucket for my picture) – it must be no wider than 520pixels (mine is 520 x 700)

7.       Save Changes

To ensure this is the default tab that new likers land on

1.       Edit Page

2.       Manage Permissions

3.       Default Landing Tab – choose your welcome tab from the dropdown menu

4.       Save Changes

Contact Tab

This uses a form from jotform.com – you will need to go to their website and create your own form (or i can do it for you if you want)

1.       Create form at www.jotform.com

2.       Edit page

3.       Apps

4.       Scroll til you find your welcome tab FBML app (it will be called <3 Welcome <3 – FBML or similar depending what you call your welcome page)

5.       Go to App

6.       Scroll down under the save changes option – you will see a blue worded line ‘Add Another FBML box’ – click

7.       Click on ‘edit’ next to your page name

8.       Apps

9.       Scroll til you see the new FBML box

10.   Change the name as per welcome tab (ie to something like Contact Us)

11.   Enter the following code:

<center>

<img src="http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d158/manfur_me/contacttab-1.jpg">

Change the img src code to the direct link for  your header – again make it 520px wide (mine is 520 x 300)

12.   In Jotform – once you have completed your form click on ‘Source Code’ from the ‘Set Up and Share’ Tab

13.   Click advanced options

14.   Chose social network

15.   Then facebook

16.   Copy and paste the code

17.   Paste this line of code under the image code you entered

18.   Type </center> at the end

19.   Voila – a contact tab is made J

Adding ‘Refer to your friends’

http://www.binkd.com/social-media/how-to-add-a-suggest-to-friends-tab-on-your-facebook-page

super easy tutorial J

then you just drag the tabs around on your page to create the order you want – you can add as many FBML pages as you want – you just do the same thing each time

edit page

apps

find the last FBML you created

go to app

add another fbml box

edit

apps

find new box

go to app

enter html code

It should be noted there are many talented WAHP's on Facebook who can custom design your contact tab etc for you (most are a nominal fee of around the $10 - $20 mark) but you can design it yourself in photoshop/photo filtre, upload to your photo sharing server and use the link details listed above - the option is entirely yours :)

Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake

Now I like to cook but loathe dishes (doesn't everyone) - that's why I LOVE this cake - one saucepan, one tin, 2 beaters and a scraper - seriously how can you not love this?

You can vary this to suit your dietary needs:

For Diabetics - subsitute the sugar for your sweetener substitute (splenda/equal/etc) and use wholemeal flour
For Gluten Free - now I'm not 100% on this as I personally haven't tried it but you could substitute for GF Flour and apparently Saco make a GF Baking Cocoa Powder - I imagine that would be incredibly hard to source though.

As always - as the oven is involved please monitor little people when you are doing this :)

INGREDIENTS
(these quantities yield a 'lamington tray' - the large rectangle tins, halving will yield a standard square tin, quartering yields a standard loaf tin)

2 Cups Water
1/2 Cup Butter
3 Cups Granulated White Sugar (or Sugar Substitute)
4 Heaped Tablespoon Cocoa
3 Cups SR Flour (or GF SR Flour/Wholemeal SR Flour)
4 Eggs

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg (160 fan force) and grease/line your correct size tin (you can also make these into cupcakes)
2. In a saucepan combine water/sugar/cubed butter
3. Stir til combined and over medium heat stir until butter disolved, ensuring you wipe down the sides of the saucepan with your wooden spoon
4. Increase heat and bring to a boil - once boiling remove from heat and cool
5. Once cool add eggs and SR Flour - beat until well combined
6. Pour into tin and bake until skewer comes out clean (depending on size of cake/oven approx 30-45mins).

Once cool ice in your preferred method - if you make them into cupcakes - dip top into melted chocolate, cover in sprinkles and you will have mini-freckle cakes :)

This cake will also freeze - simply cool, wrap in glad wrap (or in the cupcake case place into zip loc bags) and freeze for upto 3mths uniced - when required thaw until soft and ice as normal - though if you can get any into the freezer I'll be impressed :)
Told you it was easy :)

Old Fashioned StickJaw Toffee

I made a discovery yesterday - if you have run out of patty pans OR if you are like me and loathe having to remove the paper from the outside of your stickjaw toffee's you can use Silicone Cupcake Pans.

You will still need to place them inside a patty cake tin to allow for shaping but otherwise you simply make, set and then remove the silicone case when you want to eat :)

WARNING - SUGAR SYRUP CAN BE DANGEROUS - PLEASE DO NOT HAVE LITTLE PPL ASSIST WITH THIS AND MAKE SURE YOU KEEP YOUR FINGERS OUT OF THE WAY

Makes approx 12-20 (depending on size of pans you are using)

INGREDIENTS

3 cups sugar
250ml (1 cup) water
60ml (¼ cup) brown vinegar

liquid food colouring (optional)

METHOD

1. Place sugar, water and vinegar into saucepan, stir over low heat until sugar has dissolved; brush down sides of saucepan with brush dipped in hot water to remove any sugar from sides of pan.

2. Increase heat, boil rapidly uncovered for approximately 15 minutes or until a small amount, when dropped into cold water, will "crack." This gives a good, hard toffee. (If you prefer the "stick-jaw" or more stretchy toffee, boil for 10 to 12 minutes only or until a small amount, when dropped into cold water, forms a soft ball between the fingers.) Remove pan from heat while testing.

3. When toffee is ready, sitr in any food colouring you wish to add, remove from heat, stand saucepan in cold water 1 minute. Remove pan from water, and allow all the bubbles to subside.

4. For easier handling pour toffee into heatproof jug. Then, pour into paper patty cases/silicone cases. (To keep good shape while toffees set, stand the cases in patty cake tins) Leave 2 minutes before decorating with coconut or hundreds-and-thousands.

5. When set - simply unpeel your paper cases/silicone cases and enjoy :)

Now the hardest part of all of this - waiting for them to set - if you get REALLY impatient you can set them in the freezer - I *may* have been known to do this in the past :)