All of these dishes pictured here were made today to celebrate my fifth child’s birthday. Luka is now officially 4 years old…young! He is our chatterbox, our loveable and entertaining “little pirate”. Most days he can be found engaged in some sort of imaginary play or crafty activity with his pirate hat firmly planted upon his head. 

Last year I made a colourful pirate cake complete with skull and crossbones. Of course I didn’t have a newborn to feed, feed, feed so I wasn’t time poor then. I was able to indulge my interest in cake decorating and came up with a truly impressive cake. This year’s birthday cake however was a lot more simple. I needed to come up with an idea that had a nautical theme, but could be pulled together in record time. Thanks to colourful fondant and a well stocked cake decorating box, I was able to fashion an octopus and a couple of boats as decorative features. The base of the cake was a Coconut Sponge (recipe posted on the 6th November) and the outside was iced with a smooth vanilla buttercream.  

Luka was so excited to take the box of Chocolate Brownies into pre-school today to share with his classmates and teachers. You can find the recipe on the post dated the 24th May. I stumbled across these pirate themed cake toppers at The Essential Ingredient in Rozelle – they are always well stocked with cake decorating and home cooking supplies and offer regular customers a much appreciated VIP discount card to use on all future purchases. 


Beef and Vegetable Stir-fry is a favourite dish of Luka’s and he was so keen for me to make this for his birthday dinner. I combined all the quickly stir-fried crisp veggies and tender beef with ground and fresh coriander, a spoonful of honey and soy sauce then tossed the lot through the steamed long grain rice. Of course he was negotiating a way to skip dinner completely and go straight to dessert. I had to keep pushing away his little hand from the icing! Luckily, my daughter had her friend Nairie join us for dinner and she has a particularly patient and persuasive way with Luka which saw him eventually shovelling stir-fry into his mouth.  


My husband’s parents also joined us for dinner on this special occasion, spoiling their grandson completely with gifts and attention. My mother-in-law also spoilt me by kindly and efficiently clearing up the entire kitchen – you can imagine how many dishes there were with our family feasting table full. They are always complimentary of my home cooking, including the Lemony Potato Parsley Salad, the dish of Roasted Beetroot with Vino Cotto, Cinnamon and Feta and the Veal with Bouquet Garni and Verjuice that I had also prepared. Dried bouquet garni is a heady combination of thyme, bay leaves, marjoram, parsley and pepper. It is often used in soups, but I tore open the sachet and sprinkled it onto the veal during the braising process. My reliable butcher David Chilcott expertly cut up the veal blade into large, plump pieces so that they would remain moist and tender during the 3 hour slow cooking time. 

Despite the laughter, clatter and conversation around the dinner table our newborn managed to sleep through it all, allowing me to sit, eat and enjoy a meal in its entirety at a leisurely pace.