Done and Dusted

Party 2 went off with a bang yesterday... In fact several. As it turns out sunny York days, sharp dead branches and balloons don't mix. However I enjoyed the party and (I hope) so did my guests. I will now try my best to re-cap the main events, cost and pros and cons of the party for you.

So I will start two days before the party when the cooking began. The party took place yesterday (Sunday) on my parents hobby farm 93.4km away (thanks google maps) in York Western Australia. Weeks of planning and organizing was now getting to the pointy end of the tree branch with the busiest part coming up. On Friday the day actually started quite badly. I went to the doctor thinking I had a simple sinus infection and hoping for a script and some advice to go and smell some Vicks. What I left with was a referral for a CT scan and the possibility of more surgery on my nose and sinuses. I felt crap. So I went home and did what always makes me feel better, I cooked. Cooking for me is something simple I can do to bring others enjoyment and thanks to Fleur's recipes, it always seems to hit the spot. The trip to the doctors also reminded me that although at times spending money on these parties can leave my budget tighter than Warwick Cappers shorts, there are more important things to life than mortgage payments and electricity bills (although I never pay these late!)

So anyway back to the cooking. Immediately after leaving the doctors I hit the shops and purchased most of the remaining ingredients, the others I left to get as fresh as possible the next day. I returned home, made a cup of green tea and donned my Harrods apron (thanks Rachel x). Already starting to feel better I then proceeded to make plum relish, chocolate biscuits, marble cakes, and the pastry for the jam tart. Having done as much as I could do that day for the party I went off for my CT scan.

Fast forward to Saturday morning post 2 Bacardi and cokes and a stuffed potato later...After a good hour at the gym and a coffee with the other Front Row Diva's I returned home to complete the cooking and pack the cars ready for the trip to York that night. First I cooked the potatoes for the potato salad, next the fried chicken and then it was a blur of lettuce leaves, raspberry jam and dirty dishes. At the end of it though I had all but the pork buns assembled, and the salads, but all the ingredients for these were individually washed, chopped and packaged in every single Tupperware and empty Chinese takeaway container I had. Finally the cars were packed complete with floral arm chair, several china tea sets and hand-made floral cushions. We (Gavin and I) set off for York at around 7pm and we arrived soon after 8pm.

We had a quick dinner at the pub and then settled in for the night on the bent sofa bed that sags in the middle with the really scratchy pillows in the lounge room. Its was about 10pm we found out country dust is a problem for Gavin...sneezes and sleep do not bind well. About 6am we gave up on sleep and just decided to get on with setting up for the party. We did really well getting all the furniture down into the paddock, and had an ingenious getting-over-the-fence-to-get-to-the-toilet-ladder-system all ready by about 9am. We had blown up the balloons we had brought with us the night before and set about attaching them to a tree. Now I don't know how Fleur got those balloons to the top of the tree in her book, perhaps she had a cherry picker, perhaps she had a jet pack  - I don't know, but we had a ladder over 2m tall and that didn't even get us (and when I say us I mean Gavin) halfway up the tree. We did the best we could witht the height and got on with it. At first we were doing ok, only a couple of balloons were lost to that great big fair in the sky, but as the wind started to pick up, the balloons started getting snagged on branches. When re-enforcements arrived with Gavin's sister and boyfriend we were already fighting a losing battle. The rising heat and thinner balloons meant that they were bursting as quickly as we could put them up. So quickly we took a few photos and hoped for the best. Some (about 20) did last the whole day.

The first guests arrived around 11.30 and enjoyed a glass of Blackberry Lemonade (of which everyone raved about thank you Fleur), and more followed soon after. Just after 12 I had most guests, except for one car that suffered an unfortunate incident with projectile vomit (its ok it was a 7 month old baby) so we started serving food. At this point I have to thank my guests for putting up with the wind, 30 degree sun and spiders in the grass. We did all settle down though and have an enjoyable picnic lunch. Only one snake was spotted during a toilet trip and I have photographic evidence that the getting-over-the-fence-to-get-to-the-toilet-ladder-system worked. A little later on we moved the chairs and table into the shade and had some tea and biscuits. Around 3.30pm the picnic wound up, and the best guests in the whole world used their cars to help get the furniture back up to the house.

After my guests had departed I did spend the best part of the next 3 hours washing dishes, getting grass seeds out of picnic baskets and cleaning raspberry jam from every conceivable surface known to man, but it was all worth it. At 6.30pm tired, weary and a little burnt, Gavin I set off for home.

On the next blog I will include photos and a brief outline of the costs :-)

Back in Blog(ing)

Ah, woe is me, I again have lapsed into the land of being a bad blogger...but don't despair blogettes, I am back in Blogging!

So there is a lot to fill you in on, but I will start with what gave me the renewed intent to continue my blog - an article in the latest Marie Claire Magazine that illustrated how women have made MILLIONS of dollars around the world from writing their own online Blogs. I don't need millions, but you know, 500 thou wont be a bad deal...Anyway I digress.

So the last time I wrote a post I was still planning to have the 'Weekend in the Country' party on the 1st weekend in spring on my parents property in York. That was however supposed to have been over 1 month ago, and no, I have not had the party. There have been a couple of reasons for this. One is animals, two is grass and three is bunt tins. It would appear that bunt tins are out of fashion in Perth, and for weeks I couldn't find one anywhere, new, used, to buy or borrow. Luckily however, when shopping for baking supplies for a baby shower I baked for, I found a mini-bunt tin (as required to cook the marble cakes in the book) and despite the large price, added it to my collection (and it is a collection) of bakeware. The next day I went around to my mothers house and sitting in her shopping bag was not one but two different types of bunt tins and this was the phrase that accompanied my astonishment that she found one "oh you can get them everywhere..." Obviously not the everywhere I went.

The other two problems, grass and animals have been just as difficult and time consuming to solve, but I think I am well on the way to having them fixed. Ok - animals, I was having a lot of trouble finding a travelling farm to supply me with some animals to come to my party, but last week when I was at the Perth Royal Show, I meet a man whose travelling farm is based in York. All I have to do now is email him and find out his availability so I can set (in concrete) a date around when the guests of honour are available baa lambs, moo cows, horsie neigh neighs...

The last problem is grass. Because the first date I had set in September had to be postponed because it was the same weekend as Fathers Day, the party was re-scheduled, then re-scheduled and now here we are on the 10th of October and well into grass growing season in the country (it can grow taller than the average 6 year old). My Dad is required by council law to get it mowed before the start of summer, and bushfire season. Therefore as soon as the grass is mowed and the cows, pigs and sheep are gathered (not the ones we are easting, they will be cooked first ;-) ) The party will be all systems go!

Watch this space...

Now onto how a faulty GPS made me a very happy person. One day, while travelling to somewhere I had never been before I turned on the GPS, entered in the address and set off. I travelled in the direction that I was supposed to travel in and drove up and down, up and down the stretch of road that the GPS promised the shop I was looking for. After around 10mins going up and down a 200m stretch of Albany Hwy I decided that no, a large Bunnings Warehouse had not been swallowed by the Hungry Jack's in its supposed place, but that in fact I was the one in the wrong place. Just giving up and ready to make my umpteenth u-turn something caught the corner of my eye (music from heaven please) and there they were, two beauties just sitting there on the pavement, the colour, the shape, the look, they were exquisite. The most two beautiful peacock chairs sitting outside a Good Sammy's store. Well I think I may have broken a land speed record getting over there, but 10 minutes and $85 dollars later I had two more peacock chairs in the back of my car, making me the proud owner of 3 peacock chairs out of the 8 needed for my finale party. Yipee! p.s. I did get to Bunnings after calling my boyfriend while he was at work and he googled it and put on a GPS voice and directed me over the phone.

The only other thing I am seriously looking for now is a roof. Not any roof -  a nice flat roof with a pretty city scape surrounding it in order to have another one of the parties I would like to host soon. So, keep your eyes peeled peeps!

Cows, Chickens and All Things Country.

Less than one month to go until party number 2, 'A Weekend in the Country' and I have a lot to do:

Finalise the guest list and complete the invitations,
Collect some more wicker picnic baskets,
Make a LARGE paper machie cow (unless anyone has a real one I can borrow...? Sheep....? Goat....? Pig...?)
Collect some children to come to the party, or maybe I could just invite them.
Purchase the CD's and vintage glassware, enamelware and china.
Buy a new cake stand to replace the one that I broke in the carpark of Big W after a long day at work.
Beg and Borrow wooden trays from family
And buy shares in a balloon company before I buy the required amount of balloons required for this party, which is probably enough to make a small child airborne.

HOWEVER;
I do have the tables and chairs needed, except the armchair,
I am very happy that Target and Big W has awesome girly gumboots that I hope people will purchase to get into the swing of the par-tay
AND, being a teacher, I have more than one blackboard.


In addition to this, I am really looking forward to cooking
- Blood orange, radicchio and frisee salad with orange blossom dressing
- Pork sausage buns with red plum relish
- Picnic bread with cheddar baby figs
- Macadamia and lemon fried chicken
- Roasted potato salad with preserved lemon and fresh herbs
- Iced chocolate cookies
- Marble cakes
- Jam tart with berries
- Fresh Lemonade with blackberries

Therefore I had best get everything else into order so I can get into baking! (and look up an anti-rain dance that works only on the 4th of September. I'm sure Wikkipedia with have one...

Pass me that picnic rug please...

Gumboots. Cows. Cake. Armchairs. They all go together don't they? So as you may have guessed I have decided on my next party. The swans have flown away, the angel wings returned to the angels and the kitchen mess from the previous party is now a mere memory. During a recent trip down south I was inspired by the rolling hills of Bridgetown and the numerous cows, sheep and alpacas of the South West to host another of the parties in the book Food, Fashion Friends by Fleur Wood (see earlier posts for the link to her website and book). The party in the book is called 'A Weekend in the Country,' and, in the book, it was a birthday party for the Author's husband. However I don't have a husband, therefore I can't celebrate his birthday. I have a boyfriend, but his birthday is in March and I simply can't wait that long... So instead I am going to have a birthday party for Spring! Therefore the party (weather being co-operative) will be held the 1st weekend in September.

Although I was inspired by the South West to host this party, particularly Bridgetown, I will host the party on my parents country property in York, Western Australia, which is only roughly a one-hour drive east of Perth, rather than the 255km trip to Bridgetown. This will, I hope, make it easier for my invited guests to make a round day trip, or if they so desire, can stay overnight at my parents 5 bedroom country house (pleeeeeeeese mum and dad can I have the keys?) (note to self: secure venue) and also there is a FABULOUS location in Bridgetown for one of the other parties, so if your going to make your guests travel, why make them travel to the same place twice?

Anyhow back to gumboots. And vintage glassware and china...Looks like I have some shopping to do, I'll keep you posted!

Photos, More Photos!

That's a Wrap!

Finally, as promised, a quick re-view of my first party - Cloud 9. Also are a few ;-) more pictures taken by MY official photographers... my awesome brother and his fabulous wife.

Overall I would have to say I am pretty damn proud of myself for the way this party turned out. My best successes are:
- Finding all the necessary decorations, serving ware and equipment. (It takes time, it took me at least 4 months, numerous hours on ebay, trawling second hand shops, asking friends to borrow things, and going to every swap meet, garage sale and flea market this side of Mars!)
- The pavlova for the Eton Mess and the dessert as a whole.
- Budgeting - I think I was quite creative in finding and using materials that were cost effective and re-usable.

On the flip side are the things I would improve upon if I was ever crazy enough to do the same party again:
- Setting up time. I allowed a whole day to do a quick clean of the house, decorate the lounge room, and cook the roast, apples and pumpkin. I had already cooked the truffles, dessert and mousse the day before. And when I say a full day, I mean a full day, I got up a little after six and my guests were not arriving until 7pm, so altogether, 13hours. However, as I mentioned in an earlier post, time still managed to get away from me and not all elements were completed. Very few of the stars got put on the wall, and the white painted clouds didn't get done. I would allow one day for the decorating and set-up alone, with 2 people.
- Cooking - I didn't do a dry run of the roasts first (as I was not sure who to feed all the pork to!) but in hindsight, I should have. It would have meant less smoke alarms going off, and not so starving guests.

So here are the final costs:
Plates: Average cost of a plate $1, number of plates - 20, total $20
Dessert bowls: Average cost $2, number of bowls - 20, total $40
Side plates: Average cost $1, number of plates 30 (extra for decorations) total $30
Swans: Total cost for 15ish swans $230
Gold candles: Number of candles, 9, total cost, $35
Serving plates and trays: Total cost $35
Gold Cutlery Set $150
Fabric for both sets of chair covers $150
Angel wings $120
Food: $200 (including $90 worth of meat)
Alcohol: $100
Invitations: $40
Carnations: $45
Cd's: $60
Stuffing: $60 (plus a lot more I had for free)
Black tablecloth satin: $35
Misc (blu tac, heart shaped tin, white napkins, star paper etc) $50


So, total cost of party? = Expensive!

But at the end of the day (or night as it was) it was most definitely worth it, I had a fabulous time researching, organizing, planning and hosting the party. I had a wonderful night with brilliant friends and family and I have my own happy memories to keep from that night. So now that the party is just a memory, my lounge room back to normal and my ebay account now idle, I find myself thinking...which one next? ;-)

Party Time!

Ok, I think I have teased you all long enough, lets get to the actual party time! I think last time I left off my blog bearley 5 minutes before guests arrived and just ready....

Set Scene: Doorbell rings, moments of heart palpitations and light sweat from hostess....Compose one's self with a swig of Kir Royal and open door, cue smile.

All of Gavin's and my guests arrived quite quickly (except 2) and drinks of Kir Royal were quickly in hand, yes, I did share the alcohol....and we mingled around the very small entry area, as my lounge room had been converted into a floating style restaurant. I passed around the salmon mousse and croutons, unfortunately the croutons were not as toasted as I would have liked, and instead were more like stale bread rounds, oh well. People were however suitably impressed by the decor, if not calling me just a little crazy for 'pizazz' factor of the decorations and layout of the dining area. 

It soon became apparent that unless we were about to start a game of sardines, that it would be better for all guests to be seated in the dining area, to give them more comfort. Once people were comfortably seated I went into the kitchen to check on how the entree was heating up. Almost done, I layed out the entree bowls, served another round of drinks, and as they would say on Masterchef, plated up. It took 2 people 3 trips to the kitchen to get all the bowls to the dining table, but yum! The entree was (I think) yummy. (I can say this because I just mearly copied a fabulous recipe in a book).

Conversation was thankfully flowing fine, so I set off back across the hall to check on main. Big problem number one. All dishes required did not fit in my oven as I had predicted. No matter, I solved the problem by placing one tray of pumpkin into a steamer and cooked one lot that one. Big problem number 2, more than 40mins later the pork was nowhere near done. No matter, just ply said guests with more alcohol. That done I went to check on the pork again. Still quite rare I put plan B into action. With Gavin's help we removed the 2 and a half racks from the oven, sliced them into cutlets and set about searing them in our two large frying pans. Problem number 3, the smoke alarms went off...twice. Thanks to my brother Justin who worked out how to hush them... By now I had worked up a minor panic, as guests had arrived at 7pm and has so far only eaten a small amount of salmon mousse and a small entree. And I had been giving out a lot of alcohol. Deciding between making my guests wait a little longer or give them food poisoning, I choose the first option and main was served a little before 9. Everyone loved the pork (Phew), and the brussle sprout and pancetta salad was yum. The pumpkin could have been cooked a little more evenly but overall I thought it was passable.

After dinner has settled a little while and conversation was still flowing nicely I went to finish plating up my favourite course for the evening, Eton Mess. mmmm Eton Mess. This was by far the easiest course to prepare and serve (except the chocolate truffles) but I am biased, I do love to cook and eat dessert and sweet things! Unfortunately once I had divided up all the desserts I realized that due to 2 bowls being broken in storage I realized I was 2 desserts short. Feeling my heart break just a little, I bravely faced up to the fact that I would have to sacrifice Gavin's and my desserts so all my guests would have one. But, to my fabulous surprise, Rav, one of my fabulous guests, informed me she could not eat egg. Shame, oh well dessert for me, her partner then announced he was not really a sweets fan and passed it bowl to Gavin. This course of the meal sounded like this. Nom Nom Nom Nom.

Next was coffee and chocolate truffles of which a person who shall remain nameless took two (Yes you Philip), and more wine, beer and Kir Royal. The evening began to wind to an end, and guests departed between 11pm and 2am. Gavin and I dragged ourselves to bed to face the cleanup in the morning...

T minus 12 hours

Imagine, its the night before the party. Due to the fact the chair covers took so long to make, I still have to buy all the groceries, make the chocolate minted truffles, cook the salmon mousse, collect 6 chairs from my brother and sister-in-laws and get some sleep. I was also supposed to attend the disco run by the P&C that night, but in my state of full party prep, I declined my invitation. Almost straight after school finished that afternoon I left school, drove to the shops, did the quickest grocery shop in the history of grocery shopping and worked on the chair covers. At 8pm I took a break to get the chairs, came home finished the chair covers and then cooked the salmon mousse, meringue and chocolate minted truffles. Not my best work, but it was edible.  By this stage I dragged my body upstairs and fell into bed.
   
Ok its the morning of the party - 7am. I am lying wide awake in bed with sheer panic running through my veins:

List of things to do:
- Collect 4 chairs, a CD player, baking trays, 2 trestle tables and Pyrex dishes from my parents.
- by a gazillion carnations
- buy the bottle of creme de cassis for Kir Royal drinks (after calling about 20 bottle shops in Perth the only place I could find it was De Vine Cellars in Inglewood).
- collect meat from my wonderful local butchers (Wharf st Quality Meats)
- set up the lounge room including covering the walls with black paper.
- clear all the furniture out of the lounge room in order to make room for the party furniture
- Make the entree, main and whip the cream and make the raspberry sauce for dessert.

You know, just the usual Saturday ;-)

To cut a long and boring story short I did manage to get everything done, but only with the help of my wonderful friend Nancy who helped my wallpaper my lounge room walls, by best friend Lisa that helped dress the chairs, put the candles in the vases and is my number one cloud maker, and her fiance Russell and my boyfriend Gavin who covered my windows with black plastic, put the stars up on the walls arranged the flowers in the swan and whipped the cream. So with just 5 mins before guests arrived, I was ready.

You bought how much Tulle?!

So the swan was fixed(ish), the local second hand shops were relieved of every gold edged plate and bowl I could find, I had trawled the local flea markets in search of glassware and further swans and I had even managed to buy 20 pairs of angel wings from Rave (probably due to all those fallen angles from the LYNX ads...Anyway, I digress. My next big problem was the chair covers. The ones in the book are dual layered, first a layer of champagne or pinkish satin/silk, covered over by a layer of tulle. I had previously looked at hire places for the chair covers, but at $20 a chair cover, times the number I needed = a lot. After much pondering and wishing I was a multi-millionaire, I remembered that a few weeks previously, myself and my boyfriend had attended an engagement party for one of his friends, and that the table cloths at the party were pretty much the colour required, made of the right fabric, and best of all, the brides mother had made the tablecloths, so hopefully I would be able to borrow them. Thankfully the lovely Amanda allowed me to borrow the tablecloths, and draped over the chairs they looked great, BUT, unfortunately there were only 9 tablecloths, and by that stage my guest list was 20 awesome friends. There was only one thing for it, it starts with Spot, and ends in light. So there I was one day after work during a Spotlight sale buying 40m of tulle, yes that's right - 2m per chair, times 20 chairs = 40m. Let me just say, I know, that is a friggin' lot of tulle. Add to that the 15m of Winston satin I bought for the remaining chair covers and I was starting to feel like perhaps spotlight ought to give me frequent flyer points, or at least a free thimble...At that point I brought all the fabric home, put it into the sewing room and shut the door for the magic sewing fairy to do her thing. Unfortunately, when I opened the door the weekend before the party, the magic sewing fairy had not done her job. Hmmm. So I pulled out the two massive rolls of tulle and set about cutting out the backs and fronts of the chair covers. I cut, sewed and pricked myself with pins for 3 days straight (thank god for long weekends) and by the end of it I was still only halfway through! I even had to laugh when I opened the door to the sewing room and it looked like a giant ball of cream fairy floss had swallowed my furniture, I was even dreaming about counting pins. But I knuckled down, came home from work every day as early as I could, and sewed like a mad-woman. By 9pm the night before the party, the chairs had clothes. Thank god!

1 Down - 8 To Go

Swantastic ;-) So, the party was Saturday night, and, if I do say so myself, I think was great. After a general bit of a converse with my keypad about details leading up to the night I will give you a brief run down of costs, highlights, lowlights, success's and difficulties...But for now, cast your mind back several weeks to when I was upset, nay distraught, at the possible loss of my swan....

So in the last blog I posted pre-party I told you that my beautiful swan, that I purchased $120 for on ebay (including courier delivery, was supposed to have been delivered to me, an signed for, but I had not reviewed it. Anyway long story short the sender of the package had just been given the wrong tracking number, and so, the next day I arrived home to have a note from the courier saying I  could pick it up from the depot. Super-excited I raced off the next day after work to go and collect my precious piece of porcelain. I arrived at the depot 5 mins before closing and signed for my package. I should have known something was wrong then. The box was on its end, just haphazardly at the end of someones desk. But I was just so excited she was not missing anymore that I put the very large box on the back seat of my car, strapped it in, and off I went home. I got home, put the box in the lounge room, and sliced open the box. It was packed full of cushion stuffing - yey I thought, its been packed carefully. But as I started to unwrap it I heard the unmistakable 'clink' noise of broken china. Be strong I said, it might just be one small piece, and you will be able to repair it, but as I removed more packaging it became much more apparent that the swan was in more than 20 pieces.

after downing a shot of something, I sent a text message to the seller. He at first was very supportive, and said not to worry, it was insured and, not to unwrap it further. As it turns out however, the excess on the swan's insurance was $150 dollars, and therefore not worth the seller making a claim. I then told him I wanted a refund, as clearly the goods did not arrive to me in the condition described! The seller said he would half the loss with me by refunding me $60. I told him no way, that he had all the control over the situation and I had none, and as I found out through one quick phone call to the courier, they actually don't provide a service for fragile goods. Ho hum. I upped my 'upsetness' with the seller, and he upped his refund offer to $90 (still leaving me out of pocket $30 for a heap of broken china. So I picked myself up from off the floor where I was throwing a 2-year-old style tantrum and set about sticking it back together. (Photo's below) And, may I just add, I have not yet got my $90 back...

Bad Blogger = Me

Ok so party one is now done and dusted... and washed, vacuumed and ALMOST finished being put away. I know I never let you all know the outcome of the swan drama, but you'll have to just wait a little longer... until the hangover goes away... but I will leave you this pic of last night and I promise to give you the full wrap-up asap x