Little Miss Party Girl

We had a lovely party on Sunday. Little Miss 4 had a wonderful time with her buddies. They were entertained by Melanie Poppins with face painting, balloon toys, the party rabbits, entertaining puppets and a magic show.



Everyone enjoyed the hospitality. The chef made the sandwiches and sushi - and the impressive centre piece made of fruit and vegetable flowers. I wondered what he was doing carving at a melon, and low and behold, he pops this impressive vegetable arrangement on the table!

This is a small sample of the sweets - with more goodies outside on the children's table.

Little Miss 4 wanted a Barbie Mermaid cake. I made a Carrot Cake using my usual recipe and decorated it with Cream Cheese Icing sprayed with green cake decorating spray. I couldn't bring myself to colour the whole batch of icing green. The image of green tongued little people leaving the party was too terrible to contemplate. I covered the Barbie with pink tinged Bakels Pattinice White Icing to form her tail and bodice. The children all wanted a slice of the tail!

Happy little party girl making friends with one of the party rabbits. We all had a lovely party; thanks to all our wonderful guests for sharing a great party afternoon with us.

Making Sushi for Lunch

I know that everyone in the civilised world these days knows how to make sushi, but I decided to make some for lunch in the weekend and thought you might appreciate me sharing the process with you. Oh how times change; I think I was in my teens before I even tried it, now Little Miss 3 regards it as a staple.

Sushi Rice

3 cups sushi rice
3 cups water

Dressing
3 tablespoons rice wine
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
5 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons salt



Wash the rice in a sieve under running cold water. Place into a rice cooker with the water, cover with the lid and switch on to cook.
Place all the dressing ingredients in a small saucepan and gently heat until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
If you have a wooden sushi bowl, fill it with water and allow it to soak in so the rice doesn't stick when you get it out of the cooker.



Once the rice cooker has switched off, lift the lid and cover with a clean tea towel. Put the lid back on and leave to steam for about 10 minutes.










Using a large flat wooden spoon, place the rice into the empty wooden rice bowl. Pour the dressing over the hot rice and use the wooden spoon to blend it in.
Allow to cook before making the sushi.









Marinated Chicken

2 boned chicken thighs - skin removed
soy sauce
rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar

Place the chicken into a bowl and add the marinade ingredients. Leave to rest in the fridge until your ready to cook the chicken.
Cook the chicken on a hot grill for approximately 8 minutes each side. I always use a meat thermometer to test its done-ness. It should reach 75deg. C internal temperature when measured in the thickest part. Leave it to cool before cutting into thick strips.

Sushi Rolls

4 or 5 nori sheets
1 sliced capsicum
1 sliced spring onion
wasabi paste and pink pickled ginger

Spread some rice onto a nori sheet, leaving a gap at each end. Make a grove along one end in which to place the filling.



Line up your spring onion, capsicum and chicken. Using a sushi mat roll the sushi as tight as you can. Dampen the outside edge so it sticks the roll together.










A good tip for cutting even sized pieces is to cut the roll in half then into quarters, and again into eighths.












Arrange on a plate with pick ginger and wasabi. Sushi is traditionally served immediately after it is made.

If you don't want to make all the rice into sushi rolls it will keep in the fridge until the next day, and is quite delicious served on its own - deconstruction style.
Sushi rolls make a great snack to serve a crowd as well as a nice lunch snack for the family.