Last Saturday, we celebrated my niece Ruby’s first birthday. Ruby’s proud parents, my brother Mark and sister-in-law Ange, really put on a feast for all the friends and family who attended!
The first things I ate upon arrival were a couple of these delicious mini frittatas, made by Ange.
Jac happily helped herself to cheese, salami and rice crackers. There were three cheeses – cheddar, Swiss and feta. In the centre is a chilli and cashew dip.
On the table was a selection of chocolate and lollies for anyone to enjoy throughout the afternoon. There were Clinkers…
jelly beans…
Maltesers and more chocolate.
Aunties S and J arrived with a platter of sausage, sauerkraut and a creamy mustardy mayo dip. Yum!
My brother got busy cooking the meats on the barbie. These were skewers of lamb. Ange had marinated the lamb in lemon juice and rind, fresh rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Next on the barbie went the homemade hamburgers. Ange had made the perfect number of burgers to fit on the hotplate.
I couldn’t wait to eat a burger.
Not that I was watching them obsessively or anything. :-P
Fresh off the barbie, the cooked lamb skewers were enthusiastically received by all.
The hamburgers were meaty and delicious.
Next on the barbie went the chicken skewers. Cooking:
Cooked!
And of course, you gotta have sausages at a barbecue! Cooking:
Cooked!
Ruby was very distracted by all the comings and goings!
This was the birthday girl’s lunch. Ange tells me that the frittatas were Ruby’s favourite.
To go with all the meat, there were some yummy salads too. This one was a spiral pasta salad.
A creamy potato salad:
A spinach salad with tomato, mushrooms, corn and shaved parmesan:
No matter what, there’s always something Chinese at a family feast – mum made this huge dish of yee mee – crispy noodles with egg sauce, with zucchini, mushrooms and pork. On the side is a jar of pickled green chillies to eat with the noodles. They’re not super-hot chillies, but really delicious. There were buttered buns as well for people to make burgers and hot dogs with, and funnily enough, most of the chillies were eaten not with the noodles, but in buns with sausages and tomato sauce – pickled chilli hot dogs!
I was kind of busy taking photos (not only of food, but people too), and didn’t really eat as much as I thought I would. Family can see the people photos in this set on my Flickr account.
My brother kept cooking the barbie as more people arrived. More lamb, anyone?
I snuck a peek at the birthday cake, which Ange had made. It was in the pantry with a “1″ candle all ready to go.
Ange’s mum made these strawberry jam-filled butterfly cakes…
and these lovely lemon curd-filled butterfly cakes. These were my favourite. I love lemon curd.
Ange had made mini chocolate crackles and honey joys. I love honey joys! Here’s Kelloggs’ honey joys recipe and chocolate crackles recipe.
The giraffe’s outline was made from liquorice and its mane and tail were made from Roll-ups. The icing was buttery and delicious. You’ve set a high standard for your kids’ future birthday cakes, Ange!
Mark carved up the cake and we handed out pieces to everyone. It was all gone in about five minutes!
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
The birthday cake looks nice. Did your sis in law made it? Lots of nice food.
Oh my. All that meat looks so delicious. Too bad I am the only meat eater in this house (my two roommates are vegan).
I might make some bulgogi tonight to satisfy my meat craving. With that in mind, I don’t think I’ve seen you feature Korean BBQ on this site. Am I wrong?
Wow..and my eyes had a feast !!!
No, I wouldn’t say you were watching them burgers obsessively. LOL
Happy Birthday, Little Ruby ! May you have an enchanted coming year and many more wonderful birthday feasts to come!
Ruby and I share something in common, I had the very same hairstyle at her age!
that cake is adorable! do you know if she made it from a giraffe-shaped pan or just carved it? i can think of a few people i know who would appreciate a giraffe cake.
Oh my! This is such a great b’day party! I am really salivating when I see the skewers..hamburger patties…SAUSAGES!! and the pastries!! Oh no! I’m sooo hungry!! :D
WOW! MEAT, MEAT, AND MORE MEAT – oh yea and some other stuff…
Love the mini fritatas and the lamb and the burgers and the sausage and the pasta salad…
Your page always makes me food happy. :)
Oh my! The hamburgers on the barbie definitely caught my eye! Even more than the jellybeans and I love jellybeans!! :) I’m gonna copy your SIL’s idea of the giraffe cake and make a similar one for my son’s birthday. Hope she/you won’t mind :P
Happy birthday Ruby! :) Heh I sure hope she takes after her food-loving extended family.
On another note, that looks like a LOT of food for a 1st birthday party. I can’t imagine what her subsequent birthday feasts will be like and how tasty they’re going to be! Everything looks so tasty and fresh and appealing. I really love the giraffe cake as well, it’s sooooo cute!
hello TFP!
about a month ago i stumbled across your blog. ever since then, i’ve been trying to work out how to thank you for brightening up my day. so i’ll put it simply – thank you! :)
i don’t usually read blogs; but with yours, i haven’t been able to stop myself from visiting every day. i love hearing about your life and your food adventures.
i’m fairly sure you and jac need to adopt me, so i can attend some of these parties. they look like so much fun!
oh and, happy birthday to ruby! she’s absolutely beautiful.
What kind of meat were those burgers?
Kiran,
Yes, she did make it herself. I thought she did a fabulous job. I love how the giraffe was blue-eyed.
Zaw,
I’ve featured Korean food, including bulgogi, but not actual Korean BBQ. I have been to a Korean BBQ restaurant, years ago. I don’t think I was doing the TFP thing back then (that’s why there are no pictures!). I remember enjoying the food, but I was really impatient watching it cook in front of me (it was one of those restaurants where you cook your own meat and vegies on a hot plate built into the table).
allthingspurple,
Heheheh. My lovely brother was very patient, putting up with me hovering around with the camera as he cooked. But I dare say he’s used to it by now.
AZ,
Cool, since I’ve posted photos of Ruby, I’ve had workmates also tell me they had that hairstyle at that age, or that their kids did. LOL.
danielle,
She just carved it – no giraffe-shaped pan. I can imagine how cool animal-shaped cake pans would be! I reckon though, it would be tricky getting the cakes out without breaking the thinner/longer sections, like the giraffe neck, or elephant trunk. :)
Peky,
Yep, it was an excellent party, just the sort I like – with lots and lots of food.
Bryan,
Yeah, I guess every time I feature a family event it really emphasises how much we love eating meat.
Melissa,
Always good to hear. Hope I can keep it up for the sake of your happiness when you visit. :)
tunadip,
Can you believe I didn’t eat a single jellybean? I saved my tummy room for savouries! I’m sure my SIL will be pleased to know her cake inspired you to make a similar one. Hope it all goes well! When is your son’s birthday?
dea,
Oh yes. She is already showing signs of an impressive appetite, and she pretty much eats anything she is given. Around 60 people came, so we did need lots of food! I guess when she’s older and has her own friends who are the same age as her, the food might change a little (maybe fairy bread and chicken nuggets and mini pizzas? Hah – that’s just me fantasising about so-called kids’ party food I always wish would be served at adult parties!)
Hi Jessica,
No worries at all, it’s my pleasure. I feel really happy when I get feedback like yours – it’s lovely to know you enjoy the site so much. Thanks for taking the time to write/say all that. It’s comments like yours that keep me going! :)
MM,
They were beef burgers. So we had beef, lamb, chicken and …not sure what sort of sausages they were.
All the foods makes me feel hungry!..
Can I have some?
Can I?
Please..
I loooove your blog