30th Anniversary Celebration

On 11^th September 2013, my parents' celebrated their 30^th wedding anniversary. It was a celebration for thirty years of bliss, happiness, understanding, tears, friendship, hardship and most importantly....LOVE. Almost everything was homemade...and although I am certainly no Chef, the simple recipes certainly didn't let me down.

Happy Pearl Anniversary Mum and Dad...

Small gift... BIG heart! 

Tea Party for 8 (the table wasn't big enough to display all the food) ... There was actually plenty of food left over for the guests to take home... 

Rose petal Shortbread...This was my favourite bake of the day... the texture was perfect and i could imagine it being the perfect little gift to bring to a house party.

Mini versions of the shortbread

Homemade Devon scones... the recipe needs to be altered but they were still lovely when served hot with jam and most importantly...Clotted Cream! YUM

Jelly in vintage glasses...

Homemade mini Victoria sponge... easy as 1...2...3. Probably not the most impressive cake on earth, but it was the thought that counts. 

 This was cheated! I confess to shop buying this quiche...This is definitely a recipe i want to learn soon. 

A selection of sandwiches...Lochmir Salmon, Egg and watercress and classic BLT all in wholemeal bread.

Tea or coffee? Lady Grey and Betty's coffee blend...

Simple decorations really does make the difference. The attention to detail can really turn simple, basic things into the most thoughtful and elegant outcomes...

Quarter past three, afternoon tea! RSVP please! Homemade invitations. 

Charlseton Brunch

As part of Glasgow does Vintage, the city hosted a 1920s brunch... where pancakes and waffles were served with Charleston dancing!!! What a fabulous idea right? Although we were amongst the youngest ones there that day, my cousin Craig and I still had a great time learning some new dance moves haha!

St Emillion

After my tour around Clos Fourtet our guide took us just across the road to the world Heritage Site St Emillion. This small commune is full of history, every building on the long, narrow streets has it's own story. We only managed to have short tour around so this is definitely a place i will come back to visit again. The air was fresher, the skies were bluer and my ears have never felt so peaceful....I would love to spend a couple of days here relaxing and carefree. This is like Laputa, Castle in the Sky for me...

Chateaux of Dreams...

After class in the morning (wine appreciation for absolute Beginners), we were whisked away by our lovely wine tour guide Cyprian to a couple of wineries in the St. Emilion region on the Right Bank. Only a short 30 minute car ride, we were taken to the gardens of Eden! Although they were no Premier Cru Chateaux, it was still the best experience and we were blessed to have been taken around by such lovely people who were passionate about their wines. In the first wine tasting session, we had a challenge for our sense of smell. We were given unmarked bottles of different flavours and we had to detect each smell by memory. It was certainly a very difficult task, with flavours like smoke and Euclayptus being the hardest and most horrid to smell! We were taken through the journey of hand picking the grapes to finally boxing and then distributing to wine brokers and merchants. The whole experience was just so wonderful.