Favourite Foodie Blogs

Chubby Hubby
Gourmet food ranging from desserts and cakes to three course meals. Chubby Hubby interviews top flight chefs who share recipes and tips

Dessert Comes First
Brings to mind the saying Life's short. Eat dessert first. Beautiful food photography with some photography tips too

Tummy Rumbles
Mellie from Melbourne, Australia's food capital, "satisfies the internal growl" with recipes and interesting food discoveries. The pics are delish as well

Favourite Tea Party Blogs

Cupcake Bakeshop Blog
Chockylit shares delicious recipes, photos and techniques including advanced

Morning Tea & Afternoon Coffee
Tea, coffee and chocolate with a dash of humour and some tempting recipes

Punch Served At Vicar's Tea Party

You'd expect punch to be served at the Vicar's tea party, but not when it comes with a whallop... in the form of a punch to the head, and the fruity kind as a chaser.

Vicar, Rev Ann Douglas was attending her farewell tea party in Woodley, Berkshire. Her final sermon had included a few parting shots about the bullying and intimidation she'd experienced while vicar. One parishioner blamed Mr Honour, the vicar who replaced her.

The London Times reports - As about 100 guests enjoyed tea and sandwiches, the unnamed man landed several thumps on Mr Honour's head. A guest said: "It was such a shock - you don't expect that at a vicar's tea party.

After the reverend was hit all hell broke loose. One old lady started grappling the other man's face and told him off."

Another guest said: "One minute it was very peaceful, the next he had a drink thrown over him and was punched in the face a few times."

This sounds like a scene from a British TV comedy series...
Mrs Bucket (sorry, Bouquet) of Keeping Up Appearances fame, would definitely not approve... hardly proper etiquette for a vicar's tea party.

The Independent reports that "the fracas could have been a scene out of Father Ted". Anyone who is a fan of the irascible Father Ted and his sidekick, Dougal, will be having an "Aha" moment right now.

Ah the memories... I'm off to get a nice cup of tea (forget the punch), and get out my old Father Ted DVD's. For some reason I'm imagining a tea party with Father Ted, Basil Fawlty and Hyacinth Bucket as guests. Now that would be an interesting tea party.

Do you have an ODDI-TEA to share? I'd love to hear your comments

Cupcake Frenzy

I'm in a cupcake frenzy over the Coconut Lime Cupcakes pictured gracing the cover of The Artful Cupcake

Check out the recipe courtesy of the Cupcake Queen at the cleverly named - Way More Than 52 Cupcakes Blog... I guess even for a cupcake queen, Way More Than 365 Cupcakes would be a bit excessive. ;)

She says - You won't believe how delicious these cupcakes are...You'll just have to make them yourselves to find out...but I assure you, you won't be disappointed. I got this recipe for Coconut Cupcakes with Lime Curd from the book by Marcianne Miller called The Artful Cupcake

Okay, I have cupcakes to bake. The cupcake photos and recipe look soo.... tempting.

Wedding Cupcake

How gorgeous for a wedding or bridal tea. Make your favourite cupcakes. Add some icing and a crystallised flower. Finish it off with an organza bow. Understated elegance on the high couture cupcake catwalk... or should that be... cakewalk.

This little number co-stars as one of the cover models on Fairy Cakes by Joanna Farrow. This is a favourite on my bookshelf. It features cup cakes for adults and kids, ranging from golf and fourth of july to kids cupcake themes such as farms and ladybugs.

Here's a book review of Fairy Cakes. This is the sort of book where the looking is almost as good as the cooking (and eating).

On the Cup Cake Trail

Like Hansel and Gretel, I'm on the breadcrumb (or at least cupcake) trail. I've found another cupcake stand. This one has five tiers and holds 38 cupcakes. Both stands collapse for storage. Pretty cool.

I like the bows on the cupcakes... quite easy really. It can be done with rolled fondant... and a bit of practice...

Here's a tip. Practise your bow creation sleight of hand with ribbon first. This way you'll get a feel for the look and colours you're aiming for, and what's realistic. It won't be quite the same as with the fondant, but it will get you started.

Cupcake Your Time Has Come

The little cakes are taking over the world. Cupcakes aren't just for kids anymore. It's the era of the high couture cupcake, with a stylish array of tiered cupcakes often taking the place of the traditional wedding cake.

Each cupcake is like a special little treasure waiting to be explored. There's something a bit decadent and pampering about having one of these delicious little morsels "all to yourself". This collapsible cupcake stand holds 13 cupcakes on 3 levels.