Cup Weekend - Birthday Parties and Sheep

It's been a few weeks since my last post, but it's not just because I'm being lazy, I swear. I've been flat out with exams, a new job, bootcamp, birthdays, and everything else that seems to come up this time of year. 

Despite how busy the last few weeks have been, they have been really good. One of the highlights was Cup weekend. Long weekends are supposed to be a time to relax and take a break from everything. Some people get away for a few days, other catch up with friends, other take the chance to not much at all.

But not me. No, what did I do on the weekend? I spent Saturday and Sunday preparing a kids party, and Monday and Tuesday drenching, ringing, ear tagging and giving B12 injections to 300 sheep.As painful as that sounds, it wasn't that bad!

In my family, birthdays are a BIG deal. I spent all of Saturday cooking pizzas, cupcakes and cookie. Alana's birthday was on the Sunday, so I  stayed at my parents house for the night so that I could be there in the morning to make pancakes for breakfast, and watch the presents be opened.  The rest of the afternoon was a frantic rush to get all the cupcakes iced, the topping on the pizza's, the birthday cake make, the table decorated and all the other things that have to be done for kids birthday parties. 

Excuse the mess. It was all the kids, I swear. 

Halloween shaped cookies!

The final product. 

Her Birthday was the day before Halloween, so we made the party Halloween themed! All the little kids (and the big ones too) dressed up, and we decorated the house with pumpkins, spiders, ghosts, and anything else halloweeny that we found. The Birthday girl dressed up as a witch, and I thought that crimped hair would go well with her costume. She thought it was a great idea until she had to sit still for 45 minutes while a used mums ancient crimper on all her thick hair! It did look cute though :)

Birthday Girl! 

Decorations

Who would win, witch or vampire?

Unfortunately I didn't spend my Cup day trackside with a glass of Moscato in hand. I spend it paddock side, with an ear tagger in hand. My parents own a couple hundred acres of land in east Gippsland. They farm a few hundred Dorper sheep, as well as some cattle. 

Each year, all of the new lambies need to be ringed, ear tagged, drenched and given B12 injections. Being the amazing people we are, my boyfriend and I went down to help. One of my good friends for Uni has her heart set on marrying a farmer and living on a farm. She is obsessed with anything to do with the county. So, I decided it was a good opportunity to show her how a farm operates. She stuck around for a few hours on the first day, and was actually a good help for a city girl ;).  Although, it was quite amusing when she nearly got trampled by a heard of sheep running from the yard. 

We started the sheep on the Monday, but didn't managed to get them all done. I waved good bye to my cup day plans in exchanged for another day of sheep. Only it was worse this time because it was raining and they where WET! We finished just in time to watch the Cup. Even through we where huddled around a 30 year old TV with rabbit ear attenas that only just had reception, I was happy! 

After we finished the sheep I decided that the kids needed to be done to, so I chucked them up in the cradle. (The cradle is the thing that you put the sheep in when you doing what ever your doing to them.)

Note: I didn't really. Not children where harmed in the making of this blog. 

Family gatherings with a side of Coconut Chicken Salad In Crispy Wong Tong Cups

Last weekend was my beautiful cousin Bridie's Birthday. She loves any excuse to get everyone together, (who doesn't?) and what better excuse is there than a birthday? 

My aunty invited the family over to her place last Friday night, and asked everyone to bring a plate to share. My family is huge, so I think that was good move. It saved her from having to do all the cooking and cleaning!

I pulled out the trusty Australian Woman's weekly Cook Book (which actually belongs to my boyfriend!) and flicked through the pages, trying to find a good finger food recipe. I finally decided on one for  'Coconut Chicken Salad In Crispy Wong Tong Cups'. Not at all the kind of thing I usually cook! I only began eating Asian style food in my mid-teens, as I came from a very meat and 3 veggies family. Although I am really enjoying eating it, I am yet to attempt to making it. 

I trudged off down to the shops to get everything I needed, contemplating grabbing a packet of Spinach and Ricotta Pastry Puffs in case my Wong Tongs didn't work out - which I fully expected they wouldn't. 

Well, I was wrong! They worked out perfect, and they received many complements from all of my family!

So pleased :)

There was quite a few steps to the recipe, including making the crispy Wong Tong cups out of spring roll pastry. They where supposed to be made with Wong Tong wrappers, but they didn't have them in my local supermarket. The recipe listed Spring roll pastry as a substitute, and it worked out fine. I made the cups by lining mini muffin trays with the pasty, and putting the in the oven for a few minutes. It was relatively simple, but they looked and tasted really good! I am thinking about trying them again with different fillings. 

I had a great night with all of my gorgeous family. It's always good to see everyone, and hear all the latest news. Why is it that when your enjoying yourself time goes so quick? I felt like I was there for half an hour, and then all of the sudden it was midnight and time to go home! 

Do you cook a lot of asian food? What is your favourite recipe? How do you celebrate special occasions?