My very own little summer wedding Part 1

Yesterday was my one year wedding anniversary. Lets celebrate! For the occasion, I thought that I could share with you all some pictures of my very own 100% DIY tiny summer wedding.  

 I created and made the invitations myself.

I included a little checklist of things to bring for the wedding weekend.

My husband to be, Amine, being Moroccan and I just plain Canadian,  we wanted to fuse the two cultures into a wedding that would represent both of our backgrounds.

 Henna is an important ritual in the Moroccan wedding so Amine’s mother sweetly arranged a henna painting ceremony for us.

                                Us in a traditional Moroccan bridal outfit.

For the finished results...

My dream had always been to get married at my parent’s home so that’s exactly what we did. My husband and I, with the help of my parents, put together this small DIY outside wedding.  The wedding itself was held in the front yard and the dinner party afterwards was set up on the front porch of the house where I grew up. It was a beautiful summer day enjoyed by all 24 of our guests (that’s right, including me and my hubster, we were 26 in all so tiny is not an exaggeration)!

We bought all of our flowers from the Jean Talon Market in Montreal and I did all of the floral arrangements myself…. Including my bouquet and the boutonnieres.

                                                My floral workshop...

                                                        My bouquet!

                                                The boutonniere!

More of my summer wedding to come tomorrow!

It’s Party Time!

Yesterday was my sister’s hubby’s birthday. No, I wasn’t assigned to baking the cake…. but to come up with an appetizer and a fun little cocktail to go with. This is what I whipped up, with a little help from my good friend Martha.

For the cocktail: Cherry Bomb

I got this recipe from the Martha Stewart website.  www.marthastewart.com/recipe/cherry-bombs

I put my own little twist on the recipe.

-    1 cup of grenadine syrup
-    2 cups of boiling water
-    bottle of fruit sparkling water (I chose peach)
-    fresh raspberries

1. Mix the 2 cups of boiling water with 1 cup of grenadine syrup. Pour mixture into ice-cube trays and freeze until solid.

2.Put grenadine ice-cubes in a glass and fill with the sparkling peach water.

3. Garnish with the fresh raspberries.

Voila!!! A simple yet fun and tasty drink!



For the appetizer : Caramalized onion tarte with olives

I also got this recipe from the Martha Stewart website.
www.marthastewart.com/recipe/caramelized-onion-tart-with-olives


 I also put my personal little twist on the recipe.

-1 tablespoon of butter
- 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 big white spanish onion, finley slicced
- 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves
- All-purpose flour, for dusting
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (I bought the Tenderflake brand and it worked very well)
- 1/4 cup of black olives (pitted), cut in 4 lengthwise

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. In a skillet, melt butter and olive oil. Add onions and thyme, and cook until onions are golden and soft. I cooked the onions on fairly low heat for about 30 minutes.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry until it is about ¼ inch thick. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, transfer to oven, and immediately reduce oven to 400. Bake until pastry begins to rise, about 12 minutes.

4. Remove the partly baked puff pastry and place the onions in a thin layer. Springkle the black olives on top and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. The time may vary but you know it’s done when the puff pastry in golden-brown and crisp looking.

5. Cut into pieces and serve while still hot!

 Yummy!

Cupcakes are for girls!

I have this long-lasting traditional of being the birthday cake maker. When I was at school I made birthday cakes for my friends… now I’m all grown up I make birthday cakes for my work colleagues!

Here are some cupcakes that I baked for my girly co-worker’s birthday today. Normally I would post up my recipe but since I got a little help from Betty… the only thing I can say is that I added some white and dark chocolate chips for a little extra fun! I love the occasion to make princess cupcakes like these! Not fit for everyone, I find it’s important to seize every girly birthday opportunity!

Remember my market courgettes?

So I decided to eat my little yellow courgettes that I picked up at the market last Sunday.

                   Cut in half and simply toss with olive oil, chopped chives,
                   salt and pepper.

                                   Grill on the BBQ in a veggie basket!

                                                Simple yet delicious!