Muffin Tin Monday - Down On The Farm

Happy Muffin Tin Monday!  I haven't posted a muffin tin for a while, but we have been doing them most weeks.  In fact I had two to share with you today - one space themed, one Star Wars themed - but then I found out that the home of Muffin Tin Monday has changed.  The reins have now been handed over to Melissa over at Another Lunch, and the really cool news is, she has reintroduced scheduled themes!  Hurrah!  This is great news for me as sometimes I am lazy and can't be bothered have trouble thinking of a theme, whereas if one is handed to me, I am often more inspired to be creative.  It sounds weird, I know - being more creative when I'm not creating the theme myself - but I guess it's like finding it easier to choose something if you have less choices to choose from!

Anyway, The Point Is, this week's theme is Down On The Farm.  And since my daughter just loves animals, I decided to go ahead and join in!  I'll show you the space ones some other time, if I'm not really inspired by the official theme that week...

Top Row:  Hammer cookie (representing all the hard work the farmer has to do around the farm);  Chopped apple and pear with hen and dog picks (although the picks are not terribly visible in this photo);  Boiled egg Sheep with bocconcini head and legs.

Bottom Row:  Cheese hens with carrot details;  Bread-and-butter cow with Vegemite spots;  Carrot sticks for the ponies to eat (three of the muffin cups are paper ones with ponies on them).

I didn't take an After Shot this time, but she ate almost everything:  two carrot sticks and a few small bits of apple were left.  I was Very Proud of my sheep.  The Muffin pronounced it "too cute to eat".  Then she ate it anyway.  :o)

To see what other lucky kids got for dinner/lunch/snack this Monday, check out the new home of Muffin Tin Monday, at Another Lunch.  While you're there, have a look at some of her bento lunches;  they are super cute!

I'd also just like to acknowledge & thank Michelle (the Muffin Tin Mom) for hosting Muffin Tin Monday over the last few years - I have had a lot of fun joining in!  Hopefully Muffin Tin Monday has many happy years still ahead of it with its new host - and hopefully my girl won't decide she's too big for it for a long while yet!

May The Fourth Be With You...

Okay, so I'm a little late.

But on the fourth, I was kind of busy.  See, it's not only Star Wars day, it's also my birthday.  And also the birthday of my cousin's teenage daughter.  Since it fell on a weekend this year, we decided to share a party - and make it Star Wars themed!

This was our cake:

I know, he has no legs.  I was originally planning to make legs out of styrofoam and cover them with sugarpaste, etc etc, but time got away from me, and that never quite happened.  Nevertheless (and despite the fact that yes, I am aware his panelling is not absolutely 100% accurate), I am very happy with this little guy.  And with half of him made of Nutella mud cake, and the other half Margarita madeira cake, he was Most Definitely the droid we were looking for...

Oh yes, and there were cookies...

The goodies:

 

The baddies:

 

 Aww, isn't that sweet?  A family portrait...

I should say a quick thank you here to the Completely Amazing Callye of The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle, as my Yoda, Darth Vader and Millenium Falcon cookies are direct copies of hers.  The other designs I figured out myself from photos of the various characters/Death Stars/light sabers.

In case you were wondering, The Muffin helped a little with these - she did Leia's and Han's hair, and also some of the stars.  And the other birthday girl helped out too - she filled in Darth Maul's face with red, and also did the red sections on Boba Fett - her first time with a piping bag!  We gave her a cake cookbook for her birthday after that (can you tell the children in our family are being steadily dragged into my baking obsession?  I Shall Assimilate Them All, mwah ha haaah!  Ahem.) 

I wanted to incorporate some of the more iconic characters from the new(er) movies as well as the originals, as I (as the "old") was dressing as Leia, while the Other Birthday Girl (as the "new") was coming as Padme.  So Amidala and Darth Maul were the obvious choices.  Amidala was a bit of a challenge...

It was very hard to avoid her resembling a Balinese dancer, I'm afraid, but in context at least she was easily recognisable.  Here's the whole gang:

I must say, the most amusing part of sharing this party with my not-so-little-anymore cousin was that she agreed to this party theme Having Never Seen Star Wars.  I am not kidding - I bet most fifteen year old girls are not such good sports!   So during the week before the party, we had her over for a sleepover, so she could stay up until half-past one in the morning watch Episodes Four and One (in that order).  Then she asked for all the spoilers, so in light of the impending party, we gave her a rundown.  She already knew about who Darth Vader is, but was completely (and hilariously) horrified to find out the true identity of Princess Leia...

"WHAT?  NO!  But... but... No, that's just wrong!  But she and Luke make SUCH a cute couple!!"
Too funny.  :o)

And in case you're wondering where I got my Leia costume, I made it!  Who wants to see?