Easy Treat: Eton Mess

Dessert on Friday night was a tribute to Eton old boys William and Harry.

1. Meringues 
They don't need to be pretty, so the kids can help. I was out of cornflour so just used 3 egg whites beaten stiff, then 3/4 cup of caster sugar added gradually + a splash of vanilla essence (12 palm-sized meringues cooked 1 hour @ 120 degrees C, then cooled in oven). Or just buy some!

2. Fruit

Strawberries are traditional, but any fruit or sauce will do. I had some frozen mixed berries so cooked them up with a tablespoon of sugar, strained them a bit to get a thick lumpy sauce, and left to cool. Tinned boysenberries would be good too - one day I will try rhubarb ( a la Sophie Dahl)

3. Whipped Cream

4. Mess!
Cover a whole meringue with cream, broken meringues and sauce. The messier the better (this pic is a bit tidy really, but didn't stay that way...)

p.s. added bonus of being gluten-free for those who need it   :)

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Royal Wedding - 4 sleeps to go...

elc.co.uk (via lilmagoolie.com)

I know not everyone is as excited as I am, but there is no escaping the Royal Wedding this week.

If you are interested, some of the better articles I have read lately are this one about Diana's influence on William, and this one in the New Zealand Herald recalling William's first trip to NZ, as a 10-month old.


Diana had broken with tradition by not leaving him at home during a Royal Tour, and so a nursery was set up at their New Zealand base, Government House in Auckland.

A photocall at Government House resulted in the famous pics of William crawling and playing with a Buzzy Bee, but I would have loved to see the handmade touches in the nursery inside:

"Lady Beattie, skilled at sewing, took me through the newly refurbished suite of rooms shortly before the royal couple arrived. She and other women had put in hundreds of hours sewing baby quilts, a "William's Book" of cloth animals and a ribbon-edged mosquito net decorated with hand-sewn miniature horses. It was a choice between that or corgis, Lady Beattie said.

Propped in William's sunny nursery - twice the size of his nanny's room next door - was a rabbit dressed in an All Blacks jersey and the Buzzy Bee, once pulled along by the Beatties' son Simon. And there was another handme- down, Simon's blue English pram which Lady Beattie restored after Doris, the family's Airedale terrier, had wrestled with the fringed canopy. Whether the highly active, crawling baby prince ever sat in this pram is doubtful." (Jane Phare, NZH, 24/4/11)

My sister and I are having a sleepover on Friday, some friends are doing High Tea at an Auckland hotel - are you doing anything special?

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Confession - I love a Royal Wedding!

I was 4 years old when Lady Di became the Princess of Wales (July 29th, 1981), and it was a huge event in my little life. Mum says my kindy teachers were quite shocked that I had been up late in the night to watch it, but pre-VCRs my poor mother probably didn't have a choice!

In the days before hardcore paparazzi and the internet, the wedding between the 32 year old heir to the throne and his 20 year old virgin bride was all fairytale. She was beautiful, a 'commoner' (although her family were aristocrats with one of England's great estates), and even a kindy teacher!

It was not hard to fill my scrapbooks - the royal family were on the cover of the New Zealand Women's Weekly every week in the 80s, and always in the newspapers too. Hard to believe now when they are usually only in the news here for scandal. At the end of the year my grandmother gave me this commemorative book, a prized possession with fascinating details like who rode in which carriage... {starting to get a little embarrassed}

My childhood obsession hobby gradually faded but there is still a glamour and romance to royal weddings that is not often replicated by celebrities (no matter how hard some have tried...) And now that Prince William and Kate Middleton are only weeks away from their big event, the biggest question is of course - what will she wear?

Grace Kelly will probably always be the gold standard for royal brides - at the height of her beauty and career she was dressed by a Hollywood costume designer when she married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956.

I also love Princess Margaret in 1960 (very 'Mad Men' Season 1!) and Lady Helen Windsor in 1992.

Poor Kate (sorry, she is now Catherine) has already been criticised for her fashion choices - too safe, too boring - but I think she is looking elegant and pretty, and her trademark Issa dresses let her show off her figure. Like Michelle Obama, she often wears off-the-rack 'High Street' fashion -  important PR for a publicly-funded figure during a recession.

So I will be following with interest - will the dress be by Bruce Oldfield? Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen? Will William wear Red? Will they have these on their cake? Welcome to Prince William who is coming to New Zealand this week  :)

p.s. If your little girl is fascinated by princesses, you must see Aimee's gorgeous fairytale decorating

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