a tad OTT

Any body that knows me will attest to the fact that I love celebrations. LOVE. sometimes, too much. But really, if there is a reason to celebrate, go with it. No, Why stop there?  Take it and run with it and go crazy!  And make it something to remember! Luckily the majority of my family is the same, so apart from my older brother rolling his eyes and telling me im going over board, celebrations are pretty good. To illustrate here is what we did for Mothers Day today.

My sister and I started a tradition long ago of making the meal part of the gift, especially for my mom. This means that for mothers day, anniversaries, birthday and whatever else comes up, we create a meal. "Creating a meal," you say, " That sounds pretty straight forward, everyone makes their mum dinner on mothers Day." But as with everything, we take it to its illogical conclusion. This involves brunch, treats and for dinner, a three course meal. Sometimes life would be so much easier if we didn't love food so much. In the past, we have done Meditteranian Pasta Salads, an entire French themed meal, blueberry and hazelnut cheesecakes, German pancakes, Baclava, and the list goes on. There is nothing quite like creating new meals out of several different recipes and seeing where it takes you!

We kept it pretty straight forward for brunch, starting off the day  with French toast and Banana Berry smoothies. I don't have a photo of this, but use your imaginations... And then came dinner (obviously several hours later...) This is what the table looked like at the end. I love cooking with colours!!

 First, the roast vegie salad. You can add anything and just cut them up into chunky sizes.  We had pumkin, kumara, potatoes, red and orange capsicum, carrots, corgettes, onions, fresh garlic and then just rub them with oil and rosemary seasoning. Roast until soft and then allow to cool before adding feta and spinach leaves.

One of my favourite things to make and eat and inhale, is bruschetta. Meant to be the entrée, but really becomes the best part of the meal...  It made its début at our 'Julie and Julia' inspired French meal for Mom's birthday a couple of years back. There are many recipes but I use tomatoes, red onion, yellow capsicum (adds an amazing colour), fresh garlic and fresh basil leaves. and oil. The smell, the colours, the taste! Oh. my. goodness.

\The main part of the meal was changed half way through making the dinner. I am still determined to try it though so I wont share what it was meant to be, but this turned out rather fabulous also. This is a cheesy creamy chicken, mushroom pasta dish. Yes,  the title does need work, but it explains what it is. As does 'delicious...'

Dinner was delicious and hopefully helped the two mums that were celebrated feel extra special! I am so grateful for these two wonderful women in my life!! They are such an example to me and are always there for me. I really cannot cook enough food to show them that - altho I do try... ;) 

For anyone who is worried that I didnt do anything that will last, I also go over board with gifts, so I really tried to do something this mothers Day that would mean a lot to my mom, instead of my bank account... My mom is the type of person that collects people. She is a mom to so many people - our friends, and anyone who comes through our door, really. And she loves them all probably about as much as she loves us, so I thought it would be nice for her to hear from them as well. I sent an email for some of her 'kids' and got some gorgeous letters back - really made her Mothers day! 

We really should never pass on an opportunity to tell people how much they mean to us, or how grateful we are for them. Maybe thats why I love celebrations. I also hope, however, that people dont feel like they arent important to me unless it is their birthday or something. I want to make sure that I show and tell people how much I love them, every day, through the little acts of service. And I guess that is the thing I have learned through my mom's example.

 Thank you for everything and Thank you for being mine, Mommy! I love you, and Happy Mothers Day.