A month or so ago, Tanja said…”Hey Celia, can you teach me how to temper chocolate?”
We arranged for her and her husband, the adorable Lucas, to come over for morning tea yesterday and, as BJ’s birthday is coming up, I invited her and The Hot Pom to join us as well. And we had a blast.
Tanja baked the best apple strudel Pete and I have ever tasted. It’s a northern Bavarian recipe with Bohemian/Czech influences, and Pete just couldn’t stop eating it. It’s filled with apples, pecans and cinnamon, all wrapped in what Tanja called a “poverty pastry”, made with oil, water and flour…
It was a gloriously warm day, and a recent visit to Ikea has made our outdoor entertaining area much more accessible. We’ve added cushions…
…an infra-red heater, and a couple of wall lights. We’re still debating whether the image on the glass shade is meant to be a peacock or a dragon – what do you think?
After brunch, which included freshly baked focaccia, cheeses, tabbouleh, spiced nuts and deli meats, we all sugared up on Turkish delight, chocolates and gourmet jelly beans (I need the occasional glucose hit for my exercise program, but perhaps a 1.8kg jar was overkill)…
Small Man was in absolute heaven, because he was able to discuss linguistics (his current area of fascination) with The Hot Pom, and Lucas is a fellow card magician who knows all about Transformers and Animaniacs. Our youngest son pulled out some blindingly fast card tricks…
Beej and Tanja fed the chooks, and Lucas, who by this stage was well and truly hyped up on caffeine and sugar, fell into the pond. Pete’s still laughing about it – last night he remarked, “you know, Lucas is the only child we’ve ever had fall into the pond”…
As it was Beej’s birthday, we gave her a set of Tarata Balancing Elephants. These New Zealand wood puzzles are some of our favourite and most enduring toys. We bought four sets back in 2005, and they’ve been played with regularly ever since…
Each set is carved from a single block of wood and fits together neatly…
They also do this…
The dinosaur set can even hang off a bench…
Much of the afternoon was spent sitting outside, playing with these wooden toys. The Hot Pom proved to be a natural at the sport of balancing animals…here is his two-pack stack…
…and his and BJ’s three-pack creation…we’re still not sure how the ape and top elephant are actually attached – they seem to be suspended in mid-air…
And the photo of the day, taken by Lucas, titled Beej and the Face of Triumph…
It was such a fun day! As they drove off, Small Man turned to Pete and asked, “Dad, how long have you had these cool friends?” He thinks we’ve been hiding them from him!
PS. We did temper chocolate as well – we made six dark milk feuilletine Golden Ticket bars – but we were having so much fun with everything else that I forgot to take any photos!
PPS. If you’re interested in the balancing animals, the Tarata website is here. They have an online shop, and they ship all over the world. They’re a great company to deal with!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Thank you so much for sharing a truly fun day!! OK, admit to being a child!!!! Absolutely love the ‘heffalumps’ [OK, my younger daughter never got THAT one right :) !] and so would have loved having a go :) !
Eha, it really was a hoot! I was still recovering from being crook, but these guys are all so much fun, I barely noticed my tiredness! :)
That sounds just perfect Celia. I love those wooden animals they are so incredibly well made. Its so nice when the whole family has a good day!
Tania, they’re a very high quality product – in all the years we’ve had them, we’ve only ever broken one piece! And that was easily repaired with wood glue.. :)
What a fun looking day! That strudel looks heavenly! And I know all about what you like to do with those intertwining or balancing things! :P
Cheeky.. ;-) It really was an incredibly fun day! x
I love Small Man’s comment at the end there, beautiful card handling I have to say Small Man, wish I could do that!
I remember being very excited when my parents had friends who I thought were great, made such a difference to how you view the adult world waiting ahead – what a lot of fun you had, thanks for sharing xx
These guys are all much younger than we are – Beej calls my husband “Uncle Pete”.. :) Small Man really enjoyed the visit!
I love the cushions on the bench – they’d be comfortable. You always have so many interesting things in your home – those puzzles! They look like you could lose a day fiddling with them. I love the elephants – gorgeous! And it looks like you have plenty of jelly beans to share xx
I think I need to send jelly beans to Alfie after his mammoth run! The puzzles really are a winner, we adore them!
This was like what is- on my deck- I loved it! Those wooden puzzles are wonderful for a group interaction. I think you have a very fussy dragon on the wall and the cushions look so comfortable.
Did you get a chance to do any tempering?
It is wonderful when your children actually like your friends- rather than enduring them like my sons sometimes did. Very polite and correct- but no spark either.
Thanks so much for sharing!
I should have been clearer – yes, after lunch, we made the milk chocolate feuilletine golden ticket bars in the top photo! And a fussy dragon – ooh, I can see that.. :)
Sounds as if you had great fun, made me smile just reading about it. That strudel brought out food envy in me though!
The strudel was just the best thing, Pete and I couldn’t stop eating it. Tanja’s sent me the recipe, and it involved rolling paper thin pastry on a tea towel. Why can’t things that taste amazing be easy to make? ;-)
OMG – love the balancing wood art animals – how stinkin cute and FUN!!! Happy Sunday:)
Thanks Renee, hope you’ve had a great weekend! x
The puzzle pieces look very nice. I can see how time would fly with these puzzles! Just curious, but did you get any chocolate tempered? Sounds like you had a lot of fun!
Manuela, sorry, only just realised I didn’t mention that in the post! Yes, we made six of the milk feuilletine Golden Ticket bars in the top photo – well, Tanja and I did, the others were busy getting hyper on jelly beans in the dining room.. :)
What a wonderful afternoon! Those puzzles look like so much fun!
Thanks Clare! As I said, we had a blast! :)
I was also puzzled by the chocolate never getting tempered! But, I said to myself, well, with such a great party who needs to temper chocolate? :-)
LOVED the wooden puzzles – elephant is my favorite animal, so anything involving them makes me melt a little
wonderful post, Celia!
Hehe…we did make chocolate Sally, I’d better amend the post to avoid any more confusion! :)
What a perfect day Celia! Relaxing on the deck with friends, games, and of course chocolate too :) Sounds like a very sensible way to get back on your feet again after being ill, hope you’re feeling better sweetie xox
Becca, I’m much better, thanks. Glad it didn’t linger about, life is too busy. Shoulder is still a bit crap, though. Hope all is well down south! xx
Sounds like great fun was had by all especially after seeing the big smiles.
Karen, we had such a good time, and best of all it was only Saturday, so we still had all of Sunday to chill out as well! :)
Such fun! I’m absolutely green with envy. I kept waiting for the chocolate tempering but I’m glad to know that it did occur. No photos of Lucas in the pond?? :)
Maureen, it was all too fast for a photo. And to be honest, we really didn’t expect the 30 year old to fall in the pond.. ;-)
What fun! Those wood puzzles are amazing! I could see myself getting lost with them for hours. And you had chocolate, too!!!! This must be what heaven is like. :)
John, your comment made me so happy. Yes, maybe that’s what heaven would be like, and wouldn’t that be wonderful? :)
I loved those wooden dinosaurs…those are so cute! Those chairs are looking like they are inviting me to sit. Fun post!
Thanks for stopping by! The dinosaurs are especially cool, as they’re the only ones that will hang from the table!
Love those wooden animals. And the chocolate looks great too!
Thank you! We actually ended up with quite a lot of chocolate! :)
I must ask you how to use feuilletine in chocolate. I tried it in mousse once, but it went soggy.
R
Hi there, I’ve never tried using it in cakes and mousses before, only in chocolate. It doesn’t seem to go soggy when added to tempered chocolate, maybe because there’s no water in the chocolate?
It’s funny – my oldest kid is only 9, but when we have friends over who interact with all of us as a family, and talk to the kids like people, it makes for the best times of all. Lovely to have people in your life like that!
Claire, my kids did too when they were little, but it takes a lot more now to keep their attention as teenagers and young adults! So Saturday was especially fun! :)
I too was wondering when you were going to have the chocolate tempering class as that the reason for the get together, no?
So wonderful when children join their parents and their parent’s friends and have fun together, what a delightfully lovely day.
We definitely did temper chocolate, although I must admit it was almost an afterthought! :)
Not that tempering chocolate sounds dull, but who knew it could lead to all that fun?
The balancing animal folks should have that as their advertising slogan…”who knew this could lead to all that fun?” :D
I love those balancing animals Celia. What great fun you can have with several sets and unusual sculptures when you’re not playing. Kay
Kay, they’ve given us enormous fun over the years – the boys have built huge structures with them! :)
Oh we had one of these.. years ago. You are right, we should all buy a set, i love supporting small businesses, now I shall have to go over and see if they have an internet thingy, i know a certain young man in wellington who would LOVE those elephants! or maybe the dinosaurs.. Oh NO! what to do!! c
Celi, they do have online ordering – http://www.tarata.com – and the best set of all is the jungle set, in my opinion! They make fabulous gifts! :)
I shall order a set for my grandson straight away, they re just too cool! c
I’ve had a very uplifting afternoon catching up on all your posts. Sorry I’ve been so scarce. xxx
Hello darling, how nice to hear from you. Please don’t apologise, you’ve had a lot on your plate. Hope all is going well.. xx
Such a joyful post. My younger teen would be envious of those jelly beans – that brand is the only one that’s ok for vegetarians. We only get tiny packets (and an inflated price) here. I sent her off with several packs to Mongolia.
Tarata – is in my backyard – I am impressed that you have been to my province in NZ
We haven’t, we bought these online! But we have been to a kite festival in Ashburton! :)
how fabulous – I have never seen these before and Tarata is 20 minutes from my home!! I must go and look at these online. Kite festival in Ashburton… my sister and husband go to all the kite festivals.. what a small world we live in
Our friends Peter and Elwyn Lynn make amazing kites in Ashburton – including the largest kites in the world. Amazing stuff! The Tarata toys have been in business for 30 years, and the guy who runs it, Adrien, is really nice.
my brother in law in Paraparaumu makes amazing kites also you may know him – John and my sister Karen they travel all over NZ and other countries as well
I’m afraid we’ve been out of the kite scene for over a decade now. We used to be heavily involved at one stage though! It’s a fantastic hobby! :)
First visit to your blog… And misread hot Pom as hot porn and did wonder what I had stumbled upon… Lovely blog, thank you
http://Www.blackberryandcrumble.blogspot.co.uk