1.3kg butter, 1.5kg sugar and 24 eggs later...

Well I did make it to Jeanne's birthday party and pretty much cooked everything I intended to (well super husband did his fair share!). My main challenge was the pink butterfly shaped cake I had decided to bake, thanks to my friend Alex who lended me a really nice book called Birthday Cakes for Kids by Annie Rigg.

It was my first attempt at cake decorating and it did not go as bad as I was dreading :

The birthday girl was really hapy but then it was pink so I was not taking much risks there! Does not matter how sickly that pink shade is!

Of course it wasn't perfect, as in the previous days I had tried to really take it easy to make sure the baby wouldn't be born before the party... So we had ugly plastic glasses and no decorations to speak of, the music wouldn't work but the kids were being so loud that we would not have heard it anyway. But again who needs decorations when you have a whole dance studio to yourself and nice big piles of steps to pull down :

And built up again :

The kids went back home knackered and I suspect the grown-ups with a nice big headache, success all round then!

I didn't really have time to eat much during the party and decided, against all good judgement to make up for it in the evening. I settled nicely in front of the TV watching the new ITV Drama Lowndon Abbey, which I thought was pretty good, my sort of show (can't give birth on a Sunday evening now or I'll miss it...), some hommous and crakers, feta and sundried tomatoes savory cake and 2 pieces of the butterfly... A bit ambitious or down right stupid... Do you think unborn babies can have sugar rushes lasting all night keeping their mothers awake thinking they are about to give birth? Well I think they do... So a sleepless night it was, a long sleepless night...
Super husband came to the rescue again and stayed home today!

The to do list? down to 41 entries but nothing happening fast now as I turned into a real turtle...

Where have you been?!

I know, it has been over a month... Well I have been busy with Jeanne's christening, sewing her a dress, sewing matching little bags for the dragees and then I got REALLY tired and stayed in bed for two days, and never really recovered...

And yes, this is the best picture I have of that dress, isn't it bad? For me, yaking pictures is the biggest challenge in having a blog, I am just useless... Well, anyway it was pretty enough for her cousin to tell her she was a princess, which obviously is the nicest compliment you can pay Jeanne at the moment! It was a lovely day on the Ile the Batz, one of my favourite place in the world, surrounded by friends and family.

We are now back in London where a giant courgette awaited us...

It weights over 3 kgs! I already made 2 zucchini pineapple breads with it, thanks to my friend Barb's recipe and intend to make so more for Jeanne's birthday party on Sunday.

Here is the recipe :

- 3 eggs

- 2 cups shredded zucchini

- 3 cups flour

- 1 tea spoon cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1 teaspoon soda

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup oil

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1 6oz shredded pineapple tin

Just mix everything together, put in a greased and floured bread pan and cook at 180 celsius until browned, I would say an hour.

I think next time I might add the zest of one orange to give it more zing.

Jeanne turned 3 on the day we were back and had some ... Christmas cake to celebrate... It is what happens when you don't have neither the time nor the energy to bake one and that you send your husband to buy one... Well as long as there is a candle on top it is a birthday cake isn't it? She didn't seem to mind...

And we will try to do better for the party. I am supposed to make a butterfly shaped one covered in lots of pink and sparkles... The itch being that even though I am only due in a month time I was told yesterday that the baby had started coming down and could arrive anytime now... So fingers crossed I make it to the party! And if so I'll try to take pictures...

But the big even was that being 3 years old she started nursery 3 hours a day!

I always said I didn't like uniform but I have to confess that she is awfully cute, if I say so myself... She really likes it so far and I enjoy every minute of it!

Waited for me on the fridge was also the To Do List... We are down to 43 items... Progress might come to an halt any minute though...