The way to a man's heart

Is by buying him some kick arse birthday presents - such as a new John Deere Hoodie and The Hangover 2 Blu-ray with bonus Labrador T-Shirt!


And cooking some of his favourite things.


Ben does so much for me and puts up with a lot, so for his birthday yesterday I really wanted to give him a treat!
He is so lucky that his birthday is in summer and my parents are always willing to let us party at their house. I'm so jealous, I wanna have pool parties in 32 degree heat for my birthday :(


My day started with some salad prep:

 Greek Salad

Quinoa, Pumpkin & Pinenut Salad 

(Ben actually doesn't like this, but I needed some 'me friendly' food)

Meat Marination:

Snack Distribution:

Yep, Mini Babybels on Cheese Platters are very classy (but Ben loves them)!

Then it was time to chill out and swim til we were good and wrinkly and the meat looked like this:

For the record, I despise lamb! 

The marinade I used was Jamie Oliver's Best Ever Barbecue from his Jamie at Home book, which is totally awesome on grilled eggplant :)

Obviously we sat down to a huge feast, which also included New Potatoes fresh from Mum's garden, Ben's favourite Caesar Salad - made by his Mum, and some fluffy white Dinner Rolls (I just bought those).

I gave everyone a bit of time for digestion before bringing out the dessert:

Fresh Raspberries from Mum's Garden

Ben's Mum's Eclairs

And the all important Birthday Cake:

A Lego Brick!

Every year Ben and I aim to out-do each other with awesome Birthday Cakes.

I think he was pretty happy with it.

It just occurred to me that I have never posted the recipe for the Quinoa, Pumpkin and Pinenut Salad, which is one of my favourite things to eat. I will get onto that.

Are you back at work yet?

I went back today and was really dreading it, but the day went relatively quickly so I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought.