Ruby’s 7th birthday
We celebrated my niece Ruby’s 7th birthday recently with afternoon tea with family and friends.
Ruby’s mum Angela made sausage rolls which she served with homemade tomato sauce, and she baked mini apple pies, serving them warm from the oven. The kids’ Nanna made coconut and raspberry slice. Jac and I made fruit shish kebabs. My sister CW baked a Camembert for Ruby’s 6th birthday party last year and Ruby specially requested one for this year.
Visit Angela’s blog to get the recipes for the sausage rolls and tomato sauce.
The homemade sausage rolls disappeared quickly – latecomers risked missing out!
Fruit shish kebabs – we used strawberries, seedless grapes, watermelon, honeydew melon, kiwi fruit and pineapple
Mini apple pies, fresh from the oven – the kids especially loved these 
Coconut and raspberry jam slice
Herb and garlic twist
The party table, including bottles of homemade lemonadeMy sister CW served the Camembert in its baking dish surrounded by more cheese and two kinds of crackers. The bubbling molten cheese with oven-roasted garlic and rosemary smelled wonderful and we swarmed and attacked as soon as it was placed on the table. Auntie Jac demonstrated her double-cracker dipping method which Zoe adopted, so she never lost a cracker in the cheese again.
My sister CW’s baked Camembert is based on Jamie Oliver’s ‘Beautiful Baked Camembert’ recipe, but she leaves out the nutty cranberry crumbles and doubles the garlic.
Baked Camembert 
Ruby opened her presents, Zoe watching intently, ever ready to ‘help’. LEGO, a book from her auntie in Sydney, art supplies, a new drink bottle, a cake pop maker and more – lucky girl!
Ruby (with apple pie in hand) read her birthday cards with Grace and Caleb (with coconut and raspberry jam slice) looking on. Remember Caleb and Grace’s rainbow race car party? Zoe’s dad showed her how to operate the Nespresso machine, a task she took very seriously! My brother handled the hot milk side of things. Zoe was very good with remembering our ‘orders’ – “Only Auntie Jac wants sugar, Daddy!” They worked together to keep party guests well caffeinated.
Zoe the trainee barista – I know it’s Nespresso, but you gotta start somewhere! Angela made babycinos for the kids (frothy warm milk, no coffee), topped with chocolate powder and marshmallows.
Babycino time
Don’t even think about interrupting Caleb when he’s stirring his cappucinoMy brother made balloon animals and flowers for the kids (they never get tired of them!). Flowers, elephants and rabbits were the most popular items, but Zoe asked her dad if she could twist a pink balloon herself to make a string of sausages. We are definitely related.
Can I make a string of sausages?
We gathered for birthday cake. It was a windy afternoon so it took a few goes to get all the candles lit
Just like with opening presents, Ruby had willing assistants to ‘help’ blow out her candles!
It’s fun to eat birthday cake while bopping yourself with a balloon flower After birthday cake, it was LEGO time. As they played, the kids sang The LEGO Movie song ‘Everything is Awesome’, each with their own unique version of the lyrics. I showed them the photo of me with Emmet taken at LEGOland Malaysia in July (there’s a blog post still to come) – I think they were pretty impressed.
The LEGO room, where the LEGO is organised by colour and ‘Everything is awesome!’I watched The LEGO Movie on my last trip during my flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. The only time I sit down to watch a movie these days is when I’m flying. I really enjoyed The LEGO Movie, by the way!
Quite often at the kids’ birthday parties, we’ll have dinner available for the kids (for whoever wants it), so after the party it’s just bath and bedtime. My mum frequently cooks up a big batch of hokkien mee but this time she made rice porridge in her slow cooker. She brought along containers with all the trimmings – sliced yow char kway, chopped spring onions, fresh coriander, along with soy sauce and sesame oil. The porridge was loaded with pork meatballs and chunks of boneless chicken. We all had some, not just the kids. Some of us had seconds… and maybe even thirds.
Just a drizzle of sesame oil
Left: Jay’s with all the trimmings. Right: mine, with just sesame oil, yow char kway and fried shallots
One of Ruby’s birthday gifts was a LEGO Creator set called Furry Creatures. You can make a rabbit, a dog, and a cat and mouse (there are even yellow bricks to make a piece of holey cheese) – she chose to start with the rabbit.
Birthday LEGO
It’s a bunny! Later on, time to test out the birthday art supplies. Tess the cat made a surprise rare appearance to give the birthday girl and her new sketchbook a few headbutts. Happy birthday, Ruby!
Tess helps Ruby test out the new art supplies – I think they passed with flying colours