Happy Australia Day
Australia Day
Greetings from down under, happy Australia Day!
This time last year, the marina was packed to the rafters with boats, waving their flags. The sun was shining, loud music, beer and bbq filled the air. This year, a gloomy sky threatens rain, an empty marina, silence, no flags to be seen.
Maybe this is how things are these days, or maybe is just the fact that it is a Tuesday. Even though I wasn’t born here, I’m Aussie by choice, so I’ve decided to put on a little red dress, decorate the house and throw a party.
Australia Day Decor
I bought the little flags and toothpicks at Kmart and I made the bunting on the wall with craft paper I had laying around. I design the stars on photoshop and printed on metallic silver paper, then cut them and glued them on the blue.
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Tablescape
The tablescape was created entirely with tea towels from Woolworths. They always have these coloured ones in sets of 3 or 4 and I always get them whenever they have a different colour. The red ones I got around Christmas time and the blue ones this week. I think is more useful than buying a bunch of fabric napkins that I’ll never use. I use a blue elastic as a napkin ring and added a few red pompoms and a toothpick flag to make it cuter. The gorgeous vase at the centre is actually a decanter from Ikea and the hydrangeas are faux from the cheap shop. ;-P
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Appetizer
As a pre lunch appetizer I put together a cheese platter with some walnuts, pecans, olives and, to complement the red and blue colour palette, blueberries and raspberries contrasting with the white of the french onion dip.
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Menu
On the menu we had sliders made on the grill with cheese, gherkins, tomato and lettuce topped with the most delicious brioche bun. A side of chips and some coke (’cause it’s Tuesday), we did, however, had one delicious cocktail after hours. Don’t tell mum.
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Dessert
And lastly, for dessert, aside those M&M’s that are always part of my decor, we had yummy raspberry macarons with white chocolate filling and, in true Aussie spirit, lamington cupcakes, made with dark chocolate and coconut essence. It wouldn’t be Australia Day without them. You can make them too, get the recipe here.