Tell me how you spoil yourself and win $250 to spend at Myer plus $250 worth of Lindt!

Spoiling yourself is so relative isn't it? I remember spoiling myself would be going on a holiday or buying myself a designer label... going to a three-hatted restaurant.  These days spoiling myself may mean a hair cut, new underwear or a few hours to myself to read in peace. Regardless of whether you're a mother or not, on a budget...

Our local sushi joint and how to make make-shift kids' chopsticks

I love to make sushi but sometimes on a whim or when I have a craving that can't be cured by at home sushi (i.e. shopping and time constraints) we head to our local sushi joint.  It's been there about a year now and I hope it never leaves (an issue with small local shop community). It has a good lunch trade as I found out and has a...

Cut out Wills and Kate Paper Dolls!

I think I'm going to print these for the frills today who are SO excited about the Royal wedding...!  Here's some paper dolls of William and Kate you can colour in AND cut out to make into paper dolls, or just use them for colouring in (and here's the ones you can just cut out if you don't want to colour) How cute are these?  Disney...

Make it yourself - Chinese five spice

I really dislike it when I'm making a recipe and it calls for a herb or spice and I don't have it.  Especially when it's a public holiday.  But that's not always a reason to despair because sometimes, you might just find you have the contents of this spice mix in your pantry already - you just didn't realise. And today, I'm showing...

Recipe: Easy royal wedding cupcakes

I am a sucker for a royal wedding.  Yes I am. When Charles and Diana married in 1981 I was ten years old and I had my hair cut like Princess Diana.  It's nice to see that fantasy play out for someone.  When Mary married Fredrick - Eloise my eldest was three weeks away from being born so I stayed up that night drinking copious...

Food Mag Files - May 2011

Hello food/magazines (or food magazine) addicts!  All the magazines are about carbs this month - hardly surprising given we all love a bit of comfort food as the weather gets cooler.  I never cease to be amazed by the craftmanship of each issue - the photography, the layout, the content, the cohesion of an issue is a truly a work...

Thank you for visiting... a little bit about me...

I'm Melissa, but everyone calls me Liss. Well that's unless you're one of my kids (aka 'The Frills') they call me Mama or Mummy. I don't do things by halves One week after I got married to my GSH (Gorgeous Sexy Husband) we discovered we were going to be parents. At our first anniversary lunch, 3 month old Eloise came along! She helped...

The one where I admit my hubby was right: Oven baked smoked salmon spring rolls

Well as I was scouring the internet last week looking for a use for some extra smoked salmon I had (I bought a good amount for blinis I'd made but had leftovers) and I came across these - and I was a little dubious but as I called it out to hubby he was very enthusiastic: 'They sound yummy' he said'You really think so? Fish in a spring roll?...

Creamy, Cheesey and totally easy (and not totally sinful) beef cannelloni

Well I'm well and truly getting into the comfort food but I'm also trying not to go overboard actually.  This looks mega-creamy and mega-cheesey but infact, not so bad.  I've used low fat ricotta, mozzarella and tasty cheese.    So eating it you can totally fool yourself that you've done something very bad, but you actually...