Sorry I went missing last week. Master Four had a birthday party, so in the lead up and aftermath of that I was a little busy to write things up. I'll have a few party related craft posts coming up, but for now, I just want to share the funky food we had.

Pictured above you'll see Dragon's Scales (chips), Gronkle Rocks (cheese and bacon balls), Nadder Spikes (carrot sticks), Viking Hats and Shields (decorated biscuits) and the Toothless cake which deserves it's own post.

The Viking Hats were made from chocolate Royals - a marshmallow topped biscuit (cookie) with jam, and covered in chocolate. I took lolly bananas, cut them in half, and affixed them either side of the Royals with a little melted chocolate. So simple and quick to do, but they look so effective. Master Four had wanted me to make Viking Hat cupcakes (the perils of browsing Pinterest for party ideas with a child on your lap) but given how little children never eat more than the icing, I thought this was a better option. And it was - there were none left over, not even pieces.

The shields were even easier to do. I bought a packet of the Coles brand mini mint slice biscuits, (but anything chocolate coated and round would do) and a tube of white writing chocolate/icing. Then I just freehanded some shield designs on them. Too easy!

Who said a kids party had to be hard work? Probably the person who saw me staying up until 1am the night before finishing the cake decorating, but that's a story for another post...

Now, I'm not planning on making regular posts about food here. I've been there, done that, with a food blog, and frankly, I just can't afford the ingredients to keep making blog worthy food every week. But there is a certain expectation, when you are known as "the crafty one", to show up with more than just a box of savoury shapes when you are asked to bring a plate, and that's what I want to help you with.

After all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, and the last minute, frantic, late nights desperately trying to finish those hand made gifts, you just want to kick back and relax right? Well, the Silly Season isn't over yet, because now you have to brave NYE. This is a clever idea I got from Pinterest - it makes you look like a genius, takes half an hour to prepare, and is great for kids or drunken grown ups alike!

Vegie sticks in disposable shot glasses, with dip/dressing in the bottom. No more double dipping fears!

Just buy a pack of disposable plastic shot glasses ($2 for 20 @ Coles, and 20 is plenty) and put about 1cm of dip or dressing in the bottom of each glass. I used ranch dressing, but any dip like thing would be fine. Make sure you keep your crudites (fancy name for vege sticks, now your plate can stand up to the antipasto platter!) fairly short - taller than the glasses, but not more than double the height, or you'll have trouble with them falling over. If you are using dip instead of dressing, it's probably a good idea to test the level needed in one glass first, before filling them all, as the dressing I used was fairly runny, so it moved up the glass a fair way once I'd added all the crudites. Just experiment a little, it's not rocket science. And two carrots, two celery sticks and half of each colour capsicum later, plus half an hour of chopping and arranging, I had a spread like this:

In 12 days it will be Christmas Eve. Yeah, I know you don't want to hear it, but it's true. No doubt you've already been getting invitations to work parties and 'bring a plates' from childrens activities.

Perhaps you've been clever and spent months stocking the gift cupboard with little thoughtful handmade things for teachers and group leaders. So why go to less impressive lengths with your plate? Sure, you could do the 'white chocolate, jaffa and spearmint leaves on top of a chocolate Royal biscuit' route, which look great, but that's so five years ago, and people are starting to clue in. Why not take advantage of the beautiful ripe strawberries that abound this time of year to pull off an impressive plate that is simple to do, and also makes a nice change from all the sugar laden biscuit trays that turn up at these things. This was inspired by, you guessed it, something I saw on Pinterest, although I was all out of whipped-cream-in-a-can (because I never buy it lol) so I made hats with chocolate, instead of santas with cream.

It's pretty simple really. Start with hulled strawberries, trimmed to sit level upside down. Either melt some white chocolate and put it in a piping bag with a very small tip, or just cheat, and pick up a tube of white writing icing. Put a blob on top of each strawberry, and a ring around the bottom. Don't worry too much about how perfect you get them - this chocolate is representing fur after all, so it won't be a straight line. Just make them look "fluffy" if you can. So simple, you can whip a plateful up in half an hour (with writing icing) and everyone will gush over how clever you are! ;)