Looking for a slice of cake and pot of tea after a grueling day of wondering, relaxing and taking photos at Werribee Mansion recently (see here) - we poked our little noses into the Mansion Hotel and Spa to see what we could find.

Remember my lip smacking mousse from last week?

Know what goes perfectly with it..... ...this week's recipe!  Der!

It's April, and that means it's Secret Recipe Club time once again.

This month I was given the blog Cooking in Stiletto's to stroll through and find my next little recipe.

 It's Autumn here in Australia and I'm sooooo looking forward to all of those yummy slow cooked foods I'm planning to cook as the weather gets cooler.  The wonderful aromas wafting from the kitchen.  My mouth drooling knowing that that aroma will be gobbled up and in my tummy in a few hours time.

One of the aroma's I love (sometimes even more than actually eating it) is the smell of roast chicken.

I'm one of those strange few people who tends to turn their nose up at Chocolate desserts.  Don't get me wrong, I'll each chocolate until it comes out of my ears, but put it in the form of a dessert......I'll pass.

Now a lemon dessert on the other hand....you have my full attention.

I've flicked passed this recipe numerous times thinking I must make it one day.  Sadly, that day never seemed to eventuate.  That is, until NOW!

Can you tell I'm excited?

Yes.  Another recipe from the cookbook I have fallen head over heals for.

I hope you're not bored yet, cause there is a lot more coming.

Each time I think I'll flick through another cookbook, I find I get a couple of pages in and then suddenly, low and behold, it's back in my hot little fingers once again.

I guess I can't really call it a "crush" anymore as I think we've moved more into "stalker" territory now.

Oh mon dieu!

I wish I was back here, sitting at this very table, eating this cheese, sipping this wine and listening to this hillbilly/jazz/French band right at this very moment.

My mum's birthday was back in January. 

It took us until this past weekend to celebrate it all together.

Mind you, she's been celebrating with us individually in between, so she hasn't done too bad!

So for our little family get-together, I decided to make some celebratory cupcakes.....

I LOVE Melbourne at this time of year and it has nothing to do with the Grand Prix or Moomba.

It's Melbourne Food & Wine Festival time.

The best festival in the whole wide world!

Whilst relaxing in the park one lazy Saturday morning (as seen here), flicking leisurly through some of my many French cookbooks, I came across this recipe. 

I'm a big lover of soup in Winter and I find it is my go-to staple for mid-week meals.  I'm not such a fan during the Summer time - go figure!  However this soup seemed a little different.  It looked fresh, light and packed full of yummy vegetables - and it was French.  I was sold.

Whilst strolling leisurely along the Seine one sunny Autumn day, I spotted something familiar. It was the cover of a cookbook I knew– Jamie Oliver’s America.

A cookbook, I might add, that I didn’t have.

It was all in French.

Stew.

It's not a word I like. 

Having English parents, we grew up on stews and casseroles and I soon rebelled.  I refused to eat them.  Nothing to do with the food itself, I might add, but the word stew just didn't evoke a desire to eat.  At all!

Stew..Spew - that was what I called it.

Luckily I'm a grown up now.  I still call it "Stew Spew" but nowadays I eat it, and in fact I love, love, love it.