Tea Time Baby Time

What do I know about baby showers? Nothing. Just a vague idea, really.

They are not an English thing.  But I wanted  to celebrate. Daughter No 2 is expecting a baby girl in about 5 weeks and excitement is mounting.

the piece de resistance!



baby badem şekeri/sugared almond

There were so many friends I wanted to invite but reason - and size of sitting room - prevailed and we were about 22: mostly her friends but also some of mine, those who had a close connection with her. So it was a mixed group, Turkish and English, young and old, family and friends.

I made squidgy lemon-ginger cake, this time with soft dried apricots which made it beautifully moist:

squidgy lemon-ginger cake

Joan’s chocolate chip cookies, always popular:

joan's chocolate chip cookies

A Bakewell Tart with a cutout teddy bear shape:

bakewell tart

And these cupcakes:

 This was a new recipe from BBC Good Food's website - Romantic rose cupcakes but decorated with sprinkles and strawberries. I normally love this website but this particular recipe wasn't very successful: way too much butter and that icing with white chocolate, icing sugar and yet more butter was sickly. But the finished cupcakes looked pretty and tasted all right. It's just that I won't be making them again. 

My daughter's mother-in-law is a fabulous traditional Turkish cook and among her many specialities are dolma and börek.She even makes her own yufka/filo pastry from scratch! She came bearing great tepsi or trays of both, the sight of which calmed my palpitations: now I knew we would have more than enough to eat!

Unfortunately there was no chance to photograph them which is a pity as just then, the guests started to arrive: so what with the doorbell ringing, telephones both home and mobile too with friends asking for last minute directions, parking spaces ... it was all pretty hectic and the moment for photography eluded me.

 Daughter No 1 employed her well-honed organizational skills and led us through various games on a baby theme starting with Guess the Girth of the Mom-to-be, followed by a light-hearted quiz based on the father-to-be's answers that she had elicited beforehand. And then a special Pass the Parcel where each layer of paper contained a challenge eg name 3 famous babies!

But the grand finale was the baby cake that I had ordered from a novelty cake-making bakery arkadaş pasta & çiçek (tel: 0216 449 4950) just round the corner from here in Fenerbahçe:

chocolate filled with cherries: it was perfect complete with edible bib, booties, and dummy!