Celebrating Mother's Day

Mother's day here is always a close call as my mums birthday falls either slightly before or on the actual day, and its hard sometimes finding something different to do for both... this year as we have a whole week between them I decided to make a cake for her birthday and cook lunch, and in turn for Mother's day we are going out for a Chinese meal - I have done enough washing up in the last 48 hours believe me! 

I have bought her a few small gifts to give her on the day and I am planning to sneak a few helium balloons into the restaurant beforehand! Shh! No doubt there will be more cake too! My mum and me have a great relationship and whilst she doesn't like much fuss I still like to celebrate the fact she is my mum, and I love her very much and I am thankful for everyday we have together and like to show her how much I appreciate her. Mum's are very special people and whilst some might think its just a marketing exercise I think we should always celebrate our mums!

Here are a few things that I've selected to help with gift buying and to celebrate with:

Wine - I am really not into sweet wines and I only had a few sips of this, however it completely floats my mums boat and she really enjoyed today's Moscato from Gallo Family Vineyards and we got her pleasantly merry on this today! Its light and slightly peachy with floral notes with a gentle sweetness, perfect to go with the two puddings I had made for after's! If your mum likes wine a little sweeter then it really is a great wine! (It has an RRP of £6.99 and is available from all major retailers.)

Chocolate - Mum likes milk chocolate and I did pick her a box of Dairy Box chocolates incase these were too 'dark' for her and the rest of us enjoyed eating these Morette chocolates sourced from Vorrei - they are fig pralines, covered in a pure dark chocolate and are soft to bite and gorgeous! The figgy filling reminded my dad of popping candy, not a bad thing at all! RRP £6.90 from Vorrei, who are an Italian online deli with a great range to drool over! It came perfectly wrapped and speedy delivery too!

Last but not least if you are planning to bake mum a cake - do check out Dr Oetker's baking range - this is my mums cake I made, using their red gel colour to dye the fondant icing, and their edible butterflies and daisies for decoration - which were very well received and magically flew away...!

Many thanks to Gallo Family Vineyards, Vorrei and Dr Oetker for the samples and Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mums out there!