“That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane”…so begins the fabulous REM song, “It’s The End of The World As We Know It”.  And for me, this year actually began with a 7.6 magnitude earthquake when we were holidaying in Darwin.  Last month we celebrated my birthday in absolute chaos (more on that later) whilst on holiday in Port Douglas. And when I say chaos, I mean a total f*cking nightmare.  So when the random number generator chose “Birthday Party, Cheesecake, Jelly Bean, Boom!  I thought it might be a good chance to reset and have a little party to make up for the day that was ruined!  The vehicle of choice for this month is Super Food Ideas, from September 2003 and I went in search of party food.  

But first, let’s take a little wander down the memory lane to the heady days of September 2003.  R Kelly’s Ignition (Remix) was #1.  Less said about that the better I think.  Finding Nemo was top of the box office and The Da Vinci Code was still the most popular book!  

The Menu – September 2003

Margarita

Now, I can’t think of a much better way to kick of any birthday celebration than with a classic Margarita!  And this one was perfection!!!!!  I 

The cocktail napkin you see in the above photo was one of a set of napkins I bought in Port Douglas.  They are all super cute and also an inspiration to make the rest of the cocktails featured on them! 

And as with the margarita, the first four days of our holiday were wonderful.  Port Douglas is such an amazing place.  Rainforest, reef and beach – great restaurants, perfect weather….the only downside is the crocodiles…and the murder birds!  

Margarita Recipe

Seafood Pizza

As you may have noticed, I love my seafood!  This nicely leads me to where our holiday turned paradise into a nightmare.  Day 5 of our holiday, which was my actual birthday we had planned to move from our PD central apartment to a house around 10km out of Port Douglas.  It was also the night of The Matildas v England final of the Women’s World Cup.  We had been out for a lovely dinner the night before so the plan for my birthday was to grab a seafood platter from Port Douglas when we left and then enjoy the evening in our house.  Dip in our private pool, , bit of football on the telly, champagne on ice, and our gourmet seafood platter…could life get any better?

Better?  No.  What we hadn’t figured was that it was about to get a whole lot worse!  

We turned up at the house, for which we had a confirmed booking from one of the largest, if not the largest booking agencies in the world.  The Fussiest Eater sends a text to the owner asking for the keypad number as the gate is locked. We are there for about 5 minutes when a woman comes out of the house.  “Can I help you?” she asks.  “Oh, yes, you probably just got our text.  We’re here for our holiday”  

Apparently we weren’t. 

In the time that we had made our booking and our actual holiday, the house had been sold.  It was no longer holiday accommodation.  

It was now 3:00pm on a Saturday, we had no place to stay for the next four nights and we had a rapidly warming seafood platter on the back seat of the hire car. 

Seafood Pizza Recipe

Party Pies

You know this is an Aussie Meat Pie because the secret ingredient is a spoonful of Vegemite!  I made mini versions of this pie – in Australian we call these Party Pies so they were perfect for my Birthday Party Menu!

Now back to Port Douglas.  The Fussiest Eater began calling the owner of the house. He confirmed that he had sold the house and had told the booking agency to cancel all future bookings.  I started trying to find us accommodation.  The first place I found wanted $15,000 for the four nights.  The second $6000.  Finally, we were able to find a studio room back in Port Douglas for the four nights for a price that we could actually afford.  And that had a fridge in which we could put the seafood platter!  From there we called the booking agency who offered to not only refund the cost of the house but also to pay for the emergency accommodation.  

The following day we were also able to move into a one-bedroom apartment in the same complex which was a lot better than the studio but still how we had wanted to spend the last few days of our holiday. 

As of today though, the booking company have yet to refund us the money for the second Port Douglas Apartment.  We are idiots who did not get their OG offer in writing and they are now saying that as the second apartment was cheaper than the house technically we are not out of pocket.

Technically they ruined my birthday and did not deliver on the holiday we paid for and expected. 

Technically I could have chosen the house that cost $15000 instead of that studio apartment as our alternative accommodation and technically they would have had to refund us the difference. 

I didn’t want to be an arsehole. 

I’ll leave that up to them.  

Meat Pie Recipe

Chewy Almond Crescents

We now turn to the sweet part of our birthday party menu.  These were great!  Really tasty and not overly sweet.  You couldn’t really taste the apricot jam which was a shame.  When I make these again, I will maybe add some chopped-up dried apricots into the mix.  Or maybe add a glaze with the jam.  They were delicious regardless.  These would be great with a cup of tea or coffee or equally with a little glass of Baileys! This was probably my favourite thing on the menu.  I also loved the butterfly cakes but they were similar to cakes I had made before.  These were all new and I was so happy to discover them!

Accomodation saga continued….As of today though, the booking company have yet to refund us the money for the second Port Douglas Apartment.  We are idiots who did not get their OG offer in writing and they are now saying that as the second apartment was cheaper than the house technically we are not out of pocket.

Technically they ruined my birthday and did not deliver on the holiday we paid for and expected. 

Technically I could have chosen the house that cost $15000 instead of that studio apartment as our alternative accommodation and technically they would have had to refund us the difference. 

I didn’t want to be an arsehole. 

I’ll leave that up to them.  

Chewy Almond Crescents Recipe

Lemon Curd Butterfly Cakes

These were so pretty and also delish.  I loved the tanginess of the lemon curd with the sweetness of the cupcake!

The one-bedroom apartment was great.  However, on the first night, I was woken at around 2 a.m. by the sound of what sounded like a woman screaming. Channelling my inner Nancy Drew,  I got out of bed and looked out the window but the side street the room looked out on was deserted.  I was just getting back into bed when I heard it again.  This time I went to the main room to look out of the front windows but the main street which we overlooked was also quiet.  I went back to bed.  I heard the same noise once again at around 5 a.m. This time I wondered if maybe someone in the neighbouring rooms was having an argument as again there was no movement on either street.  

There was no mention of any attack on the news the following day so I went about my business.  As we were walking back to the apartment from dinner I heard the same noise.  This time though I was able to see that it was coming from a bird that we had just walked past.  A quick Google Search identified these murder birds as Bush Stone Curlews.  Thankfully no Nancy Drewing needed for me on the second night.  Or thereafter.  

Lemon Curd Butterfly Cakes Recipe

My Nigella Moment  – Passionfruit Glazed Shortbread

For first-time readers, this refers to the moment at the end of Nigella Lawson’s cooking shows when she sneaks back to the fridge to have another bite of something delicious.  In the context of these Twenty Years Ago posts, it is something contained in the magazine that does not fit with the overall menu theme but I’m sneaking it in either because I made it and it was really good, or I just didn’t have time to make it but it was one of the most appetising things in the mag!

I love shortbread and passionfruit so these were high on my list of things to make.  They would have also fit in nicely with my birthday party theme but I ran out of time and had to choose between the Almond Crescents and these.  In the end, I have eaten Passionfruit Shortbreads before whilst the Almond Crescents were something new to me so I chose them.  These though?  High on my list of things to make!  And believe me, when I do…I will definitely be popping back to the biscuit tin, Nigella Style, for just one more!

Super Food Ideas really came through for my birthday-themed menu!  As did Port Douglas for my birthday holiday.  Despite the…ahem…hiccup with the accomodation, PD remains one of my favourite holiday destinations!!!!