50 years of LOVE.

In January my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

FIFTIETH!!!!!!

That is half a century!

Not bad eh?!

Worthy of a party.

A BIG party.

Man oh man that is an amazing achievement in anyones books.

Sometimes life is hard yakka and in a marriage there is always someone else to consider.

And then there are the five children they had that were also VERY much there as well.

They had their troubles and most of us kids had our troubles with them too at some stage or another.

I have been living with my husband for nearly 25 years and totally get how marriage is not easy.

Most of my memories of their union are joyful, happy & loving.

No marriage is fun - ALL the time.

All marriages require work, require attention, require negotiation.

Sometimes we are better it than other times.

Sometimes it feels easy.

Sometimes it feels really really hard.

Sometimes happiness comes with sadness.

Sometimes loving someone doesn't mean you like them all the time.

I don't reckon it is REAL if it is not like that.

But what I see in my parents marriage is:

50 years of friendship.

50 years of love.

50 years of respect.

50 years of family.

50 years of living life with passion.

They have been and continue to be inspirational people who at the heart of everything they do is LOVE.

In January we helped them celebrate this HUGE achievement.

FIFTY years together.

Their five kids.

Many many of their friends- new & old.

There were lots of people.

Young & old.

All different.

All unified by their love of my Mum & Dad.

The guests were asked to write a short passage of something they loved about them.

It was fantastic.

Us kids took turns in reading out these messages.

Some anonymous.

Some not.

Some whimsical.

Some serious.

All loving.

It was a great party.

Food.

People.

Music.

and a whole load of that magic ingredient.....

L O V E.

HUGE congratulations to you both.

I love you.

xxx

MY BROTHER'S FAMOUS CHICKEN LIVER PATE:
One of my brother's was a chef.  He has since changed career.
He trained under the very gorgeous Maggie Beer.
She is EVERY bit as lovely in real life as she seems.
You may well have bought her fabulous pate.
Well.......my brother made his famous pate recipe (this is not Maggie's recipe but my brothers own) for the party- it was A HUGE hit.
It always is.
Many of the people at the party have asked for the recipe.
I hope it becomes one of those dishes that when eaten conjures happy memories of a fabulous celebration.
Food is great like that isn't it. Reminding of us significant events.
Like me- my brother LOVES to share.
He was more than happy to have me publish his recipe for you all to enjoy.
I made it a couple of weeks ago using Milawa organic Chicken livers. It was D I V I N E!!!!!
And very very simple! go on give it a go. You won't regret it.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 large onion
• 1 garlic
• Bay leaf, salt, pepper, nutmeg, crushed cloves, juniper berries, some green herbs like thyme and parsely
• 1 –  1½ cups red wine
• 250g butter
• 300g chicken liver

METHOD:
1.  Sauté  onion garlic and herbs and spices - on medium heat until translucent

2.  Add red wine, simmer for a few minutes

3.  Add butter and allow just to melt

4.  Blend all this up in vitamiser or food processor – take out the bay leaf first!  Do this while it is still fairly hot – so you will have to be extra careful not to burn yourself

5.  Add liver and blend until all smooth.  Adding these while the onions and wine is still hot ensures more even cooking.

6.  Put into cooking dishes – oven proof bowls or terrine dish

7.  Put in double boiler: cover dishes with foil, put in oven tray with a kettle of boiling water and cover tray with foil.

8.  Cook in moderate oven 150 -170º, for 30 minutes or so.  Just to barely cook the pate, leaving it pink inside.

9.  Refrigerate.

10.               Once cold, cover with a thin layer of barely melted butter and cracked pepper; or as Maggie Beer does, with aspic and juniper berries.

Note this does not have a very long fridge life:  approx. one week 

I'll let Nina weave her magic with this one: