http://www.happyplacesandco.com/

Happy Places & Co, Mornington (2026)

16/10/2026

Q. What food would someone have to eat to understand your childhood?

From Paddle Pop ice creams & wagon wheel biscuits in NSW to sauerkraut & mashed potatoes in Denmark, Baked Potato Rosti & garlic in everything, even breakfast eggs in Russia/Poland to Sunday Roast Lunches in Victoria, chicken nuggets & peppermint choc chip ice cream as a treat and pressed tongue & beetroot sandwiches ~ the wondrous diversity in this small group of beautiful women was so enriching ~ an intersection of unique foodie experiences sparking creative conversations that were punctuated with shared happy memories.

New friends and old friends, we came together for the October Weeknight Supper Circle at 400 Gradi Australia Mornington, the ideal setting to tuck into bowls of their delicious Wild Mushroom Ragu with Pappardelle, Gnocchi with Fresh Ricotta, Basil oil and Sugo, a glass of vino and a fresh, light salad. Great service from the team here, they made our evening so comfortable 🙏

Louise, Stephanie, Mandy, Sarah, Wendy and Helena, big love for bringing good energy, humour and enthusiasm ❤️

❤️

05/10/2026

Happy Places & Co is a real-world of curated gatherings and shared experiences that directly elevate social health.

Founded by me, (Mary) on the Mornington Peninsula, it's aim is to champion positive social connection by bringing people together over wholesome food and elevated table conversations in beautiful locations.

Gathering around the table is where we make the magic ✨❤️

Through the Good Things & Food Club, we share walks or a garden tour, picnics, we create beautiful things together, we enjoy music 🎶, books 📚 movies, we share delicious dishes, with fresh and familiar faces alike. And we have the best type of conversations.

It turns out that a "happy place" isn't about the scenery—it’s about the community you share it with ✨❤️

Good Things & Food has places available, it's a no cost subscription and all you need to do is send me a DM. Simple 👌

All images and content by Mary
📷 2 ~ Wend, Joy, Wendy & Kath
📷 3 ~ Supper Club & Good Things & Food Club
📷 4 ~ old friends & new friends

25/09/2026

❤️ Frenchie ❤️

Oh I've wanted to experience Frenchie since it opened and wow I was so impressed -

❤️ Superb everything ~ menu selection, atmosphere, the team, everything!

❤️ Every item on the menu = $14.00

Read that again...

❤️ Every item on the menu = $14.00

Except for sides, they are only $7.00 🤸

Our lunch on a Monday:

❤️ A beautiful steak w Entrecote Sauce
❤️ Seared Tuna w peppercorn sauce
❤️ A Beetroot 🫜 apple and walnut tartare
❤️ French Frites w Garlic 🧄 Aioli
❤️ French Baguette w Smoked Butter
❤️ A glass of Lienart Fiano from Barossa Valley

Served with flourish, the quality and quantity of each dish was remarkable, we kept saying wow, how good is this, wow, how delicious, wow, that's a great size serve, wow, that w**e is perfect with this...

Warning: it's hugely popular, I booked weeks and weeks beforehand and they turned people away at the door. Dinner bookings are even further out.

I love Frenchie ❤️ Cest la Vie indeed, that's life!

If I lived closer, I'd be a regular, hand on heart ❤️

❤️ ❤️

17/09/2026

A This & That Long Lunch ~

🫜 A bit of this ~
🫜 A bit of that ~

💫 A loaf of handmade, seeded sourdough
💫 A baked brie studded with garlic 🧄 rosemary sprigs and local honey
💫 A bowl of freshly roasted red capsicums
💫 A bit of extra virgin olive 🫒 oil & sticky balsamic
💫 A small bowl of Sicilian green olives
💫 A bowl of freshly roasted brussel sprouts
💫 A handful of sweet, salty baby gherkins
💫 A handmade coriander & parsley pesto
💫 A jar of peppercorn chicken liver pate
💫 A duo serve of roasted chorizo slices drizzled with local flora honey
💫A few handfuls of freshly sliced Serrano ham
💫A stack of handmade, freshly baked pita
💫A number of small bowls with crispy red grapes 🍇 lush strawberries 🍓 and blueberries 🫐
💫An array of roasted nuts

We sat for hours around the table, savouring, oohing, aaahing and soaking in the relaxed dishes in front of us. It was wonderfully slow, I'll have a bit of this now, I'll try some of that now, hmmmm a bit more of this, a few more spoons of that...

And we were so satisfied - we had other dishes to serve but we couldn't fit them in ~

💫Roasted red chicken bites
💫Small serves of fresh lasagne layed with sauteed leeks, broccolini, baby pork & fennel sausages and bechamel
💫A freshly assembled Caprese Salad 🥗
💫An array of handmade chocolates

This is hands down, the simplest, easiest, delicious way to enjoy fresh food together!

Happy birthday wishes Mandy 🩷 we all loved celebrating you 💫

10/09/2026

3/4 of the Supper Club went to Noosa ~ yes, we're now an interstate group 🌞🏖️🌊🌴🍸

We had the most delightfully indulgent time at some beautiful eateries so here's some hard recommendations for you whenever you venture there 💯

1. This is us on our first morning ~ can you spot the glee in our smiles? 😁😁

2. Light, delicious crepes at Flo's Crêperie in Noosa Junction 🥞

3. Noosa River ~ Rickys River Bar & Restaurant overlooks the water, it's wonderful

4. Noosa Boathouse we rode e-bikes all around Noosa and stopped here for lunch in the park. Freshly grilled Dory fillets, flash-fried calamari and salad 🫜 yum!

5, 6, 7, 8 At Tewantin Wharf is this superb place called Peli's ~ the food, ambiance, view, team are A for Awesome, Amazing and Astounding. I'm not exaggerating when I say this place is right up there as one of the best dining experiences I've had 👌

9. The Spectacular Supper Club ~ my how we have found friendship with each other 💫

10. Mandy and I at Kevin Benoot in Noosa Junction, a lovely Italian place that we loved on our last night.

Folabi in Noosaville is a fabulous French restaurant where lunch is savoured in the best way. Live music 🎶 in the afternoons too.

Bistro C oh my, we spent a few afternoons here devouring freshly shucked oysters and cocktails. Fresh, so fresh. Everything here + the outlook over Main Beach ⛱️ is incomparable.

Noosa offers relaxing, sunshine, walks, eateries, pools, beaches and more, after 15 years of holidaying there, it never loses its joire de vie 🌴

07/09/2026

Weeknight Supper Circle (WSC) met up in the relaxed and upscale dining room of Sandhurst Club and it was, as it always is, superb!

Designed to blend elegant casual dining with panoramic outdoor scenery, this space provides views overlooking the golf course

Over delicious dishes and w**e poured at the table (something we all noted was a beautiful touch to the dining experience) we talked about dining at home and eating around the table with others, who does this? (me, pick me) Bed and Breakfast accommodation (are there less now), Bright and Mt Beauty, the ski season, art classes, online dating, celebrity crushes, holidays and destinations of choice, theatre shows and so much more.

These midweek get togethers once a month are about connection, comfort, and shared experiences. The simple act of passing plates and sharing a meal breaks down barriers, effortlessly turning a group into closer friends by the end of the evening. In fact, we all decided to go together to see David Wenham in his new live show next March!

If you'd like an evening of good company, you can join the list by emailing [email protected]

Helena, Helen, Sarah, Stephanie, I loved our evening together, it was full of really good things ❤️

31/08/2026

I'm super excited that Mornington Peninsula Magazine has written an article about my love of getting around the table and Happy Places & Co ~ it's just come out today and is the September edition. Head on over to Page 20 and you'll see the story 📃 go to link in my bio for website.

Danielle Davey contacted me asking if I'd be interested in talking about my love of dining and especially hosting at home ~ something that seems to be not as popular as it was, and let's change that I say!

Well, my life hack for happy times = get yourself and good folks around your table, share good food (make simple delicious dishes) and stories and time with each other. It brings the greatest joy to sit elbow to elbow, tucking in and loving life 🤸😘❤️

You can join my Good Things & Food Club if you'd like to join me for great get togethers full of good stuff!

Go to link in my bio for my website or email [email protected]

Let's get together around the table soon! ❤️

📷 By Mary at Post Christmas Long Lunch at Mary's home 🏡 with Margaux, Lyn, Mandy, Corrie, Teresa, Ros, Merrin, Mel, Bec, Ellie, Kathrine & Mary!

29/08/2026

💫💫💫 Lemon 🍋 Olive 🫒 Oil Cake 💫💫💫

No: 2 Dessert for Lunch at a Friends home
No: 3 Birthday Cake for Work Colleagues

I made two cakes with one recipe quantity ~

📌 No: 2 - baked in a small round tin and decorated with Lemon 🍋 Syrup Cream & Glazed Lemon Slices.

Thinly sliced 2 lemons, add to a shallow pan w 1/4 cup each sugar and water. Summer till thick and syrupy, about 10 minutes. Let them cool and use some syrup for whipping cream, it tastes divine!

📌 No: 3 - baked in standard spring form tin and topped with the same as No:2 plus crumbled freeze-dried raspberries The Peel Thing

One Recipe ~ Multiple Occasions and each looks entirely different.

📌Add to your go-to-recipe for simple and pretty cakes for occasions!

25/08/2026

O N E ⭐ R E C I P E ⭐⭐⭐ 3 x OCCASIONS

Lemon 🍋 Olive Oil Cake

NO:1 💝 Birthday Cupcakes 💝

Last Friday, we celebrated Ellie's 37th birthday with these Lemon 🍋 Olive Oil Cupcakes. Little hands measured, stirred and tasted the mix before we poured into cake pans and baked for 28 minutes. Such excitement making birthday cakes for Mummy/Aunty Ellie 💞

As the little ones napped, I iced the cakes with a simple butter icing, and decorated some with crushed dried raspberries from The Peel Thing (they taste divine and look gorgeous) and others with freshly picked magnolia buds from our tree. So pretty ❤️

That afternoon, we lit candles and sang, blew out lots, clapped lots, lit candles over again, big smiles all round.

A very precious birthday memory made with ❤️
L O V E ❤️

⭐⭐⭐ R E C I P E ⭐⭐⭐

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together
🍋1 cup quality olive oil
🍋3 X eggs
🍋1 cup sugar.
🍋 Add zest of 3 lemons and half cup lemon juice.
Whisk briefly to combine.

🍋 Stir in 2 cups plain flour, 1/2 teaspoon each baking powder, baking soda and salt.
🍋 Carefully stir in 1 cup milk. Don't over mix.

Bake 175 degrees.

Makes 22 cupcakes OR 2 X big cakes (next post)

❤️

16/08/2026

For the last six years, Fridays are dedicated to time together with our littlest family ones ~ they are days that have woven and etched their way into our happy memory bank ❤️

Picking lemons 🍋 and making lemonade is something we do every year, and its full of the greatest joy ~ the picking, collecting, smelling, carrying and then juicing all those beauties, to batch into homemade lemonade.

4-year-old grandson Jax and 20-month-old granddaughter Maisy wait patiently with cups in hand for it to be ready to drink asking 'is it ready now Nana'? ❤️

And when they taste it, big smiles 😁 eyes light up and Jax punches the air and says with glee - best day ever! ❤️

Homemade Lemonade 🍋 is simply the best.

I love our lemon 🍋 tree and the mountain of lemons 🍋 it gives us every year ~ but we have way too many for us right now and it's only the second pick, we'll get more, so If you live nearby and would like some, send me a message and we'll organise some ~ 💫

You can make lemonade, preserved lemons, lemon butter and Lemon Pesto (next post) which is droolworthy delicious!

Lemonade recipe from A Basket by The Door by Sophie Hansen Sophie Hansen | Food Writer | Orange NSW 🙏

Happy Places & Co

16/10/2026

05/10/2026

25/09/2026

17/09/2026

10/09/2026

07/09/2026

31/08/2026

29/08/2026

25/08/2026

16/08/2026

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