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Happy Places & Co, Mornington (2026)

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 🙏

06/08/2026

📣 Calling all you fabulous food fans 📣

🎥 The Taste of Things - a movie ❤️

Where do I start? The language 😘

Marriage is a dinner that starts with dessert!

This is the best moment of the day!

Happiness is continuing to desire what we already have. Boom 💥 that's it!!

Juliette Binoche ❤️ this woman is so brilliant playing the role of magnificent cook Eugenie.

Set in 1889, it captures the love of food and how making food for those you love is the greatest gift.

The filming is spectacular, all up close, you can feel the food, smell it cooking, and the tasting definitely made me want to devour every dish.

If you're not a food fan 🪭 you may find it overwhelming, the food is central to the story.

But if you LOVE FOOD like me, you'll totally fall in LOVE with this visual feast. And the characters.

It's a LOVE story at its core, but it's a love that is grown, picked, tended, cared for, prepped, baked and tasted side by side, together, the care they give to what they create is hypnotic.

It's utterly beautiful ❤️

❤️ ❤️

03/08/2026

Weeknight Supper Circle ✨

Nothing complex, nothing stressful — just a gentle mid‑week pause with good food, good chats and familiarity.

We come as we are. Bring whatever we have the energy for, we share a meal, unwind, and enjoy some table chats. It's an easy evening together.

This time we soaked in the laidback, cheerful vibe of Fifty5 on Barkly in Mornington, gathered around the table in a super cool booth, Liam and Conleth gave us a great evening of attention and care ~ thank you both! I'm keen for Wednesday Trivia and Thursday Irish Music at the sister venue The Dubliner.

Asian fusion menu, half-price dumplings on Thursdays, shredded duck spring rolls, massaman chicken curry, red duck curry, it was all lovely.

We chatted about our origins I.e. ancestral, it was surprising 🪾capturing the beautiful night 🌘 sky, travels to Licola, caring for pets, meeting childhood friends 55 years later 😲 getting along to a local trivia ❓ night, loving Irish 🍀 music, loving live 🎼 music, heartfelt ❤️ shows like Schitts Creek and Ted Lasso ~ and more...

Mandy, Mel, Sarah, Helen, Merrin 🫶🙌❤️

If you want to join Weeknight Supper Circle, send me a message [email protected]

29/07/2026

Good Things & Food ✨💛 Club

A Warming Winter High Tea beside the seaside at lovely Martha's Table where we wrapped ourselves up in each other's company and conversation over some mindful activities.

Located within the private cellar, sunlight poured in, glasses of bubbly and bite-size treats on tiers adorned our table plus pots of tea and coffee. The ideal setting for creating our own handmade cards using an array of pretty pressed flowers, we were lulled into a calm rhythm of chatting and pondering a piece in the making.

Each of us brought along something from our own lives to share ~ a ritual swap ~ the thoughtfulness and care felt so good, from handmade organic soothing essential oil rollers, to poetry, to a piece of prose, to favourite recipes, practices like gathering around the fire with loved ones, to movie 🎥 book 📖 and other fabulous recommendations. Sina led us through a wonderful activity that had us all thanking her. The afternoon was rich with giving. We loved it all and we left feeling wrapped up in warmth and friendship.

Big love Deb, Gora, Sarah, Jacinta, Sally, Chantal, Sally, Sina and Anna for bringing the best energy and enthusiasm ❤️

To Jiwon and team at Martha's Table ✨ thank you for your flexibility, professionalism and gentle way of looking after us all so we'll 🙏

15/07/2026

🌰 Winter White Chocolate & Almond Fudge ✨

Put the kettle on and while you're waiting, place together in a bowl ~ 450g good quality white chocolate, 80g butter and 1 X can condensed milk and microwave one minute at a time until melted and beautifully blended. Add 1 cup roasted almonds and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Pour into a lined square tin and refrigerate till firm (about half hour).

Make a pot of tea or coffee, let it steep, pour a cup and sip slowly. By this time, your fudge will be ready to cut into small squares and serve.

This is one of those ever reliable recipes you can whip up quick as a whip ~ for a surprise visitor, for a gift, for family, for neighbours, for good friends.

Swap out white chocolate for dark or milk and add whichever nuts you like. It's versatile.

Old tried and true favourites like this one are loaded with nostalgia and happy memories ~ I don't recall a single mouth 👄 not loving it ❤️

A winner 🏆 all round - it's additively delicious and I hope you love it and everyone you make it for ❤️

08/07/2026

The Happy Places & Co Supper Club Winter Weekend in Kyneton, jam packed w beautiful food, beautiful friends and the best fun ❤️

F**k Shing on Friday night was a brilliant banquet, dish after dish was just delightful, the team here are wonderful. Full bellies, warm hearts for the walk home to charming Mollisons!

Saturday, excited to be together and celebrate Nick's birthday 🤴 which kicked off with a late breakfast Social Foundry Cafe beaming sunshine and blue skies🔹

We wandered the streets of Kyneton, so many lovely places. 📯

Only minutes away is the old Campaspe Flour Mill, a magnificent bluestone building, fully restored and now the place of a gin distillery. Current Art Exhibition is Daniel Butterworth, awe inspiring paintings all on cardboard 👨‍🎨🎨.

Dinner rounded out a fabulous day ~ housed in a gorgeous old ice-works building on Piper Street, owners Sarah and Con have created a space that feels like a warm family table. Their specialty is Pinsa Romana—a light, super-crunchy Roman-style crust made from a unique soy, rice, and wheat flour blend that is absolutely incredible. We paired Greek-style tapas (stuffed bell peppers, prawns, pickled octopus all top-tier) and local Macedon Ranges wines. Sarah and Con, from us to you, a huge salute 🫡 you made our evening unforgettable in the most sensational way. Grazie 🙏❤️

Kyneton, you are wonderful, especially in Winter!

28/06/2026

A Passionfruit Cream Sponge 💛🌟

This cake is a firm favourite for Summer, our daughter in law, so of course it was a must for her recent birthday.

Together, with her two boys, aged 4 & 6, we created a cake filled with love, I know it looks like whipped cream and passionfruit icing, but truly, it's love 💛

They mixed that icing carefully, I spread it and they carefully sprinkled the gold cachous balls on top. Their beaming 😁 smiles were filled w joy.

The last thing to go on were candles, rainbow 🌈 colours, placed thoughtfully. Then we excitedly took it to their home 🏡 for Mummy to celebrate her birthday 🎂🎈 Summer Brown

Cake like this one is a gift from the hearts of those who love you like no other 💛🌟💛 so it tastes incredible, like no other, and your heart and soul are cocooned in love, like no other 💛💛💛

Recipe from The Plain Cake Appreciation Society by - it's a sure winner everytime!

Happy Places & Co

31/08/2026

29/08/2026

25/08/2026

16/08/2026

06/08/2026

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29/07/2026

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28/06/2026

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