Category Archives: special occasions

DIY Palm Sunday candle – nautical theme

Posted on March 17, 2015 | 2 comments

The most beautiful things in life are found in the simple!

Make your kid a unique Palm Sunday candle, done with love and in less than 10 minutes. All you need is a candle, piece of burlap, white ribbon, blue rope and a nautical motif, could be anchor, ship helm or even fish…

Follow this step by step tutorial:

Wrap the burlap ribbon (7-8cm width) around the candle, almost at the 1/3, so it’s above your kid hand grip.
Fold a piece of 20 cm rope( could be blue, red, beige….) and attach it to the candle with a thin white ribbon.
Hang the nautical motif you chose, at the center of the white ribbon

And that’s it! I told you it’s a less than 10 minutes craft.

You can adapt it to any color of your choice, related to the nautical concept and matching your kid cloths if you wish so. Boy or girl can enjoy this candle depending on the colors you use.

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More posts yet to come, stay tuned!

2 Comments

Posted in design, DIY, special occasions

Tagged blog, burlap ribbon, craft, DIY, how to do, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon, nautical, nautical motif, palm sunday, palm sunday candle, white ribbon

Decadent chocolate cake

Posted on March 4, 2015 | 5 comments

If you think i am exaggerating when i say this is the best basic recipe for a chocolate cake, try it and prove me wrong! I am sure you will be checking this recipe over and over and over….

If you remember my spectacular chocolate cake with red fruits i did a year go, you will find that this is the same recipe of the chocolate cake, but this one with nutella butter frosting.

Trust me with or without frosting, ganache or fruits, it’s a staple chocolate cake for all the occasions and times.

To bake the cake you need:

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup, unsweetened cocoa powder
11/2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 tbsps instant coffee powder
1 cup hot water
2 large eggs

Preheat oven on 180ºC. In a large bowl, sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the sugar and mix well with the dry ingredients.

Make a well in the center and add the milk, oil, vanilla essence and eggs then mix. Finally add the hot coffee melted in the cup of hot water.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Start checking from 35 mins onwards.

I should mention that my little baker helped me to prepare this cake!

For the frosting you need:

200g nutella
200g butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp granulated sugar

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar, then vanilla and pinch of salt and mix until combined.

Add nutella and beat until fluffy. When ready to use stir in the granulated sugar without over mixing, it will give you a light crunchiness effect later when savoring the cake.

I used 1M Wilton tip to create the swirls, and decorated it with some cherries. You can replace the cherry with strawberry or chocolate sprinkles if you want.

I put it couple of hours in the fridge before serving. But guess what?! the next day was even better!

By the way, this was my birthday cake (last week) but i didn’t find the urge to post it, I was enjoying reading and over reading, everyday and many times for the whole week, the surprise post my husband did.

Again thank you babes for the beautiful unexpected surprise! Love xx

5 Comments

Posted in dessert, special occasions

Tagged 1M tip, birthday, birthday cake, cake, chocolate, chocolate cake, cocoa powder, decadent, frosting, granulated sugar, how to do, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon, nutella, recipe, wilton

Surprise post wishing my super wife a happy birthday

Posted on February 25, 2015 | 18 comments

This is an unconventional post on this blog… usually Jaymmy posts about food, crafts, kids activities with a rich vocabulary and smooth flow. I am not that type of person, my writing skills and my style suck, so it is a pre apology for the readers, if you carry on reading, you are not getting the same quality, you are used to on this page.

But I am keen on writing it, to put the light and bang the drums to the effort put behind every post and to wish my wonderful wife and marmite et ponpon a super happy birthday.

I am proud of her, she’s the one who prepares, takes pictures, write and post, and I am in the backstage, trying to entertain our precious son Nady so that she’s able to put it together and frankly I don’t know where and how she finds time to keep on doing what she’s doing with the kid, the work, the house. . . sometimes I feel that her day is 26 and even 30 hours.

I can’t but appreciate her skills, am sure by now you realize that she’s perfectionist. She’s perfectionist in every single thing she does , from washing the dishes, to meticulously choosing Nady’s books and videos, to doing his customized Palm Sunday candle, to decorating the house, to delivering creative and high quality outcome at work, . . . and this is exhausting!

We have our stress and pressure our ups and downs, our achievements and deceptions, but luckily so far we are managing to get out of our hard times solider and stronger!

On this special occasion, i want to wish you my Jaymmy a super happy birthday, and i want to tell you that you are more than just the wife, the friend, the travel companion, the cook, the flat mate… you are the love I always dreamed of, and our Nady is one lucky boy to have you as a mom!

Happy birthday to Marmite et ponpon as well, I know I got you extra work on your last birthday but I don’t regret it! I still believe that what you naturally do is worth being shared!!

I am sure that you will criticize my English and my writing skills 🙂 But I will enjoy it…

Happy birthday… super Jay! I love you, and will always be by your side! We make a great family with Nady! We will make even a greater one with our little Joud coming on the way, yes we are expecting a new member in the team!

Happy birthday… keep it up!!

18 Comments

Posted in special occasions

Endless reasons i love you…

Posted on February 12, 2015 | 6 comments

It’s so important to tell your children “I love you” everyday. Knowing that they are loved unconditionally, develops their secure attachment to you. Strong closeness to the family will lead no doubt to positive relationships in adulthood and high self esteem.

We celebrate love everyday at home, I never miss a chance to express my love to my precious son (verbally or by actions) and for this valentines i decided to put the reasons i love him in written words on cutout hearts to celebrate love.

I know many of you stopped celebrating valentines for how commercial it became. Don’t lose faith in this beautiful occasion and teach your children about love in deep and expressive ways.

It won’t take too much of your time. Cut a big circle of styrofoam then a smaller one within to make it look like a hoop. Wrap it with colorful ribbons (or paper, whatever you have available at home). Cut out heart shaped papers. I attached to you an A3 paper with many drawn hearts. Click hearts to download the file.

Enjoy writing on the hearts the many and endless reasons why you love your children then stick them on the hoop.

Hang it on their bedroom door as a wreath or simply on the wall as a frame. This is Nady’s wreath of love written by papa Antoun and I. We will be reading it to him for now…

If your children are old enough to write, you can get them involved in the game and stretch it for a longer time. Ask them to write the reasons they love you too and play this mutual love game starting a week ahead, hanging everyday one heart from each, until valentines day when you have a full wreath.

By the way, it’s not just for kids! Do it to your significant other and let love flourishes in your hearts and homes!

Don’t forget that love is not only words, it should be followed by actions, and the most important the presence. Be present for your kids, in love, protection and service. Happy valentines xx

6 Comments

Posted in DIY, special occasions

Tagged cutout hearts, DIY, hearts, i love you, love, messages, valentine, valentines day, wreath

The Horse – personalized baby welcoming decorations

Posted on January 22, 2015 | 4 comments

The blessing that i’ve been waiting for is just here, before time, in a hurry as much as i was to be promoted to aunt. A bundle of joy arrived to fill our family with love, a best friend to my son.
Congratulations to proud new parents George and Desi, may this miracle be the beginning of many more to come.
I always wondered how could my heart be enough to hold many big loves, certainly i need a second one. But the truth is you made my heart bigger, my precious nephew Markus.

Power, grace, beauty, nobility, strength and freedom are the common symbolic meaning of the horse in different cultures. Green promotes balance, harmony and growth. A beautiful combination to welcome a more beautiful Markus.

If you are expecting a baby in 2015, year of the horse (chinese astrology), let your welcome be as meaningful and special as the symbol of the horse.

You can implement the horse on bigger scale to create a simple yet elegant welcome door sign. The sky is the limit, you can be as creative as you wish and add many items as per your taste.