Monkeying around

A relatively laid back week here in Perth.  It's been pretty cold and we had another one of those freakishly heavy downpours, only with much less media coverage.

It was amongst this cold and rain that Mat celebrated his 30th birthday.  Mat wanted a 3 tiered cake and a safari theme with a monkey.   I normally get nervous making cakes for guys, cos it really isn't the easiest to make a cake seem masculine.  However, a safari/monkey cake gave me a cool theme to work with!  As Mat is also the doting daddy to a 3 year old, I thought I'd make something on the cuter side, as a happy child is a happy parent!

Bananas and palm trees makes for a pretty warm birthday.....

Credits to the award winning Joanne of Cupcake Gallery in Sydney for the inspiration of the cheeky monkey.

Look at him, taking a huge chunk of birthday cake and getting caught in the act!

Matt said via email: "Once again thanks for the cake, it's very cute and pretty, we all just stared at it and were reluctant to start eating it. Ended up just eating the bottom part and I brought the top part to the next day's big family dinner while the kids were all fighting to eat the monkey."

 I assume this means he liked the cake!!

Happy birthday Mat, many happy returns and may you always be young at heart! 

On a totally different topic, for those of us who still remember good service, it appears that it is increasingly difficult to come by.  Good service it seems is the exception rather than the norm these days.  So, last week, an older lady walked into an ANZ bank.  The lady at the counter spent more than 40 minutes with her, teaching her how to use internet banking and patiently answered all her questions.  Although, she was just doing her job, the happy customer was impressed enough to ask me to make a thank you gift for her lovely bank lady.

 A pot of edible flowers was the result.  And one good turn deserves another.  It just goes to show that people appreciate when effort is made and you just never know when you make a difference to someone's day.