Aug 7: Mum skills

Yesterday I tested out my mum skills by making a birthday cake for Bella from the Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook.  Although the new edition doesn't have some of the classics like the famous Swimming Pool Cake and highly coveted Barbie Doll cake, there are still some gems. I just couldn't go past Fifi the pink poodle cake.

I think it's the pinkest thing I've ever made. I also took Clem's advice and turned it into a Hummingbird Bakery red velvet cake by adding a whole bottle of Dr Oetker's red colouring and a few teaspoons of cocoa. The charming result was a cake that, once cut into, looked like an actual poodle had been sliced open.

Tom made an amazing Thai feast for dinner and 'neished' the kitchen in the process. Definition and accompanying evidence below.

  neish (nee--sh) 
  neished, neishing, neishes  
  vb.
  1. To use every pot, pan, plate and utensil in the kitchen whilst cooking and leave it in a state likened  to the aftermath of an atomic explosion.
  2. A food preparation practice in diametric opposition to cleaning up as you go along named after esteemed gastronomer and spunk rat Thomas Lloyd Neish.
  [Origin: The term was first used by Matt S when Tom Ravenscroft came home to find their shared kitchen in a state "Sorry, mate, I've neished the kitchen".]