Hello my lovelies! What fickle spring weather we’re having! A beautiful sunny day for wandering yesterday. Steady rain today. This week I’ve been a grinch about Wellington on a Plate. I made a birthday cake for a friend. I’m already sucked back into NBA news. And I’ve actually sent my Father’s Day card on time.
So this year I have done absolutely no Wellington on a Plate anythings. I have grinched completely. There are lots of reasons. Some of them logistic but mostly I just wasn’t inspired by any of it. The trends in flavours and styles this year didn’t appeal to me. I didn’t feel like there was anything interesting to learn in terms of technique or flavour. It’s also become very expensive to attend the events and classes so unless something is genuinely interesting I’m not handing over $200+. I know I was less concerned about this when I had a finance industry salary coming in but still. And Burger Wellington, once so fun and exciting, had little charm for me this year. It felt like every restaurant entered because they need to be on the roster and with so many run of the mill offerings it’s hard to hunt out anything interesting or innovative. By the time people are putting kimchi on everything at home something new should be showing up. I’d love them to limit it to 50 burgers and do some more rigorous pre-selection so you knew you would get a well executed, interesting burger. But that’s just my two cents and I’m bound to get lashed for it.
To make up for not eating any other burgers I made my own WOAP creation for dinner on Saturday night. I had a few of my friends over for dinner and a movie. As we do most months. The “Golden Gun” featured crispy paprika chicken, smoked cheddar, peach chutney, slaw and sriracha mayo on a saffron bun. With pickles of course. Everything house made. We followed this with one of my proudest decorating efforts. A birthday cake for my friend Lauren. We had chatted over a different dinner about the classic NZ book the Womens Weekly Cakes for Kids. And how she loved the swimming pool cake (the pool is blue jelly) as a child but never had one. So we had the slight variation “gandalf fishing in a lily pond with duck.” The pool was still made of jelly though. Very important. As is the chocolate finger biscuit fence. Pro tip – do as much as you can and fill the pool with jelly at the literal last minute. The speed at which the water in jelly will soak into everything else is mind-boggling.
So last year we watched the NBA playoffs and keep a loose track of the regular season. And now I think I’m a bit addicted. There has been a lot of interesting movement and trading of players in the last week and now I can see a rabbit hole of interest waiting for me. No one has time to watch all the games. Least of all me. But I’m sure I could squeeze in some low level obsessive interest…
You guys. You should be really proud. I have bought and sent my Father’s Day card. Already. NZ changed the postal system from delivery 6 days a week to 3 alternating days. They did this like two years ago. And for the life of me I have never been able to post a card or gift that arrives on time. My brain still calculates the time it will take incorrectly. So this time I made a special effort. I hope it sticks in my brain and I am no longer the world’s worst offspring.
Do it yourself. Eat cake. Take an interest. Remember Dad. Look after each other.
xx
The Woman’s Weekly Cakes for Kids is popular across the ditch as well. I know plenty of adults who long for that swimming pool cake. I love the take with Gandalf. Coming from America I employ the Hershey’s Chocolate Cookbook as a source of all birthday treats for my Aussie spawn. My mum gave me a copy that she got by sending in proofs of purchase and it’s dog eared from hours of perusing by grubby hands.
Awesome – yeah I distinctly remember helping my mother make the space shuttle cake for my brother’s birthday when I was a kid! I got my copy new when I saw it in a book store – I didn’t know they were still printing them – a lot of my friends have handed down copies