Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail.
Apart from that, and burning everything, I don’t really have any cooking related stories. I do have a hilarious one about a Pavlova though.
My ex-mother-in-law, an amazing and wonderful lady, was the most spectacular cook. She was also a joy. She had a wonderful way of laughing at herself and not taking herself seriously, which was helpful in this case.
My parents bought her a proper pavlova plate and cutting slice for their wedding anniversary. She made the most gorgeous pavlova, the meringue was easily 2” deep, the cream was an inch thick, and it was piled high with fresh summer berries. It was something you really should have photographed. We really should have!
A proper pavlova plate has no rim, it curves gently down at the edges for ease of slicing. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the slice.
She carried the pavlova carefully with two hands, trouble was she carried the slice sticking out to one side. That caught the kitchen door, stopped the plate dead, but the pavlova kept going.
It flew about three feet, flipped over, landed on the hall carpet, and the cream hit the front door. It was all over the radiator, the side of the stairs, the walls, and one very happy cat!
Miss Tinker had been fortuitously placed in the hallway at the time. She cleaned herself, the door, the radiator, everything she could lay her tongue to.
What could have been a really embarrassing moment was completely neutralised by mum’s howls of laughter which set us all off.
My ex, every resourceful, got on his hands and knees and surveyed the damage, he called for a knife, cut halfway through the cream, was able to lift the pavlova away from the mess, that part never having got near the carpet.
While the cat cleaned up, with a bit of help from ex, mum added a bit more cream, some left over fruit, and whilst it wasn’t the same depth of beauty as the original, it was extremely nice.
We christened it Pavlova a la Axminster. A make of carpet in the UK.
That’s one of my best memories of a time in my life when my in-laws were the best part of it. The hardest thing I did was to walk away from the three of them.
I thought we would stay friends, but I met Tony so soon after the break that everyone put two and two together and failed their maths. Two plus two plus conjecture doesn’t make four.
I hadn’t known him before, I told my ex immediately I met him, but it would have been far too awkward for them after that. So sad.
Oh the good memories!
So there is a very odd kind of cooking failure that was full a roaring success. Especially for the cat.
Best love
Deb xx
Deb Hawken - Amorah 