Freelancing? Pigs might fly

People often suggest I do some freelance writing for extra cash. Who has time for freelance writing when you spend hours baking and decorating cupcakes for the school band’s fundraiser cake stall?

I certainly bloody don’t.

Add to that a sick Sprog under foot, a house that looks like a mini-hurricane has swept through and an aching back caused by standing around baking cupcakes for hours and creativity was pretty thin on the ground yesterday.

I’ve had offers of freelance work, “Send me some ideas” editors say. But my brain is so jammed with Hollywood gossip, so busy thinking up new ways to repurpose mashed potato for my food blog at Village Voices and churning lovingly creating a blog for housegoeshome every day that coming up with more “ideas” is faintly terrifying.

I’ve been commissioned to write a feature. A big, long, fact-and-research-heavy feature. I’m a bit scared. I just blather on the blog about my life. The Hollywood stuff is simply collecting tidbits. The feature will be hard work.

I was going to start the serious feature yesterday. But I didn’t quite get around to it. In much the same way that I never seem to get around to starting it. Chest is getting tight … must change subject …

Wish me luck manning the school band cake stall between 8 and 10am this morning, selling my creations – they’d better race off the wobbly trestle table, that’s all I can say.

Here is how I made them:

Basic cupcake recipe

(makes 12, I doubled it)

125g butter, room temp

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 & 1/2 cups self-raising flour

METHOD: Preheat oven to 180C. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence with electric beaters. Add eggs, beat well. Add milk and self-raising flour. Mix with wooden spoon to combine then beat with electric beaters. Spoon into patty cases in a 12-cupcake tray. Bake for around 12-15 minutes, until golden. Cool on wire racks

Piggy Cupcakes

18 marshmallows, 24 brown mini M&Ms, pink icing. Ice cupcakes with pink icing. Set aside 12 marshmallows, use a skewer to make two holes in each one as nostrils. Cut the other 6 marshmallows in half and squeeze one end of each together to form an ear shape. Place a snout, eyes and two ears on each cupcake.

Flower Cupcakes

Spearmint leaves, mini M&Ms, yellow icing. Ice cupcakes with yellow icing. Cut Spearmint Leaves into strips to use as stalks for the flowers. Use yellow mini M&Ms as the centre of the flowers with blue mini M&Ms for the petals.