The Show and Birthday Cake

My sister turned 10 this week, and decided that she would like to go to the Royal Melbourne Show on her birthday.  My mother, Tabitha and I took Q and her friend to the show, first thing in the morning, to beat the crowds.  We arrived at 9am, and managed to leave just after noon, fitting in the baby animal nursery, the dogs, cats and poultry, the craft/cooking competition areas, the big food pavilion, and a quick scoot through the showbags and rides area.  It wasn't as hideous as I'd feared - not too crowded so early in the day - and Tabitha seemed to really enjoy seeing all the activity and the animals.

My sister and her friend had pony rides:

I didn't give Tabitha a pony ride - she's too small to reliably hang on by herself - but she enjoyed waving to the ponies as they walked past:

My mother and Tabby cuddled a bantam chook.  Tabby thought it was a rooster, I think, and said "cockalocolocoloco" when she saw them, which is her very cute way of saying cockadoodaldoo.  She buried her hands into the feathers, and the chooks were all beautifully patient and calm:

Pointing out its red comb:

My mother helped Tabitha pat the lambs 'very gently':

Tabby was mildly alarmed by the sweet cow, who tried to lick her toes.  She did say moooo back to the cow, though, which was polite of her:

Patting the fluffy baby duckling very gently:

This little feller was only hours old.  So wobbly on his little legs!

Don't you want to just curl up amongst the baby lambs?!

I have a real weak spot for a orange-and-black pig.  Here is a whole pile of piglets:

I know they say that dogs look like their owners - how about cats?

This rabbit is a rex.  This means, essentially, that his fur coat is literally the softest thing in the world.  Softer than any chinchilla or mink I've touched.  It's what I imagine beds are made of in heaven.  I took a card from the breeder - I am trying to convince The Daddy that it would be a fantastic idea to have a couple of rex rabbit pets.  Once Tabitha is older, I can teach her to ask, "please can I have a rex rabbit, daddy?"  Surely he can't say no to her...

Tabithe enjoyed the big food hall immensely.  She ate samples of Jalna yoghurt, some spinach and beef golzeme, some seafood laksa, a little of Jock's award-winning chocolate ice cream, some chewey pretzel and she tried some honey fresh from the comb:

I love checking out the entrants in the cooking competitions.  This 'Amy Winehouse tribute cake' took out a prize in the decorated cakes section.  The attention to detail was incredible:

Check out the dizzying height of this blue ribbon winning sponge cake:

I always say that the best scones are never the prettiest - the things which make a scone 'pretty' tend to prevent it from being a good scone (over-mixing, over-kneeding, less liquid, too thoroughly rubbed in butter).  These first-place scones look satisfyingly ugly.  This is how you can tell they must have tasted fabulous:

An entrant in the children's decorated cupcakes section - third price to a Miss Tabitha!  I hope one day my Tabitha also enjoys decorating cupcakes.

For many years, I mocked the Dagwood Dog a.k.a. Corn Dog.  "How disgusting!" I would sneer.  The Daddy made me try one a few years ago, and I now concede that when they are fresh (e.g. the batter is hot and crispy), they can be pretty tasty:

Tabby loves pinwheels, so I bought her this fancy foil one.  She doesn't have the lung capacity to blow them properly, but she has learnt how to hold them out in the pram as we walk, so the wind gets all the wheels turning.  Here she is examining her newest pinwheel:

I also bought her a 'dolly on a stick', with layers of pink glitter tulle skirts and a glitter-and-feather headpiece.  Ostensibly, the dolly is for Tabitha - and she does love it - but I do love them myself, too:

We managed to escape without being too laden down with colourful cr@p:

When we got home, Tabitha chased Possum the cat around with her dolly.  He then chased the dolly around, trying to chew off her feather headpiece.

Of course, Q and her friend bought a couple of show bags each, and had a wonderful time unpacking them once we got home:

I bought a small 'Wizz Fizz' showbag for my best friend Amy, and a Bertie Beetle showbag for The Daddy.  He tells me that it contains 15 Bertie Beetles, and a nifty beetle toy that creeps and flips down a wall.

Naturally, the cats hid inside the showbags as soon as the girls emptied them.  Strange creatures!

After a morning of show food - including a treat of some chocolate ice cream! - Tabitha had a nice healthy lunch of steamed veggies and baked meatballs:

While Tabitha napped, I quickly whipped up a chocolate cake for after dinner, for my sister's birthday.  I used the same recipe I used for Tabby's first birthday cake, only with two tiers instead of four...

Such an easy recipe - just throw everything into the food processor...

The chocolate cake batter, with brilliant Valhrona cocoa and sour cream, is the most delicious batter I've ever tasted.

Q was most thrilled with her cake, however did manage to bite down hard on one of the dragees with her 'wobbly tooth', which apparently hurt quite a bit.  So warning, if you are serving to other 10-year-olds!