I re-paid these learned ladies in-kind with a Fridge Whisperer-inspired four-course lunch.

The menu, you ask?

For starters we had a spicy lentil salsa with Tostitos scoops: a light nibble to whet the appetite and keep us engaged in the brainstorming while lunch was baking off.

Next, I think I did Chef Emily proud, recreating her lovely Panko encrusted poached eggs which were deep fried to a golden crispy brown. Instead of reproducing Em’s watercress coulis, I set these golden orbs of deliciousness atop a lightly dressed arugula salad. The yolks perfectly runny, as they should be.

The third course was my newest recipe I’m working on for The Fridge Whisperer: Sunday Supper… any night of the week cookbook. Individual savoury chicken potpies. After we ate them we rated them. The recipe needs tweaking. More crust, thicker gravy, skip the frozen mixed veggies and go straight to the pea-carrot medley for old time’s sake.

Dessert, I approached with much trepidation. It was a light-as-a-feather Jell-O ’50s recipe that was supposed to look like a stained glass cheesecake. And it did! But the crust was total crap. You see, this was the first time I’d ever attempted to create my own graham cracker cookie base. The thing was like a piece of granite. Even with a serrated knife I couldn’t cut through it. The cake was to be served in clean, “upright” slices so that the eater could appreciate the coloured mosaic patterns of the various coloured Jell-O cubes before chowing down on it.

Of course my mavens oohed and aahed anyway.

But they kinda like me.