A Table Tidbit

Just a quick post about a fun and tasty dessert I made for guests this weekend.

It's called a pavlova - a meringue dessert topped with berries, apparently named after the Russian ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova during a tour to New Zealand in the 1920's. I had heard of it, but never actually tried it, and it seemed to fit the bill when I cracked open one of Ina Garten's cookbooks a couple of hours before dinner time. Beings one of our guests has dairy issues, I made my own adaptation - omitting the whipping cream and sauce, and instead just making the meringue base per the recipe, topping with lightly sugared strawberries and blueberries to juice them up a bit, and then drizzling with my best balsamic. Let's just say our friends asked for the recipe on the way out the door. Success. You can find the original recipe here, complete with a handy video by Ina. Enjoy!