use real butter

It’s cold. I mean, it’s the kind of cold that will make our roof pop and make loud cracking sounds in the night because of shrinkage. But it’s beautiful outside.

yes, that thermometer reading was zero as of this afternoon

experimental recipe
I had fresh cranberries to use up and I wanted to bake something to warm the house a little. I wasn’t interested in the ubiquitous orange cranberry bread that’s all over the web. So I found a recipe that was more bready than quick bready – if that makes any sense. I didn’t have lemon rind on hand, so I used lime.

cranberries are beautiful in cross section

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I had told my physician that I worried about getting enough calcium because I am lactose intolerant. She asked what I normally eat and I gave her a rundown of a typical week. She told me that dark leafy greens were a good source of calcium and that some asian cultures have shown to have better calcium intake in their diets because they ate foods high in a vitamin I have since forgotten which helps calcium absorption. All I remember is that, yes, I eat plenty of that too.

I picked up some lovely organic kale the other day at Whole Foods Paycheck. Growing up, I remembered seeing kale as a garnish. One curly sprig with some pathetic half-dried cherry tomato or orange slice on the side… My mom was a wonder with vegetables. She not only cooked a ton of them, but she cooked them so they retained a brilliant healthy color, great flavor, excellent texture, and were totally nutritious. Boiling To Death was not an option in her kitchen.

fresh kale

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Most of the desserts I like to make involve eggs. Well, they either involve whole eggs or egg yolks. Like soufflé uses yolks and whites separately, as does key lime pie, chocolate mousse, and chocolate cream cake. Then there are those that are heavy on yolks like crème brûlée, tiramisu, flan, cheesecake, and pastry cream. I hate to throw out good egg whites, but the only desserts I know of that use egg whites exclusively are meringues, angel food cake, and macaroons.

The tiramisu I made earlier this week required 8 egg yolks, which left me with 8 egg whites. I’ve been plagued with the fear of attempting meringues at elevation because I still don’t know what flops and what doesn’t compared to sea level. However, consultation with Donna Hay’s pavlova recipe and comparison to a high altitude cookbook recipe for meringues lead me to a successful experiment today. I opted for individual pavlovas because they take less time to cook and because I had no idea how many I’d produce (8 egg whites produce an assload of mini pavlovas).

piped meringue – not so aesthetically pleasing

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