Florence's Pavlova

An airy treat as delicate as a ballet superstar!

Our last holiday treat of 2019 is the pavlova, a signature dessert of my wife's homeland. Most people who have seen pictures of the "pavs" Jess has made for our family and friends ask if it's a cake, whipped cream, or some other strange concoction, maybe an unbaked Alaska? An ice cream cake? Something else entirely? And the answer is simple: it's a meringue topped with a lot of whipped cream and fruit. 

You can have big pavs, little pavs, in the medium pavs... doesn't matter. When done right, this is a really delicious, refreshing dessert, perfect for celebrating Christmas in Australia because - as many of you know - Australia (and the rest of the southern hemisphere) is actually experiencing summer right now. Australians still enjoy traditional Christmas treats like Christmas puddings and gingerbread, but the high temperatures make things like this an appealing alternative to "traditional" Christmas fare, which is often quite heavy or spiced. 

The pavlova can trace its history back to the 1920's, when Russian ballet superstar Anna Pavolva toured Australia and New Zealand. Both countries claim to be the first to create this dessert in her honor, but as I've married an Australian, I think you know which country I need to support in the debate. Australia also has the slightly stronger argument - in my opinion - because similar dishes spotlighting meringues and whipped cream date back to the early 1900's, meaning my Florrie Girl Florence might have enjoyed a treat similar to a pavlova in her childhood known by a different name. Other similar Australian recipes appear in the early 1920's, still under a different name, and the first known dish to bear the name Pavolva comes from an Australian cookbook published in 1926. 

Sorry, New Zealand.

Australia Day with Florence

Sharing some of Florence's favorites with you!

Hi everybody! Remember me? Semester two has been off to a good, but busy start, and certain goings on in the world has sort of made things feel like a garbage fire, but I am still around!

Sort of. One of the other reasons why I've been so busy is that my girlfriend has been visiting from Australia for the month! It's been a lot of fun, but it's meant I haven't had a lot of time to do any cooking or blogging. I've got a ton of posts I've been sitting on, I really should just take a weekend to get them all finished and queued up for posting!

But Jessi surprised me this Thursday by treating me to some Australian favorites for Australia Day! Florence, the Florrie Girl I picked up on our trip to Melbourne, was happy to show them off for all of you!

Australia Day - January 26th - commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet, meaning the first Europeans to settle the continent, which happened in 1788. It's since become a celebration of Australian history, culture, families and diversity, and has come under criticism by Aborigines the same way Native Americans critique Thanksgiving and Columbus Day.

Jessi made lamb chops, broccolini and potatoes for dinner. Lamb is a very popular protein in Australia because convicts could work off their sentences and then become land owners. The plots they received were not big enough to raise cattle, but sheep require less resources, so sheep products like lamb and mutton were and still are very popular in Australia. It's one of the country's largest food exports, and the meat she picked up at the grocery store is actually from Australia!

For dessert, she made lamingtons, which are delightful. You might remember the one I had at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra! It's essentially a sponge cake with chocolate sauce and shredded coconut over the top. Our shredded coconut is a little too big to look like a traditional lamington, but I don't have a food processor, so we had to make do. Believe me, they were still tasty!

And that is how we spent Australia Day! Hopefully next year I can do something a little more intense for you guys. Maybe I'll try my hand at making my own lamingtons... they are really tasty, after all.

Hope you had a happy Australia Day!

Caroline and Lalie's Trip to Australia

Featuring interesting animals and lots of good food!

Whew, finally got this post out there. As you guys know, I'm dating a lovely lady who happens to live in Australia. I wouldn't change anything... except how far away Australia actually is. Before I moved and got started on this crazy grad school adventure, I got to sneak away to visit her for about two weeks and brought one of my dolls with me... and a second one I'd bought (and customized!) for Jessi!

I've been wanting to share some pictures from my trip basically since I got home, but as you can imagine, there are a lot of them. Like, a lot.

Don't worry, this isn't all of them! But here are some highlights from our adventure. Hopefully you'll get an update about Lalie and Caroline's trip around DC in a couple months!