Pavlova hails from New Zealand, the Aussies just copied it!

Last weekend I baked my very first Pavlova. I have always greatly enjoyed this fabulous and very elegant dessert, but somehow never made one from scratch. Until I found this foolproof recipe. It takes time and should be prepared the night before so you can leave it in the oven until totally cooled down and out it comes prefect: crunchy on the outside, but deliciously chewy at the center. I used golden caster sugar for the meringue so there is a nice contrast between the white wipped cream and the light brown meringe. I topped my Pavlova with freshly picked strawberries from my kitchen garden. Can't wait for the raspberries to ripen now, the perfect excuse to have another Pavlova.
By the way: Pavlovas don't hail from Australia as the recipe states, but from New Zealand. A New Zealand chef in a hotel in Wellington, New Zealand, created the dish when Anna Pavlova visited there in 1926 to honor the great Russian ballerina.

How to make Whipped Cream in France

This morning, Kirsty and Richard came to cook at Cuisine de Provence and we came to talking about her aunt who finds it absolutely impossible to find a cream in France that transforms into whipped cream. I would like to dedicate this post to Kirsty's aunt who lives in Dordogne, although this is a problem not only Kirsty's aunt, but lots of other expats have long been fighting with. France - the land of milk and creams - but did you ever try to make a somewhat decent whipped cream here? I went through years of frustrating results until, by trial and error, I found this:

This, dear reader, is the one and only cream in France that gives you real good, oldfashioned whipped cream! And if Super U ever decides not to sell it anymore I might just contemplate to - no, not to leave France, but probably to never eat whipped cream again....

And just so you know what you have to look for, here is the bottle in all it's glory:

So now dear expats, no more excuse to use the frankly revolting cream from spray cans: go and have yourself a real lovely whipped cream feast! And greetings to Kirsty's aunt in Dordogne!