FOOD.

Kiwi-Berry Pavlova

 To make amends with Martha, I used her recipe, even though the tea towel I got from New Zealand was where I got the idea to make this.  The two recipes are more or less the same anyway... Martha's doesn't use vinegar and mixes vanilla extract into the cream instead of the meringue.  It's maybe not the best idea to make this if you're like me and don't have any form of an electric mixer, but whatever... I just watched some TV and got a little bit of a workout doing all the mixing of the whipping cream and egg mixture manually.  I guess you can use egg whites out of a carton, but I used real eggs and saved the yolks for some other recipe or for my hair.*  Other recipes said to use superfine sugar, so just put regular sugar in a food processor for a bit.  To know when your meringue is ready, take a tiny pinch of it and rub it between your fingers, and if you can still feel grains of sugar, it's not ready to go in the oven yet.  I heard in New Zealand that the pavlova will deflate if you open the oven to check on it while it's still cooking, so... don't do that.   Finally, this is not a cake that likes to be moved.  It's very set in its ways.  Use a spatula to carefully separate and lift it after you take it out of the oven (mine cracked a bit during that process), and slice carefully but don't stress too much because it's bound to look a bit messy anyway.  I'm really happy with the way this came out, it tastes great, and I'll definitely make it again. :)

Bon appetit.

*Side note on food in the hair: I'm not sure if it's just a Persian myth, but egg yolks are supposed to be good for your hair.  You can rub it into your scalp and put on a shower cap for half an hour before showering... just don't hold a blowdryer to it or use water that's too hot to wash it out or you'll end up with scrambled eggs in your hair.  Avocado is also amazing, but rub it into your hair, not the scalp.  Beer's supposedly good for the hair, too.  Never tried that, though... well, not that I can recall, that is...