On the 8th day of Christmas I cooked.
I finally made the pavlova I was going to make for Christmas Day. It turned out okay. It was a bit more sticky and did weep a bit and was not as crunchy as I prefer but I blame the humidity on that. Also, the cream (I cheated and bought already thickened cream) wasn’t quite as thick as I hoped, so combined with a weepy pav and slightly runny cream it was a big sticky mess, albeit a tasty sticky mess.
Today also was the first day of a new challenge I have set myself. Not only am I partaking in the Daily Image 2011 Challenge started by @sirexkat on Flickr I have decided to set myself a Weekly Cooking Challenge. This is something I have thought about doing for a while so why not start the new year on a good note. It is not as challenging as the Julie and Julia project completed by Julie Powell but a simpler idea to cook one thing every week from one of my many cook books, of which there are many (a selection below).
This challenge as 2 basic aims:
- To actually use the cook books I have;
- To try to rekindle my love of cooking, I used to love cooking (and I even have a degree in Home Economics) but in recent years it has seemed more of a chore than anything else.
Week 1 – January 1 2011 – Pavlova
So today’s effort, the aforementioned pavlova comes from The Australian Women’s Weekly’s The Complete Cook. I have always liked cook books from The Australian Women’s Weekly. I grew up with them, Mum has a rather large collection herself, and years ago (in my pre-Librarian days) my dream job was to work with in their test kitchen. A dream I never followed.
Good luck to all who have started new challenges for 2011 or set New Years resolutions. May we all be strong enough to keep them.