back to (really) cooking -

pavlova in the oven for dessert tonight. will be topping it with fresh meridian, ms peaches and fresh (kroger...) cherries. if you ever can find meridian peaches, know that God made the soil there for growing peaches - a meridian peach has yet to be beaten in my little world.

fresh fresh fresh. (our dear friend dan says specialty grocery stores are going to be his undoing. especially ones that have fresh in the title) i've never entered Fresh Market, the ironic chain restaurant that claims to have cornered the market on "fresh" (ha). I feel like it might be like heroine for me. you know - one hit and i'm addicted. I don't need one more painful addiction to break in my life.
(Current ones needing to be broken: facebook, carbonated beverages, cherries, ice cream, watching strangers out my front window)

(I shouldn't trivialize addiction - these should be more accurately called habits needing to be broken - i understand, all too well, that real addiction can be life-destroying.

but the word has entered our vernacular - and I always pick using words how I want to over using them in a way that is sensitive to others... which I should add to the things to work on list, i guess...

she says begrudgingly)

can one have a multiparagraph parenthetical, or is it like a block quote and needs a different notation?

i learned a while ago that pav, as it is called in countries that eat it often, is served at many australian and new zealand (here is a helpful little site) christmas dinners. i thought this strange - it is such a summery dish - requiring fresh fruit and served chilled. well, the cream and the fruit are chilled and the merengue is room temp.

and then i remembered, as many reading this will have immediately thought, december is the middle of summer for those in the southern hemisphere. so - it makes sense that their christmas dinner would have a more summery feel than our traditional spice cakes and rich puddings.

This prompted me to do some very cursory reasearch on australian christmas traditions. (A friend of mine is raising her young family there with her aussie husband, so it adds a level of interest for me).

Many australian families spend part of christmas holidays (and even christmas day) at the beach. They are likely to eat cold seafood, fruit and vegetable salads, and pavlova and cookies for christmas dinner.

Oh, and, Santa does come, leaving presents under the tree, pulled in a sleigh by 6 kangaroos. =)

I'll take Dasher, Comet, Cupid, etc. But it is fun! can't you just see them hopping up to the roof? of the beach house? with surfboards?

My son, the younger, loves the sound of a kitchen aid mixer. A wise young thing he is.

My son, the elder, was irritated that my kitchen aid mixer was ruining his 24 minutes of television a day (Dora the Explorer - on Netflix Instant Watch)

My daughter calmly explained to him that all they needed to do was turn up the volume. Duh, she said. Did i teach her "duh"? I don't think so, but I'm not swearing to it.

Rest of menu for tonight's dinner with friends:

Angel Hair with Shrimp in a White Wine Cream Sauce. Which is one of my favorite recipes. I have guilt preparing it for just us because with heavy cream and shrimp, it is quite decadent. At least for us.
Roasted Asparagus (Just your standard Kosher salt and Olive Oil)
Green Salad - contributed by a visitor
Bread - contributed by a visitor
and then, the above mentioned Pav.

I do love to see a meal from start to finish. I'm hungry now. As is Collins.