Pavlova, old men and small children

Pavlova.
Yesterday, I got the urge to bake. Now, this doesnt happen very often, so when it does, I usually take up that urge. I am actually a terrible baker. I was never born to be a cook/chef of any sort. The reason is, I cannot follow a recipe. I like to add my own touches, a little extra flavour etc. If i like the way something tastes, I dont read the recipe, and try to feel my way through the steps, tasting most things as I go.

But anyway, crazy little me decided she wanted to bake a Pavlova.
I emailed Mum for the recipe, and got baking.
After hours in the kitchen (finding, tasting, mixing, tasting, adding, adding, spreading, tasting, baking, cleaning, cutting, eating, mixing, cooling, topping, tasting, serving, eating, sharing) I had successfully baked a Pavlova. And it was good! Not chewy, like Mums, which is the way I like it, but still, a worthy Pavlova. I am proud to call myself an Australian Pav-lover.

For those of you daring enough, here is the recipe as I made it. Yum.

Basic pavlova with fruit salad topping

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
6 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar (Here in austria, I couldnt find any, so I cheated and just used white sugar. It worked well enough)
3 teaspoons cornflour
1 teaspoon white vineger
2 cups whipped cream (with 1 table spoon icing sugar and a few drops of vanilla essence)
2x 250g punnets of strawberries (you can add other fruit, but because it was soooo cold, I was lucky to even get the strawberries)

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to a slow 150 degrees (C). Line an oven tray with baking paper. Mark a 20cm circle in centre of tray. Place room temperature egg whites in large mixing bowl. Using electric beaters, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating constantly with each addition.
Beat for a further 5-10 minutes, until sugar has completely dissolved. I didnt read this, and just tasted it after a minute, and decided that it was dissolved enough. Fold in cornflour and vinegar.

2. Spread the lovely meringue mixture onto the 20cm marked circle. Shape evenly, running a flat bladed knife around the edge. Do this so that the sides are higher than the middle, and make pretty little peaks around the edge. This helps to keep the cream on!

3. Place in oven and bake for 40 minutes or until pale and crisp. Turn off the oven and allow to cool inside. Leave the door ajar.

4. Top with cream and strawberries!

Eat.

(I might have tasted it, again)

Well, the family loved it, but it was too much for us. So, along with some presents for a girl in America, we took it to my classmates house, Magda.

Apparently, there was a huge family gathering at Magdas when we got there, it was her brothers birthday. How awkward.

Everyone tried some pav, and generally, they thought it was great. The Birthday boy had two huge servings, and now he wants to come back to Australia, where the koalas, kangaroos and pavlovas can be found!

Old men.
Sitting at Magdas dinner table, I was placed next to her Grandpa, a 70 year old typical Austrian man. By the time I got there, he was well and truly tipsy, and seemed quite taken by me!

I didnt understand any of this at the time, he spoke with heavy slur and heavy dialect, but thankfully, Magda translated what was appropriate to me.

Apparently, all night, he had been interested in me. Every time he turned to me, he looked with a smile and a laugh and said such things as... "are you free on tuesday, i want to meet up with you", "im glad you arent too skinny, a curvy girl is nice" and "will you write your phone number down for me? i like you". If he spoke english, I would have had to find so many ways to say no... or I would have left the room. Now, all of this was in a joking manner, I think he was just testing what he could say that I wouldnt understand! I have never had a stranger night in all my life.

Small children
I started my German with younger classes today. It was horrible. As I walked in awkwardly, the entire class (a room full of 10 year old kids) turned to stare at me. When the teacher, Mrs Hruby explained who I was and what I was doing in the class, the staring only got worse. Today I spent the day in a number of classes with children staring at me, wide eyed as owls!