Food from home: More Pavlova and pasta

     Pavlova is one of the most requested desserts in our household. I made some again... but this time, individual portions as requested by Mom. I used our sauce plate as the outline and made 6 mini ones. The size was similar to a mini cake... which is quite big, but it's all good. Here were the 2 choices...

Mango Pavlova

     This is everyone's favorite. I noticed no one looks for other fruits... just Mango. This somewhat reminds me of the Mango Cream Pie of Red Ribbon. :))

Nutella Pavlova

     This was another request by Mom. The girls in the family are Nutella lovers. :D Since the kids slept over, we thought of surprising my niece, Sofia. I saw the sparkle in her eyes when she saw the Nutella and she gladly drizzled it on her Pavlova. :))

     I was in the mood to cook after having one disastrous meal after another. I decided to cook something for lunch...

Chorizo pasta

     Just a spur of the moment, I thought of Chorizo. I wanted to include white mushrooms and parsley but we ran out of both. For added flavor, I used some white wine to enhance the flavor. It turned out great! 

Food from home: The 2 P's

     We made 2 challenging dishes last week... Paella Valenciana and Pavlova. The timing was perfect because our lola was with us (she loves Spanish food) and we had a double birthday celebration of my sister, Mitch and my sister in law, Sheila.*

Paella Valenciana

     Mom has been wanting to cook Paella since last year but it was always postponed.* Finally, we set the day for that and bought several ingredients and the paellera in La Tienda. We were happy to discover paella seasoning, which had saffron. Our Paella was cooked outdoors... which I believe is the best way to cook it. It turned our really tasty... in other words... it was a success!

Mango Pavlova

     I first learned about Pavlova when the former Le Souffle restaurant was still around.* It just came to mind to make Pavlova last week for that double birthday celebration. After watching 2 tutorials online, I tried my luck and admit being a bit intimidated because this is one of the trickiest desserts to make. In my first attempt, I made the mistake of transferring it somewhere else to cool when it was supposed to be cooled in where it was baked. Also, the outer part was soft when it was supposed to be crispy. It's a good thing that wasn't on the day of the double birthday celebration. In the second attempt, I was extra careful. I made the size smaller and made sure it was cooled in where it was baked. Result... success!

Strawberry and Mango Pavlova

     For the third attempt, I made 2... one in the gas oven (mango) and the other in the electric oven (strawberry). For the former, the outer part was still soft after an hour. I got worried but kept calm and baked it for 15 more minutes. It was still soft and decided to increase the temperature... that was it! I brought the 2 Pavlovas for Chinese New Year dinner. Still a success! Mom says I should be called Victoria Pavlova... Hihihi! :P

Lola -grandmother

Paella -A popular Spanish dish made with rice, meat and seafood. 

Pavlova -A meringue based dessert with cream and fruits; named in honor of Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova.