Chantilly Cream and How to Make It

In yesterday's post I said that a put chantilly cream on my meringues, but I didn't explain how to make it. Today, I'm going to show you how.

It sounds difficult but it's not; I was making chantilly cream for years before I knew what it was.

Chantilly Cream

1 C thickened or whipping cream

1 Tbsp pure icing or confectioner's sugar (for gluten-free; ordinary icing sugar mixture is fine otherwise)

1 tsp vanilla extract.

Whip all ingredients together until your desired level of stiffness is reached. Keep a close eye as cream turns to butter very quickly.

Note: Ensure that you use pure vanilla, not the horrible synthetic vanilla that is available. To make your own vanilla use my recipe here.

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Meringues with Strawberries and Cream

At a recent gathering a young guest with coeliac disease made my usual cupcakes an impossibility - coeliacs can't have gluten in any form.

Instead, I made little meringues and covered them with a dollop of chantilly cream and a fat strawberry half.

For the fluffiest, most pavlova-like meringues without any stickiness or weeping, ensure that your eggs are at room temperature before you begin.

Meringues

2 egg whites

1 1/2 C castor sugar

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp cornflour (check that it is made from corn not wheat if you need it to be gluten free)

1/2 tsp vanilla

4tbsp boiling water

Preheat oven to moderate. Place all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for around 10 minutes at high speed; mixture will be very thick and satiny. Spoon or pipe into rounds on greased or baking paper lined trays. Put in the oven then reduce the temperature to slow and bake for one hour. Cool before decorating.

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Burst

A burst water main on a hot night.

Children splashing about in pyjamas and gumboots.

Paper boats were made to sail downstream.

Adults left their houses to come and chat.

Strangers introduced themselves.

Everyone said that we should bucket the water for our gardens.

But nobody did anything about it.

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Horrible Houses

As someone who has been house-hunting for the past 12 months I have seen some truly horrible houses.

However, when I was sent the link to the Lovely Listing blog, I realised that I ain't seen nothin' yet.

Too awful. Too funny.

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Vintage Cool

Adelaide is still sweltering in this unseasonal heatwave but I am cool and relaxed in the house.

It is amazing how fast we adjust to rising temperatures. I am sure it must be at least 30 degrees in here but because it is almost 40 outside it feels comparatively 'cool'.

Even more relaxing is that I have the house to myself; my husband has taken the kids to the beach for a late afternoon swim. It's too hot outside for me with my fair, red-headed skin but the rest of the family just love going to the beach.

Having cleaned the house and bought groceries yesterday, I am enjoying a peaceful house and the opportunity for a little web-surfing.

The topic for my web-surfing? I have been looking at vintage commercials for things that are cool; ice cream, cool drinks and refrigerators. I especially like commercials from the 1950s. They display such optimism yet they also anticipate the rampant consumerism of more recent years. All the ads are American as television only came to Australia in 1956.

Here are some examples:

This one is for paper Dixie Cups. Notice that the commercial is addressed to children and they are encouraged to persuade their mothers to buy these 'sanitary' disposable cups and a dispenser.




A very 'cool', glamorous Coca Cola commercial from 1956:





A rather weird ice cream ad with its disembodied heads:




And finally, a General Electric Refrigerator commercial from 1952. I find it amazing that frost-free refrigerators existed in the US in 1952. I don't think they arrived in Australia until the 70s.

Also of interest is the male host's encouragement to buy a fridge on credit; definitely a sign of things to come!

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Hot and Grumpy

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. ~John Ruskin

Can I just say, here and now, that Mr John Ruskin obviously never lived through an Adelaide heatwave. A week of temperatures over 38 degrees celsius in spring is no joke and is far from delicious. Especially when your car air-conditioner dies after the car has spent 7 hours in the sun. And your house is hot. And your children are fretting, irritable and squabbling. And especially when the adults begin squabbling too because they are so, so hot.

Signed,

Grumpy in Adelaide

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Spring Barbecue

Our friends in the hills invited us for a barbecue and bonfire before the total fireban season began.

There were hot sausages and marshmallows, chickens to chase and a grumpy goat to avoid.

And a night time game of hide-and-seek in the long grass lit only by firelight. Thank goodness it was too cold for snakes.

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Too, Too Yummy Halloween Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for Halloween and they were oh, so good.

Think home-made chocolate cupcakes covered with orange buttercream made from icing sugar, freshly squeezed orange juice and pure, unsalted butter (and a few drops of food colouring, of course).

Mmmm. I almost wish it were Halloween every day.

(For those who have been asking here is the recipe, from Halloween last year.)

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