Pavlova

Here you see it...a fair dinkum, true blue, Aussie made Pavlova. I'm sure this is only the second time I have attempted the Pavlova challenge, and thank god I succeeded. The pressure was on as I boldly stated that I would create a dessert for Sunday night dinner at Al and Brenda's. Mmm, what to bring, Pavlova, why not? During the week all is well. I'm mentally prepared, know I need to download a recipe, thanks Nigella, and have in stock the basics. But wait...my ultimate challenge was finding passionfruit pulp, you know the canned variety or fresh, I wasn't going to be picky. Beginning Friday I shopped at the local A&P, no luck, but I'm sure I saw the tinned variety a few weeks ago??? Saturday was out, went to Niagara Falls, more later. So Sunday arrives. After quizzing my trusty Candian 'encyclopeadia', aka Scott, we set out to scour more grocery stores. No luck at the No Frills, even with Scott's contacts, Loblaws next stop. Roaming the isles I'm describing this delicacy, purplely black in colour, round, hard outside, golden pulp with black seeds on the inside. Again, no tinned variety. But there was hope, Loblaws has an Exotic fruit selection. Yes, success, here hidden amongst the rambutans, dragon fruit, lychees, coconuts and figs are the little blighters. Journey complete! To cut a long story short, I feel confident now in my pavlova skills, even though they are limited. But the proof of the pudding was the bear plate left no longer than 5 minutes after serving. P.S. a special thanks to Scott and Sarah for their whipping skills...yes we hand whipped fresh cream for the top.