Ethnic Food

Last night Cindy and I went to a birthday party for a couple of her friends. It was a pot-luck dinner and we were asked to bring a dish traditional to our home country or family.

I decided to to take a pavlova. I had never made one before but I had a pavlova magic egg, which meant I didn't have to separate egg-whites. I really like passionfruit on my pavlova but couldn't find any anywhere in Bloomington, even in the ethnic food stores, so I settled on strawberries and kiwifruit. I had planned to just mix it with a hand whisk but after about half an hour of whisking with very little change we looked at the clock and realised that I would not be able to cook it, cool it, dress it and still get to the party on time at that rate. So, having already started, I resigned myself to going out and buying electric beaters ($7 from Target, bargain!). After it had cooled I saw that the centre had shrunk away from the outer shell but when I put the cream on top the shell cracked and fell on top of the centre. So there was no more gap but it was not at all a pretty shape. Nevertheless, when I arrived with it I was showered with praise by Americans who had no idea what a real pavlova was supposed to look like!

But the real coup of the evening was the dish Çîndy took - frogs' legs! Of course they're impossible to find in the Midwest (and I'm not too sure if I'd eat them of we did find them) so we just cut some chicken wings into the right shape, cooked them in garlic and labelled them "frogs' legs". Everyone was amazed and asked where we got them, to which we nonchalantly replied, 'Lake Monroe'. Somehow we got through the whole party without anyone calling our bluff! (Although, it was a close call when a Chinese guy said, 'I didn't know you could catch them this time of year.') I just hope they see the humour in it when Cindy tells them the truth on Monday.