Lemon Love and Fresh Berries! ~ Your Taste Buds Will Kiss You!

Pavlova ~ (pav-LOH-vuh)

Looks so yummy but what the heck is it!?

Pavlova is a thick cloud-like meringue with a
delightful crunchy exterior and a soft, slightly
chewy marshmallow like interior that's topped
with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

There's a debate about where it originated,
(Australia and New Zealand both lay claim
to it), but what is known for sure is that its
named after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova
who's said to have danced as if lighter than air.

That is what it says in my Better Homes and
Garden Magazine....but, preparation time can
be upwards of 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours to make! Says it's
easy to make, but the time, geesh!

My mouth was watering just looking at the picture
and I wanted something right now! 

This lemon berry pavlovas is topped with lemon curd,

blueberries, (which here where I live is picking

time for these babies), blackberries, and fresh mint.

This one is the one that got my taste buds dancing!

This is Strawberry, Mango, and Rose Pavlova with

edible rose petals! Looks yummy too!

or....

There was another that I don't have a photo of where

the pavlova was topped with lemon curd, ultra-thin

slices of Key limes, Meyer lemons,  clementines, and a

scattering of fresh basil leaves. This was called,

Citrus-Basil Pavlova!

It looks divine also!

You can find the how to's in the May 2016 Issue of

Better Homes and Gardens or click this link to

lemon-blueberry pavlova and the citrus-basil pavlova

on the BHG website. Click this link for the

strawberry-mango-rose-pavlova.

Now, I love lemony stuff and that lemon berry wouldn't

leave my mind. So I sat and thought, how could I have

this right now....without the pavlova which I was thinking

was something much sweeter than what I was hungering

for and way to long to make. 

I knew right where to go to get some lemon curd as I

use raspberry curd all the time on my toast in the morning!

So flippin good! 

So a trip to The Old World Market was my

first order of business! Love that place!

If you don't live near one here is the link to order it

online: Old World Market.

Get some raspberry curd while you're at it!

Like I said, I wanted something with those berries

and the lemon curd right now, so I needed to think

of what to put it on....hubby says, go get some fillo

shells! That was perfect! So next stop was the Publix

down the road! I picked up some blueberries as I haven't

gone pickin yet....this week we are going, yea! I also

found some really nice blackberries, and these raspberries

just starred me in the face, so I grabbed some of them too!

In the produce area they also had lots of herb plants

and lo-and-behold there was just one mint plant! In the

cart it went! I couldn't wait to get home to appease

my watering taste buds!

Light and fluffy, already baked, ...... perfect!

I got the fruit rinsed right away, snipped some mint

leaves from my new plant, chopped it up, put a

spoonful of lemon curd in six mini fillo shells, (three

for me and three for Jack), added my fruit on top,

then sprinkled some chopped mint over it, dusted

a little tiny bit of sugar over the fruit, added a dash

more lemon curd on the plate with a little more fruit

on the side, and OMGOSH! It hit that mad craving I

had perfectly! But, forget about just eating three lol!

Went back and made six more, (three for me and three

for Jack). I just couldn't believe how delish these babies

were! Soon after Jack went to bed, I still had this

hunger for more! So....I marched out in the kitchen

and this time got a bowl and scooped a bunch more

lemon curd in, top with a lot more of the fruits, more

mint, and just pigged out till my hearts content was

contented! It was like I couldn't get enough!

Look how beautiful these look!

I bet the kiddies will love these too!

Just right for those little hands!

I promise you won't be disappointed!

Going to have to go make some more....

my mouth is watering just looking at this!

Eventually I will try making the pavlovas, but for now
this is just right!

So give it a try! Enjoy!

Blessings!

Rainy Days And Mondays

 

Always Get Me Down........

 

Funny but it seems I always end up here with you...

and my camera. Do you remember that old song by

the Carpenters....that's a way back in the day song!

 

 

Well that has been playing in my head all day....it's Monday

rainy, and a blues kinda day. Rained all day yesterday too!

And here it is Tuesday now as I write this post....and yep it's

raining again! I wonder if I would start singing "You Are My

Sunshine, My Only Sunshine", this rain would go away!

 

I was itching to get the camera out today and head out to

the country to see if anything would grab me for photo's

but, here came the rain. Dag nab it anyway!

 

I was making breakfast of just fruit and I thought....

hmmm, lets shoot fruit! The lighting wasn't the greatest

but I pulled a chair up to the breakfast nook window,

got two large pieces of canvas board....put one on the

back of the chair and one on the seat. Then I gathered

my breakfast fruit, an ironstone pitcher with greenery

that was on the breakfast table, a pretty cup and saucer,

and a white stoneware bowl to play pretty! Next the

camera and set out to try to catch some pretty. As the

clouds moved over above, the lighting change quickly,

so I just clicked away on the camera to see what I

could get. At times the lighting wasn't bad, and other

times the shadows of lighting looked kinda of cool.

I'm no pro by any means, but I love trying to learn and play!

The next fun part for me is editing the photo's.

I love playing with different features in the photo

editor. The photo above is a feature called "Posterize."

It's a really cool feature to use on some photos. It

gives the photo a poster look allowing you to work

with the brightness values and,

the amount of color you want to depict....

sometimes I end up with some pretty good photos to

use for wall art work. That's always fun!

 

I found these overlays of water and thought

they were kinda of neat. Played right into this rainy

day perfectly! The first one below is an overlay of

rain, but I turned it sideways....kinda cool looking!

  

 

Rain coming straight down....I thought this would be

what this vignette would look from the outside looking

in. Wish there were more features to this.....I would

have liked to add some rain drips too. I do really like

it though....another kinda "that's sorta cool" look!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was another water feature I played with. This

one was like water rippling like if you were to

throw a rock in the water. As I was moving it around

I loved how the blue of the water hit on the cup and

saucer. The rippling wave motion spreading itself

across the iron stone pitcher that was blurred out

with using my macro lens looked so cool!

 

Love shooting pictures with the macro lens!

I love trying to capturing the close up detail of

my focus point in photos. I'm a close-up shot kinda

of photo girl. I love to try to capture exactly what

I see. Sometimes I get some great shots!

 

 

Now I am going to go finish my breakfast! These oranges

are so juicy and sweet!

 

The rest of the rainy day Monday I spent lost in playing

with my photo's......one of my favorite things to do. So

not a bad day after all! Now I got that silly song going

on in my head, "You Are My Sunshine!" Hope it works

to drive this rain away to bring me back my sunny days!

 

Thanks for spending your time with me....makes a

gloomy day so much more fun don't ya think!

 

Have a Blessed day...... and may Your day

be filled with sunshine!

 

TaTa Till Later!