pavlova recipe

the pot de creme uses only egg yolks, so what to do with the whites? make pavlovas with whipped cream and macerated berries! personal sized ones are especially fun :) 

recipes: pavlova and mini pavlovas

i had doubled the pot de creme recipes (and got 9 of those), so had 4 leftover egg whites. i made 12 pavlovas (on two baking sheets), but they were very fragile. maybe make them a little taller (so thicker) and less wide? it was a bit hard to make a little depression in each (to better hold the whipped cream and berries). also, possibly make 13, or one more than you want in total, in order to test the texture.

recipe: macerated fruit 

macerated berries "recipe": berries, lemon or lime juice, and sugar. marinate!, cover, and fridge. longer means more wet. can also use flavored liqueur and/or herbs.

these are quite a bit of fun, with nice presentation, but once you add the whipped cream, they get soft pretty so you'll want to serve pretty quickly. in other words, maybe not the best choice for potlucks. 

chocolate pot de creme

recipes: easy pot de creme, blender pot de creme, and pot de cremes

6oz dark chocolate
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
half packet of travel instant coffee packet (1/2 tsp?)
2 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract 

be sure to not overcook the wet stuff in the pot of the whole thing will be more dense. if you add more chocolate, probably add more heavy cream. this will make about 4-5 of the costco tiramisu cups worth. since you refridge them before serving, they'll have little condensation drops on top, so def leave space on top for whipped cream and some berries.

you'll also want to serve these closer to room temp so they won't be too cold. plus a little warmer makes for a better texture too.

basque cheesecakes

i'm publishing these on my blog cause i tend combine recipes and forget how / what i did. and since i'm generally baking the same thing many many months (if not years) apart, i'm finally taking notes!

basque cheesecake: Basque Cheesecake (with crust!)

chocolate versions - Chocolate Basque Cheesecake, Chocolate Basque Burnt Cheesecake, and Chocolate Basque Cheesecake

oreo crust - 14 regular oreos, 3 tsp butter

cheesecake (ingredients mostly from the first cbc link from Catherine Zhang)
16 oz (450 g) cream cheese, room temperature
200g (7 oz) dark chocolate, 65-70%.
    if regular chocolate, can add bit less sugar
    melt at 20 second intervals in microwave
1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar
1 tbsp (7 g) cocoa powder (can add 1/2 tsp extra if non dutch processed)
1 tsp instant coffee (pretty much 1 packet of the travel size ones)
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream

no need to pre-bake crust. just make, cover, fridge while you make the cheesecake batter

depending on how high you fill the cake pan, you'll end up with 1 or 2 standard cupcake liners extra, can fill with cheesecake insides, put in little ramekin, and bake with cheesecake for <10 minutes

november 2025 donation

 

this month i gave to a bestie's non-profit: the ywca of south florida!

impressions: Europe

countries we visited:
no menstrual products in restrooms 
few usb charging ports
each person gets their own pizza
fork and knife pizza

Barcelona
primitive graffiti
catalan is #1
no announcements at airport

Vienna
no customs entering
quiet transit (trains, "buses")
honor system transit
bathrooms like germany - top to bottom doors, toilet brush
bathroom door / occupancy are an issue lol
no menstrual product dispensers
un-obvious sidewalks, so low
blind accessible crosswalk
expensive, $ even for some churches

clean

Bratislava
lots of youth out at night
different architecture
wery walkable old town

 in hotel room
frequent transit at least on old town
more uphill than downhill, lol
restaurants open at noon
self seating at restaurants
portion weight, drink size in ml
salad comes after pizza
bidet / towel warmer in hotel room
sanitary bags in restrooms, even hotel restroom

clean

Budapest

baths

bit more run down
mostly honor system transit
more pressed penny machines
more panhandlers
more smokers
many trash cans
narrow transit seats
paid restrooms - can use cc

Croatia

Very salty breads

Fluffier pizza dough / crusts

Actual queen beds

   Split
   rubber ducky shops (whole shops! why?!)

   electric cart things that people stand in the front of to maneuver 

   Dubrovnik

   super clear water

   too many tourists, sheesh

Ireland

roundabouts everywhere

friendly

   Belfast
   yellow light flash before turning green
   walk indicators on same side street

   Dublin

   lots of immigrants, but still very predominantly white

   all double decker buses

   a lot of puke in the ground

   towel warmer in hotel bathrooms

   more homeless

   beer culture

Commonly advertised drinks everywhere we went (ireland excluded, lol):
Aperol spritz, campari, hugo
tequila sunrise, negroni, cibra libre, gin tonic, long island iced tea, mojito,

september / october 2025 donation

it's september! so you know what that means (or, most likely, you don't, lol), it's long beach gives time! which means that i donated this month to algalita, and credit my october donation to moore institute for plastic pollution. 

i actually started my monthly donations because of algalita. early in the pandemic, my boss gave me $300 to help with the times, i guess. i didn't really need the money, and i knew non-profits were really struggling, so i started donating about $25 a month, for about $300 a year. so thank you, katie, for the money. it's the gift that keeps giving.