Pavlova

I went to a house-warming party yesterday evening at a lovely little Devon thatched cottage. There was a great spread put on including some delicious home made mushroom and blue cheese quiche which I was surprised I liked due to not being a blue cheese fan. The party was 12pm until whenever it finished and we arrived at about 4pm just when the afternoon guests were leaving and the evening guests were yet to arrive. This meant that we were there at the time when a new batch of food was being put out. This included pudding which was pavlova. Our lovely host had made the meringue and chopped the strawberries but the cream needed whipping. This task she gave to her husband who didn't listen to her (!) and put the whole 600ml cream into a GLASS bowl instead of small amounts of cream at a time into a metal one. Now I always whip cream in a metal bowl too but I have no idea why. Anyway much hand whipping by Mr Host, Mrs Host, a lot by me and a tiny bit by Mr VST (but only because I wouldn't let him do more, it had become my mission) and the cream was ready. Having tucked into the quiche, crudités, crisps, little breadcrumb coated mozzarella thingies etc it was time for pudding. The meringue was perfect, crunchy on the outside, chewy in the middle and the cream was whipped to perfection!