Hello ladies,

Answer to some of the questions, etc.:

- 90 minutes should be sufficient to chill the wine; we can always ice it down.
- I bought a quart of whipping cream yesterday and won't be using the entire thing, so I'll bring the open carton.
- As far as not adding the egg whites, should be fine, just won't be as light. I once forgot to add the melted butter to some dill bread I was making and people actually liked it better without.

I'm looking forward to meet all of you and your desserts (have met three of you already.)

Regards,

Ms. Ingie

I think the upside down cake will be fine without whipped cream, but thanks for all the offers of help. It did look and smell good after baking. As Ms. Ingie noted, I think it will just be a bit more dense. (I also tend to make my upside down cakes with a higher than normal fruit to cake ratio, so i think this one might turn out to be more like an upside down cobbler...leaving out the whites also resulted in less volume of cake.)

I'm really looking forward to tonight.

Hi all! Thanks for the great company and the buffet of yummy, and thanks for those who brought wine, flowers, mammoths, and all other sorts of hostess treats...I really appreciated it. Pie Dude appreciated the Pavlova and said it was full of flavor, and puss is now falling asleep with joy at being the center of attention. Sorry about the heat and the unsalted soups. I had a great time chatting with you all and look forward to seeing you at another exchange! =^ . . ^=

Hi,

I had a great time, as usual, at these gatherings. I had so much great soup (yes, I added salt, which is no big deal), I couldn't finish sampling all the desserts.

I made only nine pop tarts and was prepared to do FHB (family hold back). However, when some people didn't make it, I got to try my own dessert offering. I posted this evening the source ideas for the recipe on Cooking and Shopping.

Pie Lady was a gracious hostess. Her cat inspired quite a lengthy conversation on pets.

Again, thank you!

Regards,

Thank you PieLady for hosting a delightful evening. Soup, desserts and conversations were great - even the resident cat seemed to enjoy being surrounded by LTHers

Jyoti

Many thanks to Pie Lady for being such a gracious host. Here are my pictures, although not the best so I hope someone else posts theirs as well.


jygach's apricot tart


Pucca's Key Lime Coconut Cake


Cathy2's raspberry-peach jam-filled pop tarts


Ms. Ingie's pavlovas and mini crème brulées


eli's cherry cornmeal upside down cake (Apologize for the blurry photo!)


justjoan's white peach cobbler


Pie Lady's Pistachio, Lemon & Vanilla shortbread (Sorry for the blurry picture!)


My "rustic" raspberry tea cake with mascarpone cream


An added bonus: eli's "grownup jello shot": anise hyssop, lemon and gin (The camera doesn't do it justice; the color was a lovely translucent dark green)

Lots of fun, per usual. And amazingly, no one did anything chocolate this time.

Thank you to all the LTHers for the warm welcome to my first Dessert Exchange. Thanks to Pie Lady for being such a gracious hostess. I truly love making fruit based desserts and love eating them even more, so this was the event for me. Everything was outstanding.

Thank you to Pie Lady for hosting. This was a great evening, as always. It seems like the desserts get better with each event (not that I have any complaints about previous desserts.) Everything was delicious. I haven't had a chance to look at my pictures yet, but I'll try to post them tonight.

Wow. My eyes thank you - and my fortunately-absent but still somewhat regretful waistline thanks you!

i'd like to add my thanks to pielady for hosting another fine event. i had a wonderful time and was impressed with every one of the desserts. it was amazing, as aschie pointed out, that there was no chocolate. but i guess we were all trying to use summer's bounty; plenty of time for chocolate in the colder months. i'd just like to give an extra thanks to eli for introducing me to my first jello shot. while not a fan of anise hyssop (licorice tasting), his jello shot was so well balanced with lemony and sweet notes blending beautifully with gin (one of my favorites) that i found it irresistible. justjoan

Pie lady - thank you for hosting. Like others have already said, it is hard to believe that the desserts last night were even better than previous exchanges. As much as I love chocolate, I did not even miss it last night as I bake more and more without it. Here are some additional pictures.

I was going to post my pictures, but between aschie30 and Pucca, I think we're all covered. I did load them to flickr, if anyone wants to see more of the same:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27885036@N ... 112200216/

It looks like no one got a picture of Pie Lady's honey cardamom sorbet, which is a shame. It was one of my favorites of the evening.

Thanks again to everyone, and especially Pie Lady. It really was a wonderful evening.

justjoan wrote: i'd just like to give an extra thanks to eli for introducing me to my first jello shot. while not a fan of anise hyssop (licorice tasting), his jello shot was so well balanced with lemony and sweet notes blending beautifully with gin (one of my favorites) that i found it irresistible. justjoan

I couldn't agree with you more. For me, this was the surprise highlight of the evening - delicious, citrus and herbal-tasting jello which packed quite a punch.

Jyoti

eli-

If you don't mind sharing, I'm eating your cake now - what else is in mixed in with those cherries? I detect something, but I can't quite figure it out - some type of liqueur, maybe?

eli wrote:It looks like no one got a picture of Pie Lady's honey cardamom sorbet, which is a shame. It was one of my favorites of the evening.

Hold the presses! I took a picture of Pie Lady's Honey Cardamon Sorbet:



While I didn't sample the jello shots, they were the first ones I ever saw.



My Mom and I shared the desserts I took home for lunch and dinner today.

Regards,

aschie30 wrote:eli-
If you don't mind sharing, I'm eating your cake now - what else is in mixed in with those cherries? I detect something, but I can't quite figure it out - some type of liqueur, maybe?

It's balsamic vinegar (with some brown sugar and LOTS of butter.) The recipe originally came from Bon Appetit, but I also have it on my blog. Like I mentioned before, I omitted the egg whites this time. I also put in extra vanilla...I didn't measure, but it was probably closer to 2 tsp than 1.

I'm glad to hear that everyone enjoyed the jello shots so much. There was some discussion that they needed a better name, and I think I've found one: Olivette Cubes. (An olivette is a cocktail made from gin, absinthe (or anisette), orange bitters and lemon...between the similar ingredients and the color, it fits.)

eli wrote:

aschie30 wrote:eli-
If you don't mind sharing, I'm eating your cake now - what else is in mixed in with those cherries? I detect something, but I can't quite figure it out - some type of liqueur, maybe?

It's balsamic vinegar (with some brown sugar and LOTS of butter.) The recipe originally came from Bon Appetit, but I also have it on my blog. Like I mentioned before, I omitted the egg whites this time. I also put in extra vanilla...I didn't measure, but it was probably closer to 2 tsp than 1.

That's it - it didn't jump out as balsamic like it sometimes does when added to a dish, but that makes sense given the butter. It hangs in the background and gives a richer flavor to the cherries. Very nice.

eli- might i suggest you put a link to your blog in your signature? other people do. you have some very appealing recipes on it. that way we'll remember to check it. justjoan

Thanks all for the kind words! Hope to see you at the next exchange.

I just ate both soups over the last two days (defrosted)...and they sure did suck. You guys were nice to swallow them. Sorry!

Pie Lady wrote:I just ate both soups over the last two days (defrosted)...and they sure did suck. You guys were nice to swallow them. Sorry!

Maybe they just don't freeze well. They needed a bit of salt, which is easily done. Don't think about it a moment more.

Regards,