Filberts and Chocolate. It begins.

I contemplated calling this Erdbeerschaum, for my absolute favourite dessert growing up, translated from German it means Strawberry Foam. Unlike recipes I have found on the 'Net, however, the recipe doesn't call for whipped cream, it's just strawberries and sugar and an egg white, the recipe is rather vague too, a scoop of sugar and a margarine container full of strawberries (frozen ones, so a little more sugar), and you whip it till it's foamy. I loved it! And the rest of my family looked at me, most out of the corner of their eye, and guardedly said, "It's okay..." Most of the time I thought it, sometimes I replied, "Well, more for me then!", and proceeded to finish it off. Bubbly, foamy strawberries that melted in your mouth, bringing back the taste of last summer's sweet goodness after the long winter.

These days, though, eating egg whites raw probably isn't a great idea, I have heard too often to ignore. What I have contemplated recently, and will try soon, is to incorporate this in place of the plain whipped egg whites in a cheesecake, to give it a nice strawberry flavour. Though, I don't know if it will work quite well, will it whip properly. I never got to the correct stage, the proper stiffness of the egg white, wanting to eat it as soon as it looked good enough.

Lately, I have had a passion for hazelnuts (or filberts as I better like to call them), and for chocolate, especially dark, the darker the better, and have begun to make more of the recipes I've found. Hazelnuts alone, and with chocolate, are wonderful.

So, what will this be about. Filberts. Chocolate. Filberts and Chocolate. Recipes I have tried. Restaurants I have eaten at. Other things too, like my hobby of tramping around the woods to find wildflowers and take digital pics of them. Tennis. The Red Sox and Boston. Apple Computers. My trip to China next year. My trip to Tanzania the following year. Writing.

I live in Canada, in a city called Mississauga, which lies crouching next to Toronto. We had our first taste of winter on Friday, just a small taste.

Mike.

Erdbeerschaum (Strawberry Foam)
Frozen strawberries (margarine container full)
1 egg white
7 Tbsp sugar (or to taste)

Place strawberries in blender and mix until in small pieces. Add egg white and sugar to strawberries in bowl, then mix with electric mixer until foamy and stiff.

Note: I imagine this would work with macerated strawberries if you have fresh.