In the Kitchen - Tasting

I had some egg whites left over from the pots de creme I made for DH on Sunday, and decided I needed to make marshmallows.  I don't know why I like to make marshmallows; I don't even have any little kids around here to eat them.  I think it's fun to me just because - I can make marshmallows!  Right in my own kitchen, and they're pretty and fluffy and entirely too sweet!

I think I mentioned that I was reading this book.  In there he talks about "marshmallows of various flavors: angelica, olive oil, lemon verbena...."  I immediately thought of the lemon balm in my backyard.

Mmmmmm!  Lemon Balm marshmallows!  So I made a tisane, which I intended to use to replace the water in the recipe.  Oh, right, the recipe for David Lebovitz's marshmallows is here.  I just went over there to get the link for you and got very distracted by the salted butter caramels.  Be careful if you go over there. Anyway, so the tisane....

Looked like this.  Ewww!  And it didn't taste any better.  I don't understand why.  I make Lemon Balm tea all the time and it tastes good and lemony.  Needless to say, I gave up on that particular idea and decided to go for lemon extract.

I know, it looks like a plate of cheese curds or butter, doesn't it?

I would have taken pictures of the process, but it's been another cold, grey, dreary, snowy spring day here in Utah.  Yep, snow.  Mid April and there is snow on the ground.   It just makes you want to move here doesn't it?  I bet you wish you could have six months of winter where you live.  Oh, but the weather report is promising sun and warmer temperatures tomorrow.

And back to that book, first I want to say that every page makes me laugh out loud.  And there are some tasty looking recipes in there as well.  I'm really wondering though what his intention was in writing it.  I suspect he was paid to keep les Américains out of Paris.  I've dreamed about Paris for so long, but after all his stories of public nose picking, lack of places to pee, 360 days a year of no sun, cheese that moves all by itself.....I'm not so sure I want to go anymore.  Bitchy people don't bother me because I'll be in my element, but I can't handle nose picking.

On that note, I think I'll go start dinner.