My First Cooked Meal For The Family

My uncles and grandma came over to my place today and so I decided to cook for them dinner. I have never cooked for anyone else besides for myself, my mum and perhaps him so I was under pressure. My dad perfers to eat Asian/Indian food so my mom cooks that for him since I cannot cook curry. I know, I know, I will learn soon enough. Hence, I decided to whip up Italian for them. So the basic pasta was the main meal. And so I brought out the dishes, and my uncle started saying, "Oh, your presentation is wonderful but can I say the meal itself?" I replied with a mere, "Try it and you'll see." My uncles remarks after tasting it:

1. "Taste better than having it at an Italian restaurant"
2.I feel so blessed that I got to taste my neice's cooking for me for the first time!"
I was so touched.

I got motivated after that fateful occasion that I decided to make my first pavlova. A pavlova always makes the perfect dessert after a meal. It's not heavy and rich. It's just light, sweet and airy. Kids will love this too cos it kind of taste a little like cotton candy. Pictures are below for the steps involved from start to end product.

3 Egg Whites
Whisk them until they form soft peaks. Add in 1 cup of sugar gradually
Followed by 1 tablespoon of corn starch/corn flour
Whisk away until the sugar dissolves.Feel the mixture and make sure its smooth and not lumpy.
Add in 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
Add in a dash of squeezed lemon juice
Line a baking sheet or a baking tin with parchment paper
Use a spatula and transfer the meringue onto the parchment paper. Make a well in the middle as that's where the fruits and cream go. Pre heat the oven first and then place baking tin in. Reduce the temp once tin goes in so the meringue does not burn at the top. Once the timer goes out, leave the tin in to cool off for an hour. It should feel hard on the top and moist on the insides.
Then add your cream and strawberries in the well. I topped mine with lemon sorbet as my grandmother wanted it a little cold to taste. Heh. Well, my first attempt at making a Strawberry Lemon Sorbet Pavlova. It tasted good, perhaps too sweet, so next time not 1 full cup of sugar, but hey at least I did not burn it!