Busy Days and Better Times

Day 88.

Museums and aquariums and festivals. Oh, my! Busy days are ahead for me as we spend the week with my in-laws. Things have gotten better, by the way. There were Mmmms after dinner tonight, and someone else did the dishes. I took some advice and served family-style, and also made sure there were extras on hand in case we ran out of something. It all went well.

Today, we visited the Civil War Naval Museum. Did you know that on teh ships, there were boys as young as ten years old, called powder monkeys, who held the job of transporting gun powder to the cannons between firings? Neither did I. It was a neat trip. I learned a few things.

While we were out, meringues were cooling and drying in my oven. These simple little gems are fabulous. They're pretty sweet, so a few will tame your sweet tooth. They're easy to make. And they're very low cost, requiring only a few egg whites, a little sugar, and a touch of cream of tartar. And they're easy to flavor any way you like.

Meringues

What You Need:

• 3 egg whites
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• dash of salt
• a Tbsp of flavoring (I used a Tbsp of coconut rum for mine. Vanilla extract is another nice one.)

How it's Done:

1. Bring your egg whites to room temperature.
2. Beat them on medium-high speed until they're very foamy. Sprinkle the cream of tartar over the egg whites and continue beating until light and fluffy and peaks begin to form.
3. SLOWLY add in sugar. To make the sugar easier to incorporate, I run it through my food processor for a full minute before using in this recipe. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
4. Slowly add salt and flavoring. Beat again until shiny, sticky, and stiff.
5. Scoop into a piping bag and pipe into stars on parchment paper.
6. Bake for 2 hours at 200 degrees. Turn off the oven and let the meringues cool completely before removing.