Eton Mess turned in to one BIG mess!

For those of you that awoke before 4am on April 29, 2011 to watch the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, I salute you! I didn't get up at 4am, but I was able to watch some of the after-ceremony coverage and wedding ceremony replay. I still can't get over how PRETTY Kate looked when she stepped out of the Rolls-Royce, and ohmygoodness that dress!! (Fairytale wedding anyone?!) However, I must admit that the main thing that I was drawn to was finding out the reception menus. What? You should know by now that I'm officially a food-junkie. ;) 

One thing that drew me in was Eton Mess - Prince William's favorite dessert when he attended Eton College. It's a mixture of meringue cookie pieces, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries that is sometimes serves over a meringue shell. Sounds great, right? That's what I thought. 

Last night, I decided to make it for the first time. My mom and I had been talking about making it ever since the wedding, but we'd just never made the time for it. Thanks to some cake orders and a wedding catering last weekend, I found myself (and still do!) with an abundance of egg whites. So, I spent yesterday afternoon making meringue cookies - all the while excited about how GREAT this was going to taste! The meringues hardened, I whipped up some fresh cream, and sliced some beautiful strawberries, still thinking of how pretty it would look when I plated it! (Ever since I started thinking about plating for a wedding I catered a little over a week ago, "plating" is a constant thing on my mind now.)

After dinner, I went into the kitchen and fixed the Eton Mess. I'll give it a 8 on plating - just because it did look like a "pretty mess." (Hence the name, riiiighttt? Hehehe) Now....as for the taste... I'm not really sure how to describe it. Unless you like eating whipped cream by the carton, it didn't thrill me at all. I guess I didn't consider this when I read through the recipe, but I didn't think that it would actually JUST taste like whipped cream! I was thinking, "oh! Strawberry shortcake, English-style. Yum!" That wasn't the case AT ALL. I'm thinking about making it again..but with a twist. Maybe more strawberries, less whipped cream, and chocolate meringues? Mmmm :) But right now, my stomach needs a break because that stuff last night was saweeettt! 

Anyway, I'm off to look for more recipes for egg whites! Ideas, anyone?!?

Happy eating,

~HB~