"A breath of air"

(Did you know you can get a post to publish in the future? If you're reading this, I have successfully done so, since I should be in the car on the way to Arizona at this very moment. Hooray!)

I had occasion to do a research project last weekend, and souffles being something I had never made or even eaten before, and as I'd heard them referred to as "the perfect end to a romantic Valentine's Day dinner," I chose them as my subject.

Souffle, you know, is from the French "to blow up" or "to puff up"---more poetically translated as "a breath of air." They are typically seen as quite difficult to make (although most recipes I found refuted this). After presenting my findings, Sam and tried making some.

The verdict? Quite good, a little fussy (beating egg whites into a meringue---not difficult, but must be watched carefully), very pretty---but with all that perhaps not my favorite "fancy" dessert. The prize for that still remains with Volcano Cakes (as we call them---more apt than "lava cakes," in our opinion), which are surprisingly similar to these souffles, but (I think) even yummier.

If you would like to try making a souffle, a recipe is here. However, if you really want to impress your Valentine at the end of a Romantic Dinner, I highly recommend making the volcano cakes instead. For which I will post a recipe tomorrow.