pick me up

We had guests last night for dinner, which was really nice. My husband's best friend from his undergraduate college and wife have recently relocated to our same state and live only an hour away across the Chesapeake Bridge. We are really very excited about that. The dogs were very good and we had a good time. As they are very smart, educated people the conversation was fabulous. I am still pondering this morning why tragic art is considered of more validity in our culture. I guess I will be pondering this for awhile

I made caesar salad, lasagna rolls and tiramisu. I love all those things very much. My camera had a small melt down and I had to format the memory card ( I didn't even know I could do that) this morning, so I lost all of my pictures from last night. Great. Anyway, I served my tiramisu in small footed, glass dishes with coffee. Needless to say, my picture of it was not this great. That picture is from Cooking Light, I think. The recipe is not. It might be from FoodTV but very much modified.

Tiramisu 6 servings
6 egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups espresso
1 tablespoon of marsala wine
36 ladyfingers
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate shavings, for garnish

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Cream mascarpone cheese and cream cheese together until smooth. Add cheese to egg mixture and beat until smooth. Add 1 tablespoon of espresso and mix until thoroughly combined.

In a small shallow dish, add remaining espresso and marsala. Dip each ladyfinger into espresso for only 5 seconds. Place the soaked ladyfingers on the bottom of a 11 by 8 inch dish making them fit the bottom.

Spread evenly 1/2 of the cheese mixture over the ladyfingers. Arrange another layer of soaked ladyfingers and top with remaining cheese mixture.

Cover tiramisu with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Before serving, top with finely grated chocolate shavings.

My dinner guests really like this. They had only had tiramisu once before at a restaurant in Chicago, so they were pleased to have it at someone's house.