Last week's steak dinner was a lot of fun.  I started cooking in the morning to make sure I could finish on time.  After an hour plus I was still unsuccessfully trying to cook the caramel sauce for the floating island dessert.  How frustrating!  How sticky!  How hot!  I finally decided to try again later and moved on to the meringues - sticky part two!  I am not a fan of meringue.  I have tried to make it 2 or 3 times and each time as I add the sugar they stop stiffening.  This time was no exception.  Everything was going along just fine, then I added the sugar slowly and they stopped firming up.  I had to start again with another egg white and SLOWLY add back my unstiffened whites + sugar.  A long and sticky process!  The vegetable tian was delicious and fun, I will surely make it again.  What a nice side dish!  The steak with bernaise turned out just fine, but much of the attention of the evening went to the pissaladiere - pizza with onions, anchovies and olives.  Yes, anchovies!  The first I've ever tried.  Not too bad, but SO SALTY!  The floating islands were extremely sweet - maybe I overdid the drizzles of caramel sauce?  And so chewy!  Overall, I think the vegetable tian was my winner.  And the floating isanlds win the prize for the strangest dessert yet.