[nekokami]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

It's Eton Mess, rather than "Elton Mess" (is yours a typo, because I keep doing exactly the same thing? ).

Not a typo so much as a misreading of what you had posted... though I'd never heard of Eton Mess either (I think... that sounds a bit more vaguely familiar....)

Edit -- having now looked it up, I think the nearest common US equivalent would be "Strawberry Shortcake," though this is usually made with shortbread biscuits (traditional), pound cake, or angel's food cake.

Originally Posted by montsnmags

A brandy balloon is simply a type of glass for serving, well, brandy in:

http://images.google.com.au/images?q=Brandy balloon

As glass/crystalware goes, they're usually at the larger end of the range.

Ah. In the US I think this is called a "brandy snifter." Here I was imagining something involving brandy inside a bubble made of pastry or whipped cream or something....