Chocolate Mousse and a cure for a hot day!

I had my first taste of Mousse when I was about 16 - Man, it was yucky. It was a strawberry mousse and the airy texture looked very much like the hair sculpturing mousse that I used at the time - think Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran hairstyles, we all needed mousse for our high tide fringes - you teenagers in the 80s will know exactly what I'm on about. That strawberry whatever really put me off mousse for many years. It was not until I had a Chocolate mousse torte at a french patisserie here some uh-mmm 20 years later that I discovered that the REAL THING had a BODY to it. It didn't feel like FOAM in my mouth. In fact, it felt silky and tasted really good.




I found myself fancying Chocolate mousse more and more, so much so that last Christmas saw me featuring a Gianduja Mousse Torte for dessert. I LOVE Chocolate pots too, but in this scorching heat, you want something lighter on your taste buds. There's a bonus too, it's sooooooo easy to prepare. I bet Paige could make it all by herself with her eyes closed.



Easy Peasy Chocolate Mousse
Makes approximately 6 espresso sized cups

70g good quality dark chocolate
1 tsp granulated gelatine
2 tbsp hot water
1 egg at room temperature
1 egg yolk at room temperature
150 ml thickened cream



Melt the chocolate and set aside. Place the gelatine in a bowl and dissolve with hot water, stirring continuously. Strain the gelatine to make sure you get rid of any lumps. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and the egg yolk until light and fluffy, then stir in the melted chocolate. Very quickly, mix in the gelatine.



In another bowl, whip the cream until just thickened and then fold into the chocolate mixture. Fill your cups or moulds with the mousse, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.



Another yummy treat we've been making a lot here are Ribena Icypoles. Yes, I know all about that dirty Ribena scandal - there are probably NO vitamins whatsoever in the syrup, but I didn't LOVE Ribena for the loads of Vitamic C that was supposedly in them. Carol Rode LOVES UNCONDITIONALLY. Enough said.




Icypoles are so quick and easy to make, and the children look forward to having them, especially if they've made it themselves. I know its more convenient to just buy a pack of ready made icypoles but there are so many nasties (additives) in these products. I made sure (in fact, I have a Ribena bottle in front of me) that Ribena has no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners in it, but if someone proves that is not the case, I shall have to re-evaluate the unconditional love thing.



So, go get the kids an Icypole mold, mom, it does'nt matter what syrup you choose, it's gonna be healthier than the stuff you get from the supermarket freezer. Oh, if anyone wants the recipe for the Icypoles, please e-mail me, I would love to 'chat' with you, and then I'll get paige to tell you how to make the Icypoles.




Last weekend (26th January) was Australia Day! We had an awesome time at our friend's home having dinner and watching the spectacular skyworks. I put a pavlova together for dessert and had Ming record the whole thing hoping to post it on youtube and on my blog. I need to edit the recording but have no idea whatsoever on how to go about it. So, if anyone of you out there can educate me, I'd be very grateful.




Have a great week, EVERYBODY!