My heart pumps RICH CHOCOLATE MOUSSE!!

The most amazing, mouth-watering and terribly delicious thing in the world:

The Richest Chocolate Mousse Ever

Without a shadow of a doubt, this recipe will either cure you from your obsession with chocolate for the next few months, OR it'll KILL YOU before you've finished licking the spoon!

You will require:

350g dark chocolate, chopped into bits-made-easy-to-melt
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup sugar
1tsp instant coffee dissolved in 10ml warm water
1tbs cocoa powder
300ml thickened cream

Additionally, you should have 6 ramekins (or 4 larger ones for the daring).

The method is simple enough:

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl either in the microwave OR (and this is the better way) rest the bowl of chocolate over a saucepan of simmering water ensuring the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir the chocolate until melted. Set aside to cool.

In a separate bowl, combine egg yolks, sugar, cocoa and coffee. Beat until the mixture is well combined ~ 5minutes. Add this mixture to the melted chocolate. This should look dark and smooth! Beat cream in a bowl and gradually spoon it into the chocolate, stirring gently as you go.

In a clean bowl (sorry about all the bowls; your kitchen must be a mess by now), beat the egg whites until they form peaks. With a plastic spatula or spoon, gently fold in the beaten egg whites in the chocolate mixture. This will make the mousse light and airy. Just be careful not to mix and fold too much because this will release all the air (no one wants a mousse that feels like a lead weight in their gastrointestinal system).

Spoon mousse into ramekins/glasses/dessert bowls and place on a tray. Put tray in the fridge and leave the mousse for an hour. You can check on it if you like, but I find that the wait is made longer every time you open the fridge and stare at them... I also add a little dissolved coffee to 100ml of cream, whip it and whip it good, then dollop it on top - because my arteries can take it!!!

Enjoy!

Don't worry, my heart doesn't really pump rich chocolate mousse ... or lumpy custard for that matter. I'm sorry if this may have shattered some dreams...

The Zodiacs

This one goes out to Ben, because I read this on Smosh and I laughed so hard coffee leaked from my nose (I was drinking coffee at the time, I'm not a caffeine dispenser normally).

SEVERELY RECOMMEND CLICKING ON THE IMAGES FOR AN AMAZING FULL VIEW!! OR YOU WILL DIE FROM IGNORING THIS CLEARLY DRAMATIC SUGGESTION. YOUR ZODIAC SAID SO... (you'll never know if you don't read it).

Clever Girl just wants to have fun

As a member of the IRDA, I'd like to bring your attention to Raptor Awareness Day (that's today). To aid in your survival - I have found the following list:

Read. Share. Survive.

The Caffeine Hit that keeps on Giving

The new goal in my life... drink at least ONE Trenta size coffee before I die.

Hi...

Could I have just one Trenta Java Chip Frappuccino... No, hold the cream thanks. My 900mL capacity stomach couldn't handle that much awesome in one sitting.

Foxes are cute, but evil little bastards

Power was out... technically still is.

Nearly 48hrs with no running water or electricity makes you feel very primitive. And when you finally have a generator to power up the essentials while you wait for the power company to fix it (*cough cough* 9pm two nights ago). Things like running the water pump so you can shower and flush the toilet (yay!), fridge (luckily nothing went bad), fan (damn summer heat) and a little TV (cos the lights don't work and the light emitted from the TV is enough to make sure you don't walk into chairs, coffee tables and couches in the darkness).

You realise, after so long without power, how much you've de-evolved to near-Neolithic origin. I've been too scared to turn my laptop on in case I ended up in the dark again. You feel real fear when all the lights go out and all you have are the moon and stars (if that, since its been overcast) and then you hear that faint high-pitched howl of a fox as it runs through the bush. Lets just say, my nights have been far from peaceful.

The tiny, cute face of a glaringly evil Mr. Fennec fox (photo by floridapfe)

My cat is Lucifer in fuzzy-form

So... I had a rather large jigsaw puzzle (with exquisitely painted Cape Hunting dogs) out on the 8 seater dining room table and it took up half that. I only needed to do a touch up so I could frame it (its a Charlotte Firbank-King edition hence the framing) since the majority of it was done some year back as a past time for my Grandma. Well...

That puzzle I was working on most of the evening and well into the night... and finally had 5 pieces left before completely finishing (I mean, seriously, who paints a massive leafless tree in the background with so many branches and patched of plain sky??). The 10 month old kitten, who is affectionately known as "Demon Child" Lily, launches herself from the dividing wall I was facing, landing directly on the puzzle and sliding across the table only to bump heads with me. The puzzle had folded in on itself and the rest cascaded onto my lap, scattering EVERYWHERE.

I cried, I yelled, I cried some more, I got angry... then I laughed... that kind of hysterical psychotic laughter someone makes while crying with anger and considering murder. Safe to say, her look of absolute fear at the moment of sliding from one end of the table to the other on a jigsaw puzzle was enough justice for me. That and I've cut her kitten milk rations... and taken all the cat nip toys away.

Cat: 1 Me: 2

Phlebotomist's Nightmare

I had my bloods taken today (just 2 vials). The lady who did the jabbing was a student. It took her 5 minute to find my vein, 2 minutes to put gloves on (like they've never put gloves on in their life) and then took another 2-3 minutes finding the "lost" vein again.

The words you don't want to hear before or during surgery is "oops"; well the same goes for having blood taken. The "oops" I'm referring to is the moment after inserting the needle and feeling a little more than a "little sting". She punctured through the vein and gently stuck it into my tendons in my elbow.

Yes, it's sore. Yes, it got done eventually. And No, this is not the first time it's happened - my veins are a Phlebotomist's nightmare!