A Festive Dessert for the Greatest Season of the Year

Admittedly a tad delayed, but still timely, here is a list of a few favorite things which help make Christmas the best season of the year.

1. A great excuse to hold a party or two. With lots and lots of booze.
2. Christmas lights all over cities
3. An excuse to put a giant tree in your living room and decorate it (the smell is just amazing!! Fake trees are not the way to go).
4. Mulled wine. Nom.
5. Turkey and stuffing and trimmings and pudding and brandy butter.
6. MORE FOOD (and almost all of it seems to contain alcohol in some way or another).
7. Cookies
8. Gingerbread houses.
9. The spirit in the air: everyone is happy….. ok most people are happy.
10. Yet another reason to get presents (and of course buy some…not the season to be selfish)!
11. Christmas markets
12. Carol singing (definitely the only time of year I actually make it to church)
13. GLITTER
14. Lots and lots of family time…. probably not appreciated by everyone out there, in some cases 2 days a year are plenty.
15. SNOW
16. Mistletoe
17. Tasteless Christmas jumpers….. Primark seems to have been successful in this department

Why can’t it be Christmas all year round? We would possibly all be spoilt and overweight alcoholics by now if that were the case, but introducing a half Christmas in June doesn’t seem like such a bad idea:-).

Lebkuchen Mousse ala Robert Speth

Incredible Chocolate Mousse

A day without chocolate is ……  non-existent in our lives. So maybe you’ve realized we’ve been posting a lot about chocolate. Reason is: one of us decided to sacrifice this essence of life for lent. 46 days without chocolate! INSANE! Hence we are still helping her catch up on what she missed out 🙂

And now for a short medical digression: my mom always makes this chocolate mousse for parties as it is always a hit. Last I remember she made it for a new years dinner. There were lots of pregnant guests who immediately asked: “are there raw eggs in this mousse?” OF COURSE THERE ARE, WHAT IS MOUSSE WITHOUT EGG WHITE?? NOT MOUSSE!!! (I once saw a post of a chocolate mousse, which was made without egg whites. It really, really, really ruined my day). Sadly, the preggers were left without dessert (I didn’t mind: more for me!). During pregnancy raw eggs, raw meat and unpasteurized milk shouldn’t be consumed, as the chance of catching an infection with nasty bugs called toxoplasmosis and listeria are quite high. These two can, when caught in early pregnancy, be lethal for your baby.

So we learn: stuff your face with mousse, tartar and rare filet de boeuf as much as you can before hitting the bedroom with reproduction in mind.

Incredible Chocolate Mousse