Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Lunch, Movie, Diabetes, Bulbs,

Guess where I am going to lunch today - yes, Mandarin. I wanted to get in one more visit whilst the New Year's dumpling festival was still taking place. I do love dumplings.

Just watched High Noon, Gary Cooper, I have known that song forever, can virtually sing it word for word, but I don't think I ever saw the film before. They talked a lot about politics before and after and the Black List. Politics and theatre should never mix in my opinion. They are supposed to be entertaining us.

Have an appointment to see the endocrinologist on Thursday. My diabetes is basically non existent any more as she knows. Except whilst I was in hospital when they pushed my sugars up to 28, I think that's around 500 in US measurements. It was all due to the stuff they were feeding me by tube. Then they dropped it so low dosing me with insulin, 2.8 (about 50) I was quite frightened both times. I have a medic alert bracelet which, when I got it, said diabetes was my main problem. I meant to get it changed and never did. I will now. Only trouble is, I can't take the bracelet off myself and Matt isn't able to either.

Our kitchen light went out Monday morning, we are no longer able to stand on step stools or such so called in the super. He is so tall, he just reached up and changed the bulb. Amazing. We have been using CFL bulbs but he tells us the LEDs are much better. Have ordered one from the store as we didn't have the right strength bulb anyway. Now I have to dispose of the dud one properly. Understand Canadian Tire may take them. I do hope so as they contain mercury I read. Otherwise I am not sure where we dispose of them locally. I couldn't get hold of the super this morning, I hadn't even realised it had snowed enough overnight for him to be out dealing with the white stuff. Poor man.

Being a chocoholic, this recipe looked so good when I saw it. The comment in red is from me.

Ultimate Chocolate Mousse

The key to this recipe is to use the very best semisweet dark chocolate you can find—we like
Valrhona. The better the chocolate, the better the mousse.

8 oz semisweet dark chocolate, broken into
1/2-inch pieces
6 large eggs, separated
3 Tbs water
1/4 cup sweet liqueur (such as Chartreuse, amaretto, mandarin, or Grand Marnier)
2 cups heavy cream
6 Tbs granulated sugar, divided
Whipped cream and grated chocolate, for garnish

1. Place chocolate in top of a double boiler over simmering water, and cook over low, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat, and set aside. These days you can melt chocolate in the microwave so long as you know what you're doing.

2. Place egg yolks and 3 tablespoons water in a heavy saucepan; cook over very low, whisking vigorously and constantly, until yolks begin to foam and thicken, about 6 minutes. Whisk in liqueur, and cook, whisking constantly, until sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, 6 to 8 minutes. (The sauce should achieve the consistency of a hollandaise or sabayon.) Remove from heat. Pour through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a bowl; discard solids.

3. Fold melted chocolate into sauce. Transfer chocolate mixture to a large bowl, and set aside.

4. Beat cream with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes, beating in 2 tablespoons sugar toward the end. Fold into chocolate mixture.

5. Using electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks start to form, about 1 minute. Beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Fold into chocolate-cream mixture.

6. Spoon mousse into a bowl, and chill until ready to serve, 4 hours or up to 24 hours. Garnish servings with whipped cream and grated chocolate.

Source: Food and Wine

Author Notes
In 2018, Food & Wine named this recipe one of our 40 best: To celebrate chocolate in its most delectable guises, we asked some of the best cooks—Julia Child, James Beard, Maida Heatter, and more—to share their favorite chocolate recipes. Craig Claiborne, who was the New York Times restaurant critic and one of the top food journalists at the time, shared his remarkable chocolate mousse, which could be reliably whipped up without tremendous effort. In his original headnote for the recipe, Claiborne says, “once in a rare while, I discover a formula for a dish that seems the ultimate, the definitive, the ne plus ultra. I am convinced that the finest chocolate mousse creation ever whipped up in my kitchen is the one printed here. As if you didn’t know, mousse means foam in French. This mousse is the foamiest.” The key to this recipe is to use the very best semisweet dark chocolate you can find—we like Valrhona. The better the chocolate, the better the mousse.


Have a great day
 

6 comments:

  1. Never thought about trying to dispose of the bulb. We don't have any at our house.
    Now that you've seen High Noon, you can continue and watch Outland with Sean Connery, which was basically High Noon in space.

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    1. What kind of light bulbs do you use Alex. Outland? Don't think I have ever heard of it.

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  2. We use LED lights too. We have Lowes, a big store that takes the light bulbs for recycling. Makes it easy, even though I still have one rolling around in my trunk waiting for me to take it in! LOL I haven't heard of Outland either and I love Sean Connery. I saw High Noon so many years ago I don't remember much about it.

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    1. The super just put a new LED bulb in for us Lisa, the kitchen is now like day. Bit too bright maybe. Supposed to last 10 yrs at 3 hrs a day. More like 12 here. We have a Lowe's here, some distance away, but I never thought of them. Do you have Lowe's grocer store where you are? Used to love them.

      I love Sean Connery too.

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  3. I too enjoy dumplings, as well as chocolate mousse!

    I hope that you are feeling okay today.

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    1. They have so many dumplings at Mandarin at the moment, you could eat yourself silly Cynthia.

      Yes feeling pretty good at the moment, thanks.

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