Charlton Heston, Dining Tables and Chocolate Volcanoes

Did you hear that Charlton Heston died at the weekend. The passing of another great icon. Not that he was the greatest actor in the world, but his movies were frequently blockbusters. I loved the movies where he played Moses and Ben Hur for instance. In fact, having it brought to mind, I watched Ben Hur on Sunday night. I had taped it years ago. Matt has always disliked Charlton Heston, his comment about Ben Hur was the best actors were the horses. I was once again thrilled to watch the chariot race and wish we had such races today.

Of course he was also very unpopular with his views as President of the National Rifle Association. I have seen some very nasty comments about this on line in the last couple of days. People cannot disassociate the actor and his work from his personal life. I was going to say private life, but it wasn't very private.

Yesterday, after bowling, we decided to go to a local furniture store to buy Matt a new chair. We have been looking for a while now. He has been sitting on a love seat for the last 7 years and has totally ruined the fabric, it had a kind of velvet finish; not any more. Matt has fidgeted the nap right off it. It looks terrible. So, we found him a leather lounger which, I hope, will fit in with the sofa and chair we still have and last him a bit longer. Someone is actually taking the love seat to recover for their own use, not something I am capable of doing; I did think of having it re-covered, not the cheapest proposition.

I saw a dining table I liked, it would seat 8 which I would would be great. Matt swears there isn't room for it, I'm not so sure. Every so often it would be nice to be able to seat that many people and if I found a suitable table with a leaf in it I could extend it when I need it. We will see how that little discussion proceeds. This is our current table which will seat 6 fairly comfortably.

Because I have been discussing chocolate desserts with my cooking friends lately, I thought I would pass on a recipe I got from Food and Drink which is a quarterly magazine put out by the LCBO or Liquor Control Board of Ontario. They have lots of wonderful recipes, including one for the best carrot cake I have ever come across. However, this time it is Warm Chocolate Cakes which some people refer to as volcanoes.

Warm Chocolate Cake
Serves: 6

6 oz Bittersweet Chocolate
2/3 C unsalted butter
1/3 C sugar
6 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1/3 C all purpose (plain) flour


Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C). In heavy pot on low heat, melt chocolate and butter together. Cool slightly.

Beat together sugar and egg yolks with electric mixer until thick and creamy, about 4 mins.

Pour in chocolate mixture and beat together for 5 mins.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, about three mins. Fold into mixture along with flour.

Pour into 6 nonstick buttered moulds or non-stick muffin tins (we use cocottes or ramekins). Bake for 5 to 7 mins or until edges are just cooked and centre is still liquid. Cool for 5 mins in cooking dish. Carefully remove to serving dishes. Serve with lightly whipped cream. Do NOT look at the calories *g*.

Have a great day.