Napoléon Bonaparte, Josephine, Chocolate Mousse

They say you learn something new every day. Reading French Marilyn's Blog this morning (see link this page) I discovered two things, there are members of the Napoléon Bonaparte family buried in Farnborough, Kent, close where I lived in England and also there are still more members of the family alive and well in France who want to bring the remains home and bury them in France. I have always been fascinated with that period of French history starting from the Revolution itself and ending with the death of Napoléon. I think the interest was sparked by being christened Josephine and that my grandmother had sent my mother a pair of baby bootees with a note saying "for Napoleon or Josephine". I am very glad I wasn't a boy.

I mentioned, in a previous blog, how much I had wanted to see the house in Martinique where Joséphine de Beauharnais lived but the taxi ride was just too expensive - I visited Chateau Malmaison in France which is one place she spent a lot of her time. When I went there it was in very good condition but I just saw a description of it being run down. It was one of the few monuments in France that was still furnished as it was originally. Mots of the other chateaus were stripped of furniture by the ravening hordes of the revolution, but of course, Chateau Malmaison was furnished after the revolution. I remember thinking the house and grounds were absolutely lovely. I was about 19 or so at the time. I used to tell people I thought I was her reincarnation, I don't think I really believed it although Joséphine and I did have a lot of things in common. Still do in fact. At the time I used to read everything I could get my hands on telling me about both of them. M.S. Coryn wrote some very good novels about both of them but I don't think those books are available any more. There was one book, A Swarm of Bees about Lucrezia Bonaparte, Napolèon's mother and another called The Marriage of Josephine. Both excellent books in their time. My paternal grandfather used to send books (including these) to my mother and I. He hardly knew us but he always chose fantastic books for us to read, I can't imagine how.

Right now I am reading The River God by Wilbur Smith which is turning out to be a very good book and contains some intersting background on the Egyptian's life, particularly the information on the tomb building and how the country was bankrupted to furnish gold and other precious funerary items for the Pharoah's tomb I have just got to the point where Egypt was invaded by The Shepherd Kings. I had to Google them as I didn't really know who they were. However, it turns out that the book is totally fictional despite an assertion at the end, by Wilbur Smith, to the contrary. I can certainly recommend the book as a good novel.

Yesterday was a bowling day, the summer league. It turns out to be much more fun than the winter league as there is a little team competition which there is absolutely none of during the winter. Apparently people want to be on the same team in the winter league so won't be split up by their averages. A pity, it makes it much more interesting. Because we have to get out of the house on time, I usually have a Lean Cuisine meal for my lunch. One I have had a couple of times now is the Oriental Ginger Beef Stir Fry. The sauce on this is absolutely delicious. The meals themselves are not much to write home about, but I wish I could duplicate this sauce.

How about something chocolatey for my recipe today. Here is another chocolate mousse which I got from the Yahoo groups cookery club I belong to. I absolutely adore chocolate mousse.

Amedei Chocolate Mousse

Servings: 4

275g dark chocolate (70-75 per cent), cut into small pieces,
plus about 40g of grated chocolate to finish
150g unsalted butter
8 medium egg yolks, at room temperature
1tbsp caster sugar (optional)
8 medium egg whites

Melt the pieces of chocolate and butter either in a microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Don't let any water get into the chocolate. Leave to cool a little, then whisk the egg yolks and sugar, if using, and stir into the chocolate mixture. Whisk the egg whites
until soft peaks have formed (you may want to do this with a mixing machine) and then very carefully fold into the chocolate mixture with the grated chocolate, ensuring you don't lose any volume - what you want is a mousse that stays nice and light. Transfer into a serving bowl and chill for a couple of hours.

Have a great day.

Books I Have Enjoyed Lately

I just finished reading four stories of The Lost Continent by Catherine Asaro. They were eBooks so I was reading them on my Palm Zire. Fire Opal was the last of the four. I really enjoyed them, so I went hunting on the net to see if she had written any more, she has, so I will have to do something about getting hold of them. I have been reading Catherine Asaro books for a while now, her Skolian Empire series is great, I know I have mentioned them before - I don't own any of the books in the series, but I think I should change that. Catherine Asaro herself is a scientist which always helps with science fiction I think. Isaac Asimov who, in my opinion, was one of the greatest sci fi writers of all time, was a scientist. At one time I owned everything he had written, but having carted a couple of thousand books from England to Canada, then from Canada to the States, I finally decided to thin down my library considerably before we moved back to Canada. It was a very hard decision for me but I figure if I want to re-read a lot of the books I got rid of, I have a very good library service available to me here.

Talking of the library, they have a book ready for me right now which we will pick up later today, it is The River God by Wilbur Smith. Not a new book by any manner of means. It is about ancient Egypt and I have a sneaking suspicion I might have read it years ago, but when a friend mentioned she had just read it I thought I would get hold of it. I have always been fascinated by Ancient Egypt and have certainly read a lot of stories, both fact and fiction, about the area. It might be long enough ago that even if this book has crossed my path in the past, it still may seem pretty fresh to me today.

The creation of this blog was severely interrupted by a Skype call from daughter #2 and family. Do you use Skype? Its a great programme which allows us to make calls to England (and anywhere else) with our vid cam on at both ends so we can see everyone whilst talking to them, also totally free. I occasionally talk to my cousin in Portugal on Skype as well. Our son-in-law (Mike of the wildlife art - see the link on this page) reads my blog so they were all teasing me about my love of asparagus and were horrified to hear I had only one serving left. We got progress reports on all the grandkids who are apparently doing extremely well in all their endeavours. Two are intending to teach and our 12 year old granddaughter seems to be headed for a theatrical career although she says she wants to be a veterinarian. We shall see.

OK, not asparagus or lobster or rhubarb today. I love omelettes too.

Apple & Brie Omelette Eggsite.com

2 tsp butter, divided 10 mL 1/4 Granny smith apple, peeled and thinly sliced 1/4" Ground nutmeg, to taste 1 tsp sugar 5 mL 2 eggs 2 1 Tbs water 15 mL 1 Tbs chopped pecans 15 mL 1 oz Brie cheese (cut into 6 small cubes) 25 g 1 Heat nonstick 8-inch (20 cm) ovenproof skillet* over medium heat. Melt 1 tsp (5 mL) butter in skillet. Sauté apple slices in butter until slightly transparent but not too soft, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with nutmeg and sugar. Remove from pan and keep warm. 2 Beat together eggs and water. Heat same skillet over medium-high heat. Melt remaining 1 tsp (5 mL) butter in skillet. Pour in egg mixture. As mixture sets at edges, with spatula, gently push cooked portions towards the centre. Tilt and rotate the pan to allow uncooked egg to flow into the empty spaces. When egg is almost set on surface but still looks moist, cover half of the omelette with warm apple mixture and pecans. Slip spatula under the unfilled side and fold the omelette in half. Garnish with Brie cheese. Broil 1 to 2 minutes to melt cheese. Slide onto warm plate and serve immediately. Servings: 1

Have a great day.