I caught a freaking squirrel eating my neighbor’s “urban” herb garden the other day and threw a rock at it. A small one, just something to get his attention and deliver a friendly, subtle message. Something like, hey, squirrel! Steal anymore food and I’ll cut you. Because I too own a two lovely “urban” herb gardens that are my pride and joy. I do enough on my own to kill the poor damn herbs. The least the squirrel could do is leave me my four damn leaves of basil and sate himself with leftovers from the local 7-11. I’m also letting the cat hang out on the back porch more often. I got an army, squirrel. Don’t ef with me. Speaking of crazy herb Nazi squirrels that are eating up my organic herb harvest, check out my chocolate mousse (Best. Transition. EVER.I had to get three degrees to learn how to do that.) I was in the mood for something light yet rich, and just so happened to have a pint of super ripe strawberries from my csa that wouldn’t make it through the night. Chocolate mousse is sort of a pain in the ass to make, just because you have to melt the chocolate, whip the egg whites AND whip the heavy cream, but with a Kitchen Aid and a husband who does the dishes, AND the only other option being working on my 5000 word essay, I didn’t mind so much. Baking and cooking calm me when I need to procrastinate, probably because I get to waste my time and still have something for my efforts. And I effing love dessert. There are a million and one ways to make mousse: some that use gelatin, others that use custards, but I really dig the melted choc-whipped egg whites–whipped cream mixture myself. I used this recipe from The Joy of Baking’s Web Site.
I was too lazy to walk a few blocks further and go to the store with the good chocolate, so I had to settle with Ghirardelli from the local grocery store, which was decent. I wouldn’t mind using a bittersweet chocolate-dark chocolate blend next time. My favorite is Lindt 70 %. Once the mousse was made, I layered it in a bowl with sliced strawberries and chopped pistachios for texture. After storing in the fridge for a few hours, I had a delicious, light AND rich dessert for a hot summer night. Also? Considering buying a potato gun to harmlessly scare the shit out of crazy herb Nazi squirrel. If he’s so hungry, surely he’ll want my bits of potato launched at his tiny body at varying speeds. Soooo much more tasty than my basil.
~LTG!
