Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Minty Lindty Mousse

As of a few days ago, my new favorite obsession is Lindt Mint Chocolate. Im not a fan of dark chocolate but i adore this! So i decided to make a Minty Lindty Chocolate Mousse with some help from my sister, Kristen. It turned out great, and absolutly delicious! Instead of dark chocolate I mixed milk Lindt and Mint Lindt which gave it a nice minty taste and lessenedd the sweetness a bit. I thought id share the recipe with everyone so you can all try it.

Minty Lindty Chocolate Mousse

INGREDIENTS:
170g Lindt Chocolate (I used 100g Milk, 70g Mint)
3tbs unsalted butter (softened)
3 Large free range eggs (seperated)
1 tbs Honey
1/2 tsp Cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup chilled fresh cream
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

METHOD:
- Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water to melt
- Make sure the water does not touch the bowl
- Stir the chocolate and butter butter mixture untill chocolate has melted and is smooth
- Add the honey
- Remove the bowl from the heat and let cool slightly
- With a whisk, add one egg yolk at a time, beating untill smooth after each yolk. set aside
- In another bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar.
- Gradually beat in the quarter cup of sugar and continue to beat untill the stiff peak stage. (When you lift the beater, little peaks form and dont collapse) 
- In another chilled bowl (in the freezer for 5 min does the trick), whip the cream untill it begins to thicken.
- Add the vanilla essence and conyinue to beat untill the cream holds a soft peaks

-Stir a spoonful of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then slowly fold in the rest
- Now fold in the whipped cream; dont over mix as it will make the mousse heavy
- Divide the mousse into small glasses or a large bowl. I used 6 glasses and it was too much! I could have made 8 or 9.
- Cover and refridgerate for 2 hours
-Whip some extra cream for topping and garnish as desired

 The chocolate and butter cooking

 I melted some chocolate and spread it out on some wax paper with a spoon, and then put it in the fridge to harden to create my decoration


  Finished off with a dash of whipped cream

This was really easy to make and turned out perfect first time. I must say though, It was very rich, so I would suggest smaller portions than the ones I used. Try this recipe and share it with everyone, it was great! Next time i think ill use milk and dark chocolate and add a shot of espresso to the melted choclate to make it mocca chocolate mousse!

Enjoy! and if you make it, let me know how it turns out!

xxx

Monday, January 24, 2011

Eye Candy!

Today, i have had the sweetest tooth! All I’ve felt like doing is baking deliciously chocolaty treats, but because of the lack of ingredients, it was postponed until tomorrow.  For now though, I thought I would prepare you for what to expect in the next few days. I want to share a few of my recipes with everyone, so that I don’t feel as guilty about eating such terrible treats!

I absolutely LOVE baking and cooking, and I love altering recipes to add a little twist! Tomorrow I will be making a delicious minty, Lindty treat. But for today, because I was lacking ingredients, I thought I’d share a few photos of the quadruple chocolate cupcakes I made for my sister Kristen’s 22nd Birthday in Plett.

I was out of ideas- and because we were not at home- most of my baking tools, so i had to get a little creative with what I had, and I ended up using wax paper as cupcake holders, which turned out to look great! I used normal choc-chip cupcake mix, then added a slab of cut up milk chocolate and I made a chocolate butter cream icing to top it off, with grated chocolate ontop. It turned out much better (and chocolatier) than I had expected, and they were delicious!



These were really easy to make, and anyone can make them! If you don’t feel like making them from scratch, you can buy choc chip muffin or cupcake mix, and ready mix icing at most shops. This is great to keep the dry mixes in your pantry for times that you need to whip up something quickly, or for the times you just want a tasty chocolate treat!

On a different note, my daily blog mention is a lovely lady called Anthea , whose blog Embracing Style is absolutely lovely! It’s really refreshing and different, and it gives off a great South African feel. It is simple and creative and always an interesting read! This is definitely another daily must-see!

As always, ENJOY!

Sabrina
xxx

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Inspiration Nation...

So no pictures today, but I leave you with something much better... I started blogging for a few reasons, one of them being inspiration caused by other bloggers. One of my favourites is Glossarygirl. This was one of the first blogs I read, and I think it is fascinating as well as inspiring! It’s always so interesting and filled with lovely surprises, and what I like most is how she is always so nice to everyone! Once you start reading her blog, you really feel like you start to get to know her, and that she’s that friend you always wanted. I think she really has the right formula to a brilliant blog, and that it would be in your best interest to have a peek at it.

Another blog that inspired me is Louder than Silence. This is a bit of a team effort and I absolutely love how it flows. Their pictures are amazing and vintage, and I admire the mix of things we sometimes never get to see in South Africa! It is very creative and homely, and always makes you feel like they really enjoy you reading it! Again, it would be advisable to go on over and take a look at it, so that you can also share the experience.

These two blogs are just two of my favourites (others you can find on the right hand side of my page) but two that really stood out to me, and that I enjoy to check up on every so often. I’d like to follow in the blog-steps and reach 200 followers by the end of this year (i guess that, and being a positive person are my new year’s resolutions!). It may sound simple really, but at this stage, it seems a bigger task than imaginable!

These two blogs often give me the inspiration to keep going, even though you are never sure if anyone is reading, and they both always seem to enjoy blogging so much, it always helps to spark up my passion again.

I hope that you take a look, and most of all... Enjoy!

xxx

Friday, January 21, 2011

Ladies do it best...

Yesterday morning, my sister and I had some more fun with my new camera, and then headed off with three of her friends, Lara, Lauren, and Tracey to a delightful little vintage shop. It was so individual and unique, but the nice thing about it was that the clothing was not just Vintage, but designer Vintage! There was everything from Valentino to Steve Madden, and all originals in exquisite condition! The whole shop has this amazing vibe and the shop keeper fits in so well, it just makes you feel like sitting down for a cup of tea and a scone. Every piece in there has its own story, and it is still so affordable.

After our little expedition, we headed to Lara's house, and because she is an amazingly trained patisserie chief, we got to eat the most delicious... I want to say cake but it doesn’t do it justice? She also made glorious little cupcakes, which we then iced ourselves. Everything was so delicious and we had a wonderful little ladies tea party. I thought I’d share a few of the photos of it with you all to try and do the day justice.

I have to mention that my sister helped me take a lot of the photos, so thank you Kristen, and thank you to her lovely friends for a wonderful time and for allowing me to photograph them and blog about it! Also, it is my 4 year anniversary with the love of my life today, and i simply had to mention how happy i am and that even though we are thousands of miles apart right now, it has been an amazing 4 years. Thank you Wikus!

Sorry for the mish-mash, and I promise ill blog about such interesting things in the near future!

Enjoy the photos!

xxx










































Tuesday, January 18, 2011

A Leopard A Day.....

Today I got a CANON EOS 400D, and to welcome my new camera, my sister and I had a little make-do photo shoot! This suited me just fine as today I applied for a job at a Fashion retailer, and to put me in the mind-set, I dressed in 50's glam and leopard print.

I LOVE dressing in 50's style, with high waisted skirts and ribbons, so I always feel great when I go all out! (On another topic, all i need now is a 50's style vintage car!!!) I believe that that is what fashion is about. Feeling great in what you are wearing, and how you look overall. I don’t think you should only have some days that you feel great. I think you can feel better than great some days, and I think you can feel a little off your game some days too, but i think that majority of the time, you should feel GREAT! My definition of great is feeling so good that if you ran into ANYONE out and about, you would be glad you looked so good! You would be surprised at how much feeling great can affect your overall mood and esteem!

So, because I was dressed nicely today, AND got a new camera, it seemed perfect to have a quick shoot! Here are some pics to show you and to welcome my new camera (Calliope the camera-Cally for short) to the blogging world!

The pictures are of me, my dog Oskar, my sister’s leopard clutch that I modified for her, and other photos that I associate with the print and the style. I associate leopard print with a very classic look and I think every woman should have at least one piece of leopard print in their closet, as it will never go out of fashion, and always catches people's eye!


Enjoy!



















xxx