Sweet Tooth Journals

New Year's Eve is all about welcoming the new year with plenty of partying, eating, drinking and dancing with friends. So if you are the one playing the host this year, a lot of food and beverage arrangement is expected of you for sure. And even in all the whirlwind of chaotic party planning we simply CANNOT forget the dessert!! This recipe for a Dark Chocolate and Orange Zest Mousse is both simple to make and does not require your attention as it sets in the refrigerator leaving you with ample time on your hands for the appetisers and entree. The are also cute (being served in orange cups and all!!) and a pragmatic solution for having less dishes to wash the next day. (not to mention how orange cups are unbreakable unlike glass, even if your drunk guests drop them!) So here you go. A yummy dessert with mature flavours, perfect for welcoming 2015. ^_^ DARK CHOCOLATE AND ORANGE ZEST MOUSSE INGREDIENTS:  Dark Chocolate                 500 g Fresh Cream                     4

Merry Christmas everybody!!! Hope you have been enjoying yesterday and today to the fullest. I know I have been!! First up this is how my Christmas Tree is looking. Last night there was a Christmas Eve Party at my house and I cooked up a storm!! Even though I usually do not post about any non-dessert food in this blog, I must make an exception for this holiday season.  Vegetables for Casserole Honey Glazed Pork Ribs Roast Chicken with Cranberry & Rosemary Sauce Irish Beef Stew Aside from this there was Mashed Potatoes, Herbed Rice and Beetroot, Fresh Cheese & Dill Salad with Orange Reduction. For Dessert there was flambeed Rich Fruit Cake and a Mulled Port Wine to go with it. :) Flambeed Rich Fruit Cake Mulled Port Wine It was an extremely enjoyable evening complete with all things Christmas-y: family, friends, good food, cake, wine, music and laughter. This we followed up with midnight mass and a post-midnight stroll in Park St

With Christmas just around the corner and my inbox being flooded with requests for my Rich Fruit Cake recipe, this post was inevitable. My college life is basically over and I am back home in Kolkata for my final semester industrial training. Winter is here and I am missing everyone back at Manipal immensely!! :'( But Christmas time is solely reserved for merriment, happiness, joy and all things pumped up with the 'Christmas Spirit', therefore I shall bake lots of cakes and puddings and try my best not to despair.  In case you were wondering how the Fruit Mix from the fruit mixing ceremony is looking now, wonder no more. Have a look.  Looks delicious doesn't it? :) Now for the ingredients for my Rich Fruit Cake. And this is how you go about making the magic: Enjoy this beautiful recipe and have yourselves a very Merry Christmas!!! ^_^

I cannot believe I just quoted 'The Duck Song' in my post title!! :P Anyway, I swear by that song and it just seemed so appropriate because of my obsession with grapes. <3 <3 <3 In fact I love grapes so much, it has become quite a joke in my class how grapes and I are a match made in loony-about-a-fruit-land.  Don't get me wrong, I like green grapes too, but black and red grapes are what make my heart skip a beat! Grapes are my greatest dessert fruit muse no doubt. In a tropical country like India they are the closest you can get to berry heaven, both in terms of the tangy sweetness and the beautiful purple colour. My favourite thing to do with red and black grapes are to make compotes, jams and coulis out of them. You can then store this in glass jars for at least one month refrigerated and can use it for plated dessert presentations, as a dessert sauce, as a fruit salad dressing, as a breakfast spread or just to eat straight out of the jar. The f

Even though I was absent, the Fruit Mixing Ceremony for making Christmas cakes and puddings later this month, was in full swing back home. My mother set the entire session in motion back in Kolkata while I had to be contented with just a few pictures. The college fruit mixing ceremony (which is a grand affair!!) is scheduled for tomorrow evening, but our very own small ceremony back home is so much closer to the heart. :) Raisins, Prunes, Blackcurrants, Candied Orange Peel, Candied Ginger, Candied White Pumpkin, Glazed Cherries, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Black Tea and Rum. I can only imagine how beautiful the house must be smelling right now!! Thank you Ma!!! MUAH!!!! <3