use real butter

When I said I was done baking until I returned from Canada, I did not lie. But I decided to whip up (literally) some chocolate espresso mousse tonight. Jeremy finished his proposal and sent it off to the university grants office for review before submission. He said he was in the mood for some sort of celebratory drink or some such yummy. I love being able to think of a dessert on the fly and make it on the spot. When I was a kid and I wanted to make something like meringues, I couldn’t because we never had enough sugar (a cup!) in the house. My mom did not bake and the cupboards told that tale time and again. Not in my house, not in my kitchen. Shazaam! Like that – chocolate espresso mousse!

I’ve had matcha on my mind lately. You just can’t make real green tea any pastry without matcha, the finely ground green tea. I even dreamt about what I was going to make, but this morning I changed my mind and opted for an opera-like cake. I could use up my earl grey infused ganache and turn some other chocolate ganache into glaze. All I needed to make was the matcha spongecake and the buttercream.

Oooh, I felt so energized when I woke up this morning! In contrast to the weather each morning this entire week, the sun was bright on the hillsides at daybreak. Not that I don’t like my overcast mornings, I really do cherish them since they are the exception rather than the norm here. But it seemed to enhance my already good mood.

In the afternoon I picked Jeremy up after all of his meetings with his students were done. We got ourselves some brand spanking new trail runners at the Road Runner sale. Then we caught a matinée showing of Ratatouille since we assumed all of the kids would be seeing Harry Potter. Oh, Ratatouille is such a delightful film – and beautiful to watch.

We did our grocery shopping after the movie and poor Jeremy was feeling hungry from the moment the film began. But I had a surprise up my sleeve for him. I plan the weekly menu and usually our first meal after grocery shopping is something fresh. Tonight, I made some sashimi rolls. Too bad Joyce (who is Japanese) and Kell (who is Japanese on the inside and Aussie on the outside – an Egg) weren’t there to either instruct or critique. That would have been fun. I requested sake belly and some lovely maguro from the Whole Foods fish counter. Oh, to have access to Sydney’s fish markets now *sigh*.

**Jump for more butter**