White Chocolate Mousse

Celebrating a 22nd birthday should be special. Nothing like San Francisco, lunch at McCormick & Kuletos and White Chocolate Mousse for my niece, Jamie. (She had help eating it).





My sister, Judy, and Jamie came for a non-stop 3 day visit. Our tour guide, my daughter Candice, arranged a bicycle ride, Bogle Vineyard picnic, visits to the Cable Car Museum, an Irish Pub, Chinatown, Little Italy, Alcatraz at night, Haight Ashbury and lots of shopping.

The Historical League served Historymaker Polly Rosenbaum chocolate cake for her 100th birthday. Recipe on page 136 of Tastes & Treasures. I think she would have approved of White Chocolate Mousse for another birthday.

White Chocolate Mousse
It's such a simple dish to make, and it's melt-in-your-mouth light. You could use regular chocolate if you prefer.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup water
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preparation:

Heat water in saucepan, with sugar, until sugar is dissolved. Add chocolate chips and melt until smooth. Set saucepan in cold water to cool mixture. Place in the fridge until thoroughly chilled. Whisk smooth. Beat cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Fold into cold chocolate mixture. Pour into pre-made dark chocolate serving cups or individual serving dishes and enjoy.
Note: Add fresh fruit and a drizzle of juice for added presentation.

Cable Car Museum, San Francisco

No trip is complete for me without a museum visit and this one is great. Free admission, full of information and it is a working facility. These cables and sheaves still power the cable cars that run in the city and you can hop on, ride to Fisherman's Wharf and enjoy fabulous views. Lombard street was busy. Love the Bay Bridge scene. A great way to celebrate Jamie's 22nd birthday.

Limoncello

Friends in Sacramento are serious about their cooking. Rae made the best chocolates I have ever tastes but I think he is guarding his recipes.

He also gave us this bottle of Limoncello. It is beautifully packaged and made a lovely hostess gift. The recipe can be found in Tastes & Treasures.

Lemoncello (Liquore al Limone) page 178.

15 thick-skin lemons
2 (750 milliliter) bottles 100 proof vodka
4 cups sugar
5 cups water

Scrub the lemons with a vegetable brush and hot water to remove any wax or pesticides. Pat dry with paper towels. Remove the zest in strips with a vegetable peeler, removing any white pith. Combine the lemon zest and 1 bottle off the vodka in a large jar with a tight fitting lid. Let stand at room temperature in a cool dark environment for 40 days.
After 40 days, mix the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes and remove from the heat. Let stand until cool. Add the syrup and remaining bottle of vodka to the jar containing the vodka and lemon zest.
Let stand, covered, at roo temperature in a cool dark environment for 40 more days. Strain the vodka mixture into bottles, discarding the solids. Store in the freezer. Serve ice cold from the freezer in small glasses.
Makes about 2 (750 milliliter) bottles

Photo Fair at AHS Museum

Over 200 historical photographs of Arizona were submitted to the Annual Photo Fair. Historical League member Jeannine Moyle did a fantastic job of organizing and promoting this event. It is wonderful to watch the fair grow from historic photographs to include book signings, science experiments and more. Carolyn Mendoza set up a table with sales of Tastes & Treasures and Historical League aprons. George Hartz autographed his book for the Images of America series. Museum Director Dr. Peter Welsh participated in research being conducted on a weather station.

Tour of Bead Museum

The March Historical League tour was at the “Bead Museum” at 5754 W. Glenn Drive in Glendale. We had a docent-led tour of the museum to see their “From Caves to Castles: If Beads Could Talk” exhibit. This collection of ancient beads from the private collection of museum founder Gabrielle Liese has never been on display before. After the tour, we had the opportunity to make our own “bling”. $15.00 included the tour and a bracelet.




Lunch followed at Kimberly Ann’s Victorian Tearoom at 7153 N. 59th Ave. Opened in 1994, Mae Collins named her tearoom after the granddaughter she raised. She was motivated by the happiness she brought customers in her boutique, which grew into an ice cream parlor and then into the lovely tearoom.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

A tasting menu at Basis Restaurant, 7th Street and Thunderbird, drew us to this neighborhood gathering place. The food was very good and for $5 we couldn't resist this dessert. Carol and I shared this rich chocolate delight. She looks pretty happy, doesn't she? It was so good I wanted to try it at home.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 18 (1 ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 6 eggs
  
  
• Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round cake pan and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside.
3. Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the bittersweet chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.
4. Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan (greased and floured). Have a pan larger than the cake pan ready, put the cake pan in the larger pan and fill the pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
6. Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.

Note: Use cocoa powder to flour the pan so it doesn't have white powder on it.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 341 | Total Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 111mg

Embellishing Spinach Mushroom Florentine

Substituting ingredients in recipes is something I enjoy doing. The original Spinach Mushroom Florentine is great, page 190 in Tastes & Treasures, but with added cooked and chopped bacon and low fat mozzarella cheese, it became a meal.

Spinach Mushroom Florentine pg 190 Tastes & Treasures

1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen choppen spinach, thawed and drained
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
Garlic powder to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Saute the mushrooms in a non stick skillet until tender. Cool slightly. Press the excess moisture from the spinach. Combine the spinach, onion, butter, 1/2 cup of the cheese and the salt in a bowl and mix well. Spoon half the spinach mixture into a buttered 9 X 13 inch baking dish and top with half the mushrooms. Sprinkle with garlic powder. Top with the remaining spinach mixture, remaining mushrooms and garlic powder. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Serves 6 to 8.

Note: We used lots of fresh spinach and it was so-o-o yummy.
Did not need to butter the dish.
Sauteing mushrooms in Monterey Steak Seasoning makes them very tasty.