One by product of my visit was that I spent nearly 6 hours in the car by myself. Under certain circumstances that could be a real chore, but the ability to plug my smart phone into the car stereo meant that I could have all that uninterrupted time to catch up on the TED Radio Hour Podcasts.
These never fail to wonder and/or delight but they do require dedicated time to listen, hence I generally have loads stored up on my phone waiting for the right moment to indulge. In spite of the title, each lasts for between 50 and 55 minutes and it's very rare that I ever get to sit down for that long. This is why I look forward to the rare, long car journeys in my life.
If you are not familiar with TED and to quote what the internet says about it, its a nonpartisan, nonprofit organisation dedicated to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short talks. TED stands for technology, entertainment, design but that doesn't quite capture it in my opinion. Perhaps their strap line of 'ideas worth spreading' does? Anyway, what the TED Radio Hour does is take a theme and interviews past TED speakers about their ideas on that theme, including playing clips from their talks. Simple, but oh-so enlightening.
After selecting the show called What Is Original? to listen to as I left the house I spent the next 53 minutes being more and more enlightened about the creative process and how copying and adapting is a natural part of the creative process. So, if you don't think you are creative but are able to copy and adapt, that's potentially still OK. I also learned what I thought was a fascinating fact about the fashion industry but I won't spoil it for you.
Inspired by that one, I went on to listen to The Power of Design and The Source of Creativity before switching to Animals and Us and Growing Up, all of which contained at least one lightbulb moment for me. In fact, so called 'lightbulb' moments were discussed in the Creativity show and, if you end up listening to that, you'll know that it's not a term I should use at all! Anyway, I really do urge you to give the shows a listen.
Meanwhile, back to making a delicious dessert with just three ingredients.... and, I should add, achievable by a 9 year-old...
Here's how to make a delicious chocolate mousse. And in the spirit of What is Original, this is a slight adaptation from the original, to make a more manageable quantity and with, hopefully, clearer instructions. I also definitely think this is an idea worth spreading so here goes...
Take 300g Toblerone, 300ml double cream, and 155g marshmallows. If you have a sweet tooth, use a milk chocolate Toblerone. If, however, you are after something richer, go for a dark chocolate one. Mind you, they seem to come in 150g bars so you could always choose a bar of each.
Roughly chop 225g of the Toblerone and place in a microwaveable bowl along with all the marshmallows and 150ml of the double cream. Microwave in stages until the chocolate and marshmallows have completely melted into the cream. We did this for 1 minute, then in 30 second bursts, stirring the mixture well in between. Leave this to cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, whip the remaining 150ml of double cream until it reaches the 'soft peaks' stage and then gently fold this into the cooled chocolate-marshmallow-cream mixture. Divide between 6 small dishes - we used small ramekin dishes but small teacups or glasses would work just as well. Pop in the fridge until thoroughly chilled - this will take a good few hours. Meanwhile, chop the remaining Toblerone and sprinkle this onto the top of each mousse before serving.
I challenge even the least confident cook to give it a go. I guarantee your friends and family will be impressed.
Sorry there are no pictures but the mousse was just too good to hang around and be photographed. Besides, crazy golfers need to refuel quickly to maintain their peak performance!
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