More birthdays

3 Scorpios under the same roof...can you believer it?!
Today it is my companion's birthday and tomorrow it will be Louise's turn.
Louise has been looking forward to it for weeks, whereas Zak as myself couldn't care less even though it is a good day to sit down and reflect over past & present.
Louise is on the other hand looking forward to cakes and presents!

A pro pos cakes, I'm right now in the process of making the cake for tonight (under guidance of the professional chef, of course).

So for 6 people this is what you'll need:

For the bottom "Pan di Spagna":
3 eggs (seperated)
20 grams of white sugar (approx 2 tablespoons)
50 grams of flour
25 grams of unsalted butter
The eggwhites are beaten until stiff. Then slowly pour the sugar in while beating the whites more. Then fold the flour in with a spoon and finally melt the butter and wait till it has cooled of and fold in in the same manner. Bake a flat layer in the oven at 200 centrigrades for 9 minutes.

For the middle Yogurt Mousse:
80 grams of fresh whole milk
40 grams of white sugar
one and a half sheets of fish glue (put in cold water)
175 grams of yoghurt
175 grams of whipped cream
Warm the milk with sugar in a pan. I added some vanilla by opening a vanilla stick and scraped out the vanilla seeds. Then add the soft fish glue and stir. Add the yoghurt and then the freshly whipped cream. Cut the Pan di Spagna with a cake form and then leave the cake form around it. Layer the Yogurt Mousse on top and stick in freezer.

For the top Berry Mousse:
200 grams of mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, currants and raspberries) put in a mixer and mix well
3 egg whites
Make a syrup of 150 grams of sugar heated to 121 centigrades with 50 grams of water
4 sheets of fish glue
300 grams of whipped cream
First make the syrup and when it is ready, mount the egg whites and add the syrup. Then add the mixed berries and the fish glue. To finish off, add the whipped cream by folding it in gently.
Put back into the fridge and keep it there until you are ready to serve it.

Before serving take off the cake ring and decorate with some fresh berries.

Violà! Easy! Right!

PS: if there is any excess yogurt mousse, you can fill in cups and stick them in the freezer and enjoy them frozen on another day (this was a good job for Louise - see picture above).

Masseto - Merlot of excellence

Today I had a break in between tours. Perfect opportunity to do all sorts of things (laundry, cleaning) that I usually don't have the time to get done, but then at the end of the day I probably sat at the computer too much and got very little done!

I took a picture of my birthday present (the label to the left). I have to tell you about this wine, because it is one of the most excellent wines of Tuscany, maybe Italy. The name of it is Masseto and it comes from the vineyard that you see in the picture above - one little piece of land in the region of Bolgheri grown with the French grape Merlot.

The wine is aged in new French oak barrels and is released only a few years after harvest. It is almost impossible to get ahold of. It is not possible to buy directly in the winery and every restaurant and wine shop only gets a few bottles a year that the owners jealously guard.

I've had the fortune of tasting it twice in my life (a 94 and a 98 vintage) and I remember that never before had a wine drawn me in with its fullbodied complexity and smoothness. So, seriously one of the best wines I've ever had. And now I'm the proud owner of an '01 vintage that I'm (hopefully) going to (be able to) age for a future occasion!

Halloween & Birthday

Halloween is starting to become a pretty big deal here in Italy probably mostly because of commercial aspects. Traditionalists claim that there is no need for such a feast in Italy as we have the carnival. Whatever the opinion be on it, kids seem to love it. Accompanied by their parents they dress up and go from door to door and say "dolcetto o scherzetto" and you better be prepared with either or.


This year Louise drew her own pumpkin face and was very proud to show it to me when I came back from work.


Friday was my birthday. Zak had prepared a small surprise dinner party inviting some of my Italian girlfriends over. We had the Florentine T-bone steak and porkchops on the grill accompanied by grilled vegetables drizzled with the new olive oil - fantastic!
And just the right occasion to open up a Magnum Barolo Riserva that I had been keeping for a special occasion. The year was 2000, producer Bruno Giacosa, Riserva Falletto.
The cake that Zak had prepared was absolutely amazing. It had a creamy consistency and had a layer of spungy chocolate cake, then a creamy layer that tasted like hazelnuts and coffee, and on top of that a layer of dark chocolate. I'm going to try to lurk the recipe out of him and post it here. If I don't succeed, you will just have to imagine it!