Chocolate Mousse

My boys are on their half term school holidays at the moment not that I'd notice, they are never in the house. The eldest is usually off playing football all day but he has injured his knee and has to rest it so he will barricade himself in his room to play games on line with his friends. The youngest will be off to the skate ramps, adding new bruises to his already battered legs. He was showing me his legs earlier and he seems so proud of his shins in various shades of yellow. 

Little L loves her big brothers being off school but gets a bit upset when they are in and out of the house so fast and don't want to spend any time with her so this morning we did some baking. We started to make shortbread biscuits then both the boys wanted to help and sort of took over so I left them to it and while I made chocolate mousse. I've tried a few different chocolate mousse recipes but this is the one that I use the most.

Ingredients                                                                                                   Serves 3 - 4

75g Bournville Dark plain chocolate

3 Eggs, separated

1) Break the chocolate into a bowl and melt over a pan of hot water.

2) Take off the heat and stir in the egg yolks.

3) Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the chocolate.

4) Turn the mousse into your serving bowl and put in the fridge for a couple of hours.

It is really quick to make and tastes lovely served with whipped cream.

Under The Sea

Today my mum,dad, my husband, Little L and I went for a day out to Blue Planet Aquarium. It was the first time Little L had been to a large aquarium and she had been getting pretty excited for a few days leading up to the visit. When we arrived and saw that four school trips were going on, I did think that Little L may not get to see much but the place is split into different sections so we didn't actually bump into any group of little people.

At first Little L was too excited to stand still long enough to look at anything but she soon calmed down. The first thing to stop her in her tracks were some ducks that were swimming around on top of the tank in the Rivers & Streams section - I was a bit surprised to see those myself. 
Little L didn't seem to be too impressed by the sharks at all but loved walking through the tunnels.

What she loved the most was when we went to The Rocky Shoreline because she had wanted to see a crab anyway and she was also allowed to put her hand in a tank and touch the fish. She would have stayed there all day swirling her hand in the water if we had let her.

I quite liked the Venom part. Not for spiders, snakes or anything creepy but for the jellyfish. 

I've never seen these upside down ones before and though it was some kind of coral at first.

These moonlight jellyfish were gorgeous, really bright.

Outside were two kinds of otters and as soon as we stepped out we heard a pretty loud squealing/squeaking noise. It was these small otters waiting for their dinner. I've never heard an otter make a sound before and was surprised at how noisy they can be.
Before we left Little L played in the play area and I got a little wet which was down to my dad ( he had played on a game with Little L and as a prize you had water squirted at you , my dad walked off and I got the water ) 
We had a great day but were exhausted when we arrived back home so Little L, hubbie and I had a quick 40 winks before the boys came back from school.

How Time Flies

At the weekend Anders and I celebrated six years of marriage. Six years may not seem a long time especially compared to both sets of our parents who are celebrating their Ruby Anniversary this year but looking back at the last six years a lot has happened in that short space of time, both good and not so good and the time has gone so fast.

We didn't go out anywhere to celebrate but we did have a kiddie free evening, which is a rarity in its self. It always surprises me just how quiet the house is with no children about. I find it a bit unsettling to be honest but it is nice to be able to watch a film in peace and not have to think if it is suitable for children or not. 

We had a lovely peaceful evening. I cooked us a meal, we watched a film and we had a nice lie in the next day.