Mostly Improvised: Dedication to Cosmic Bear

Tomorrow begins yet another trip of ours. First stop, 10 days in Taipei, Taiwan. Second stop, 1o days in Hangzhou, China. This time, Yoga doesn't take us there. We are going to attend Adrian's NLP teacher - John Grinder - 's Asia seminar in both locations. Adrian is invited to assist during the seminar while I get to sit, listen and learn from one of the greatest mind of our time for free. John Grinder did ask me to help with the translation, which I quickly turned down. How on earth am I supposed to translate specialized terminologies from psychology/ linguistics/ hypnosis/ neuroscience into Chinese - a language that I once claimed-to-be very good at but is now dwindling into my second language? I can't even teach a Yoga class in Chinese, for crying out loud! Eventually we settled for me to spy on the translation; checking for anything "lost in translation" from between Grinder and the participants. Well, that I can do; I'm pretty good in criticizing people.

Apart from that, I'm really excited to be seeing my Taiwanese friend - Ivy. We haven't seen each other for 8 years now. The last time we met was during my first trip to Melbourne. Or was it when I went to see Ivy in Taipei? I have such fond memories of that trip I always tell people how much I like Taipei when I hear anything negative about that city. Not only did Ivy welcome me into her home, I was also treated like a queen by her family. I wonder if I'll get to see her mother and fun uncles this time.

I always find myself cooking a lot, or extra hard, before a trip; trying to cook up whatever left in the fridge in every conceivable ways. I thought to invite Tam over for dinner for her 26th birthday. Unfortunately we changed our mind - we can be very anal about our schedule and prefer to "stay low" before our flight on tomorrow morning. This meal was meant to be for Tam, a.k.a. Cosmic Bear, George (he lives so close to us it's impossible not to think of him), and us The Coxes.

This is essentially the same as Vegetarian Tortilla Soup. I added to it cooked black beans and sweet potatoes, both of which are leftover.

We had this just yesterday. I added to it cooked wheat berry marinated in the extra Strawberry Basil Balsamic Marinade. I told Adrian to decorate the dish as he wished. He called it the Spring in the Railroad Track.

This was meant to be a birthday treat for Tam. She was always drooling over the Chocolate Pudding I have made several times now. I saw this recipe and thought I'd make mousse for a change. What intrigued me was the use of fresh mint leaves. The weird thing was: neither Adrian nor I noticed the presence of mint leaves in the mousse. The absence of minty taste could mean that the mint leaves were not fresh. But what about the texture? Did it "melt" away somehow? This reminded me of the bar of butter that I picked up from Foodland in Nana. I swear I put it in the backpack that Adrian was carrying. George, too, said he saw me doing that. When we got home, I just couldn't find it! I turned the bag upside down, inside out, non, zilch, Pooof! It's gone! How did that happen? I suspect George sneaked it from the bag when we were not looking. Mystery (to be) solved.

Mint Chocolate Mousse

Next time I may try substituting coconut milk with some strong coffee. I'm so sensitive to stimulant I wouldn't be able to sleep if I had just that tiny amount of coffee.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz dark chocolate
• 80 gram butter
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 Tablespoon coconut milk
  
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon natural cane sugar
• 3/4 cup fresh cream
• mint leaves, finely chopped
  

1. Put cream and beaters in freezer for 5 - 10 minutes. Beat cream to form stiff peaks.
   
2. Process sugar till very fine.
3. Whip egg whites on low until soft peaks form. Switch to high speed and begin adding sugar, little bit at a time. Beat till stiff peaks form. Set aside.
   
4. Melt butter and chocolate in a boiling water bath. Remove from heat. Fold in egg yolks, one at a time.Stir in coconut milk.
   
5. Fold chocolate mixture into whipped egg whites.
   
6. Gently fold in 1/2 cup whipped cream. Keep the extra whipped cream in the fridge.
   
7. Stir in mint leaves.
8. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours.
   
9. Top with whipped cream to serve