Request #6: Chocolate Mousse

This is really a fun one, I think. It reminds me of my twin sister and I when we were children, on one particular occasion when our grandmother took us out for a fancy lunch at the Ritz Carlton. I can’t remember the circumstances very well, only that it was a weekday and we were supposed to be in school. Yet there we were in downtown Chicago, all dressed up and eating with civilized people. Did we ever feel like grownups. I ordered a steak of my own for the first time in my life. I can’t remember exactly what I got for dessert, because my sister’s selection — the chocolate mousse — overshadowed everything on the table. What I can recall was my initial reaction when it arrived: what a waste! There I was with some big piece of sugary, gooey pastry in front of me, while my sister had nothing but a quarter cup of chocolate froth in a wine glass. Boy did she ever blow it!

Then I tasted it. I wasn’t the chocolate fiend that she was, but right away I regretted my choice of desserts. The purity of that chocolate experience was so far superior to my pathetic cake, I vowed then and there that I’d order one at the next opportunity. Happily it was the 70’s so chocolate mousses (meece?), just like French onion soup and over-stuffed crêpes, were everywhere. However I don’t ever remember tasting one as good as I tasted on that day. Maybe this is the week I can finally settle the score with sis, and at the same time answer some of the chocolate questions that keep filtering in.