Hi, my name is Mystic and I'm a chocolate addict. Okay, I have to admit it - I have tons of books about chocolate recipes, still one of the easiet ones and best one is the French Mousse of chocolat recipe. The only challenge is to be able to wait 3 hours to enjoy it ! So make sure you need to leave your house right after you made it, or do like me : lick all the chocolate leftovers in the saucepans, bowls you used for your recipe ! Just one quick note : it's a recipe for dark chocolate lovers, and in France we don't add any sugar - but if you want to, I've done it for British friends, I add just one tbsp of confectioner's sugar in the final mix. It's a blasphemy for chocolate lovers like me ! Mousse au chocolat de Mystic -200 grams or 7 ounces of dark chocolate (55% of cacao at least) -6 eggs -a pinch of salt My own recipe : Melt the chocolate bars the way you want ( in the microwave or in a saucepan, always adding 6 tbsps of water, I like the latter better but it needs a lot of attention...) You want to get a creamy, nice and soft chocolate sauce. As soon as it’s done, put it away and let it cool ( sometimes when in a hurry, I just put it in the fridge !) Separate the yolks from the whites. Add the pinch of salt in the 6 whites and whisk them ‘til the “snow” is firm (usually, I turn it upside down to check it out, a French grandma's old trick, so be sure of yourself !). Pour slowly the melted chocolate into the 5 yolks (I don’t use all 6 yolks, only 5) and mix it firmly. Then finally, add slowly and carefully the whites into the mix, delicately, using a spatula. Don’t waste any time, or the whites will “fall down”. Then pour the mix in 6 different bowls and store them in the fridge, for 3 hours mimimum ! Enjoy yourself !

Over a year an a half ago, Nana, MonkeyDoodle, and I took a road trip through the upper midwest. One of our favorite meals was at Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis. We liked it so much, in fact, that we altered our route slightly so we could stop in Minneapolis again on our return trip. On a roadtrip that the only place we stayed more than one night was in Rapid City, South Dakota, we managed to eat THREE meals at Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis! So what does that have to do with this picture, you may ask. Two of my Hell's Kitchen meals consisted in part of this marvelous concoction: Mahnomin Porridge. I have been craving it since we visited in June 2008! For Christmas I was given "Damn Good Food," Hell's Kitchen's newly published cookbook and this morning I finally made the porridge. It was almost as good as I remember and it was my first try. Here's the recipe if you'd like to make it yourself: 4 cups cooked wild rice 1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts, cracked 1/2 cup dried blueberries 1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries 1/4 cup pure maple syrup 1 cup heavy whipping cream All all ingredients except cream to a heavy, nonstick or enameled cast iron saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Add heavy cream, and stirring continually, heath through, about 2 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve immediately. This is incredibly filling. I cut the recipe in half and the three of us only ate about half of it. I put the leftovers in the refrigerator hoping that they would keep well. I microwaved some later for a snack and it was still yummy. This insanely simple recipe will become a staple in our household!