I kick culinary ass.

For about a year now I've had a drastic, burning desire for chocolate mousse. Not so much to eat it, but to make it, and make it well. A good mousse has always seemed to be one of those cooking mysticisms, like making mayonnaise or a really fabulous reduced pan sauce. Something I've seen numerous times on the Food Network and is made to look so stupid easy, but the minute I go to look up a recipe, suddenly appears terribly complex and off-putting. (the one time I did try a reduced sauce, some balsamic vinegar thing for salmon, it ended up caramelizing and we ate salmon with balsamic candy topping, though it was pretty darn tasty all the same.)

Last night I finally pulled my wits together and remembered The Dessert Bible, the gigantic volume from America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated that makes up half of The Classic Cookbook. Aha, success. I found the easiest mousse recipe I've seen yet. No stove use required, which seems to be what scares me away from other methods.

Melted the semisweet Ghirardelli chocolate with butter in the microwave, separated eggs, whipped a couple things, and folded my little heart out. I think I managed to maintain a bit of streakiness, one of the hallmarks of a proper mousse to me.

And another note, I listed to Weezer's Pinkerton for the duration of this project (perfect because both take about a half hour). It's been a while since I listened to that album in its entirety and it always takes me back to very comfortable early-college times. Also, there's something really perfect about the combo of making a fancy-schmancy dessert you have no one to share with and songs like "Across the Sea" and "Pink Triangle" all about being starved for emotional closeness. I watched Becoming Jane while they chilled too, so it was really one big unrequited love kinda night.

The finished product (in my favorite highball glasses I've had no use for until now) on its merry way into the fridge for a chill-down.

Fast forward 2.5 hours and this stuff is damn delicious. Creamy, light and fluffy, nice smooth bitter chocolate flavor (though I think I'd throw in a bit of espresso powder next time) and that perfect mousse-detachment sound when you pull a bite off the spoon. I want to try adding Oreo cookie bits the next batch I make. For future reference, I need to pay attention to the serving size... the recipe is for 12-16 servings and can easily be scaled back.

Next stop, mayonnaise and pan sauces?