New Friend

Our wedding in Dublin was an intimate affair with just our two families present - with one exception. J’s best man was his friend, LJ, from England. Said best friend now has a lovely Swedish girlfriend, E, who I had never met before. I was a little nervous about E meeting my family as they can be a little mad at the best of times and throw in a family wedding and there is no hope for them. E had work commitments so only made it to Dublin on the night before the wedding. By the time she arrived the two families were busy tucking into a Chinese banquet and many glasses of wine and other assorted alcoholic drinks. Let’s just say that E's first impression of my family was a double round of flaming sambucas. We could only improve from there, hey?

The next day was the wedding and E just fitted in so well with everyone. She looked a picture of beauty in blue and seemed to be smiling every time I looked at her. She boogied the night away with all the kids and parents and seemed to be having a great time. If only I had known how well she would fit in … by the time she was leaving after only a weekend in Dublin she had made many good friends. My family were all so impressed with E they wanted to adopt her as one of their own (god help her).

After a bit of a honeymoon in Ireland we headed over to London to have our second celebration with more friends and family. While we were there we had the good fortune to stay over with LJ and E. They cooked us the most delicious 4 course meal. They are one of those lovely couples who both love to cook (but not at the same time I hear) and so we were blessed with two great cooks, competing with each other, to produce a truly wonderful dinner. E made a White Chocolate Mousse dessert and much as it tasted divine she also informed me that is was very simple to make. I made sure I got the recipe when I returned and here it is for you to enjoy. It only takes minutes to prepare and tastes fantastic.

White chocolate Mousse -
4 portions:
200 ml whipping cream
50 gram white chocolate (I always use 100g to increase the chocolate flavour)
1 egg

400g strawberries
2 tablespoons of liquid honey
1 lime - the zest and juice

1 - Whip the cream. Melt the chocolate on a low heat.
2 - Whip the egg and add the chocolate while whipping hard.
3 - Fold the cream down in the egg mix - little by little. Scoop the mousse in to glasses. Let the glasses stand in the fridge for at least an hour.
4 - Make sure you leave some of the mix in the bowl for you to eat with a spoon... :-)
5 - Process the strawberries; mix them with the honey, zest and juice of the lime.
6 - When serving, top the mousse with the berry mix.

Thanks E for the recipe and for making the wedding so much fun.