sophia and the hippo teach us how to play

when little sophia came to visit us a couple of weeks ago with her grandmother, sandy, she taught us a thing or two about serious playing ...

question one: how do you know when you've had a really good play?

answer: when you've tried out every single toy at your disposal and made a really big mess.

question two: once you've had a good look at all those toys, how do you decide which is the ultimate one to play with?

answer: that's easy, silly. it's the hippo. of course. and then you have to ROAR like he does.

question three: seeing as - what with all that playing and roaring and mess-making - you're going to get pretty tired, you'll need some kind of sustenance. what is the playing fuel of choice of a little blue eyed hippo-imitator?

answer: hot chocolate!

we look forward to seeing sandy and sophia and all their friends again (and the hippo has been asking when his new bff will come for another playdate).

XX

meet ruby and ben

a couple of days ago we heard the words "cupcake! cupcake" waft through the little brown house door and we knew it could be only one person: ruby, our cupcake queen.

lo and behold, two minutes later, ruby came through the door with her brother ben (who we will dub lord of the thunderbird planes) and her mum debbie. ruby was wearing a truly marvellous knitted coat made especially for her by her grammy. can we just say: ruby's grammy, you are very clever to knit a coat so worthy of cupcakely royalty. can you please make us one?

XX

p.s. please forgive us for the photo which doesn't do justice to ruby's marvellous coat at all. we tried, but the big complicated camera (which was the only one we had on hand) got the better of us. you'll just have to let your imagination fill things in for you. which is always more fun anyway.

cookie monster #1

the other afternoon we had ben, one of our well-loved little regulars, in for a chocolate chip cookie with his mom erin and it was as much a pleasure to see them both as it always is (and we love seeing cookie monster #2, a.k.a josh, with them when he's not at preschool). as you can see, the cookie was apparently a good one.

you guys are awesome. you always make us smile (and we love that you love our dinosaur book as much as we do. dinosaurs totally rule).

big love XX

luella's chilli chocolate mousse

a couple of weeks ago we promised to share the chilli chocolate mousse recipe one of our lovely visitors, luella, so kindly offered to give us.

well, it's here and true to our word here it is for you too! according to luella (who should know) this mousse is best served with lashings of thick double cream and red berries. 'nuff said. i don't want easter eggs this weekend: i want this.

ingredients

60g unsalted butter

1 large red chilli (or 2 small hot ones), seeds and all

200g best quality chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

3 tbspns chocolate or coffee liqueur

3 eggs, separated

3 tbspns caster sugar

method

slice chillies, seeds and all, and add to melted butter. leave covered in cling wrap for 24-36 hours .... yes, that's right. it's a long time but necessary to give the mousse a 'zing' (so make sure you allow plenty of time if you're making this for a dinner party).

before using the chilli/butter mixture again, melt the butter and strain off all the bits of chilli and the seeds.

break the chocolate into small pieces and melt in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water. once it's melted, add the very-chilli-infused butter and the liqueur.

remove chocolate mixture from heat and beat in the eggs one at a time, being careful that the mixture doesn't curdle. keep stirring (it's at times like this that 3 hands would be useful).

whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks then slowly add the sugar and keep beating until the mixture is glossy.

fold in the egg whites: try to retain as much of the air in them as possible. place the mixture into glasses, bowls, or whatever takes your fancy. chill for at least 2 hours.

yom yom! thank you luella!!

XX

the little red-headed kid

we all know of (and love) the little red headed girl from charlie brown.

so when toby the little red-headed boy came to visit the little brown house a couple of weeks ago, we were very, very excited. as you can see from the photo he is totally adorable. he was so cute we even let him play with our my little ponies (which is a huge privilege, we can assure you). XX

the best chocolate birthday cake ever!

our family is a chocolate one and if a birthday or special event appears during the year, it is almost always celebrated with chocolate almond cake. although we may branch out once in a while with some other chocolatey alternative, it is the chocolate almond cake that is our unfailing favourite.

which is why it was the birthday cake of choice for niki's birthday tea party here at the little brown house just a couple of days ago. even though niki's birthday cake disappeared almost as soon as it came out of the oven, it's a pretty safe bet that, should you come to the lbh, you'll find a slice of chocolate almond cake waiting for you (we love it so much we pretty much always have one here!).

and it's not just the finished product that is fantastic with this cake - it's the whole process of making it. there's something intensely therapeutic and definitely a little bit magic about heating up and slowly mixing the glossy, dark chocolate. the smell of it fills the kitchen and i challenge any self-respecting chocolate lover to resist this cake.

and don't worry about serving it with anything because it is just perfect by itself (although, if you want it is a stunning match with balsamic strawberries).

sigh.

chocolate almond cake

180g dark chocolate (only the finest please. at least 70% cacao)

175g butter, softened

125g unrefined sugar

200g ground almonds

4 eggs, separated

for the icing:

100g dark chocolate

50g butter

heat oven to 150 degrees celcius. line a 25cm springform cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides.

break chocolate into pieces and melt in a copper (or other heatproof) bowl over a pot of simmering water. don't boil the water or you'll burn the chocolate.

cream together the butter and sugar until soft and creamy. add the ground almonds, egg yolks and melted chocolate and mix thoroughly.

whisk the egg-whites until stiff, then add them to the cake mixture and fold everything together with a big metal spoon (be careful not to break the air in the egg-whites). pour into the cake tin and bake for 35mins (the middle should be a little squishy). allow to cool a little before removing from the tin.

to make the icing, melt the chocolate and butter together in a big heatproof bowl over simmering water then drizzle over the cake and leave to set.

yummy.

xx

the promise of mousse

a few days ago, two gorgeous women all the way from coff's harbour wound their way up the beautiful wildy garden path and stepped into the little brown house. and my, how their visit made our day! beautiful luella and virginia (who had been sent up by the lovely lydia from gallery 33 with strict instructions to try our hot chocolate) came bearing warmth, enthusiasm and a fantastic sense of humour. they totally rocked our socks ... so much so we wanted to share their lovely smiles with you too! we sent them safely home with the recipe for our hildegard intelligence cookies and virginia left us with the promise of her chocolate chilli mousse recipe (ahhh! bliss! watch this space: we too promise to share!). wanna know what really made our day more than anything? well, according to virginia, the little brown house is "heaven on a hill". aw shucks ... we've got to admit that the whole "heavenly" aspect is thanks to lovely people like these two ladies and all of you. xx