Chocolate Bars made by me (and friends)

When we visited friends 10 days ago they had left over Manjari from a chocolate fountain they had at Christmas so we decided to experiment. We melted some and drizzled it on Booja Booja "ice cream". Sooo good. It went hard like a posh, grown-up version of Ice Magic.



While we were eating this we discussed how much we like Paul Young's dark almond rochers and then decided (on a chocolate high) that we should experiment and make our own. There was no almonds in the house so we made a version with hazelnuts (toasted and sprinkled with pink himalaya salt). We made a version with goji berries and brazil nuts too. Not pretty, but delicious. Though if you're using Manjari it's hard to go wrong...

Revisiting Summer Lodge

Can you marry a hotel? I suspect not. But if you could, I would definitely want to be partnered for life with Summer Lodge in Dorset. Of course, what makes it particularly special is the incredible service you get there. The staff are supremely sensitive to your every whim, though one would, I suppose, expect this given the price already assumes a tip about 1000 times the all-in price of most hotels. And worth every penny, I say. Of course, easier for me to say because Jonny paid. Isn’t he great?

I struggled to decide between two desserts on Friday night, and requested to know what chocolate was used for the chocolate trio. “Dark fondant, white chocolate icecream, and some milk chocolate.”

Hmm.

“And do you know what brand he uses?”

“Oh! Ok, I don’t. I will go and ask.”

How sweet. He came and said it is Valhrona. Decision made. However he continued and said that if we were staying for lunch tomorrow the chef could specially prepare my alternate choice. Second decision made.

It really is the most lovely hotel ever. Of course we could stay for lunch again.

Dirty Dancing and a Valhrona chocolate fondant

Are these not the ingredients for the ultimate night for a girl?

I went to see the musical last night. I'm pretty sure every girl between 20 and 70 has a special relationship with that film. It was so much fun to see it live on stage. The actress playing Baby was brilliant and the voice of one of the male supporting actors would on its own be worth going to hear. Unbelievable.

I just looked up the cast and now I know why Johnny's accent was so bizarre - he's Australian. At one point, when he said "Let's get out of here.", he sounded just like Buzz Lightyear. But then he took his shirt off and nothing seemed to matter anymore. The almost all female audience were very appreciative. The musical doesn't quite carry the tension and character of the film, you don't really appreciate how Johnny feels about Baby as well as you do in the film. Still, it was so much fun.

Before the show we went to Bank for dinner. The sea bass was perfectly cooked, crisp skin and delicate flesh, resting atop perfectly steamed sprouting broccoli and the most delicious sweet potato I have ever eaten. Though the dessert list was incredible and I genuinely wanted to try them all, it was an obvious choice to have the Valhrona Chocolate Fondant with malt chocolate icecream. As good as it sounds and I could have eaten two of them. My lovely Jonny sweetly ordered the other chocolate dessert: a milk chocolate and raspberry mousse with raspberry sable, and he let me try it (it was good, but mine was better). My Jonny's great, and he calls me Baby. Now we just have to learn to dance.