Hi, all. Happy New Year! Stella...loving the blog. Although you are obviously sitting on your hands the last couple of entries. I just wanted to leave wishes of peace and prosperity on this, my favorite message board. My new love for the new year is mochi ice cream. Anyone? How did I live this long without it? I had green tea mochi ice cream to be exact. Yum.

ok, so what's mochi? on first read I assumed mocha (which I adore), but am guessing that doesn't go with green tea ... (does green tea go with anything other than a feeling of self-righteous good health if flavourlessness?)
happy new year Hayley. am getting off those hands very soon ...
x

Mochi is a japanese candy made out of rice and some long ancient process takes place but what I had was mochi wrapped green tea ice cream (and they make different flavors of ice cream) so it kind of looks like a dumpling the size of an orange and there is ice cream in it. Ice cream you can eat out of hand! It would be a fun party food, I think.
I love mocha too...for a New Year party I attended, I made a double chocolate mocha whiskey cake. It went down like a charm!

Recipe for the double choc moch whiskey cake please!!!

http://orangette.blogspot.com/2008/12/like-winter-and-warmth.html

There is espresso powder in here...which gives it the heavenly mocha taste...use your favorite cocoa powder and chocolate...also, I was liberal with the whiskey sprinkling after the bundt cooled. It is super delicious tho. And the link is to the bog entry and the recipe...Orangette is a really great writer and has some really fantastic recipes. Check it out!

mmm, that's good. will def make it.
UK question here, what's the difference between kosher and other salt? it doesn't even feature in Brit Jewish recipe books I have, so am guessing is a US thing?

I have both kosher and sel de mer in my cupboard...they are both the large salts and the only thing really different I think is just the koshering process and the fact that kosher salt has no preservatives at all. I've read that sea salt loses some of its flavor when cooked with and that kosher is always the go-to salt for meats and preserving/pickling. But, my kosher salt is in the back of my cupboard and I reached for the sea salt to make this cake. Way more info than you wanted but the sea salt will do. You know what I have a problem finding in the states is instant espresso powder...I often commit the travesty of using instant coffee granules. Do you guys have readily available espresso powder?

oh it's bound to exist in specialist shops, but have to admit I already assumed I'd use coffee granules for the mocha/whiskey cake!

thanks for the salt info. wonder if it's the similar to difference between sea salt and maldon salt. (size of crystals/flakes.)

am planning to wassail my fruit trees next weekend (no, I'd never come across it before either, but ah the things you hear on Women's Hour), and will make the cake for an equally alcoholic/libation dessert!

I just did a little wiki reading about wassailing orchards...unbelievably cool! Tell me about what you are planning...I just sent some info to my parents who own a little orchard in central Pennsylvania. They have a group of friends who enjoy doing things like building a trebuchet to fling pumpkins at a miniature castle facade. I figure an orchard wassail would be right down their alley! Cool, Stella!

your friends are clearly rather more organised than I would be! I just like the ideas of offering a libation to the tree, of its own alcoholic fruits ... so a drop of cider for the three apple trees, cherry brandy for the cherry, some of the gorgeous prune & almond liqueur we brought back from france for the plum, an excessive pear & vodka mix I made up a year or so ago for the pears (or babycham??!!), and - does it exist? bound to - some kind of hazelnut liqueur for the hazelnut. the trees all had a bad year fruit-wise last year (so much water, so little sun I expect), but this can't hurt, can it - especially if we're sipping as we go??!!
(this 'orchard' is just a little London garden, but well-loved ...)

Frangelico!! That is the hazelnut liquer. Visit the Frangelico website for history of the liquer...way more than I knew. Made by monks originally thus the bottle shape and ropes ties.
Stella, it sounds absolutely lovely. And I feel much better off knowing that wassailing fruit trees existed and still exists. What a great thread of conversation! We started with mochi and ended with the wassail!

I know that it exists in the UK. My Dad got some from Sainsbury's/Tesco/Waitrose and it's made by Nescafe. It's decent stuff by all who drink such dark coffee in our house... apparently.

Better go, my writing sesh has been interrupted by a holiday booking crisis. It was fully booked, so am now desperately waiting for my friend to get back to me on alternatives. It's nerve-wracking stuff! I'll have no nails left. x

What gorgeous ideas, thanks loads - must go and do them! Whisky mocha ice cream, yum. Love the wassailing - and am slightly surprised to find I've been doing a variant of it all my life. Lovely! Hope you find a good holiday, Alice.

Ali x

Found a cider making week in the autumn. Gorgeous half-naked hunks ahoy... or maybe not. Still there might be a new career in it for me (failing that ideas for next novel).

isn't it a great moment to book a holiday?? I thought there were tons of cheap deals right now! good luck, Alice... ah, holidays, sunshine, beaches (sob sob).

I'm going cider making in the South-West corner of England in the early autumn. There won't be a beach in sight, although if we have a filthy winter/spring we might have a decent summer. I hope so, because I want decent apples for my Zider!!!

ooh, sounds lovely, though I must say cider always terrifies me...

Lauren...how does cider terrify you? That is hilarious. I wonder if there is a name for a cider-phobia.

seeing friends get hopelessly wasted on v strong scrumpy at 16... I have this image of it that I'll take one sip of the strong stuff and fall over...