Mocha Mousses & Mayhem

So the month of May 2018 was a whirlwind to say the least!

After organizing my high-schooler’s senior grad party in our backyard I took a deep breath and exhaled. The caterers, venue, time, invites-sent-out, banners, décor… everything was in place.

And then all hell broke loose.

The Weather Channel predicted 90% chance of rain. We had 72 hours to find an indoor venue that could accommodate about 100 people and a mechanical bull ride (paid the deposit). With grad parties the rage all month I didn’t expect to find anything available, leave alone one that could accommodate a mechanical bull! But we did, and a lot of changes followed… like the Italian food switch to Indian (with servers), hiring a decorator instead of self-décor and dress code turned formal.

It was not at all the party we had envisioned, but now that everything was taken care of I thought I’d do something I’d dreamed of for so long.

Creating a signature dessert! 100 of them – ok… 96 actually considering there were 48 cups in a pack.

The cups and spoons arrived via online order. Three-pound bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips, bottles of vanilla essence, bags of ground coffee and my new Ninja coffee maker landed in the nick of time (the loyal 10 year old Krupps happened to break down the week before – how convenient!). I lined up the dessert cups and asked myself “Can I do this?” Then… “Should I do this?” I mean, I didn’t have to. Dessert was being handled by the restaurant. Making 100 mini desserts was a daunting task. A huge task.

The family encouraged me to back out and save myself the grueling task.

Then I asked myself if I backed out would I have any regrets? After all, my older son was DJing the event. My husband and I had organized the entire thing. I didn’t need to lift a finger. But the answer flooded with the brewing coffee and I knew it was now or never.

So I got to work… filling 96 dessert cups with mocha mousse and mentally re-living ‘Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’, a favorite classic, by Roald Dahl that brings to life childhood memories of chocolate, Chocolate and more CHOCOLATE! The original recipe from Food Network (my favorite TV channel besides Animal Planet!!) is aptly called Pots De Crème by Ree Drummond or Pioneer Woman – ain’t she wonderful?

Then I drizzled some coffee granules, crushed Graham crackers, piped whipping cream on each and refrigerated them for 2-3 hours.

What’s a signature dessert without the signature? So I handcrafted and tied individual notes on each cup (with golden thread) to share my pride.

Ten and a half hours later – voila! I was done!

And you know what? The party was a hit! Not just because of the food, the décor, the fab DJ, the signature dessert or the bull rental (hilarious!) but something else. Looking back we started off with a vision, then a force beyond control took over, threw us into mayhem and changed our course of action and the final result. Yet, the event is as deliciously memorable as the mocha mousse, and I have no regrets.

I’m trying hard to come up with an answer but can’t quite put a finger on it. Can you? When did a moment in your life spin everything and turn your world upside down?

P.S. If you’re still reading, here’s the punch – it never rained after all!

Here’s another blog post or two on the art of cooking and storytelling, Writing’f Roti, author Nandita Goldbole’s book, Rush for Roti, and snippets on pineapple and cheese in What’s Whey’n On Your Mind. 2 Secrets to Strawberries and Sweet Reads, Mocha, Mousses and Mayhem, Spice of storytelling, Samosas’n storytelling.