What's French for "Feeding Frenzy"? Part 1.

So today is the day of my French feast bonanza. I'm way more excited about this than either Matt (who spent the day napping because Charlie woke up a lot last night) or Hilary (who spent the day napping because her stomach was bothering her.) My day was spent preparing food and hoping that everyone would rally by dinner, or else a lot of food was going to be wasted. 

I added Gougeres (pg 4) to the day's menu. As I may have mentioned 150 times, Charlie has been teething for weeeeeeks. That one stupid molar just won't break through. My theory is that his gums are bugging him, so he's not eating as much during the day, so he's waking several times per night, hungry for milk. My plan for today is to stuff as much food into him as possible, and beg the Gods of Teething to let him sleep through the night. He LOVES gougeres, so I figured it was worth a shot. If he won't eat them, he won't eat anything. This was the very first recipe I made from Around My French Table, and we all--toddler included--couldn't shovel them in fast enough. I've made them three times now, and I'm glad that they're finally represented on this blog, because they are one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.

Make these. Now.

In the past, I used gruyere, but today I tried it with cheddar. I figured the gruyere on the soup and the gruyere in the souffle would be plenty for the day. They're delicious with either cheese, so don't feel pressured to buy the more expensive gruyere if you don't want to. They are easy and pretty fast to make, and they come out as light, melt-in-your-mouth, addictive cheesy puffs.

Conclusion: I would sell a finger for these cheese puffs. LOVE.

Dessert will be Top-Secret Chocolate Mousse (pg 421). Since it can sit in the fridge all day, I got it out of the way this morning. My only response to this dessert is: that's how you make mousse??? It's harder to flip an omelet. It doesn't even need to cook!! Did you know that? I didn't. It's the easiest thing in the world: Melt chocolate. Mix in egg yolks. Beat egg whites, salt, and a touch of sugar into peaks. Fold into the chocolate. DONE.

Who needs lunch when there's mousse in the fridge?

I licked clean every bowl, whisk, and spatula used to make this. It's gooooood. Everything you want a mousse to be--soft, smooth, and deceptively rich (ie, feels light in your mouth, but has such deep chocolate flavor that you can't eat a vat of it).

Conclusion: Love. I can't get over how easy this was. The more I cook, the more accessible the world becomes. My new life strategy is that if I can't get it, I should make it--bagels, bread, etc. Usually recipes aren't as hard as I expect, and the result is better than most restaurants. It's very empowering. I love it.

I may not have time to post about the soup or the souffle until tomorrow, since I'm not going to rudely blog away my last evening with Hilary (they're still napping, so it's okay for now), so I figured I'd break the day up into two posts. Stay tuned...