Bruschetta. Cake? Bruschetta. Aw, hell. Both.

A huge chunk of the people who've come to me for medical advice lately greet me with a balled-up tissue and a cough (in case I don't believe them). From a runny nose to full-blown pneumonia, there's been a respiratory virus around (eventually turning bacterial).

Why did I choose to share this irrelevant epithet with you guys? I've sadly fallen prey to the bug as well and that means having to forgo my weekly dose of ice-cream. I'm still pinning my hopes on getting fully back to normal by the end of the month so I can go buy a freezer full of ice-cream at 31% discount at Baskin-Robbins. Mint chocolate chip equals Happiness!

Things like these keep me going.

Since ice-cream was ruled out, the family and I ended up having pastry for dessert last Sunday. La Chocolat Patisserie on Casa Major Road is a hop, skip and jump away from my house. Pastry is definitely not my favourite dessert (cost/benefit ratio, proportional calorific rate, etc), but I took one for the team and trudged along.

What can I say about it? The ambience was repetitive; air-conditioned, spacious and clean. Not complaining. Instead of just pastry, the place also makes everything from wraps and tortillas to Manchurian-type-things, none of which we tried. No beating around the bush for us.

The pastry? Since I tend to bake stuff with chocolate in it a lot, I can't be unbiased about pastry. It has to be beyond-excellent for me to gasp out.

I chose the most expensive one of them all. The Mississippi Mud Cake. It was excellent, obviously, but paying Rs. 120 for a slice of cake(a slice, mind you, not a big wedge, which would have been semi-justifiable)? But since I bake, I know how much these things cost, throw in 1)food inflation, 2)the store being owned by one of Dad's friends, 3)excessive chocolate and you have a pacified Rabia. The sister-in-law and I shared it. With the rest of the family (especially my brother).




Mississippi Mud Cake



The kids were displaying their ill-kept ways by wrecking general havoc and earning us the wrath of all the customers who just-wanted-to-eat-their-expensive-cake-damn-it. We tried silencing them with a Truffle Pop each, but bribery only works the 30 bucks we paid for it. The Truffle Pop at Rs. 30 might seem pricey, but Kinder Joy (Indian) costs that much and when you dissect it down, Kinder Joy is just a plastic shell of crap.

Truffle Pop!

Mum and Dad shared an Eggless Milk Chocolate Truffle Cake. It costs Rs. 60 per slice, and they couldn't finish it. I don't know if it's because the portion was huge or the taste didn't encourage another bite. Fruit excites them more than chocolate does.

My brother finished it for them.

Eggless Milk Chocolate Truffle

My brother had trouble selecting the pastry(ies) he was going to have, but finally settled on the Four-Chocolate Mousse. Wiped the plate clean all by himself. Priced at Rs. 90, I'd suggest you get it if you want something light with chocolate in it, as opposed to most other pastry which can be dense and cloying (such a good thing in my book. Correction. Blog).



Four Chocolate Mousse Cake



To round up the bill, I picked up a small loaf of french bread. Something virtuous we were having for breakfast, the morning-after of the Chocolate Explosion! that our "bit of dessert" turned into.

Bruschetta

Ingredients:

Tomatoes: 3, diced and deseeded.

Garlic: 5 cloves, grated or brunoised.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil: a glug.

Dried basil: 2 tbsps.

Salt and pepper: to taste.

Baguette: 1/2 a loaf.

Method:

Toss all the ingredients together in a bowl. Taste it. Make adjustments according to your taste. Let it marinate in the refrigerator overnight, so the tomatoes take in all of the olive oil and salt and taste vaguely like sun-dried tomatoes.

Slice the baguette diagonally. Toast or bake each slice, spread a little of the tomato on it, and garnish with some more herbs!

If you want, you could put sauteed mushrooms or cheese or olives and bake it like a mini-pizza for 5 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Especially if you find raw garlic to be too acrid for your palate.



Serve them hot off the grill. Gobble down a couple. Brush your teeth AND have a breath-mint. Good to go.