I remember...

I've been going through my big dusty tin of recipes I collected over the years. Some are ripped out of magazines, some are the cut-outs from the back of chocolate bars or pasta packets, others are handwritten by friends lost by time and distance. The recipes that touched me the most are those I printed out at work from websites in 2002 when I was pregnant and all I could think of was eating. The result: pizza for breakfast at work with Gudrun, my best friend, said best friend gaining 10 kilos, and me cooking and cooking and cooking in my tiny kitchen literally the size of a closet (not that it bothered me).

Those nine months were probably the happiest in my life. Nothing but food mattered. The first few months were savory, mashed potatoes, moussaka, fondue, pizza, aaaaargh!! just ask Gudrun! Then came the sweetness...movenpick ice-cream, chocolate, only chocolate...apple pie, fondant au chocolat...You name it, it was in my belly, Andre skipping happily around in there... Laughter, so much of it I thought I would pop, get lock-jaw, the kind of laughter that is silent in the end, tears streaking down your face, big Santa Claus ho ho ho's with my big belly moving up and down! Wierdo, with the glasses and curly hair, coming down to our office to see what all the fuss was about and Gudrun looking up and, without the slightest hesitation, slamming the door shut in his face (sounds mean, but we did think he was a serial killer then).

Then disaster struck. I could no longer stay for hours in supermarkets in France choosing ingredients. My feet hurt. I could no longer bounce around for hours and get back to Gudrun who was always in the same spot I left her hours earlier, reading for e's on products and complaining about labels... We would drive back to my place in the tiny company fiat minivan (umbrellas open because it was usually raining and the van had holes in the ceiling, seats covered with black plastic rubbish bags in order to avoid getting our bums wet), cross the borders with shopping bags up to the ceiling and blatantly lie to the French border guards. 'Do you have anything to declare?' Gudrun's answer: 'Non, Monsieur, nothing at all. Absolument rien'. It was funny. Even funnier was when we crossed the borders having just baby furniture and it was all piled up in the back.

Well, I could go on and on and tell you about the great times we had, but I did promise myself I would write for 15 minutes only in order to restrain myself from cooking something. Will leave it for another time and another recipe. Nearly forgot - here's today's recipe - one found in the dark recess of my suchard chocolat tin - The EBU Chocolate Cake. Now, I managed to get this recipe after harassing the EBU's Chef Christophe. Easiest thing to make, hardly any sugar, and amazingly delicious, moist, full of flavour (please use Swiss chocolate if you can find it!). Very, very good! Sorry but finding cooking adjectives is not my forte (yet).

EBU Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

100 grams sugar

150 grams butter (salted, naturellement)

2 tbsps sugar

200 grams chocolate (swiss, belgian or French)

5 eggs (whites and yolks separated)

100 grams crushed almonds

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt till fluffy. Set aside. Melt the chocolate en bain marie, add the sugar, butter, the eggs yolks and the 100 grams of almonds. Add this mixture to the egg whites. Cook for 40 minutes at 180 degrees. When ready, put it in the fridge for a few minutes (if there's room, which was not my case so out on the balcony it went). Please note that it will deflate and look a bit squished. This is normal.