Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

So now I had the Mascarpone cheese, what was I going to do with it. I know I could have gone with the traditional Tiramisu but I was looking for something a little different. Well Chocolate Mousse sounded like a wonderful idea to me. Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse (Adapted from Epicurious) 12 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped 1 1/3 c heavy cream 1/3 c water 1/4 dark corn syrup 5T dark rum 1 t vanilla 1 t chocolate extract (optional) 8 oz Mascarpone 2 bananas, sliced 1/2 c strawberries, sliced Place chocolate, 1/3 c cup cream, water, and corn syrup in a saucepan.  Heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Is there a better sight than chocolate melting into cream? Let cool about 20 minutes, stir occasionally. Whisk in rum and extracts.  Whisk in Mascarpone until smooth. Beat 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form.  Gently fold chocolate mixture into cream in two additions.  Looks like we'll need some more rum for maki...

Don't you just love a good gadget? I love one that is functional - usually with several functions as a matter of fact.  I don't really like a one-trick pony type of gadgets.  I like multi-taskers. Sometimes you have to settle for a one-trick pony and that's OK. Sorry I couldn't resist - the girls always loved Inspector gadget when they were young. I especially love the intro! My Mom's friend is moving and she's been clearing out her kitchen.  She knows that I'm a big kitchen person so she gave me a bunch of things that she thought I might put to good use (Thanks Terri).  She's given me some pretty nice things in the past too. She's given me some cake-decorating tools, some copper molds, cookie cutters, spritz cookie gun, etc. Here's what I got this time around: I'm excited about the two spatulas.  The one is really flexible. I already have the mini spatula (from Pampered Chef ) and love it. Sometimes though when lifting things...