Mighty mousse – only for the brave!

This recipe is not for the faint-hearted.. or the diet-minded. It has only three main  ingredients: chocolate, cream and eggs. It is pure and unadulterated, smooth and  delicious and rich. The recipe comes from a tiny restaurant in a tiny town on the pebbly east coast beaches of the USA, a carefully guarded secret smuggled to New Zealand,  hidden for decades in the kiwifruit orchards of the Bay of Plenty only to emerge now,  transformed and glorious to YOU, reader, I can only say: use it wisely..

7 oz Fair Trade chocolate (I used Scarborough Fair dark chocolate)
5 eggs
1½ cups of cream (whipped to chantilly)
2 T instant coffee dissolved in 2 T of rum
Melt chocolate gently in a double boiler. Blend egg yolks with coffee and rum and stir into chocolate. Beat egg whites until stiff and stir ¼ into the choc mixture. Fold in the remaining whites. Fold in the whipped cream. Refridgerate. Lick the bowl, hee hee..

chocolate cake for vegans

Set oven to 190°C
A. 1 ½ c flour
1 c Fairtrade sugar
1/3 c Fairtrade cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

B. 1/2 c vegetable oil
1 c cold coffee or water
2 tsp vanilla

C. 2 Tbsp cider vinegar

Sift ingredients in A. Mix ingredients in B together and combine with A. Grease and line cake tin. Add cider vinegar (C), stir in gently and then pour into cake tin.  Bake 25-30 mins.

Chocolate Icing:

1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp soy milk
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract

Trade Aid and cool Fair Trade stuff!

To continue our search for great places to buy Fair Trade products we visited the Trade Aid Shop, at 133 George St, to see what we could find. I have fond memories of Trade Aid. As a child it was like a dim Aladdin’s cave, full of small and shiny and exotic things that smelled like places with huge moons and acacia trees, places with tigers and elephants and giant butterflies. Best of all, everything in the shop is, of course, Fair Trade.. so buying here will help people and their communities right across the globe . The shop in Dunedin is still full of bright-coloured and shiny things – jewellery, Russian Dolls, toys and candles, baskets and bags – but it also has Fairtrade food products.

This is what we found: Chilli, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Black Pepper, Ginger and Cloves and to go with your spicy meal, there are yummy-flavoured poppadoms. There is Palestinian extra-virgin olive oil, cous cous, dates, raisins and nuts alongside all kinds of coffee, sugar, tea, cocoa and chocolate in dark, peppermint and mocha. Mouthwatering stuff, and if you want to wander among the exotic foods and exotic gifts they can whip you up a delicious flat white to sip on while you browse.

Read more about Trade Aid here

green acorn cafe

vege juices, hearty mouth watering sandwiches with fair trade coffee, this a great place to grab a bite to eat and a fair trade coffee.  It has a Fresh vibe, students, lecturers sit back and spectate the happenings on Albany street. You will leave oozing with health

alright gov’ner?

For me Governor’s Cafe  is like comfort food or late nineties dance music – it makes me happy instantly. Opposite the big church on George St, this cafe still has the same crooked tables and slightly uncomfortable chairs as when I first came here 8 years ago; it still has cool music and attracts an eclectic bunch of people – academics in tweed coats, bearded hippies, students, families, anyone and everyone. It’s all cosy and comfy, somewhere you can settle into a corner table, people watch and read the paper, well, all day if you wanted. The walls are covered with sketches on napkins, with flyers for bands, exhibitions and film festivals, the coffee is really good (and fair trade) and comes in a big mug and there is a bathtub full of goldfish upstairs.. I like it!

fair trade chocolate

yummy dark chocolate from the Trade Aid shop

5/5     DARK -smooth, satisfying chocolate. Reasonably priced.

4.5/5 PEPPERMINT- tasty sweet rich chocolate smaller amount -a little expensive but yummy after-dinner delicacy

4.5/5 MOCHA- milk chocolate with mocha inside, tasty and moreishing.