Welcome in the middle of nowhere

~ 8 Servings ~ Time 1-2h ~ In fridge overnight ~ 4 days in the fridge ~

Ingredients

Chocolate donuts mix (without chocolate glazing)

• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 tbsp coconut blossom nectar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 40 gr coconut flour
• 30 gr cocoa powder
• coconut oil for buttering the mould.

Classic chocolate mousse mix (half)

• 3 eggs
• 100 gr Lindt 70% dark chocolate
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• One icing bag the keep the mix in the fridge.

Chocolate icing

• 30 / 40 gr Lindt 85% dark chocolate
• 2 gr cocoa powder 

Steps

-The day before-

Prepare the chocolate mousse part:

• Separate eggs’ whites and yolks
• Melt the chocolate in a double boiler pan.
• Add the cream of tartar to the whites and beat them stiff.
• Incorporate some white into the yolks with a spatula.
• Slowly add the melted chocolate to the yolks.
• Add the yolks and chocolate mix the the whites, mix well.
• Pour in an icing bag and place it in the fridge minimum 5 hours but better overnight to be well taken (the firmer the better).

Prepare the Chocolate donuts mix cake part:

1. Preheat the oven @ 175C. 
2. Crack the eggs and mix in the kitchenaid, with the coconut oil , coconut blossom nectar and vanilla extract.
3. Add the remaining ingredients in the kitchenaid and process ’till smooth.
4. Butter a mould with coconut oil.
5. Pour the mix in and place in the oven for 15 / 20 min ’till baked in the middle.
6. Let it cool down and keep in the fridge.

Prepare the Chocolate icing part:

1. Prepare the chocolate decoration with the Lekué icing kit, put the chocolate in the silicone pouch and place it in the boiling water for approximately 10 min.
2. Place the letter or shapes you choose to create under the silicone transparent mat, place the nozzle on the pouch and begin to press and place chocolate on the letters; If the chocolate get too sticky place it back in the boiling water, and continue… ’till letters completed.
3. Once finished, place the mat in the freezer just long enough for the chocolate to take.
4. Once ready keep the letter on the mat or in a box with cocoa powder.

-Before dining-

Combine the 2 dessert and decorate :

1. Place the chocolate donuts cake in a plate.
2. Take the icing pouch with the chocolate mousse and begin to place a first level of chocolate mousse on the cake; Once completed place a second level of mousse with a gap from the edge to avoid the mousse to fall of the cake continue building the mousse level by level ’till the pouch is empty, it’s up to you to see what’s work for the best, to have all the mousse that stay on the cake (I’ve done a round pyramid shape here).
3. Take the chocolate letters or/and shapes and place them on the cake.
4. Enjoy !!! 😋

Tools and time

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Nutritional data

How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life by Massimo Pigliucci
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very enjoyable and practical book on Stoicism. It strucks a very good balance between historical context, theory, anecdotes and examples, and practical exercices.

It would have been a perfect read if not for what I think is a rather poor way of handling the fear of death. One of the important point of the Stoic philosophy is to allow its students to learn to accept death has inevitable and natural, as indifferent.

With that said, nowadays, we are slowly coming to an understanding of the process of aging, and it is reasonable to think that we might engineer an end to it. Of course, some people get a little to excited by the prospect of technological solution to aging and makes some quite outrageous predictions (I’m thinking about high profile transhumanists who contend that any day now we’ll be able to upload ourselves in machines).
And here the author uses these extreme examples to make a rather nasty strawman attack on the will to cure aging. And I think a rational and Stoic evaluation of the topic can show he is wrong:

Does a Stoic denies that we should cure any disease, or for that matter, try to prevent any suffering, whatever its cause, that befall on other human beings? I think not, I think the author would agree that it is a good thing (a preferred indifferent) that modern medicine reduced child mortality, put an end to ugly disease like smallpox,… And why should aging be any different? Anyone that knows of an aged person (that is anyone) can see the immense suffering it causes. In fact, thanks to the material progress enjoyed in the recent centuries, I contend that the suffering and deaths caused by aging surpass that of any other single causes in the world, being malnutrition, malaria, famine,… I don’t think Stoics would agree that they are kind of sufferings that should never be alleviated, or that some people deserves to suffer because of simply their circumstances.

I’ll pass on the poorly thoughts and usual arguments against bringing an end to aging. It is not immortality (you still die of all the other causes), it does not cause runaway overpopulation (the growth rate of a population is actually inversely proportional to the lifespan of its constituents), and finally it is no more hubris that any endeavor undertaken since humans are humans, from leaving Africa for the unknown, crossing the Pacific on rafts, building shelters against the elements,… In short it is not hubris, it is using what is our Nature, Reason, to solve a problem causing so much human sufferings.

Of course, as Massimo Pigliucci writes himself elsewhere in this book, you have to put the words of a person in the context of the society he grew up with. So I will not hold too much of a grudge for him for reflecting the still mainstream view of the “naturalness” of aging.

I know this last paragraph make me sound arrogant but it is not my intention nor how I feel. We all have our biasis, and reason and discussions is how we can try to overcome them. I may be wrong and blinded by my own hubris, who knows.

Apart from this huge rant on a very specific chapter of this book, this is a very useful and enjoyable book, which I will carry dearly with me to help me become a better person.

View all my reviews

~ 2 Servings ~ Time 1h ~ Marinated ~ 4 days in the fridge ~

Ingredients

Marinated salmon

• 240 gr smocked salmon
• 2 medium green onions
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sesame seed
• 1 tsp Sriracha sauce
• 1 tsp rice vinegar

Rice

• 1 bag of  Konjac Rice from yu & mi
• 1 tbsp avocado oil
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar

Topping

• 2 small avocado (160 gr)
• 1 nori seaweed sheet
• 30 gr pickled ginger

Steps

1. Prepare the marinade, add soy sauce, toasted sesame seed, lemon juice and rice vinegar mix with the salmon cut in small pieces. Let marinate.
2. Once marinated add the green onions, sesame seed and sriracha sauce.
3. Prepare the konyaku rice as precise on the packaging you use. Once cooked drain well place in a pan with avocado oil and rice vinegar ’till perfumed.
4. Crisp up the nori sheet in a hot pan greased with avocado oil, Halve and slice the avocados.
5. Assemble the bowl : place the rice, the salmon mix, the crisp nori sheet, the avocado and top with some pickled ginger.

Tools and time

• Preparation time : 1 hour
• pan

Nutritional data

Original recipe @ Keto & Paleo Salmon Poke Bowl