The Enchantress

She sat there all alone twirling the apple martini with her long nailed finger, a flash of red in a pool of green; it highlighted the sparkle in her limpid eyes. Her aura was hard to overlook as it permeated ubiquitously in the heavily crowded space of the bar. Tall, dusky and with an air of nonchalance she was careful to give an impression that her thoughts were focused on her drink, well on the other hand, she was clandestinely working the room. She was dressed in a sheer satin shift, off shouldered purportedly to make the ‘look’ all the more risqué and minimalist bling topped off with platinum hued stilettos. Her auburn hair cascading airily on her slim shoulders, which I am positive was generously sprayed with Thierry Mugler’s – Angel because the air was redolent with a heady mix of chocolate and hints of citrus when I had walked by her earlier.

I was at the very end of the bar with an exuberant group of my friends celebrating the start of a weekend and washing down the stresses of the week with chilled lagers and making a helluva lot of noise. I shifted my position on the bar stool to come in her line of view, not in an ogling manner but let’s just say to make my drink go down better with an eye candy of such sorts, secretly wishing that I should/could be sitting next to her.

Apparently not a lot of people noticed her, which is odd as a (supposedly) single girl nursing a drink on weekend night would attract a lot of unwanted attention. I looked for an opportunity to approach and maybe make some light conversation. She intrigued me. Well, considering being in India, where its plain sleazy if you send a drink across to a unknown lady let alone go talk to her, I was wary of making a move, so I settled for trying to make eye-contact.

Harmless flirting is one of the best mood up-lifter. My being in direct line with her vision was a card well played. She looked at me once and took a sip of her drink, she looked away just when I was about to make eye contact; she behaved as though she had not noticed. Our eyes met the second time she looked up and there was a definitive sparkle and a hint of a smirk. Not wasting a second I flashed a charming smile and cocked my head just a wee bit. She took the bait and smiled back but continued to stir her drink now picking on a salad which had been served.

She turned a little to face me directly; she asked the bartender to make her another drink and re-settled on her barstool, positively beaming by now. I decided to break away from my group feigning a restroom visit and passed by her. I did make a beeline to the restroom and on my way back was a little surprised to see her facing the doorway, right at the spot where I had would have passed her. I nodded a polite hello and stopped for a split second, not knowing what would be the outcome of my excited blurt and halt. A ‘hello’ back with a warm smile melted me and rooted me to the floor. Before I could react or say something banal she invited me to share space with her at the bar. I took my place, a little apprehensively now, a little doubt pricking in my head wondering if her better half should materialize from thin air. Nothing of that sort happened.

Light conversations interspersed with friends looking daggers at me having abandoned them, took over the evening. It was an extremely casual and heady conversation. My larger was switched for a whiskey sour, canapés and carrot sticks made their way on the counter and before long we were sipping on hot coffee in the outer open-air area of the bar.

To clear the thoughts of my readers, this was not some suave idea of getting lucky or expecting an ulterior motive. For a change it was being in the presence of a charming and breathtaking diva (who was visiting India for a week, unfortunately not residing here). It was an evening of pure indulgence in the form of company and surprisingly common interests. We chatted the night away long after my friends left me as a gone-case for that evening. It was an evening well spent and a definitive ego booster, an eye opener that two random people can meet, connect and talk, just as two humans are expected to.

I have created this dessert to encapsulate the sheer memory of that evening, a dish as resplendent as the diva I had the honor of spending time with. It reminds me of her and I intend to dedicate this to the angel who lit up my evening.

Angel Kissed Chocolate Mousse

A special creation inspired by the tall, dusky vision in crystal wearing a fragrance kissed with the aromas of lemongrass and dark chocolate and finished off with an after taste of rich coffee

Ingredients

For the Dark Chocolate Mousse

• 250gms Dark Chocolate Compound / Cooking Chocolate
• 2 tablsp Butter
• 1 cup Full Fat Milk
• 200ml Heavy Cream
• ¼ cup Sugar
• 2 Nos Egg Yolks
• 1 sachet Gelatin (Approx 11gms)

For the Lemongrass Coffee Infusion

• ½ cup Water
• 2 long leaves of Lemon Grass
• 1 tsp Strong Instant Coffee Powder (preferably Brazilian descent)

Dissolve the coffee in ½ cup water and infuse with hand torn lemongrass. Boil on low till bubbling and then remove from heat to sit and infuse while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

In a double boiler (one large pot filled halfway with water and another smaller pot to fit inside it, over the water) chop up the chocolate into pieces and place in the smaller pot; add butter and start up gas on high and melt the chocolate, stirring constantly. Turn off heat when melted.

Whisk the egg yolks with sugar and slowly add the milk. Continue whisking lightly. Put over a low flame and stir well till the egg thickens the milk to a smooth pasty consistency. Remove from the flame and mix in the warm chocolate mixture.

Whisk the cream separately with a wire whisk till slightly thickened (I usually buy fresh cream which comes in ready 200ml plastic packets, I massage and churn the packet between my palms till the cream inside has thickened, this is a quick and effective way of whisking cream).

Dissolve the gelatin in the warm coffee-lemongrass infusion.

Add the gelatin-coffee-lemongrass mixture into the milk chocolate mix and stir well, fold in the thickened cream, till you get one homogenous mixture.

Pour out the mousse mix in individual glasses or a large bowl and leave to set in the refrigerator for a few hours. Serve chilled with chocolate shavings and candied lemon peels.

We are not in touch even though we exchanged numbers for the fact that I know her inviting me was just a one-night-company – nothing more, nothing less. I would like to keep it this way – an aura of mystery and the chance to leave things the way they are.