Ida Lupino's Lemon Mousse

FROCK! And big powder puffs to lean on. And a gasper on the go... Loverleeeeeeeeee.

Ida's Mousse is setting in the freezer for Friday - the ladies are coming over for dinner and I've been slaving away to get things pre-prepared. That Lemon Mousse is every dieter's downfall. I've had to curb my enthusiasm for ladling it into my mouth as I try to get it in the tupperware. It is, without a doubt, my favourite of all the SSS recipes. I LOVE IT.

I wonder if there is some connection with contented singledom. Like Proust and his madeleines there is something about the mousse that takes me back in time. To living at Rita's place after the end of everything with the Chaw-bacon, when I was beginning to get over it all.... Weird.

I forgot to mention that there was a fabulous moment in Grey Gardens last night that caused Rosalind and I to simultaneously grab each other and cackle like witches. Little Edie got on the weighing scales in her swimsuit and then had to grapple for the string around her neck that was attached to her binoculars so she could see the truth. Ha ha! We both intend getting magnifying glasses and miniature binoculars so we don't have to wear our spectacles. For weigh-ins or for anything else.

Ida Lupino's Lemon Mousse

"Keeping a feminine approach is vital -
men hate bossy females."

I'm taking a break from the unpackathon to watch Strictly and report on the gorgeous Jessica's experience of Ida's mousse. I've spent more or less all day doing the lock-up rock-up and scrabbling around in bags and boxes. Unrolling newspaper wrapped mystery items has brought exclamations of great joy when things I have totally forgotten about (my Japanese owl mugs for example) emerge like rubies in the dust.

Jessica's verdict on the mousse? "It was awesome and all my housies loved it". Fabulous. Love the idea of these dishes being shared with loved ones - the way it should be. I have taken on board Jessica's comment about maybe specifying a shorter freezing time. A perfect excuse for me to rustle up another batch and scoff it spinster style straight out of the tupperware with a soup spoon. Just testing you understand...

Ida Lupino's Lemon Mousse

I've been swept off my feet by a man I met at the Cafe de Paris. One minute I was jigging around on the dance floor, next minute I was having my face snogged off round the back of the VIP area. How marvelous.

Last night he came round for dinner. I was going to cook Errol Flynn's Roast Lamb but I'm cat sitting and didn't have the recipe with me. So I made a coffee free version. Pudding was Ida's Mousse. Always a winner. As he licked his spoon in an lascivious manner he said, "I've got a plan for the rest of that, and it doesn't involve a plate."

Ida Lupino's Lemon Mousse

"Keeping a feminine approach is vital - men hate bossy females."

Don't you love getting a new pair of shoes home and checking the end of the box to see what they have been christened? These shoes are called "Ida Lupino". By someone... Not the actual designer or manufacturer in Bali I would have thought, but whoever is out there in etherland running a site called "Forbidden Shoes". Not the kind of site it promises to be from the name alas, but an actual online shoe shop. Of course, just as I am tempted to buy some of the Ava Gardner perfume that Ptolemy wears and just as I am tempted to buy the earrings that are replicas of the ones worn by Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind, I am tempted by the Ida Lupino shoes. If only they had an ankle strap...

Ida's Lemon Mousse was rustled up yesterday for a much needed ladies night in. We have all been scattered to the four winds of late so we were craving a good old fashioned Number 43 soiree with pyjamas on, chicken fajitas to eat and a movie to watch. We saw a MODERN film, believe it or not, one that isn't even out in the cinema yet. The kind that has "for your consideration" popping up every fifteen minutes. It was a heist film and I loved the occasional outbursts of phrases like, "Ooooh, they have really got themselves in trouble now!" from the ladies. Excellent.

I have a date this evening. With Mr Sombrero Delay at the seaside. This is like a proper date with a man I actually met IN PERSON rather than through the medium of the internet. We met, we chatted, we exchanged numbers, we arranged a date. How OLD FASHONED! I am strangely nervous.

Ida Lupino's Lemon Mousse

"My agent had once told me that he was going to make me the Janet Gaynor of England - I was going to play all the sweet roles."

I've been in a bit of a spin since my last entry. Just after I finished Marlene's delicious lamb chops and was just about to find out who won Big Brother the phone rang and a bombshell was dropped. I cannot reveal all the ins and outs of it here as it is sub judice but suffice to say I am just back from the Mortimer Market Centre and most definitely, for the first time in about 2 and a half years 100% single.

Anyhow, life goes on and one has to eat. I hereby give a public vote of thanks to Paulette who, completely understanding the tizz I get myself into when cooking for more than 2 other people rustled up some of Ida's mousse for the book group. It was, as usually totally delicious and at least I know that one recipe translated into English measurements actually works.

Much industry on the book proposal and sorting out my love life and not enough time cooking. Still, Joan Blondell's French Onion Soup is on the cards for tonight. Tres bien.

Ida Lupino's Lemon Mousse

Have you ever made something that was so delicious you just couldn't believe you had made it yourself? So it was last night when I rustled up Ida's Lemon Mousse which I ran out of time for on Saturday.

OMIGOD. That is the most delicious desert EVER. A winner, a winner, a winner. I ate a big bowl in bed after a day of complete self centredness. Listened to The Archers in bed with coffee and biscuits, walked to the oldest Freehouse in England and sat by a real log fire reading my book for a couple of hours, watched some trash TV and went to bed at 9pm. If only every Sunday could be that way...