Stanley Tucci, Harry Styles, & Chocolate Mousse 🍫

+ I have a SORE HEAD (not a hangover) so not a big newsy today

What’s up everyone!!!! I’m coming at you hot off a full day of hanging out with students from my old hometown which is both wholesome as hell and really weird and exhausting (especially considering Year 13 at my high school was one of the shittest years of my life and I hated being the Head Student and I literally said that on stage) but there’s something really cathartic (is that the word?) about getting to come home and tell people that it’s sooooo fine if you’re not a prefect/ not an academic student/ don’t know wtf you wanna do when you finish school.

A bunch of you have been asking about the type of stuff I say at these events and honestly - it’s always different - sometimes it’s the SYSCA story, sometimes it’s about how we use all our different platforms, but this time it was kinda about me, Rubes and Liv growing up in Blenheim!! So I think I’m gonna turn my talk into a lil newsletter and publish it tomorrow for you all - would you be into that??

We’re also gonna be dropping a new question into the book club chat tonight (I love having you all read along with us - it’s so fun to know we’re all doing the same thing at once!!) See you there xxx

• I have a REALLY sore head and my screen is hurting my eyes so you’re only getting a Shit You Should Cook About today ˙◠˙

• 🍫Shit You Should Cook About: Chocolate Mousse 4 Luce🍫

🍫Shit You Should Cook About: Chocolate Mousse 4 Luce🍫

Shit You Should Cook About is written by London Laura - our resident ray of sunshine and co-host of Culture Vulture (our weekly pop culture podcast!) She’s a new London dweller, chief of romanticising literally everything, and will definitely ask you all what your love language is at some stage. You can find more Shit She Should Cook About over here!

Kia ora from yet another train journey!! This time on the way to the airport to catch a red-eye flight to Athens!! We arrive at 4am 🙃 and then catch the ferry to a teeny tiny island off the coast, which all feels like a far away dream right now but… pics to come!! 

So so lovely to have new SYSCA pals over on IG, very much confirms this is an actual, living community and I genuinely think my love language is hearing / seeing what you have been cooking so please slide away into my DM’s   💘💘💘 Today SYSCOOKA has come via request from Luce for something to cook that doesn’t have her reaching for the Gaviscon. Famously not a dessert gal I have been *dabbling* with puddings, tarts and cakes recently which is perfect timing for all the berries and summer fruits taking over the fruit stands around my flat!!! 

This mousse recipe has come via Abbey, dear friend and reader (who also wrote this incredible article on her experience with endometriosis for me last year) who sent it in after I put a call out for a mousse recipe! Her mum Trish whips up a version of it every Christmas and I can confirm it is *perfection*. I’ve adapted it a bit because it originally contained marshmallows and I’m a pescatarian (random I know but most contain gelatine) and I personally love this recipe because it involves no raw eggs like most mousses do (much better this way imho) PLUS it only needs 4 ingredients!! I add a pinch of sea salt flakes and top with whipped cream and fresh raspberries because more is more but equally could be eaten as is straight from the bowl. Big love to Abbey for sending (and also if you have a family recipe you love pls send me we LOVE getting them!!!)  💘💘💘 

Until next week xxxxx

Chocolate Mousse 4 Luce🍫

• 1 cup dark chocolate / chocolate chips

• 275mls heavy cream

• 1 tblsp icing sugar

• Sea salt 

• (Serves 4) 

In a bowl melt the chocolate with 1/2 cup (120mls) of cream - this can be in a microwave or pan (add a pinch of salt here too if you want it). Stir continuously until totally melted and smooth, and remove from the heat to cool. In another bowl, whip the remaining cream and add the icing sugar - whip until it is quite stiff! Pop in the fridge until the choc is completely cool, then fold the cream into the chocolate mixture, being careful to scrape from the bottom of the bowl up incorporating it all *gently*. Once it’s just combined, pop back into the fridge and set for at least 2 hours. Top with more cream, berries & grated choc or eat as is!! Xx

[Luce note: I am also obsessed with HOW MANY of you have sent me the video of Stanley Tucci at the Harry Styles concert to show Laura - Culture Vulture listeners are truly some of the strongest members of the SYSCAhood]

@stanley.tucci🕺🍱

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And the other things I was going to write about (so that you’re still getting a dose of news):

• North Korea: Residents tell BBC of neighbours starving to death (BBC)

• Stuart Little leads art historian to long-lost Hungarian masterpiece (The Guardian)

• Beyoncé caused Sweden inflation bump, expert says (Politico)

• Reddit communities with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely (The Verge)

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