Eating in California has its undeniable pleasures.  Everywhere you look, food is growing, even in February.  Right now the citrus fruits are in season, and the orange and lemon trees are a beautiful sight.  It's warm here, so one isn't always in the mood for the rich winter fare we enjoyed in England, like steak and mushroom pie, or lamb stew with dumplings.  Our diet is changing a bit, just because it has to:  we eat more citrus fruits, avacadoes, and Mexican food, and we eat less yogurt, chocolate and cheese because those things just aren't as good here. 
     Still, I miss cooking and eating in England, and so I try my best to cook English food here.  I know that comforts the kids - they need familiarity in their new home, and nothing brings the comfort of familiarity like food.  They ask for sausages and mash, fish and chips, roast chicken, apple crumble, good chocolate desserts - all things that aren't really a part of the American diet.
     Speaking of familiarity, I am so happy to be reunited with my cookbooks.  I have been without them for 6 months, as they went into storage in July.  Opening them up again and reading the recipes was like conversing with an old friend.  And the recipes brought back so many memories - some very old, some more recent.  Each cookbook was acquired at a different phase in my life, so each one is associated in my mind with a specific time and place, and with the events and challenges that I was facing at that time and in that place.  Most of the time, food is made with the intent to respond to an event or a challenge, so when I read a recipe I used to cook, I remember not only when I cooked it, but also why I cooked it.  I cooked a spinach and goat's cheese quiche for a family blessing in Lincolnshire, I baked bread in Cambridge when we were first married because I wanted to get good a making French bread, I cooked Delia's chocolate bread and butter pudding in Huntingdon, usually late at night, because my kids adored it.
     Often what happens to me and cookbooks is that I get stuck into one and attempt to cook my way through it.  I'm fascinated right now with the book, La Dolce Vita. Sweet Dreams and Chocolate Memories by Isabel Coe.  I am especially happy that this book is out of storage.  It's one of those cookbooks that is half memoir, half cookbook.  Isabel Coe tells stories about both sides of her family - some from Italy, some from Switzerland - and gives chocolate recipes which have been in her family for generations.  It's fascinating reading, and the recipes are remarkable for their simplicity and elegance.
     One recipe I tried this week from the book is 'Cold-Weather Parsenstein', which is basically a truffle recipe.  It was Valentine's Day on Friday, and I always make the kids some kind of Valentine treat. This year I decided to make them chocolates, rather than buy chocolates, so I turned to this recipe.  I changed it a bit for my use, and it was a huge hit.  Tim said they were the best truffles I had ever made.

Valentine's Day Chocolates - For Tim
100 mls heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
250 grams dark chocolate
15 grams butter
50 grams raspberries

To coat:
3 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp powdered sugar
150 grams dark chocolate

     Pour the whipping cream and the vanilla extract in a saucepan or microwavable jug.  Bring to the boil.  In the meantime, chop up the chocolate and butter into little chunks in a large bowl.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and butter and stir until the chocolate is melted.  Stir in the rapsberries - don't worry, they will fall apart and disintegrate.  Put the mixture in the fridge to cool. 
     When it is set, mix the cocoa powder and powdered sugar together in a small bowl.  Coat your hands with powdered sugar, and make truffle balls - or whatever shape you like - out of the chocolate mixture.  Roll the chocolate shapes in the cocoa power mixture, and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Freeze the truffles for a couple of hours, until hard.
     Finally, melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler.  Coat the truffles in the melted chocolate, and place back on the parchment paper.  Store in the fridge until ready to eat.  Makes about 15 truffles, depending on how big you make them.