General Trick Blogger

Remember those retro fish molds? I have two of them, both of which I have used to make this salmon mousse over the years. But try as I may, it’s almost impossible to make salmon mousse in a fish mold look good. These days I take the easy way and just pour the mousse mixture into serving bowls, chill until set, and serve. This doesn’t mean the fish molds are retired, I just have to be up for a decorating challenge if I use them again. In any case, this is an easy-to-make, delicious salmon mousse, not too rich, and quite flavorful. The recipe comes from my friend Tina Seelig’s book The Epicurean Laboratory, now long out of print (but a great book if you can get a hold of a used copy.) This mousse was presented to a flock of teenagers who hungrily ate it up with loud exclamations of “This is GREAT!”

Salmon Mousse Recipe

Prep time: 6 hours, 25 minutes Yield: Serves 12 as an appetizer.

You can either pour the salmon mousse mixture into a mold, and then chill it and un-mold it when set, or you can pour the salmon mousse mixture into crocks, tureens, or attractive bowls and serve it as is.

Ingredients 1 lb freshly cooked or canned boneless salmon 1/2 cup diced celery 1/2 cup diced green pepper 1/4 cup finely chopped onion 3 Tbsp chopped fresh dill 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup plain yogurt 1 8 oz package of cream cheese 1 can concentrated tomato soup or 8 ounces of puréed tomato sauce Tabasco sauce 3 Tbsp lemon juice 3/4 cup cold water 4 teaspoons (2 envelopes) unflavored, unsweetened gelatin One greased or stick-free 6 cup mold, or a few serving bowls.

Method

1 In a bowl, mix salmon, celery, green pepper, onion, dill, mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice.

2 In a saucespan, melt the cream cheese. Add the tomato soup or tomato sauce and continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add several dashes of Tabasco sauce. Pour the cream cheese and tomato soup mixture into the salmon mixture and mix thoroughly.

3 Pour the cold water into a small pot and stir in the gelatin. Be sure to use cold water. Gelatin needs this to disperse properly. Slowly heat the water and gelatin just until the gelatin dissoves. Do not boil the gelatin or it will not gel properly. Add the dissolved gelatin to the salmon mixture and mix well. Pour the mixture into a decorative mold or into serving bowls and refrigerate for 6 hours, or until firm.

4 If using a decorative mold, unmold the salmon mousse by placing the bottom of the mold in hot water for a few seconds and turn the mold over onto a large serving dish to release the mousse. The surface of the mousse may appear a bit ragged. If you cover with plastic wrap and re-chill in the refrigerator, it should become more smooth.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve salmon mousse with sliced avocados, celery sticks, lettuce leaves, tomatoes, olives, slices of baguette, and/or crackers.

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Recipe adapted from The Epicurean Laboratory.

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In a recent article I covered the 5 Keys to Success. Today I’d like to talk a little more about mindset. What exactly is a mindset? Does it just happen or do you create it?

A mindset has to be developed, so in a sense it’s created over time. However, many people have developed mindsets due to the conditioning of their environment. It’s not something they intentionally created, it just happened. Once a person realizes they’ve developed a mindset that wasn’t their own creation, many begin to change it, so it also involves awareness. In fact, 95% of the people you meet don’t really have their own mindset, they just accept the way they’ve been conditioned to be. More than likely, if you’re reading this site on a regular basis, then you’re someone who doesn’t want outside influences to condition you. You want to create your own success and develop your own mindset.

Princeton University defines mindset as, “a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations.”

A mindset is a habit. Habits are developed, either by conscious awareness or by unconscious awareness. Unconscious awareness is the habits that were instilled in you as a child, through your parents, teachers, family members, and even the programs you watched on TV. Unless you’ve actively decided to change your mindset, these influences are most likely still telling you how to think and act.

Everyone has a mindset. Even serial killers have a mindset, albeit dark and distorted, it’s still a mindset. People who have been raised in poor environments generally develop a poor “thinking mentality” and poor mindset. However, some of the most successful people on the planet were raised in these conditions and decided it didn’t have to be that way. They actively changed their mindset.

A general mindset is something that just happens, due to conditions and circumstances we’ve experienced and been raised with. This is the mindset that most people walk around with.

A success mindset, on the other hand, has to be developed and can be developed by anyone who decides to do so. It’s not easy and it does take time, but it’s very doable.

To create a successful mindset you need to start studying and mimicking successful people. Listen to what they have to say, listen to their stories to discover how their actions changed as they started changing their mindset.

Awareness: The first step in creating a better mindset or changing the one you have is to be aware that you need to change it. Awareness is the same thing as consciousness. It’s when you “know.” It takes conscious effort and daily actions.

Actions: Change your actions to mimic that which you want to become. Begin speaking and acting like the successful person you want to be. Hold yourself to a higher standard and present yourself as successful.

Read/Study: Find and follow successful people. Take notes of what they say, how they interact with people, find out what they read and study. All mentors have a mentor. Find the mentor you like and watch them.

If you’re building an online business, or an offline business, you have to have the mindset to do so. You also need determination, but we’ll cover that another time.

How has your mindset changed over time? Did you have to create your own success mindset? What did you do to change your mindset? We’d love to hear your story. Please share in the comments section.

image credit: Filosofias filosoficas

It seems like it was only yesterday we were getting our first real look at the officially unveiled Sony Xperia Z2at Mobile World Congress 2014. Here we are just four months later and the first leaks for Sony’s follow-up flagship, the Xperia Z3, are already popping up online.

Expected to be released in September at IFA, Xperia Blog has posted two pictures of the Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact obtained from Digi-wo, who they say has a good track record with Sony leaks. The pictures are of the two devices’ front panels, or displays, and tell us two key things. For one, Sony is not abandoning their OmniBalance design for their next round of devices. Depending on whether or not you like the look and feel of the Z2, this could be seen as good or bad. We happen to like Sony’s OmniBalance. The other thing today’s leak tells us is that Sony is remaining committed to keeping the Compact really compact. There is a clear size difference between the Z3 and Z3 Compact, something not all manufacturers are doing.

If the Z3 and Z3 Compact really are released at IFA, then we’re only a couple months away from getting an official look at the devices. That means that more leaks are probably going to start flooding in any day now – not only for the Z3 and Z3 Compact, but for phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 4as well.

Marsala Poached Pears Recipe

Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Firm, just ripe pears should be used. If overly ripe, the pears will cook up mushy. If Bosc pears are not available, Bartlett or Anjou can be substituted. You can core the pears if you wish, from the bottom, but it really is not necessary.

Ingredients 4 bosc pears, peeled, stem still attached, 1/4-inch of bottom sliced off so pears can easily sit upright 1 cup dry Marsala wine(or Madeira) 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice 1/3 cup white sugar 1/2 star anise 4 cloves 1/2 stick cinnamon

Method

1 In a saucepan just large enough to fit all of the pears, place the Marsala wine, sugar, lemon juice, star anise, cloves, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and place the pears in the pan, standing upright. Cover the pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes (if you want, baste with the liquid a couple of times during the cooking), until the pears can easily be pierced with a fork. Very firm pears make need to cook for up to 20 minutes.

2 Remove the pears to a serving dish. Keeping the pan uncovered, let the Marsala syrup boil down for a few minutes until it is a thick syrup. (If it begins to caramelize, remove pan from the heat and add a little water to the pan to stop the cooking.) Pour syrup over pears and serve.

Hello! All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use our photos without prior written permission. If you wish to republish this recipe, please rewrite the recipe in your own unique words and link back to the source recipe here on Simply Recipes. Thank you!

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Poached pears in balsamic reduction
Poached pears in vanillafrom Lydia of The Perfect Pantry
Try poaching pears with Italian Lambrusco, a favorite of our local Sacramento chef Biba.