raspberry mousse and birthday wishes for a special aunt

That's the Christmas box packed up for another year. Party's over. Back to business. I find it mildly depressing seeing Christmas decorations still up in mid- to late-January. It's the equivalent of a comb-over or wearing white socks with black shoes - it's just a bit sad.

Two hoover bags later, I'm still finding pine needles all over the house. Mini-B (aka Mr Whippy) came round for a game of cards last night and spent a disproportionate amount of time scrabbling around beneath the kitchen table looking for the cards he'd dropped and each time he resurfaced he looked more and more like a porcupine.

After all the rich festive food we've been eating I fancied something lighter, more delicate - something with a little burst of summer. So I made these raspberry mousses topped with wild raspberries and bilberries I picked last summer.

To save my precious supply of little wild raspberry jewels, I used tinned raspberries -  I know, I know - but they work well in this recipe because you have to sieve them to make a purée and you decorate with fresh raspberries at the end. To get the mixture into the moulds I had to pour it from the mixing bowl into a very narrow-necked jug - which resulted in rivers of  mousse flowing like molten lava all over the worktop and down the kitchen cupboards. Oh, the carnage.

My new year's resolution is to think more before acting, especially in the kitchen - otherwise I shall not last five minutes at Le Cordon Bleu.

Bon anniversaire to my wonderful aunt, Hils, with whom I have just shared a glass of champagne on Skype (how great is Skype!) during the course of which she wore three different hats. She received the following missive from my six-year old niece:

Splendifourus birthday Hils.

Hope the day is as good as chocolate ice-cream

with a chocolate flake and chocolate souse and

chocolate chip and chocolate sprinkels.

With love so big it wouldn't fit in the unovers. xxx

PS You are sooo lucky to have a birthday on a Saturday.

That girl's going to go far.

Raspberry mousse and summer berries
Ingredients
15oz / 400 g tin of raspberries
1 packet raspberry jelly
6oz / 175 g double cream
1 tsp lemon juice
Fresh raspberries and bilberries to decorate

Strain the juice from the rasps into a measure jug and make up to ½ pint with water if necessary. Put the juice in a pan and bring to boiling point. Remove from the heat and add the jelly and stir until dissolved.

Leave the jelly to cool until just beginning to set. Sieve the rasps to make a purée. Put the cream and lemon juice in a bowl and whisk until it forms soft peaks. Fold in the purée and cooled jelly and mix well. Decorate with fresh rasps and bilberries.