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Fear Not the Cheesecake

/ still a dreamer

Have you ever noticed how many perfectly competent, as well as excellent, cooks shake in their boots at the thought of making a cheesecake? (Also homemade pie crusts, but that’s a different post!) This always surprises me, because cheesecake is actually one of the easiest desserts you can make. It’s not that you can’t find very complicated cheesecakes – they’re out there, and I’ve made them, too – but most of your cheesecakes are fairly simple and almost foolproof.

Take this pumpkin cheesecake, for instance.We decided that this year for Thanksgiving I would forego the more traditional pumpkin or apple pie, and make a pumpkin cheesecake instead. I have a couple good recipes for pumpkin cheesecake that I know to come out well. In deference to my host who cannot eat nuts, I eliminated the pecan or walnut praline topping, and made a substitution in the crust ingredients. Instead of the called-for graham crackers, I used gingersnaps. Note – the crust has only 2 ingredients – ginger snaps and butter. Easy, right?

More simplicity – the filling is all made in one bowl, – cream cheese, sugars, eggs, pumpkin, cream and spices. It doesn’t really get much easier than that! It came out creamy and delicious, and although it called for 1-1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice, you couldn’t go wrong by making that 2 teaspoons.

Feeling more confident yet? Cheesecake is really an easy dessert – easy on the cook, easy on your busy schedule, and easy on your hungry guests eyes!

p.s. If anyone would like to try my recipe, just leave a comment, and I will scan it or type it up.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

/ still a dreamer

Thanksgiving, to me, is always the epitome of fall … glorious foods in colors and flavors of autumn grace the table, there still may be some tawny leaves on the trees, and just the right chill in the air. It’s the last major holiday before our thoughts turn to snow and Christmas, trees and gift-giving. Thanksgiving seems the culmination of fall, and then a whirlwind of different flavors and colors surrounds us.

We sometimes have to be careful that in our anticipation of great dinners and watching football and Thanksgiving Day parades that we don’t lose why the holiday was so named, a day to give thanks. I thought a few words from those who’ve pondered this holiday might be in order …

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.  ~Meister Eckhart

Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal.  It’s a way to live.  ~Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear

If you count all your assets, you always show a profit.  ~Robert Quillen

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.  ~G.K. Chesterton

Gratitude is the music of the heart, when its chords are swept by the breeze of kindness.  ~Author Unknown

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING!

 

Leftover Tombstones

/ still a dreamer

Thanksgiving is almost upon us, so I have one more chance to post a photo of something that caught my eye when I was out walking. Much like political signs left way too long and all over the place like so much litter after an election, there are always some people that have their holiday decorations out far beyond the holiday. In this case, I’m glad they were still there, because driving by didn’t give me the opportunity to read them. So this is the last I’ll have to say about Halloween!

Although Party City and other stores have a pretty big selection of tombstones at Halloween, I find that people who make them themselves are far more clever. These were all pretty funny, but the one that made me stop and laugh was the one in the center. Nice and simple – Trespasser.

In case you can’t read the others – Noah Moore – I told you I was sick; Here lies an atheist – all dressed up with nowhere to go; and Dr. Gonzo – too weird to live, too rare to die.

Note the broken pumpkin .. which brings us to our next seasonal item … pie. Hello, Thanksgiving!

Ice Cream Challenge Results

/ still a dreamer / 1 Comment

And the winner in the chocolate category is ….. drum roll, please …. Friendly’s  Classic Chocolate!

Late last September I entertained a moment of frivolity and decided to pursue my own personal ice cream taste challenge, based on a link a friend had sent me where brands had been rated, first chocolate, then vanilla. Recently, I was asked whatever happened to that? I did take the challenge – tough as it was, consuming chocolate ice cream – I just never posted the results. So here we have them.

Although I never did get down to Trader Joe’s to sample their chocolate, and I did have to substitute Blue Bunny for Blue Bell, I still sampled the site’s top ranked flavors. Being a huge Haagen Dazs fan, I was pretty sure that it would rank tops on my personal list, but it did not. Indeed, the Friendly’s Classic Chocolate was the best in my book, too! Creamy, chocolate-y and quite yummy!

As for vanilla … I did try Haagen Dazs, (not exactly for the first time!),  Blue Bunny and Friendly’s Vanilla. I’ve had Breyer’s in the past and there’s so much air, it’s soup in a short time. Friendly’s? Can’t really compare to their chocolate.  But my vanilla fave, and I wasn’t surprised, is Haagen Dazs. So rich, creamy and vanilla-sweet.

Someday I hope to sample Trader Joe’s, and I will continue in my research, sampling both flavors because …. well, it’s ice cream, and it’s there! Happy summer scooping!!

The Joy of Dishes

/ still a dreamer

As I was looking at my newest and most (currently) favorite mug this morning, I felt a desire to write about dishes. What is it about dishes that is so incredibly wonderful? I will admit, I have plenty, and quite a few complete sets. But with rare exception, and this mug is one of them, (available here), I haven’t paid much – or anything at all – for them.

Just to give you an idea of the wonderful dishes that call my table and cabinets their own are the following … a set of Johnson Brothers china, (given me by my college roommate), a complete set of Vernon Ware, which is like a soft-hued Fiesta Ware, (dishes I grew up with),  a 1920’s set of hexagonal amethyst glass dishes, (I paid $15 at the first auction I ever went to with my friend, Jan, in the late 80’s), a Royal Doulton Art Deco tea set missing a sugar bowl, (dirt cheap on London’s Portobello Road in the mid-70’s), hand-thrown bowls, large and small, and serving dishes and casseroles, (all gifts), cobalt crystal tumblers, ( a gift), and …. a lovely assortment of “factory-second” sets from Pfaltzgraff’s factory outlet, ( at $1 and $2 per piece), when they were still open in Flemington. I also have a gorgeous set of hand-thrown stoneware glasses and plates to whose talented creators I happily paid a fair price. And, of course, the hand-thrown mug you see pictured. (In all honesty, there are still more odds and ends in more hand-thrown mugs, pie plates, glasses, serving platters, etc. gathered over the years.)

So what can we conclude from this? That I have tons of company for dinner? Nope, that’s not it. That I am a disaster to only myself when packing to move? Oh, yeah! That many of these dishes have sentimental value? Yup, that’s true, too. But the overriding conclusions are the following … the dishes that I have collected over the years are beautiful, and, in my estimation, a form of art. It’s true. Dishes are a relatively inexpensive – if you know where to shop – form of art.

But wait, there’s another conclusion. Dishes make food look wonderful. Food, one of the true delights in life, can be beautiful on its own when prepared, but placed on the right plate or served in the right bowl or dish, surpasses its own singular appeal. A table set with just the right dishes holding even the simplest of foods can be a form of art. Think of some of the best food magazine photographs – they have you salivating just looking at the food so beautifully presented. And behind every mouthwatering morsel is a carefully selected dish.

So that’s it – there’s joy in dishes because of their beauty as an art form all their own. (And just so you know … I had to actually resist photographing more of my dishes for this post … but maybe another time.)