Saturday, July 9, 2011

Cheesecake!!

It's strawberry season in Nova Scotia, and there has been a bumper crop of large succulent berries! Yummy!!! Or om nom nom as my Sara would put it!

But this post is not about strawberries. It's about Dave's birthday cake. There are no strawberries involved in the making of this cake. Dave is not a strawberry fan. His birthday falling in the midst of Nova Scotia's strawberry season, he grew up having no choice but strawberry shortcake on his birthday. As an adult, given his druthers, he will have nothing further to do with said dessert. Ever. So...what to make Dave for his birthday cake? His favourite, of course - cheesecake!  I pulled The Joy of Cheesecake from my cupboard.  Which book I, ahem, "borrowed" from my friend Kelly some 20 odd years ago and seem to have made a permanent addition to my cookbook collection.  In my defence, I'm pretty sure she once said I could keep it...at least that's my story.  She can jump in and correct me if my memory is flawed! :)  I flipped through the book and decided daiquiri cheesecake would be delightful on a July afternoon!  Also seem to recall Dave really liked it last time I made it, years ago.

Here is the list of ingredients:


And the recipe itself:



I had not remembered it being quite so labour intensive.  But I actually had fun making it.  While at the same time chatting on facebook with Sara, texting back and forth with Valerie, preparing lasagna, having brunch...multi-tasking anyone?!  I grated a bit more lime and lemon zest on top to add some colour, and it appears to have turned out great:


I'll have to report back tomorrow on whether or not it turned out tastewise.  We're not actually having Dave's birthday supper until tomorrow, so Sara, Jake, Mark and Valerie can join us.  Although I'm not sure how we will manage to keep our forks out of it until then...

I also made lasagna, my version of which my family seems to believe is the best EVER and who am I to argue with my entire family?! :)  Maybe it's because I make it with a mix of hot Italian sausage and lean ground beef.  Or maybe it's because I simmer my sauce for at least a couple hours to reduce it down to a nice thick ragu.  Whatever the secret is, it usually turns out delicious!  And that appears to be the case again this time:




And to round out our meal, we'll have caesar salad.  And wine.  And lots of love and laughter...of course!!

Happy Birthday to Dave!!!!

6 comments:

Trekcapri said...

Hi Anne, looks like you have prepared a very delicious looking Birthday dinner for your husband.

A very Happy Birthday to Dave and a very happy celebration dinner to you all. :)

barb cabot said...

Oooh I love his birthday dinner. Lucky Man! but I'm sure he knows that! Cheesecake (my fave too!) Your lasagna looks divine.

Anonymous said...

Dinner sounds fabulous. Thanks for posting the cheesecake recipe! Can't wait to try it - I have to bring dessert ot a BBQ on the 24th.
Sheri

Anne said...

Thanks y'all! Dave thoroughly enjoyed the feast (as did we all!)

Sheri, I definitely recommend this recipe. It has an unusually light and fluffy texture for a cheesecake, and very flavourful. We all thought it was delicious.

Annie said...

Both look delicious. Sounds like Dave had a very happy birthday!

Anne said...

Annie, he certainly did! We didn't do much, just lounged around on the back deck and went for a swim (well not Dave, he doesn't swim - he can, he just doesn't!) But it was very relaxing.

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