My Favorite Holiday

I love Halloween! It's my favorite holiday. You get to dress up in silly costumes and eat sweets without feeling stupid or guilty (respectively). Because Halloween fell mid-week, I got to celebrate it twice! Once with my friend Katy and her flatmates--it was a Halloween party crossed with a birthday party for Katy's flatmate Lucy. The invitation said come in fancy dress (that's British for come in costume) or come dressed as Lucy. So I decided to try out a costume I've been wanted to do for a few years: Lucille Ball. I found a close to perfect Lucy dress at a charity shop near me. The pearls and pumps were mine already. The real effort was getting my wavy red hair curly and pinned up (I think I used over 30 bobby pins!) The party was good fun even if I don't think any of the Brits there knew "I Love Lucy."

Balsamic Strawberry Icebox Pie

Remember the peach icebox pie I made? I really liked the cheesecake-esque pie and wanted to make it again but I didn't have any peaches. Then I decided that it could really have any fruit topping I wanted. I opted for strawberries, partly because I had some in the fridge and partly because they are a traditional cheesecake topping, which I though might be fun.

I didn't really want to do plain strawberries or, I shudder at the thought, strawberries with some sort of glaze so I opted for balsamic strawberries. Basically, I macerated sliced strawberries in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, chambord, and sugar for a few hours before draining them and putting on top of the pie. This is a much more dressed up version of the pie--I always feel that peaches (and other stone fruits) are somehow more down-home than other fruits. I love both versions and I'm not sure I could pick one that I like more since they really are so different. I don't know how I'll decide which topping to make when I make this pie again. Perhaps I'll just have to try something new!

Peach Icebox Pie

An individual serving of peach icebox pie.

The other day I had a slice of peach jamboree (or something of that nature) at Magnolia Bakery. It was very good and I was disappointed to see that I didn't have a recipe for it in my Magnolia Bakery cookbook--either it's in one of their other books or they decided not to tell the public how to make this one. I decided that I really did want to make it, so I worked from memory and recreated it. I don't actually think I was terribly accurate, but that's alright I love my version anyway. It's sort of a cross between cheesecake and a peach pie--what could be bad about that?!

Basically, I made a graham cracker crust, a creamy cheese filling, and a peach topping. Technically this isn't an icebox pie, as I chilled it in the refrigerator rather than freezing it. I had extra crust and filling so I made little individual pies in ramekins. They were a perfect serving size for one person but I thought the crust to filling ratio was a bit off--I prefer more crust than you get in a ramekin since you can only line the bottom.

It was easy and only the crust required baking, which was nice on a hot summer night like tonight. I wrote down approximately what I did, so I'll type it up and give you all the recipe for my peach icebox pie soon.

Baked Ricotta with Orange Basil Salad and Orange Iced Cream

This was another practice dessert for my menu project. I'm glad I practiced it, because I've decided that I don't really like the baked ricotta--a twist on cheese cake--with the other two components. The problem with baked ricotta--this version was based on a recipe I found in a Gordon Ramsey cookbook--is that it isn't terribly flavorful and the salad and iced cream totally overwhelmed it. Also, it was harder than I'd expected to get the texture right, they came out either tough or almost runny. The salad was brilliant and the iced cream (basically whipped cream and fresh orange juice and zest frozen solid) was really nice, but perhaps a bit too icy.

I think I'm going to keep the salad and iced cream but switch from the baked ricotta to a chocolate, basil, and brie panini. It keeps cheese as part of the dish and ties in with the basil in the fruit salad, plus chocolate makes anything better. If the chefs order this, I'll discuss all the components in more detail.

My Favorite Cheesecake

   

No, unfortunately it isn't a cheesecake that I make.  It is the cheesecake at Cafe Fiorello in NYC.

As you may have gathered, I didn't bake tonight.  We decided to go out to break our fast and we split a very large slice of this amazing cheesecake, so I thought it would be a good idea to hold off on baking.  In lieu of telling you about the muffins that I have yet to make, I figured I'd tell you about the dessert I ate instead.

As I mentioned, this is darn good cheesecake.  It is creamy and moist but still dense (in a good, cheesecake-y way).  It is sweet but not sickeningly so.  It is topped with fresh strawberries that are lightly coated in a nice glaze (not like the thick red glazes that are typical on cheesecakes with berries) and fresh, unsweetened whipped cream.  Finally, they pour hot chocolate sauce over it at the table.  And they aren't stingy with the sauce, in fact the plate was entirely flooded, with the sauce which was also drizzled on top of the cake.  Oh my god it is good!!!