Cheesecake Goodness

My mom and I made Barefoot Contessa's Mixed Berry Cheesecake on New Year's Eve for my sister, Carrie's, birthday. It was wonderful. We used half the lemon zest (and could have still used less). Instead of using all the berries on top, we used two packages of raspberries, mixed with the currant jelly. Then we had additional toppings available made from frozen berries. You could have your cheesecake nearly naked or fully dressed. Mmmmm.

chocolate takes the cake!

My mom and I made two really good cakes last week. I'll look extra shapely in my swimsuit next weekend because of them...

The first was a chocolate cake with mint filling and ganache frosting. I wanted to make it for my nephew, Aaron, who thought my chocolate mint brownies were the "best he's ever had!" He said this cake could be his birthday cake this year.

We wanted to play around with the ganache again, so for our next cake we got a bit fancier. We were going to just do chocolate cake, raspberry jam filling, and ganache frosting.

Instead, for the filling I put layers of rasberry jam, ganache, whipped cream, then whole raspberries.

The outside of the cake was inspired by Jenna Bush's wedding cake. I put a thin layer of ganache on, then stripes of thicker ganache. For the top we poured the ganache over the cake so it would drip over the stripes.

It was wonderful and tasted like something from a bakery. It was an expensive cake, but a keeper for sure!

You aren't really supposed to refrigerate ganache - it doesn't look as pretty and it gets harder, but this cake had to stay in the refrigerator due to the whipped cream. I think next time we would wait to pour the top ganache on until about 30 minutes before serving, then it would stay shiney and gooey.

for the record

In ABQ so far my mom and I have killed three scorpions, transported one tarantula to the other side of the fence, and killed one centipede. What the heck?

Grrr-oss.

The other day when I was in Albuquerque, Ben called me and told me that there was a huge fly in our bathroom. He said he killed it and more and more kept coming out and he killed them all - about 20 of them. He threw them all away. BUT, the next day he killed even MORE.
Apparently while we were out of town some flies got busy in the bathroom and made a bunch of babies. GROSS! Luckily I was out of town and Ben murdered every last one of them. And luckily the evidence was in a cup on the bathroom counter waiting upon my arrival. I think I would rather not have known about this event, but the cup of flies is too funny not to share.There are also a few blood stains on the bathroom window. Ben can murder bugs really well, but the guy leaves an evidence trail a mile long.

Fetish Friday

This little lady is the "Bellerikah" by Diesel. I think it's a cute little casual shoe for the summertime. AND it's on sale for $37.50 down from $70 at Dillards. It looks pretty comfy, like it will breathe well in our humid Texas heat and it's pink and grey, which is pretty. It does come in some boring tan color, too.
On another note, I don't think any shoe Jessica Simpson makes should be classified as "athletic." This shoe may not be a patent leather party shoe, but it is not athletic. It has a freakin' huge heel! It will make you look much hotter by elongating your legs while at the gym, but you will also fall much farther to the ground when you trip on a weight machine while checking your hair in the mirror. And we all know - swollen ankles are not hot.
By the way, I've been in ABQ for three days so far and haven't been to the Dillards shoe department yet (it's huge here and I know they have a good sale). I don't think I will make it... I have a cooking class tomorrow, Maddie's piano recital, 2 wedding receptions, AND a get together with the girls to try on brides maids dresses... Trust me, this is all way harder than Jeana and Jamie's marathon. They'll be wearing comfortable tennis shoes at least! Good luck girls!