Novel Eats

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

As you may know, I’ve made vegan cheesecake a few times. Every time I’ve made cheesecake, however, I have never made my own crust. This month’s Daring Baker’s challenge has given me the motivation and opportunity to make my own crust, which I think turned out great.

Don’t hesitate to make this moist, rich and sweet dessert – a perfect complement to coffee or tea.

A few years ago I worked as a receptionist at a fine stringed instruments dealer. It was a very interesting cultural experience, because we sold extremely expensive violins, violas and cellos to people with a good deal of money. It was, and has been so far, my only true exposure to this slice of the music industry. It was also a very interesting and enjoyable foray into fine chocolates, desserts and other culinary delights. This was prior to my swearing off of cheese, milk and other dairy items, so I’ll confess that I had quite a few non-vegan experiences (and one non-vegetarian one, which I didn’t realize until later – um yeah, imitation crab is still real fish, FYI).

Valentine’s Day is probably one of my favorite holidays. Maybe it’s because of all the girlie colors and hearts and flowers, or because of the shallow romance courtesy of department stores, but I just can’t help but like it. Of course, I’m sure that I resented the holiday when I was single or forlorn over someone that wouldn’t “Be Mine”. That’s probably a given. Now Valentine’s Day offers me an excuse to get into the kitchen and try to make something that has equal parts romance and flour and KitchenAid mixer.

Like banana bread? Chances are you’ll love this easy and delicious pumpkin bread, too.