Cheesecake

My husband likes cheesecake. I've never made it before, and I've just sworn off white sugar for now. I hope Sucanat substitutes okay!

This week I made cream cheese. I took most of a half gallon jug of raw milk and poured it into a glass bowl, and set it on the counter. I had a lid on at first, but it wasn't separating after a day, so I took it off -cheesecloth is wonderful to keep dust out of this sort of thing. After a couple days, a drier layer forms on top. I was concerned that maybe I should remove it, but the 'recipe' doesn't call for it. After another day (it can take up to 4), I poured it through a smooth cloth napkin in a sieve (a more open weave would have been better).When most of the whey had run out, I tied the napkin to a wooden spoon and hung the napkin-become-bag of curds in a pitcher. Throughout the day, I scraped down the sides of the bag to release more whey. The curds slowly gained better consistency and the drier layer simply mixed in. The cream cheese can keep about 4 weeks and the whey will keep up to 6 months in the refrigerator, but I froze the whey in ice cube trays (1Tbsp per cube) for ease of use.

(cream cheese recipe from )

Yesterday afternoon, I pulled out a couple cookbooks and found a simple cheesecake recipe. Hmm.. out of eggs and I don't have a lemon. I got out the first couple crust ingredients, then realized that I needed the egg and zest IN the crust. It was getting near 5:30PM, so I thought I'd give Ben a bit to get home, then I could just take the baby to the store. The children were all tired from being up late last night, they'd be a cinch to put to bed.

I was raised that it ought to be a life or death (or pretty close) emergency to disturb a man at work. I figure that if he's working late it must be awful important to take time from the family.

At 7:30PM, I gave up. I packed the tired children into the van and drove to the store. It's in the next city over (of course, in this area, the cities all run together, so it feels like across town to me). BB fell asleep on the way there, but awoke as I took her out and strapped her in the stroller.

As usual, TJ grabbed the cart and I pushed the stroller. I tried to read labels, but the bouncy wild 4&9 year olds overcame my patience. We would just get the perishables and get home. Maybe Ben would be home and put them to bed and I could go get the rest of the groceries. Milk, eggs, cream, meats, some veggies, line. Oh, the line. There was someone with crates of tomatoes from the Produce department and they couldn't figure out how to ring her. The line next to me was slow, but perhaps would go quicker. I moved over. Cow started fussing -she had to use the potty! Just a few minutes, hang in there, I told her. One of the baggers suggested a line on the other side. The man next in line was waiting on his wife to get something more and let us be next! TJ wanted a drink of water from the fountain. So AJ did, too. And so did BB, but she was in the stroller and I wasn't going there. Finally checked through, out to the car! Pee baby, empty cart, nurse baby.

Have you ever driven with an infant who knows it's bedtime and wants to be in bed, but knows that This. Is. Not. My. Bed.? Let's just say it was a long drive home.

And, Ben wasn't there. And, I forgot the lemon. Drat.

TJ had fallen asleep in the car, so I had the girls help me bring in the bags. Then, we piled back into the car. Off we drove to a more local store. But, the turn lane isn't well lit and I noticed it at the last moment and hit the raised curb/center divider thing at 40MPH as I veered into the lane. (Honey, I think we need a front end alignment.. the steering wheel is at an angle for some reason when I drive straight) Well, that woke TJ up!

With 4 grouchy, half-scared children, I ventured into the supermarket. I started just finding the rest of the list. Cow fussed, we went to find the restroom.I had TJ wait with the girls as I took Cow -no, she didn't need to pee, just wanted to fuss because she's sleepy! TJ took his turn and my phone rang. It went something like this:
cheery chipper Ben: "Hi, how are you?"
less than cheery me: "I'm at the store with 4 children. Where are you?"
cautious Ben: "I'm home."
silence.
silence.
silence.
impatient me: "Ok, I love you. Bye." click.

I need to work on my people skills.

We made it to the bake aisle before they ran out of any remaining scrap of control. We didn't get everything on the list, we just got in line.

"Do you want help out?" No.

Home again. We brought it all in and I sent the children off to bed. "But, I'm not sleepy." Yeah? So sorry. Now, get in bed.

Then Ben stirred and woke, I hadn't seen him on the couch. He gave me a hug and went to bed.

I finished mixing the crust and started the filling while the bottom baked. Following directions, la dee da, cheesecake was put together and in the oven. Clean up, run dishwasher. Time for mayonnaise! I pulled out the ingredients, spices, vinegar, egg yolks, olive oil, and squeezed the lemon. I made up the mayo -So simple! The cheesecake came out. I cleaned up again, ran the dishwasher. Ran a spatula (scraper) along the sides of the pan to loosen the sides. Cleaned some more. Read my recipe for dinner tonight.. Cow woke, peed and was nursing when the timer went off.

I found out that I am not superwoman. Thankfully, I was careful enough not to drop anything (cake or baby), but I couldn't remove the cheesecake from the pan while nursing. She finished and I put her to bed. Then I put the cheesecake on some cloth napkins on a plate. I was frustrated that I couldn't let it finish cooling properly (another 2 hours) before heading off to bed, but I stuck it in the fridge, left a note for Ben, and went to bed pretty close to 2AM.

This morning, I think he said, "I love you," as he was leaving, but I'm not sure. When I woke, the cheesecake was gone.