Lemon Cheesecake recipe

Delving through a mass of old paperwork for more mundane things, I found this in passing, dating from 1960s Autralia

Case: 8oz digestive biscuit crumbs + 4oz butter melted and pressed into the pie dish; chill in fridge.

Filling: Mix 2oz whole milk and 4oz cream cheese into a smooth mix, add ½ can condensed milk (about 200g) and ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons) and 1tsp vanilla essence. Fold in a small can of cream (about 100g), and pour into the case.

Leave in fridge overnight, and sprinkle with freshly grated nutmeg before serving.

I've not made this in ages, but it was always a hit.

I like this recipe

A couple of months back, I'd got a freshly baked and still warm baton from the local shop, and had the idea of thickly buttering it to accompany a bowl of soup -- only to discover how not like butter the "light" spreadable that was in the fridge tasted in bulk, being 2 parts of rapeseed oil to 3 of butter. Looking for alternatives was disappointing, as the commercial spreadables are all much the same, being seed-oil margarine mixes, even the ones boasting that they use olive oil.

Fortunately, the internet came through, with this recipe for a home-made butter/olive oil spread.

It does need translating from the American units -- in round numbers it comes to 180g oil for a 250g block of butter. Choose a salad-grade extra-virgin oil, because you will taste it in the finished product (which is part of what makes it so good!). The butter needs to be soft enough that you can cream it but no more -- only a few seconds in the microwave if you get it straight out of the fridge, just enough that it's soft. Melting the butter is -- well, you know how melting and then cooling butter works; the resulting mix turns out somewhat green-ish in colour and doesn't work quite as well.

Assuming the butter is just right, you can start stirring it with a hand blender, and then add the oil. When it's all mixed, it will have a custard-like consistency and appearance, and can be poured into a suitable container to put in the fridge. Leave it a few hours and it will solidify, but be spreadable. In use, it melts somewhat more readily than the commercial greases e.g. on a freshly toasted crumpet; and you won't want to leave it out of the fridge when not in active use.

July wrap-up

Well, it's been a busy month, hence quiet on the blogging front, starting out with:

A summer holiday

While Karen was in hospital last year, I noticed a flyer for Vitalise respite care holidays in amongst various papers, and thought "Let's do this next summer."

So we did.

We chose the first week of July at the Netley Waterside centre as a part of the country neither of us had been to for many years, went through all the paperwork about care requirements and doctor's reports, and crossed our fingers about how well we would get on.

In the end, it was wonderful.

It started off a bit fraught, though; as on the outward journey on a too hot and bright day for comfortable travel, as we were going past Tring, I realised that amongst the things I'd forgotten to pack was my wallet. So I just unloaded Karen and all the other bits, and turned around, to drive down again the next day with all the stuff we've forgotten (doing in two days way more miles than I drive in the average month).

Going back home in the heat was not much fun, especially when combined with stumbling into special traffic arrangements for the Henley Regatta just as everyone was heading home for the evening. But at home, I was cheered to get a phone call from Karen, who was enjoying being able to choose her own bed time.

Second time around I was actually able to find a parking space (as holidays run Saturday to Saturday, the first time there were arrivals and departures jostling for space), freshen up and join the Sunday chill-out.

The centre is really on the water's edge

with the gardens sloping down to the path that runs along the sea wall, though the path is only wheelchair accessible in one direction.

Monday, we opted out of the excursion to the Sea Life Center, and after I'd scouted out the area, we went along to the local (the Prince Consort) and took advantage of the ramp up to the beer garden at back. to just sit, enjoy a pint and the summer weather, the two of us on holiday together for the first time in years.

But that was the end of the good weather; cooler, windier and wet was the order of the day for the rest of the week. Tuesday's expedition to the Hawk Conservancy Trust at Andover was dampened by the rain arriving as we did, and continuing at varying strength until we left; but despite the weather, the display was spectacular, with sometimes a dozen birds in the air.

We did manage to miss the rain for Wednesday's visit to Marwell Zoo, which we only manage to see less than half of; Thursday started wet, so the planned trip to Winchester became a shopping center trip, which we opted out of; and the Friday was an official at-leisure day where we took the opportunity to slope off to the pub (using the industrial strength ramp for the front step) for lunch.

And so, home.

For the holiday, there was the inevitable fact of separate hospital beds for sleeping; the food all home cooked, if unadventurous, with a very early 18:00 dinner time, with breakfast being as much a main meal as that in the evening.

Karen really enjoyed the comparative freedom to choose a bed time -- including at well gone midnight on Thursday, when it was party night.

And for me -- well, when I helped Karen with chasing the last morsels of a meal around a plate, I was told off, that one of the volunteers should do that while I enjoyed a break!

The volunteers are a key part of the operation -- a cheerful, enthusiastic and cosmopolitan crowd from all over the globe, working for bed and board, to just take over much of the step-and-fetch level care, from simply getting a cup of coffee, to pushing manual chairs while accompanying otherwise unaccompanied guests.

So, we'll be back, though next time, assuming I don't have to do the trip 3 times in quick succession, we may opt out of scheduled trips and do our own at our own pace (without being caught up in the half hour or more loading and unloading process).

Trivia -- at just before 10pm on Monday the 4th, I observed a 60-hour old nail-paring crescent moon setting over the port, the sun having set 40 minutes before.

30 years on

And today has been our Pearl wedding. Doesn't time fly!

Logistics being what they are, celebration was lunch, at the recently refurbished Carpenters Arms at Gt. Wilbraham. Being a Sunday, that meant roast, but by being so standard, allowed a like-for-like comparison : big chunks of roast, huge selection of veg, and the best Yorkshire pudding I've eaten in years.

Film — Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

I this up picked up now it's out here on DVD, having heard of it some months ago.

The film is pure hokum wire-fu, and about as faithful to any of the source material as most movies (about on the level of the wartime Sherlock Holmes vs. Nazi spy films) but entertaining enough for an evening's viewing.

While van Gulik is in the writing credits according to imdb, I saw nothing of what he did by way of exhuming Chinese detective stories (except possibly the fact of popularising Judge Dee in the west) made it into the movie.

Film — Arietty

Seeing this after lunch today, we caught the UK theatrical dub (separate UK production team mentioned in the end credits, and some English regional accents -- most noticeably for the rat catchers -- amongst the cast).

It's been a long long time since I read the original (I have slightly more memories of Adrift and Aloft than of Afield), but the adaptation felt right, though one wonders if it wasn't the speech about the Borrowers dying out that attracted Miyazaki, something to slide in as a soapboxing scene.

Overall, the best thing out of Ghibli since The Cat Returns.

Sometimes, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...

I encountered this outburst of testosterone fuelled experimentation a couple of weeks ago, and mentioned it to Karen -- who immediately said that this was something that had to be done. So, yesterday I actually made some of the

Manliest Bread EVARR!!!!!111elebenty!!!!!!1 ^*

Bacon. Jalapeno. Cheesy. Beer. Bread. The sheer awesomeness of the concept forced that punctuation, I swear.

And it was a great success.

The recipe (for a bread making machine)

Bread chassis:

• 1 tsp yeast
• 1.25 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp sugar
• 350g strong white flour
• 150g strong wholemeal flour

And in the main mix

• 85g of the strongest cheddar I had in the house, grated
• 320ml ale -- I used Greene King IPA

In the candied fruit hopper:

• 4 rashers of thick-cut bacon, dry-fried (pouring off any oozing water as required) until stiff, rinds removed and chopped into ~1cm bits
• As many jalapeno pepper slices as will fit.

Cook on standard raisin bread program. Cool for an hour, then enjoy!

It was wonderfully savoury warm with butter, and made a fine accompaniment to a chilli powered by the fruits of our greenhouse (to the extent of 2/3 of the loaf). Though I couldn't help feeling that there had to be some way to work some garlic into the mix without spoiling the awesome.

^* OK, some pedants will point out that this recipe is just loaded with phytoestrogens. But it's the concept that counts.

A week of doing nothing

A much needed week off draws to a close.

Like n. molesworth "what i did in my hols" : Did 0. Mucked about.

Tuesday, drove to orford for lunch at the Crown and Castle again; an easy drive A14, B1078, park in the square. Amble a bit before time to dine. Dine (Buffalo mozzarella crostini; goat's cheese and red pepper quiche with fries and salad; pistachio and yoghurt squidgy cake), then amble some more to walk it off. The drive back into the setting sun with the A14 knee deep in shadow and the cars glinting against the bright sky, not so fun.

At the Crown and Castle

Wed/Thu I got my bike its end of season service (new back gear block, chain and cable), getting caught in unexpected drizzle while doing so.

And apart from a little pottering in the garden and garage, did very little beyond tapering off from caffeine overindulgence from work and time wasting on various boards.

The bheer thing…

Beer Festival week - so of course the weather deteriorates. There was a glimpse of hazy sunshine for a few minutes, before heavy grey cloud set in.

This year I was actually able to get some of the Woodfoorde's Wherry - a familiar favourite - before going on to the Guernsey Brewery's Island Gold, Sarah Hughes' Dark Ruby Mild (6% ABV, smooth, sweet and goes down dangerously easily!), and Wolf Brewery's Sheeps' Clothing, and another dose of Wherry (halves of course!).

And this year, as well as real pork pies and super cheese, real scotch eggs!

The only trouble with the Festival is that it is just not humanly possible to sample all the beers one would like to, even after filtering according to preference (under 5% ABV in the main, hoppy rather than malt). *sigh*