Friday, May 29, 2020

Day 75


Day 75, self quarantine:

Happy Friday!  Today is the best day ever.  I have the day off from work for a Jewish holiday  that celebrates with cheesecake.

This is my kind of religion.

I mean, we all know I am not a fan of organized religion but cheesecake celebrations are next level.  So I wondered how it came to be.

Actually, it’s Shavuot,and Shavuot, like most Jewish holidays, has a food component. On Shavuot we celebrate dairy foods. It is a vegetarian holiday for kosher Jews, because the laws of kashrut forbid mixing milk products with meat. 


Speaking of cheesecake, right before quarantine, I had one of the best cheesecakes I ever had in my life.  I asked for the recipe but I never looked at it until now when  I was reminded by the holiday.  Holy hell, no wonder it was so good, it’s made up of sour cream, cream cheese and heavy whipping cream.  And it’s no bake?!  

Oh, Gary?  I have a favor to ask...

We are so having this for our Shavuot feast tonight.

Seriously, look at this recipe. How can it be bad?
 
 1 9" or 10" graham cracker crust prepared in springform pan
16 oz cream cheese softened to room temperature (450g)
1 cup powdered sugar (150g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/3 cup sour cream (75g)
1 1/2 cup heavy cream 
Additional whipped cream for topping, optional
Instructions
1. Place cream cheese in a large bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy.
2. Add powdered sugar and stir until combined.
3. Stir in vanilla extract and lemon juice, pausing to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
4. Add sour cream and stir well.
5. Pour heavy cream into a separate, medium-sized bowl (preferably a chilled metal bowl). Whisk on high speed (preferably using an electric mixer) until stiff peaks are achieved.
6. Fold your whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until smooth and well-combined.
7. Spread cheesecake mixture evenly over prepared graham cracker crust. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. 

Ugh, I hate that refrigerate and WAIT TO EAT nonsense. You’re really supposed to wait four hours when there’s a cheesecake in the house?

When I was growing up, we had those God awful frozen Sara Lee cheesecakes and no microwaves to defrost them.  I can remember being a stoner teenager with the munchies trying to hurl a frozen brick of cheesecake against the wall to get it to slice or at least be thawed enough not to burn my tongue.

Gary better get started now 😜

So we can’t work in the yard today because of the rain which is a bummer but we’re gonna be brave and put on our masks and run a few errands.  

We’re out of dog treats.  

Heaven forbid.

Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be beautiful and to be honest, there’s no way we can do physical labor three days in a row, anyway. I’m still feeling the work we did last weekend.

I’ll say it again - getting older isn’t for sissies 😎

So that’s about it for today.  No words of wisdom, just a banging cheesecake recipe.

Chag Sameach!