Cheesecake vs. Face book

chocolate cheesecake - what ricotta was made for

chocolate cheesecake - what ricotta was made for

Okay, I’ve finally succumbed to the dark side.  I have signed up for facebook, bowing not to peer pressure, but to TDPS (teenage daughter pressure syndrome).  And you’re right.  My daughter is not yet  a teenager, but she is practising hard, and there is nothing more demoralising for someone barely 36 years young (okay 36 and a half…three quarters) than to be patted pityingly by a child who has it firmly settled in her mind that you are way too old ever to be hip, or to understand why social networking sites are important.  So fine, I admit I signed up so I could keep an eye on her, but she is blithely ignoring my friendship requests.  I think I should write a letter to someone at the facebook site…only who?  And signed what?  Desperately unhip mother seeking access to daughter’s life? 

Maybe I’ll just look around this facebook thing to see if all the dark predictions I made and conspiracy theories I foresaw are in actual fact, vaguely possible.  Ooh, this is so immediate.  Usually it takes ages to get a blog/comment conversation going.  Hmm, a lot of unknown people asking to be friends though.  Sorry guys, no can do.  I don’t pick up hitchers either.  My husband would kill me.

But lots of old blogging friends (you are all welcome) and quick access to some blog posts which makes things easy for lazy people like myself.  Hmm, easy to upload pics too, and a good place for non-foodie pics.  Okay, so it’s not all bad.  I think I’m getting the hang of this. 

Only, whoops, I seem to have spent most of the day pottering around in here.  No work on the new deli newsletter.  Barely touched a new blogpost.  Haven’t even looked at my synopsis for the publisher.  Insidious this… I knew there was a reason I warned Dakota about this.  Luckily, I have emergency back-up.  I can call a friend.  There is a chocolate ricotta cheesecake sitting on the deli counter, and the other me, the sensible one, is refusing to allow me to taste it until I log off from facebook.  Okay, just one last check…

Just kidding, this cheesecake is good.  It’s no contest.  I don’t know who started this chocolate polka dot thing.  I got it from Julie le Clerc’s  Little Cafe Cakes.  She says the concept is Maida Heatter’s.  As usual I’ve tinkered a bit.  Used my own pastry recipe and adjusted the filling to what I had in the fridge, but it’s still to die for and I make it often in one form or another.  So cheesecake 1 – Facebook 0.  But that’s today.  I’m sure we’ll go another round tomorrow.

For those of you who haven’t figured this out yet, I always post the recipes separately, to Vanielje Kitchen Cook Book (VKCB) in the sidebar.  This works out to be a lot easier in the long run when you are looking for a recipe and don’t want to trawl through all my stories or ramblings from months ago.  So what are you waiting for.  Open up my cookbook and get baking.  Ohh, and feel free to pop in and chat on facebook…

xx

More-ish Muffins for Weekend Herb Blogging

Fresh, crispy, cheese & pesto muffins

Fresh, crispy, cheese & pesto muffins

Man cannot live on bread alone, he needs the odd muffin to keep him sane.  I don’t think anybody ever said that, but they should have.  Muffins are like mini breads.  Quicker to make and quicker to eat, and just as satisfying for a host of different reasons. 

You don’t need to make a sandwich out of a muffin, you can just bake your filling in.  Of course, that doesn’t preclude you from adding more fillings afterwards.  For more than 25 years these muffins, in one form or another, have been a mainstay of my mother’s kitchen.  The basic recipe is so easy to make, and the results so irresistably delicious that they were one of the recipes I gave to Garden & Home magazine for their May feature on me.

We sell several batches a day in the deli, and I have some in the oven whilst I type.  So, I’ve got 35 minutes to get the recipe down for you, and to link it to the lovely Chris at Melecotte, who is hosting this week’s WHB.  Originally the brainchild of Kalyn (Kalyn’s Kitchen), Weekend Herb Blogging is now in its 4th year and is being administered by Haalo at Cook (almost) anything.

So click here for the recipe, and yes, they qualify for WHB because they are full of homemade basil pesto.  Feel free to substitute any of your own herbs, cheeses, or other muffiny type things like crispy bacon bits, or slices of preserved green fig, apple or peppers.

Happy weekend everybody.

Whoops!  Clearly I am on African Time.  This week’s host is Marija from Palachinka.  Sorry Chris, but nice to discover a new blog anyway.  Thanks for hosting Marija.