I was just trying to share my recipe for vegan cheesecake, and it's disappeared from the internet! So I'm putting it here for safe-keeping. Or something...

Vegan Cheesecake

Ingredients:
* 3 tubs Tofutti plain vegan cream cheese
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
* 2 tsp vanilla
* 1/4 cup flour
* ready-made pie crust

Method:
* Mix the "cream cheese", lemon juice, vanilla and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Once smooth, fold in the flour, mixing well.
* Pour into pie crust
* Bake at 180deg for 30-40 minute, until the top just starts to turn brown. Refrigerate overnight.
* Sprinkle with dutch cinnamon and serve.

Note: If vegan pie crust is unavailable, a vegan crust can easily be made by mixing a packet of plain biscuits (eg. Nice biscuits) with Nuttlex or other vegan margarine.

I make my own base in the blender first, and press it into a lined and well greased spring-form tin. Then using the same blender (without washing it!) I make the cheesecake part - saves on dishes.

Variations:
* Berry cheesecake - scatter frozen berries over the base before pouring on the cheesecake mixture. For extra effect, then take a 1/4 cup berries and blend them with a stick blender, carefully swirl it through the cheesecake before baking. The swirl below was made by carefully dripping the berry juice onto the cheesecake mixture using a teaspoon, forming a spiral. Then I used a chopstick to drag the swirl: starting at the centre, drag the stick to the edge. Do this 6-8 times, evenly spaced. Then midway between the existing drag lines, starting from the edge, drag the stick to the centre. Look at the piccy if that made no sense!
* Chocolate fudge - I once made up a batch of vegan chocolate fudge (must find that recipe too) and put a layer of fudge on top of the base, and similarly swirled some though after pouring. I seem to remember it was hard to cut but incredibly tasty :)

As soon as I got into the car my parents started mentioning this and that they'd like me to do around the house over the holidays. "Fair enough," says I, "but I'm not going to remember all these tasks if you just tell them to me." So I posted a piece of paper beside my door and instructed them to put any and all chores they wanted done on it. I told my sister about this as well.

Now, my Home For The Holidays To Do List reads:

• clean out under bed
• rock out
• take over Wisconsin
• regret nothing

Seems pretty manageable.

(Another Mystery Google Mission completed! Went for a run despite the cold, and the cold I'm starting to develop. Hours and hours and hours with _kommando_ and her husband [it's odd but not odd] last night and meeting their new cat. ["This cat was prophesied!"]] It's strange but talking with her I feel like my IQ shot up 60 points, I became articulate, thoughtful, hilarious, interesting, and she was right there to match it. ^_^ I think she's just incredibly calming and shuts off that part of my brain that gets anxious or oversimplifies for time and understanding conservation.)

Happy Holidays or Vacation Days!

Meme from giggly_crunchie. I think it's a lovely idea :)

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me.
This offer does have some restrictions so please read:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for YOU & you are allowed to make requests (and I will try to honour them).
- It will be done before 2011.
- It might be cookies, a mix cd, a necklace, an original haiku, a scarf, who knows!*
- You'll need to PM me your mailing address if you're one of the first 5.

In return, all you need to do is repost this on your LJ and offer to make 5 things for 5 other people.

*but some of those are unlikely from me! I'm very unlikely to write someone a haiku, for example.

Edit: I have my 5 people now :)

We came to the city with a mission. Yes, there were art galleries, and gardens, and museums, and boats, and Things, but there was also a wizard.

And we would see him.

Around each midday when he might arrive in the public square we faithfully, hopefully trotted out. Wizards, like lizards, prefer to emerge on sunny days, but the weather was decidedly unmagical for the first three days. Finally, I sat alone in the square, watching the sea red billed gulls on the ground, lamenting the failure of our pilgrimage, when... a swish of black cloak entered my peripheral vision, and I looked up to see the ArchWizard of Canterbury in full glory right before me (apparently he was arrived invisible and inaudible), preparing the ladder from which he would speak.

I took off running for Richard, who was, presumably in the washroom. Deciding he'd be out soon I ran back so as not to miss a moment. After a few minutes though I got too impatient and ran back outside the men's room, not entirely ready to storm in. Luckily I saw a gaggle of teenage school boys right outside.

Nine out of ten school boys are unhelpful. Fortunately the last one was willing, and he agreed to my request to, as he put it, "run up there, just say, 'THE WIZARD IS HERE!' and dash off, that's all." His last friend ran away from the crazy lady as he grinned a grin most cunning and took off for the mission. I turned around to see Richard standing with a hot chocolate. Ooops.

Luckily my black and white knight took it well, saying that he got some pretty kinkyodd looks for his trouble, but I told him he also got a silly story out of it, and he ran off after his cowardly friends seemingly amused.

Back to the sermon from on high (well, as high as 2 steps up a folding ladder will get you, but then, positioning is all relative anyway), which we'd actually heard the first chunk of before. Enrapturvating twas, funny, and while I think slightly outdated, there were kernels of truth that popped. I probably should judge it more harshly, come up with thoughtful points, and insights to greet the looks of "what will the feminist think?!", but instead I opt to take what I like from it, and take the rest not-at-all-seriously.

Apparently I wrote a small poem about the Wizard at our last encounter:
Grey in beard and tall of hat,
on a ladder speaking that,
which we will all too shortly learn,
was truth is beauty, life not what you earn.

( Read more... )

Unrelated: I am a Car Hero. Driving blind and empty for ~40K up and down hills on the way home. I made it on calculated timing and coasting.

There's no feeling like leaving the house at three in the morning carrying your lover's sword.

Now I have to burn things.

[Edited to add: Dataroast 2009 a success.]