Lavender Loveliness Cheesecake

I love lavender and anything to do with it and I also love cheesecake so combining the two can only be good. Lavender season is just coming to an end but you can still find it blooming in gardens. I find it irresistible and grab handfuls of it while out walking. If your lavender bush is one I have massacred, I’m sorry about that I just can’t help myself.

This is one of those recipes that you need to start the day before if you want the full effect of the sugared lavender adorning the cheesecake. So if you have people coming over tonight and you need something quick, better keep looking cuz this isn’t going to work for you unless you want to just go with non-sugared lavender. This dessert also needs to set in the fridge for a few hours.

You will need:

• ladyfingers (one packet should be enough unless you are like me and keep crumbling them when you meant to break them instead…)
• 250ml whipping cream
• 1 and 1/2 boxes of cream cheese (and none of this ‘lite’ cream cheese please. yuck!)
• 3/4 cup good honey like fireweed or blackberry. If you are really keen, you can infuse your honey with rose petals for 24hrs but they have to be from fragrant roses or nothing will happen and you will wonder what I was on about. It’s not necessary to do this but I LOVE the subtle scent of roses in my honey.
• a handful of lavender buds that you have just picked from the garden. Unpicking the lavender sachet that has been in your underwear drawer for the past 10 years and trying to use that lavender will not work nearly as well and, frankly, is just plain wrong. And kind of gross. Anyway.
• Some longer lavender sprigs that look pretty
• about 1 and 1/2 cups of white sugar
• A springform pan. Google it. Yes you need it.

OK here we go.

The night before, you are going to sugar the lavender. Kinda like the sugared rose petals but not really.

1. Make a simple sugar syrup. Put 2 cups of water in a saucepan, turn heat to medium, when it is warmish, dissolve 1 cup of sugar in the water. Keep heating it until it boils and then remove from heat. Let it cool.

2. Sort out the best of the lavender springs (you might need 7 or 8 for the final finishing touch on the cake)

3. One at a time, dip the sprigs in the sugar water and hold them there for a minute or so then remove and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Put them on a sheet of tinfoil to dry overnight.

They should look sort of like this. And really, who cares if they look completely different. It’s your cheesecake!

Alright now go and finish the laundry and clean up the bathroom and put all the shoes away and the kids to bed and I’ll meet you back here tomorrow.

 

Good morning :)

Ok first things first. Check your sugared lavender. Should look exactly the same as it did last night when you finally made it to bed except that now it will have hardened-up. Good job!

Now, get your springform pan and tighten it up. I’ve made the mistake before of not tightening it before making a dessert and that pretty much defeated the purpose of the whole thing so don’t get offended, just make sure it’s locked up.

Put the kettle on. Trust me.

Crack open the ladyfingers and lay a layer of them on the bottom of the pan. Yes, you will need to break them into smaller pieces so that they fit. Go crazy! I don’t recommend sampling them. They are kind of gross on their own and are much better when they have soaked up whatever it is they are meant to soak up.

Keep enough ladyfingers so that you can line the sides of the pan with them later. You will need to use a sharp knife to cut them in half (crossways).

Now you need to make the lavender infusion. You will need about 3 or 4 tablespoons of lavender buds. Using a mortar and pestle, crush them so that they just start to turn brown.

 

Put the crushed buds in a small bowl and add about 6 tablespoons of hot water (that you have previously boiled and allowed to cool slightly– see I told you to put the kettle on).

The water should just cover the lavender. Allow the buds to soak for about 15 minutes. The buds will be a nasty brown colour and the water will be tea-coloured.

While the lavender infusion is infusing, find a big mixing bowl and whip up your whipped cream. Set it aside.

Find another bowl. I don’t know how else to tell you to mix the honey and cream cheese together other than to say “mix the cream cheese and honey together now or you will mess up the timing”. Timing is everything people. Stay with me here!

cream cheese and honey is a match made in heaven.

Ok so by now your infusion will be ready. Less is more when it comes to lavender so go easy and spoon in about a tablespoon of the lavender water (the liquid only) into the cream cheese/honey mixture. Try it for taste and add a LITTLE bit more if you like. We are going for subtle here, people, not overwhelming. Lavender can be overpowering if you use too much.

Ok now whip that all together and admire for a moment.

Now get the bowl of whipped cream

add about 1 and 1/2 cups of whipped cream to the cream cheese/honey/lavender mixture. You can use beaters if you like to whip everything together, but don’t overwhip or too much air will get into everything and we don’t want that.

 

It should look like this.

Now take your bowl of whipped loveliness over to the springform pan and spoon it onto the ladyfingers so that it completely covers the ladyfingers on the bottom of the pan.

Then slide in the ladyfinger halves (that you cut earlier) all around the inside of the pan

Nice!

Now put the whole thing in the fridge and come back in a few hours (minimum 2)  when it has set.

Now the fun part! Take your sugared lavender sprigs and arrange on top of your masterpiece. Remove the springform just before serving. Tip: loosen the springform slowly and gently ease it up over the ladyfingers, using your fingers to hold them in place while doing so. I find this keeps everything together nicely.

And if I had been organized, I would have taken a picture of my own finished masterpiece before it was consumed at a birthday party but alas I did not so you will have to enjoy your own instead :)

Yum!

Everything’s Coming Up Roses! Jane’s Rose Petal Cake (with apologies to Persian Love Cake)

 

I love this time of year for many reasons but a fragrant rose has to be one of my most favourite things. I recently came across a bottle of rose water for sale at a local deli and couldn’t resist it. When I found a recipe for Persian Love Cake featuring rose water and candied rose petals, well I figured it was all just meant to be. I will admit here that I modified it slightly. So for those of you who are Persian and feel like I may have committed a crime, well, I’m sorry.

*You need to plan ahead to make this cake because the rose petals need a day and night to cure or set or candy or whatever it is they do.

This is a great recipe to make with little girls:)

You will need:

Candied rose petals

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• A bunch of rose petals that have not been sprayed with something evil. Make sure they smell good too– not all roses are fragrant, people.

Cake

• 1 cup flour (No, you shouldn’t use whole wheat. It’s a cake)
• 14 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 6 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1/4 teaspoon ground whole cardamom seeds (removed from about 5 green cardamom pods). And if, by some chance, you can’t actually find whole green cardamom pods because we don’t live in Sri Lanka or wherever whole green cardamom pods are from, just grind up whatever you can find at Safeway or wherever. It’s OK. Relax.

Icing

• 2/3 cup icing sugar or more…
• as much water as you need so that it’s not too thick and not too runny- start with a couple of tablespoons.
• 1 teaspoon rose water (that’s right – only 1 teaspoon. Trust me. It’s freakin’ strong stuff. Well. Ok – you could use a little more if you want but I’d say NO MORE that 2 teaspoons or you will wish you hadn’t)
• 2 tablespoons natural unsalted pistachios (Or not. We were fresh out of natural unsalted pistachios at our house and judging by the number of people who asked, “hey! Where are the natural unsalted pistachios?” (which was exactly None) I think you’re good to go without them).

Ok First you have to make the candied rose petals. Choose the best petals. Spray a drying rack with olive oil. Whip up the egg whites.  Spread half a cup of sugar out on a plate or in a shallow bowl. OK ready? Dip a rose petal in the foamy egg whites (you’ll need to keep going crazy on those egg whites with a fork to keep them foamy), then either dip it in the sugar (easier if you are 8yrs old), or put the petal down on a plate and sprinkle evenly with sugar on both sides (easier if you are older than 8)

When you are done they will look sort of like this. Now go do something else for the rest of the day and come back tomorrow.

Alright feeling refreshed?

Cake:

Preheat to 325. Find two round pans that are approx. the same size and grease them however you like to grease your pans (go crazy).

Mix up the flour, 7 TBSP sugar, baking powder and salt. Find another bowl and mix up the yolks, water, oil, lemon zest, and the ground cardamom. I always forget if you’re supposed to add the wet to the dry or the dry to the wet and I know my Grade 7 Home Ec. teacher is rolling in her grave (her name escapes me…anyone?) but really, people, I don’t think it matters. Mix them together however you like. I hate preachy recipes. It will look like this:

Ok now you need to beat the crap out of the egg whites, while periodically adding a tbsp of sugar, until the egg whites stand up on their own and you have added 7 tbsp total.

Add them into the other bowl of batter.

Resist the urge to eat the raw batter.

Pour the batter into the two cake pans and bake ‘em up! About 25 mins, don’t overcook or tomorrow, you will lock your keys in your car. Or something.

And…take them out when they are done (you will know they are done because when you stab them with a knife, the knife is clean when it comes out). Let them cool for a bit and then turn them out on to racks to cool completely. Your daughter will want to rush this next part but I’m telling you now, it you don't let them cool completely, the icing will run off the cakes and you will have two soggy cakes, no icing, and will feel bad. Just sayin’.

Icing – mix water and icing sugar together. I’m sure you have done this before. If not, well, just mix them together. Add the rose water. and add a little more icing sugar. If you are doing this with little girls, you may want to add a drop of red food colouring or squeeze a beet or whatever it is you do to make it a nice shade of pink. Boys will want it to be green. I know this to be true. Whatever, people, whatever. Make sure you can still pour the icing because that’s what you are going to do next.

If you like, you can either ice between the cakes, or spread a layer of jam (yum) or whatever. Then stick one cake on top of the other and admire your work.

Then pour the icing all over the two cakes. Keep going until it is covered and who cares if it's not perfect. It should look something like this:

Now the fun part! Get your beautiful candied rose petals from yesterday (they are just over there on the counter behind you) and have your daughter artfully arrange them on the cake. She will likely overdo it, but who cares.

Then stand back together and admire your beautiful cake.

And if perhaps, you have a 14yr old son like I do, you can wait for him to say “Hey it’s a pepperoni cake” like mine did :)

 

Cheers and happy baking!

Island Hopping Part 2 – Sunshine Coast, Neil Diamond and Smitty’s Oyster House. Sigh…

I’m on my back staring at the deep blue summer sky. Tiny waves lap and splash under the dock and my world rocks gently back and forth.  While it’s probably carcinogenic, the smell of the creosote and tar that coat the pilings, the salty ocean and the sun baked wood of the dock combine forces and take me back years and years to when I was a girl and lay on this exact spot.

Gambier Island is an annual pilgrimage for me and I look forward to my next visit the very second I have left for this year. I could go on and on but instead I’ll give you my top-10 reasons  (in no particular order) why I love this particular part of the BC coast:

10. The waters of Howe Sound are actually warm enough to swim in without causing complete paralysis. There’s no sand, but there are docks and pier and the jumping and swimming is endless.

Witness Jacob in mid-leap off the pier at Gambier Harbour.

 

9. BC Ferries always figures prominently in the trip to Gambier as it requires three ferries.  It’s usually a beautiful trip and the kids are always in a good mood which slightly counteracts the fact that I did miss three ferries on the way there. So, to be clear, I don’t actually LIKE BC ferries, but I do find they offer significant blog material. For example, I’m pretty sure the 20 or so cars that made it as far as the on-ramp on to the Langdale Ferry at Horseshoe Bay also do not like BC Ferries. How exactly the ferry workers mis-judged that one I do not know. All I know is that nobody was happy at the prospect of having to back off the ramp, which is what all the cars and motorcycles had to do. As the lower deck was also full, they missed the ferry. Whoops!

8. Signage on BC Ferries.

Jacob and I also spent most of the 40 minute trip from Horseshoe Bay (or Horse-Poo Bay as the kids refer to it, based on the absolute lack of anything interesting or stimulating to be found there) laughing hysterically at the sign below. WTF.

We were very unclear on what exactly the message was here but came up with several suggestions:

• Caution: Assemble here for Human/Dwarf merging
• Caution: Human/Giant Merging station
• Caution: Angry Elves may appear from any direction – protect your children at all times

Any more suggestions? I’m going to send them to BC Ferries.

7. Lunch at Smitty’s Oyster House in Gibson’s. Once an marine shop, this funky building has undergone extensive renos and did they ever do an amazing job. Loved the bright blue brick walls, the black woodwork, the amazing old windows that seem to open 10 different ways, as well as the original boom that reaches out over the boardwalk and was used to bring engines right into the shop to be worked on. My cousin Mel, her husband Stuart, and Jacob and I came for lunch but would happily have stayed for dinner if we hadn’t had to catch a ferry. We were seated outside on the patio at a huge long table where we were instructed by our slightly offensive, but hysterically funny server, to sit in twos opposite each other. Other people joined us and it soon felt like one big lunch party. The wine and conversation flowed, oysters arrived, delicious crab cakes were devoured, halibut fritters (cooked to perfection) consumed in vast quantities, and all the while boats came and went from the marina, waves lapped under the pier, and happiness reigned. I will definitely be back at the next opportunity, if not sooner :)

6. Commotion by the Ocean. This was my second time attending this annual event on Gambier Island. Held as a fundraiser for the Island’s Community Centre, the concert features Island native Bobby Bruce who is perhaps better known as Nearly Neil as in Nearly Neil Diamond. I have never been a huge Neil Diamond fan, except in a ironic sort of way but can say that I am now a huge Bobby Bruce fan. In my humble opinion, this guy is BETTER than Neil Diamond. The concert consisted of a set of Nearly Neil (excellent) followed by an appearance by Abba Kid Abra, an Abba tribute band that I could have skipped, another set by the Gambier Band who were just awesome, and then another set by Bobby Bruce singing some tunes written by Gambier Island songwriters, some of his own work and a bunch of covers. This guy can sing with the best of them. Throw in a beer garden, pulled pork sandwiches and corn on the cob, and it was a great night. Slightly surreal, but great none-the-less.

Nice shirt, Neil.

5. My Aunt and Uncle’s house. I may have gone off about this before but it really is a little slice of heaven. The garden is idyllic, the house so cool and comfortable, and the company is always wonderful.

4. Cousins.

 

 

3. Potter Organics (AKA my uncles garden)

2. My Aunt Louise’s Kitchen.

While she claims it’s all in the reading of the recipe, I beg to differ. Every last thing that comes out of this kitchen is delicious. Jacob will attest to this – he ate three full plates of Turkey dinner, followed by pie, as will Zoe who starts talking about my aunt’s strawberry shortcake about 11 months before we are due to go.

1. It really is sunny on the sunshine coast and it makes everyone smile. Just look at this blue sky:

Can’t wait to go back!

Island Hopping Part 1 Stuart Island – Camping, I Don't Think I Hate You Anymore

I’m sitting beside the campfire, smoke and ash drift pass my face. The sun has set, and the sky is a clear deep inky blue so it’s only by the light of the flames that I can check on the progress of my S’more. My marshmallow, roasted to perfection, sits waiting while the chocolate melts on its graham cracker base. I lick the chocolate off my fingers from the last S’more and take a sip of tea.

This little scene is acting itself out in various ways all round this campfire. To my left, several kids inspect the charred remains of their marshmallows while to the right, a couple of dads alternate between swilling beer, inhaling s’mores, and solving the problems of the world. It’s 10pm on Saturday night on Stuart Island and the Baldwin Family Campground and all is well in our world.

I must admit that if all aspects of camping were this enjoyable, I probably wouldn’t object so much to the general prospect of trying to live outdoors for several days in a row. I’ve never been a great camper, but before I had kids, I could at least tolerate it. We would grab a few things, throw the tent in the car, stop at the grocery store and then spend a few days lazing around the lake or wherever before heading back to work or school. Then I had kids and all hell broke loose. I have effectively blocked out most memories of a four-day camping trip spent with other families when Jacob was 8 and Zoe 3. All I can remember is being extremely sleep deprived due to a 5yr old boy to whom I shall refer as Bobby for friendship’s sake, who decided that 4:45am would be the perfect time to wake up each morning. More’s the pity that Bobby and his long-suffering dad’s tent was only a few metres from our own. Mornings went something like this:

Bobby: (forcing a whisper) “Daaaaaaaad”

Bobby’s Dad: “smurgsch”

Bobby: (whining now) “Daaaaaaaad I’m hungry”

Bobby’s Dad: “Bobbygobacktoslee….”

Bobby: “But Daaaaad I’m hungry and I’m uncomfortable”

Bobby’s Dad: (Trying to whisper) “Bobby! I’m SLEEPING!

Me: (In my head) “Yeah, Bobby, we’re all sleeping don’t you know?”

Bobby: (At full volume and starting to cry) “BUT I’M HUNGRY AND I DON’T WANT TO BE IN THE TENT ANYMORE AND I HAVE TO GO PEE AND WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH WAHHHHHH”

Me: (In my head) “Bobby, none of us want you to be in your tent anymore. I’m thinking Nanaimo actually”

Bobby’s Dad: (yelling through clenched teeth. At 4:45am) “BOBBY JUST BE QUIET AND GO BACK TO SLEEP YOU ARE DISTURBING EVERYONE AND I’M STARTING TO LOSE MY TEMPER”

Me: (In my head) “starting?”

Bobby: “I HATE CAMPING IT’S STUPID AND I’M HUNGRY AND I HATE YOU YOU ARE STUPID AND YOU ARE GOING TO WAKE EVERYONE UP NOT ME AND EVERYONE IS STUPID HERE WHY DO THEY ALL HAVE TO BE SLEEPING STILL I WANT TO GET UP”

Me: (in my head) “Don’t go there, Bobby”

Bobby’s Dad: “FINE! I’LL JUST GET UP THEN AND I’M WARNING YOU I’LL BE GRUMPY ALL DAY”

Me: (in my head) “You don’t even know what grumpy is, Bobby’s Dad. I’ll show you grumpy”.

At this point, the antics of Bobby and his Dad had woken up half the campsite, the half that were under the age of 8 that is, and so began another very long day full of sleep-deprived adults, and cranky kids. Throw into the mix meal preparation for 62 people or however many it was, and a general cacophony of screaming and demands for snacks and toys that had been left behind at home, and it was a nightmare I swore never to repeat.

And so I swore off camping for several years. Friends would suggest a camping trip. “This” I would respond, pointing to myself “Does not camp”. They would roll their eyes but I didn’t care.

Then a couple of years ago, friends conspired against me and planned a joint family camping trip to Stuart Island, which is a lovely little island in the San Juan Islands, only a few miles by boat away from Victoria. Friends owned land there and held an annual camping trip. I was my usual difficult self proclaiming that I would go camping when I was dead and not before. To make matters even less appealing to me, this ‘campground’ was boat access only, and had no bathroom. Nothing. No cabin, no outhouse, just a hole in the ground. And not a very deep hole at that.

Well I’ll save you the details but somehow, I found myself packing camping gear, then I found myself on the boat, and then there I was at the campsite. And I’m here to say that, apart from the hole in the ground, and in spite of myself, I actually had a good time.

And so it is two years later that I find myself here again at the Baldwin family campground eating too many s’mores, meeting interesting people, and actually enjoying being outside, hiking, swimming, and cooking communally. There were a few minor glitches like when the boat hit a rock and severely damaged the motor so that we could no longer use it and had to rely on our 15horse kicker instead. It was a long trip back. And also the fact that Kent managed to fall onto a Douglas Fir branch and embed a piece of it in his leg. Nonce, the token Doctor on site, and I tried to remove the rather large ‘splinter’ that was protruding from his shin, but couldn’t budge it. After feeding Kent several glasses of whiskey, and bandaging it up for the night, we decided we would have to find a clinic the next day in Friday Harbour. $180, a few hours, and a few stitches later, Kent was good to go.

But in spite of these events, there’s something about being outside early in the morning, or sitting around the campfire with a cup of tea, vaguely wondering, but not worrying, where the kids are that is just so relaxing and calming, it almost makes me want to do it again.

I think I’ll wait a year. 

Camp Kitchen

Kent on the post-surgical unit. Note the cup of Fire Whiskey in his hand…

Jacob at any given point except for when he is sleeping (see below)

The trip over when the motor still worked. Note the sleeping Jacob.

Roche Harbour

The Crew

Kent about to provide his opinion on topic x

 

This yacht had an open house and we were COMPLETELY ignored by the salesman. And I was going to write a cheque, too, but the bathroom was too small.

 

Kent sleeping off the effects of his anaesthetic…

Cemetery Island

  The campground from the water. It helps when it is soo beautiful everywhere.

The lovely and hospitable Penelope and Eric, who so kindly have us all to stay on their land.

4th of July festivities on Stuart Island

Boat ride home and two sleeping 8yr olds.