It's that time again! My mom always puts out the same meal (and no complaints for me!) for all major holidays; Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving. I know every year I can count on her special mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, turnip casserole (although that has been fewer and far between as no one really likes it), peas and turkey and/or clove and beer ham. I love it! Have I mentioned how much I enjoy stability and routine? I think that if, for one year, I were to not have that pre-stuffed, frozen Butterball turkey with a huge side of stuffing and mashed potatoes the rest of my year would be shot.
Anyways, Easter always ends up being a special time for us, not for religious reasons, but because my sister was born on April 13. Usually this means that her birthday is right around our Easter dinner and we are able to see our relatives on her birthday week. In the last year or so these family holidays have become more important because my mother has been insisting on inviting Mr. Sunshine's mom and his brother that lives with her. It's truly heartwarming to see how well they have been accepted into our quirky little family. I think on one level my mom really relates to the future mother-in-law because both of their families live on the other side of the country. I know these times can be lonely for my mother, and perhaps for future MIL as well.
Well, this holiday is going to be exciting because we are switching dessert from our traditional pie, compliments of our local farmers market, to my famous Rocky Road Cheesecake. I started making this every year for my sister's birthday a few years ago and she loves it! I posted yesterday about how sick I was feeling and how kind Mr. Sunshine was as he ran out and getting the proper ingredients. While last night around 7pm I downed some Tylenol, took some decongestant, drank some water and waited 30 minutes. When the shivering death feeling went away, I got right on making that cheesecake! Mr. Sunshine thought I was crazy and told me to wait it out, but I knew that if I waited a minute more to start I would be dying by the end.
All I can say is that this was the worst cheesecake making experience to date, and I have made this exact cheesecake at least 15 or 20 times.
For the record, the only times I ever have to make something right away that Mr. Sunshine doesn't know how to, is when I am quite sick. He will certainly remember the mini lemon cupcake fiasco for his potluck at work this past February! This means that I am left alone and he can't do anything except say, "Um... maybe you can fix that?"
Anyways, I crawled into the kitchen and started on everything as quickly as I could, reading the recipe over and over to ensure I didn't forget anything. Then disaster struck-- I had accidentally picked up no fat cream cheese instead of low fat cream cheese. Now, anyone who has ever ate a cheesecake knows the fatty rich taste and texture is key! As I poured it in and beat it, the cream cheese, which was still cold from the fridge (supposed to be room temperature, but what can ya do), literally made the sugar and cheese mix look like melted ice cream. I knew I was in trouble right then. The second disaster struck as I went to fold in the melted chocolate and it clumped into the cheese mixture in little dots, giving this chocolate cheesecake a grey colour. Appealing, no? Finally, as I went to put it over the cookie crumb crust, the whole mixture poured out of the bowl like soup. Did I mention it was supposed to have the consistency of a thin paste? Good lord, I knew I was in trouble! As I baked it 5 minutes less than normal, it came out fully cooked (and possibly over cooked) with the sides a very golden brown. I doused the top with more caramel, pecans, chocolate and marshmallows than normal and prayed.
When I pulled it out of the oven it looked gorgeous... since I had hidden everything under the marshmallows. I knew I had to call my mom.
I called her and told her that I was about 99% sure this cake was garbage. Either the colour inside, the texture, the taste-- something was going to be horrible. We agreed to buy a spare pie from our local farmers market that, thank god, is open Easter Sunday for all of us who can't bake.
So will this Easter still be exciting? For sure. We are still going to have our usual spread and we have a back up dessert. Am I ever going to forget the time I destroyed this stupid cake? Probably not-- and neither will my relatives, but where would we be without reminiscing every year about that time we ate the saltiest turkey known to mankind, or the year where we cooked the turkey upside down and it tasted fantastic, or even that time where the turkey was done four hours before we wanted it to be and my mom nearly had a panic attack?
What stories do you have about the holidays? What traditions do you keep?
~Miss. Sunshine
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