Triple Chocolate Cheesecake!

Mileage: 1,686

I am hosting a book club meeting at my home this Sunday. I needed to come up with a tasty dessert. I turned my food guru and hero, Martha Stewart and she never disappoints. I found her recipe for Triple Chocolate Cheesecake, Yum! (Recipe below)

Keeping my fingers crossed I can make it and it will turn out good!

Cheesecake
Ingredients:
1 package (9 ounces) chocolate wafer cookies
 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
 4 bars (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
 1 1/2 cups sugar
 1/2 teaspoon salt
 4 large eggs
 1 cup sour cream
 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
 Chocolate Ganache, for topping

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Assemble a 9-inch springform pan with the raised side of the bottom facing down.

1. In a food processor, pulse cookies until finely ground. Add butter, and pulse to moisten. Transfer to prepared pan, and press crumbs firmly and evenly into the bottom. Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet; bake 10 minutes, and set aside.
2. Wipe out bowl and blade of food processor. Add cream cheese, sugar, and salt; blend until smooth. With motor running, add eggs, then sour cream, and finally chocolate; blend filling until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
3. Pour filling onto crust, and bake just until set, 1 hour. Turn oven off, and let cheesecake sit 1 hour in oven, without opening (this helps prevent cracking).
4. Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan (this helps prevent cracking, too); leave in pan, and cool completely on wire rack. Cover loosely and refrigerate, at least 6 hours or up to overnight.
5. Prepare Chocolate Ganache. Unmold cheesecake. Spread ganache in center of cheesecake; let set before serving.

Chocolate Ganache Topping
Ingredients:
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Remove from heat, and add chocolate. Stir until melted, then set aside until thickened, 2 to 5 minutes.

Make sure and let set before serving. Serves 12.

To Kill A Mockingbird - Book & Movie

Mileage: 1,546

For our monthly book club meeting, we have selected To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It is the 50th Anniversary of the publishing of the novel, so to celebrate, we are reading the book again. We have scheduled to at meet at my home to watch the movie on DVD. We are going to discuss the themes in the book and discuss the differences between the book and the movie.

Skyfall - James Bond 50 Years of Movies

Mileage: 1,521

This Saturday after doing some Christmas shopping, I thought I would go see the new James Bond movie Skyfall. It had a few things going for it, one, Adele sings the opening song, love Adele! Two, it was getting good reviews and three, it was featured on 60 Minutes last weekend. One way to make a good James Bond movie is to have a good villain and this time they did in the form of Javiar Bardem with a bad hair piece making him even more creepy than most Bond villains. This movie did  sort of a "re-set" you will figure out what I mean once you see the movie.

I guess at the 50 year mark,  007 might need to be "re-set" to garner a new wave of fans, especially the younger crowd. This Bond movie had more humor in it and that appealed to me greatly. Sure, I like a good over the top action scene, but to deliver a pithy one-liner at just the right time, makes it even more enjoyable. Though I had my doubts about having a "blond" Bond, I am warming up to Daniel Craig, and heck I would love to cuddle with him too, I enjoyed this one completely and look forward to more Bond movies in the future. At 50, Bond (and the series) are still very entertaining and dashing as ever.

Lincoln - New Movie by Steven Spielberg

Mileage: 1,323

On a rainy Saturday afternoon, I went to see the movie Lincoln, the main focus of the movie was President Lincoln's attempt to pass the 13th Amendment (ending slavery) and presumably to help end the civil war. The movie was well done, well acted, and for the most part very accurate. Daniel Day Lewis excellent job as Lincoln, he made him more human and less god-like. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

Trip to Lancaster, CA

Mileage: 1,197

The Focus now has over 1,100 miles on it.  I drove it to Lancaster in the Mojave desert to visit my brother, Robert and his wife Alexis. I had transferred some home movies for him and wanted to make sure and return the movies and give him the DVD I had made for his family.

Had a great time visiting with Robert we went out to lunch at fun restaurant with tasty food.

More info on the transferred movies:

Book Club Meeting - Shell Beach, CA

Mileage: 538

Book Club Meeting for November 2012

We had a wonderful lunch and conversation at our monthly Book Club meeting at Basque Restaurant. The book we read was Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Attending were Left to Right, me, Rachel, Susan, Rachel's friend, and Rita.

The restaurant we select was a Alphy;s Basque Chateau, Shell Beach, CA. The cuisine comes from the Basque region, which occupies an area in and around the Pyrenees mountains on the border separating France and Spain. In keeping with Basque restaurant traditions, all entrees are served family style with fresh bread, Basque soup, salad, beans and Spanish salsa. Entrees include lamb, steak, chicken, pork and seafood dishes.