Those of you who have followed this blog for a long time may recall that we attend a cheesecake party every February. This was my commentary from last year that includes many of the rules and whatnot, so I won't bore you with it again. There were 13 entries (see photo above) and this year's theme was "True and False". This meant that either your cheesecake title or your statement of rationale had to contain an element that was both true and false. I know, it all sounds a bit confusing...I only go for the fine dining (I bet that you're all picturing me wearing a bib and wielding my own silverware).The gentleman who hosts the event...the same professor Larry that hosts 'Bad Movie Night'...is an academic, and many other
Shown above is Sean's entry, Area 51, that contained such odd ingredients as: honey, dates, lemon rind and the ever-popular tofu. In fact, it contained NO cheese at all. It didn't taste too bad either. He called it Area 51 because while he and his mother were making it, he exclaimed, "You'd have to be from another world to want to eat this!" 'V' and I went with the same Chocolate Almond Cheesecake that we have entered the past two years. Predictable yet yummy. If anyone wants the recipe for either of these just send me an email and I'll be happy to pass them along.There were three newcomers to the event this year and I had a chance to chat with each of them. One man is from Houston and has been living here for five years. He works for one of the larger oil companies and has enjoyed his time on The Rock. He is an avid golfer and was disappointed to discover that you can only golf for about 7 months of the year. He was also a bit baffled as to how people here golfed in 40km/h winds.
Another young man attended with his wife and 6 month old daughter (I figured the baby should have been entered in the contest because she was a real cutie-pie...sadly, only cakes could be entered). This man is from Nigeria and has also been living here for five years. He has another year and a half to go until he completes his PhD in chemistry.
The third man was there with his two children. His name is Pete Stanbridge and he has his own company that manufactures drums. Wooden ones that you play, not the steel ones that you store stuff in. He hand makes them from exotic woods and ships them all over the world. Check out his web site if you get a chance, especially if you're in the market for a cool looking drum.
I think that it's really great that you can go to something like a cheesecake party and meet such a diverse bunch of folks from all over the place doing such different things. And here I thought we were living in such a remote location with little influence from the outside world (like an indigenous tribe in the Amazon--that would be the one in South America, not the one that sells stuff online).
Professor Larry brought the event to a close with the presentation of the prizes: all hand-picked from the bargain bin at Princess Auto. He was stunning in his tie-dyed shirt and pilgrim hat (I really should get him something more suitable, such as a fez, for next years festivities). We were not able to repeat our 'Best Overall Cheesecake' but Sean won a prize for Best Presentation and Ginny won a door prize. Sadly, I did not win the 'Most Cheesecake Consumed' award. This honour went to Professor Larry's 11 year old son. All I got was a sugar rush and a sore tummy.
I'll close with a few photos from the evening. Notice the orange one on the right of the first photo. The mice on top are made from eggshells. I thought that the Gold 'Boolean' Cake was kind of clever. The third photo has a tall, round cake in the foreground. That's actually two wheels of brie cheese stacked to top of one another, cemented together with a layer of Kraft Cheese Whiz. Interesting and effective.
