Cheesecake on Wednesday!

This proves that I made Baking Week 4's assignment (sort of, I accidentally did the wrong recipe) and I'm posting on time! This is a first and likely a last post that will be up on time :)

BAKE 52 Week 4: Cheesecake.
I did the lemon cheesecake. It turns out I was supposed to do the light cheesecake.
So this actually turned out fabulous. The whole time (all 32 hours) I was grumbling that this would probably not even be as good as Coscos and so I was going to all this work for nothing, who ever hear of a cheesecake that had to be baked, who ever saw such a weird looking cheese cake etc. However, after tasting it, I take it all back! I LOVE cheesecake and this was awesome! (I did not make the lemon curd on the top-too scared of the eggs. I just used some out of a jar, my fav type).
Isn't it lovely? :)

It was time consuming-mostly just spent hours in the fridge, but, it was not difficult. It actually came together fairly quickly. I was a little worried about using one package of the 1/3 less fat cream cheese (accidentally did not get enough of the real stuff) but it turned out to be no problem, it blended well with the other two boxes and the heavy cream I guess :) One of my fav features was the super fine lemon sugar. You just food process sugar and lemon zest-it was delish and I think I will try to find an occasion to use it (no idea what for, but I loved it!). In this case, it was just mixed into the cake. To see the recipe for the low fat version see this week's host at otherthingsnice.blogspot.com
 To see the rest of the girls in the bake club, check out this linky thing at the bottom of the post (no idea how to do this so if it does not work, I'll get it figured out tomorrow).


So, thank you to all of my faithful followers for your fabulous comments, I will try to think of a way to reward you. Perhaps I'll have another giveaway! (only this time I'll actually put it up on my blog rather than give it straight to the winner). I will attempt to refrain from soliciting comments for at least two weeks!

To clear up a little confusion-E was actually not too far off the mark on the Dominos thing. A recent (enough) press release stated that they do hope to deliver to astronauts in orbit. (I suppose there is now no reason for me not to go to Space.) I have eaten pizza for the past 4 meals to show my support (though it was Papa Johns so I'm not sure if that counts).

I have been to the gym four times since last Wednesday! That means that in this one week, I have been to the gym more times than the entire year of 2011! Fairly incredible! Yesterday I went to a spinning class, my dad, an avid cyclist, would be so proud (all up to the point where I actually got on the bike). The teacher kept yelling things like "are you in the aerobic zone"? and I would yell "YES!" and then he would say "Or are you in the anaerobic zone, when a cheetah is chasing you"? and I was like "YES, I PRETTY MUCH FEEL LIKE A CHEETAH IS CHASING ME"! and he would say "You should not be in the anaerobic zone, some of our new friends here today look like they are in the anaerobic zone". and I was like "WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU WENT ANAEROBIC JUST WALKING UP THE STAIRS TO GET HERE"? and sadly, I was quite serious. Still, I have to be impressed with my 4 days of diligence. Maybe something good will come of it. O keeps telling me I look like such a thin mint. Truth be told, I am the same size I was last week. I think my gym rat illusion is like a placebo for his brain.
O is still trying to recover from the Newt G thing. Just yesterday he told me he was going to fly to Florida to help Mitt out. I was like, "come again"? However, I could not say anything, as I am hardly Miss Self Restraint. Just the other day I spontaneously had to buy a new pair of black stretch pants when my black jeans (the only pair of pants I bothered to bring on my trip to Vegas) split at the seams (for the second time, it was demoralizing). However, that probably counts as therapy. And I'm fairly certain my self-esteem (which has gone up exponentially since I have been running around in those stretch pants) was worth the sale price.

Speaking of packing-next time I may bring two pairs of pants. All my fam was like "why did you only bring one pair of pants"? "What did you plan to do if something happened to this pair?" Yes, it happens so regularly that I just plan on my pants busting at the seams. The things they imply. Really, it all goes back to this time when we met Merv in Vegas and she had the teeniest bag in the world. We were all just astounded and impressed. How could a person possibly survive like 24 hours without a boat load of stuff?!? Ever since then, I have envied Merv's ease of packing. She is a true minimalist. (L has since revealed that she was merely the only one in the fam without a rolling bag, which has since been rectified, and had to carry a small duffel out and about.)
That following summer I went to Europe with J. I had the smallest backpack they make, it was actually a backpack for a monkey (apparently the man at REI who did the fitting took me very seriously when I said I was going to pack around my stuff for a month). I could only fit 10 pairs of rolled up unmentionables, 5 t-shirts, a pot of eyeshadow, mascara, and my toothbrush. I did not even take a makeup brush. (Which was a mistake, let me tell you. After all, how often do you take photos on a Tuesday at home? Well guess how many photos I took in ten minutes at the Leaning Tower of Pisa?) Still, I had learned to survive on quite a little.
The next year Merv, EP and I all went to NYC with the dance company. The three of us still like to reminisce on the reactions we got, particularly when they saw EP with a bag the size of a lunch box on wheels.

So for the next Vegas trip I showed up to the airport with just a largish purse and everyone was like, where's your luggage? Watching their puzzled looks was better than I imagined. It was one of the most hilarious things I have done. This year I really wanted to top that. I planned to hop off the plane and everyone would be like "where's your stuff"? and I would say "Oh, you mean you did not see these two thongs I have tucked in my back pocket? Oh, you must mean my toothbrush! Don't worry, I've learned from O. I'll just get one at the front desk." It would be amazing. However, as I had way to many snacks, I had to take a real size bag in the end. Still, I wanted to bag to look all flat and cool so I did not take pack anything besides Saltines, Wheat Thins, Swedish Fish, Butterfingers, Honey O's (a whole box), fruit snacks, Rips-an innovation in licorice, and gum, along with a few toiletries and two shirts. There was just no way I was sticking in a pair of pants to plump up my bag! After this last experience, I am about as puzzled as everyone generally is. I no longer understand the light packing thing. In the future, I'll probably not take two pairs of pants because that still seems rather extreme, but I'll at least add another couple of string cheeses and maybe a salad kit.