Blueberry cheesecake

I'm running out of memories to write about...it's time to make new ones. :) What's best but making memories of good food along with photographs to make them last. Then again, I remember that blueberry cheesecake is one I often ask a friend to bring me whenever she comes over. Then again, shaking my head, it was a plain blueberry graham sandwich at the least.

There are still a lot of stuff I need to familiarize around the city, on top of this would be the grocery store. :) I get lost in the cheese section a lot! I can't remember when did I start looking for cream cheese in many stores but don't recall recognizing them. Sure there's Philadelphia but I've used them always on our sandwiches. I then stumbled on a recipe of cheesecake using Philadelphia and that got me excited. So a day and some more hours of waiting comes this masterpiece :D ....my blueberry cheesecake on graham crust!

Ingredients:

* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

* 2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 12 graham crackers)

* 2 ( 8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

* 3/4 cup sugar

* 2 large eggs

* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

* 1 teaspoon lemon juice

* 1 (10 ounce) jar blueberry jam

* 1 cup blueberries

* 1 tsp sugar

* pinch of cinnamon

How to:

Crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend first 4 ingredients in processor until graham crackers are finely ground. Add butter and vanilla; process until moist crumbs form. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Bake crust until deep golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool.

filling: In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium high until creamy. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice and beat until creamy and well blended.

Pour filling onto prepared crust. Bake for 30 minutes, until set and slightly puffed. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature. When cooled, garnish with blueberries

Make sauce by placing blueberry jam, sugar and cinnamon in a small pan. Bring to a simmer and cook until sauce is lightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Cool. Cover blueberries with jam then place the cheesecake in the refrigerator to chill completely.

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Jobs, school etc...

I finished school some months now (German), and I've been working for our firm  hubby's a self-employed Graphic Artist and I am his assistant...doing paperwork and accounting stuff, talking to clients and all that.

I recalled that during our deliberation in class, I said that I want to pursue my real love, photography, should it not be possible I'd want to be an English-language trainer. I've seen how the interest for English learning boosted among students and adults in Vienna through the years. If I register myself as a professional photographer, I would need to do the Meisterprüfung. An exam to determine one's knowledge of photography. Since it has been a long time that I took photography classes, I might not remember the basics of film developing and printing as well. This is why I need to take another course, either teacher training or photography... I however, do not want the hassle of everyday going to class, I just did that for 6 months and most of the classes are in the evening! I was advised to take a course at an accredited online university, either in teaching or photography.

I haven't decided until now...I sometimes still find myself in an IT job search website, browsing for jobs related to home work...translation and writing that is.

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Restaurant City and Cafe World for real

What if your Restaurant City and Cafe world restaurants are real? If a food blogger is really up to his or her dream of making it big, it doesn't end up with just one's love for food. At some point, they go to that stage of cooking their favorite food at home, discovering how each dish is concocted and what the secret ingredient to a hearty meal is. With this comes also the want to make food aesthetically pleasing, a good mix of color, a lovely sprinkle of garnish and a lovely arrangement. Thus, it follows that food photography is an inevitable course. There might be ideas of attending a culinary school or a photography class. Along the way, the foodie invests in professional cookware too. Finally, after spending too much time in the kitchen and restaurant hopping, the foodie wants to open up a foodshop with herself/himself as the Chef.

Setting up a restaurant involves a handful of tasks that are time-consuming, mentally draining and physically tiring. Aside from location, licenses, budget, staff hiring/training, one must also plan and think of the smaller yet crucial matters such as consumer target, water and electricity connection, interior design restaurant equipment and foodservice supplies.

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Focusing on restaurant equipments, Wasserstrom.com is your one-stop online shop. From smallwares and tabletop items, like flatware, tableware, glassware, to smallwares and kitchen utensils, from table service to displayware, from pizza to bakery gadgets, from storage supplies to beverage equipments. Order menu boards and signages, and even furniture. Pricing and shipping is also provided in the website.

With diverse and comprehensive product lines in the foodservice industry, Wasserstrom is a big help to cut down not only on the time you alloted for preparation,their tested products are sure to last making you save on money as well...They even customize and design what your equipment specification are, wasserstrom restaurant supplies are the best that you can depend on.

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Khao Phat Supparot

Another thai recipe for this week! ;)

Growing up, the only sinangag (fried rice) I've cooked was traditional Filipino, rice on oil and sauted garlic plus salt. When I'm up to it, I'll beat in an egg too. On days that I really am in the mood to cook a decent  breakfast, there would be baby carrots, sweet corn kernels and green peas in addition. Then again, we Filipinos almost always eat rice with a viand. Along with fried rice would be a sunny side up egg, bacon, ham or hotdogs. More fancy would be tapa (cured beef) or other marinated meat.

Through the years, I've learned to accomodate the different rice variation and recipes other culture has to offer.  Some of the more popular of them would be Spain's Paella, India's Biryani, China's Yang chow, Japan's many Dons, Greece's Pilaff and Italy's Risottos. This was my first time cooking Thailand's Khao Phat Supparot (stir fried rice and pineapple) - for dinner, honestly I was a bit hesitant and I really thought that the family wouldn't want to try but lo and behold! They literally cleaned the plates! The only reds I actually have here would be the bell peppers and the ketchup which obviously can't be seen. Anyway, recipe is below, please enjoy!

Ingredients

* 1 pineapple
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 garlic cloves coarsely chopped
* 1/4 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
* 1 boneless skinless chicken breast half diced
* 2 eggs
* half red bell pepper, cut into small squares
* 1-1/2 tablespoons crab paste in soybean sauce
* 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
* 3 green onions including 1" tender green thinly sliced
* 4 cups cold cooked long grain jasmine rice crushed gently to break up any clumps
* 2 tablespoons fish sauce
* Fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
* 1 tablespoon fried shallots
*cashew nuts (optional)

Directions

-(Optional) Preheat oven to 400. Cut pineapple in half lengthwise. Hollow out each half leaving the shells intact and setting the pineapple pulp aside. Put the shells hollow side up on a baking sheet and bake until the excess moisture has dried out about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set shells aside.

-Meanwhile coarsely chop enough of the reserved pineapple pulp to measure 1 cup then set aside. Preheat a wok over medium high heat. When pan is hot add oil, salt and garlic then stir fry for 30 seconds. Increase heat to high then add shrimp and chicken and stir fry for 2 minutes.

-Crack eggs into pan over the shrimp and chicken and break up the yolks with the tip of a spatula. Cook eggs without stirring until set about 30 seconds. When the whites turn opaque add the crab paste and ketchup then stir once or twice then toss in the green onions, cooked rice and fish sauce.

-Break up any remaining clumps of rice and stir fry to mix and evenly season the rice and to heat it through about 2 minutes. Add the reserved chopped pineapple pulp and bell peppers and cashews then toss and stir to heat through about 1 minute. Transfer rice mixture to the pineapple shells heaping it attractively (if you opt for the shells). Garnish with cilantro leaves and fried shallots then serve immediately.

P.S. Sorry for the confusion, this was not for breakfast but dinner... :)

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