Who is this?

Not a pretty sight.


I know. This is the face without the teeth. I am reminded of the hundreds of times in our youth when we would come in the presence of a grandparent or an uncle and they would push out a denture and we would run screaming, just scared to death. And the street bums without teeth. I very much associate this look with the ravages of age and poverty.

I will have to give my teeth a whole new take on life. I have to re-"view" them so that I don't get caught up in the negative stereotype of getting dentures.

I think I am just a little blue today. I am not eating enough and it is wearing me down. I have lost now 12 pounds. That is nice but at what cost. I forced myself to eat a whole bowl of oatmeal for dinner tonight. It was a real push. And I love oatmeal. But it was difficult.

Now for a lighter note. Let us talk CHEESECAKE!

I was commissioned to make a cheesecake for a woman in the office. Georgia bought the ingredients. Lemons, sour cream, cream cheese (the one she bought was a bit too salty and I had to do some finagling with that.) So I left the ingredients out for a few hours to get them room temperature. I separated eggs and began to make the crust. I am looking for my pan when it comes to me. I can't find it because Beth still has it! In New Hampshire I have 6 springform pans. I can make a cheesecake any time. Here I have one. If the pan is not returned before I have to make another, what to do. Now, how often do I even have to make a cheesecake? Let alone two in two weeks? So, this whole thing is odd. It is 11:30 at night and I am standing in my tiny kitchen and I am thinking - well, Beth is a night owl too..... So I called her and her Martha Stewart voice answers the phone. We chat, we laugh as usual because we love to make fun of everyone, then we talk about the cheesecake. God bless her, she is willing to put on her coat and bring the pan over. Luckily, she only lives ten minutes from me. She gives me the pan, I give her chocolate. She treasures chocolate as much as me. And then, when the cake is cut on Friday, I will snag a piece for her.

I just took the cake out of the oven. It looks good. No crack. Smooth. Just lovely. I love making cheesecake. I think I might create a chocolate drizzle for it tomorrow. We'll see. I will bring it in when I go to my knitting class. That way, Georgia can take it out of the fridge in the morning as a good cheesecake should be served at room temperature. If she takes it out at say 8:30 in the morning, then if they serve it by noon, it will be perfect. I don't know. People are funny about stuff like that.

OK. 1:30 in the morning. I haven't done anything on Christmas. Time to shut down in the kitchen. The plants are watered. Shut this little computer down and get to work. New pot of coffee made. Four hours. I can do a lot in four hours............