DAY 119 - CHEESE CAKE..THAT'S REAL AND NOT CHEESY...

So it's been a really long time ..
Since I wrote..
Or was excited to do something new..

Mostly because I have become just plain lazy or then , nothing was really exciting me enough...
Till Vivaan called me one day and asked me to make him a Nutella cheese cake ..
Now the thing is , Vivaan is not just someone, I really love..

He is someone I know since he was a little embryo in his Mama's tummy..

I have seen him from his diapers to his cool shorts.
He is adorable, full of manners, has swag , is a nimble footed foot baller ..
And he has an added advantage..
He is Mini's little boy ..
And that's an advantage he will have, for the rest of my life..

I was seriously tickled pink that he called me, and very politely asked, if I could make him a Nutella cheese cake..
I was so happy, that he felt that he could just call and ask, like you would with someone , you treat as your own..
It made me feel really really happy..
Like Mini and me have done something right together.
I have always maintained that kids are the best and purest part of any relationship..
And that's the part, we have to always keep free from all outside influences..

Well I had never made a Nutella cheese cake before , and so I was game.
This had bloody better be damn good, because kids are honest with what they like or dislike and , I think it's best that way..

So I googled a bit and finally found two three recipes, that made sense to me and , so I decided to do a trial before his birthday, so there are no last minute shocks or disappointments..
I sent him half a cake for tasting.
While the other half was devoured by the ZZ's and my parents.
Vivaan called me a day later, saying he loved it..
And so I was given the complete pleasure of doing Vivaan's 13th birthday cake.
Which I really want to share with you, its easy, a bit lightly complicated, but just follow the instructions..
So sometimes in life you need to follow the rules, most other times, if you do , you miss all the fun...

So here is Vivaan's 13th Birthday Cake..
For a little man, who is just the nicest little fellow I know..

And thank you for waking me from my kitchen slumber ..

Vivaan Kabir...

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY VIVAAN, stay blessed and happy...

NUTELLA CHEESE CAKE

Ingredients

Crust
8 digestive biscuits
4 Oreo  or Bourbon biscuits
3 tbsp of melted butter

Method
Put all the biscuits in a zip lock bag and with a wooden rolling pin, crush the biscuits together , they will be kind of sticky because of the cream in the biscuits.
Pour it out in a bowl , add the butter and mix till it looks like wet sand.
Taken a pan and line the sides of it with a little butter and then grease proof or butter paper, this makes the un-moulding  process easier.
Press this mix at the bottom of a spring form pan , one that has a removable base .
Press it down with a spoon , so the base is nice and firm..
Put this into the fridge for a minimum of half an hour..

Filing for the Cheesecake
12 gm - gelatin leaves or sheets
180 gm - cream cheese
90 ml - Amul cream
2 - eggs
1 tsp - Vanilla essence
80 gm - sugar
I small box Ferrero Rocher's chocolate
290gm -  Nutella

Mix the cream cheese and the Amul cream together, till soft and batter like..
Dissolve the gelatin crystals in 2 tbsp of boiling water, add it to the cream cheese..
Keep it aside, stirring from time to time, till it is about setting.

Place the egg yolks , vanilla essence and 50 gm sugar in a bowl, and cook it over a Bain Marie or a pot of hot water also known as a double boiler, till it becomes a pale yellow colour, and is nice and thick, take it off the fire, and continue beating it till it becomes cold, add this to the cream cheese mix.

Now in a separate bowl, beat the egg whites really stiff, then keep adding 1tsp of sugar to the stiff egg-whites, till they convert to a meringue consistency. I did this because I liked the texture and the consistency , its thick yet very light.
Add this to the cream cheese, egg yolk and gelatin mix, fold it in carefully.

Now take the base out of the fridge and add the roughly chopped Ferrero Rocher's chocolates on the base, pour a little of the cream cheese mix onto it.
Then pour half the bottle of the Nutella on to the mix, and stir it around with a tooth pick.
Then add the remaining cheese cake mix, and let it rest for about 15 minutes, then take it out pour the remaining of the hazelnut from the bottle onto the top of the cream cheese cake, put it back in for 10 minutes, then with a fork, just very lightly, whirl the Nutella into the cheese mix very lightly.
Now let it rest in the fridge for at least 5 hours , till the cheese cake is firm and ever so slightly wobbly, and can hold its shape, so that's its easy to slice.


I made this again a few days later, and while I was alone in my kitchen, I was thinking to myself, like I often do...

I feel in life, that NOW is just always the best time ...
To learn or do something new...
To say sorry...
To say thank you...
To say please... &...
To say "I love you" ..
I think now comes with its own "Super Power"
It's like the Star Wars Saber sword, that lights up with amazing amount of energy that makes things happen...

But I also realise that if you are in the now, it's not necessary that the person you are addressing all your energy to, is on the same page as you..

So Newton's third law of Physics , does not apply here..
For every action, there has to be an equal and opposite action..
This applies to motion .

But in Life, its a bit different..
For every action there is an equal or unequal amount of reaction, or then sometimes nothing at all..
Geez..

So lets figure this out, together..

If I want to learn something new, me and only me can make that happen..
Like I want to learn Kashmiri food..
So I'm trying my best to make that happen..

But if I'm going to address my "please, sorry, thank you and I love you" to someone else, then I am expecting , an acknowledgment back ..
Right ?

Like a perfect scenario ,would probably feel like like this ..

1-please may I ?
- yes you may/no I'm so sorry you may not !

2-I'm so sorry for
- it's OK don't do it again/ it's not OK at all, I don't want to have anything to do with you..

3-Thank you so much
- Oh , don't mention it / that's really nice of you to thank me, very few people do.

4- I love you
- Oh my God, I love you too / err I love you, but not in the way , you love me ..
So on and so forth..

So these are ideal situations , and yes I feel that that's how we would like situations in our life to unfurl..
But then what if it does not ..

What if no one responds to our "please, sorry, thank you and I love you" ?
Are they bad people... ?

I don't think so , I think their "now" is not coinciding with our "now", that's all...
And no matter how hard it is to make sense, you are just going to have to make peace with it...

Have I confused you enough..?
Great ! Because I'm confused myself..

So while I was sitting alone at night and eating a fully loaded piece of acceptable sin...
I was thinking of what my very wise and practical friend Mini once said to me ..

She once told me , that sometimes I have a Calvin and Hobbes relationship with some people...
(Frankly I totally love Calvin and Hobbes, and one day I will build myself a transmogrifier and ..
Well the rest of the plans I'm absolutely not sharing with you ha ha ha)
Well if you do not understand what 'A Calvin and Hobbes relationship is..
Let me decode it for you..
It means that , the other person is not real and what he/she says to you or how he/ she behaves with you, is just a figment of your really fertile imagination...
Which basically means
1.You are nuts..
2.Have lost your marbles
3.Probably need help
4.You are cuckoo, but not the feathered variety.
5..Just need a slice of this delicious Nutella Cheese cake..

So then if you want to ever figure, a relationship status,  you need to apply the "Now Formula", to save yourself time for bigger better things that are just waiting for you ..
This helps you figure , in the words of an amazing funny fellow Sagittarius Jaaved Jaffrey, if that person in your life is "Real or Na-Real' ha ha ha ..

So depending what situation you are in or think you are in..
You say Please, Sorry, Thank-you or I Love You..
And wait, if your now is not coinciding with their now, you may be able to deduce 2 things..
1. Maybe you are not priority.
2. Maybe you are again reaching out to Hobbes, who is alive only when no one else is around and so safe to say, is not part of your real world, and so is Na-Real..
Ha ha ha ha....

I think it's just better to eat cake sometimes, than try to figure life.
If any of you out there, take part in the 'Now' , I hope it goes all fantastic..

I meanwhile , am just going to hang a while longer, with my really yummy, delicious, hazelnut filled slice of heaven..
With lots of love from "Maria's Kitchen "...

Vivaan Kabir's 13th Birthday Cake...

P.S. I don't have any picture of a cross section of this cake, as it was devoured..

DAY 13:JUGGIE

We were sitting one day discussing why we don't have pet names and i was reading an Archie comic , so i called her Juggie and she did not have a name for me , and she kept saying "i don't like it , don't call me that " , but the witch elder sister that i am i kept teasing her and today my lovely and darling younger sister is known as "Juggie" by me and all my friends.
We have fought, pulled one anothers hair and screamed and not talked and had a volatile time, but if i had to choose again , i would want "Juliet " to be my sis again , she was always the brave one, nothing and no one frightened her , and i really look up to her, because she has loved me and has been there for me always, she now lives in Dallas , but if i ever need her , she has packed her little munchies , said bye to her darling husband Raj and flown down and just stayed put.
She has had more faith in me than i had in myself and the reason i was ever in MTV is because she pushed me to go , and looked after my puppies Betty-Boo and Ninja , though she was petrified of dogs, she said she knew that i would be brilliant , even though i was clueless.
My sister "Juggie" is like a little tigress , you mess with her family and you will have to leave the jungle, my mad loving and fantastic photographer sister, i love you and Raj and Kyle and Cruz to smithereens , and even though you not here to taste it , i know you will like what I'm making and can imagine the taste, your favorite "lemon cheese cake", actually this is the baked version...

Lemon Cheese Cake
50 gm self rising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
50 gm soft butter
275 gm caster sugar
5 large eggs
400 gm cream cheese softened
400 gm
plain flour
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
75gm kishmish/sultanas
142 ml sour cream

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
Grease and line the base of the pan you are going to bake in.
Sift the self rising flour and baking powder in a bowl, add the butter 50gm of the sugar and 1 egg, mix well then beat for 2-3 minutes.
Spread the mic at the base of the tin.

Separate the remaining eggs. whisk together the remaining egg yolks and sugar till its thick and creamy, add the cream cheese and mix well, fold the plain flour into this mix along with the lemon zest, juice, kishmish and sour cream.

Whisk the egg whites till they are nice and stiff and fold into the cheese mix.
Pour this over the base mix in the yin.
Bake for 1-1 1/4 hours until it is firm yet spongy.
Turn the oven off and leave the cheese cake in for about an hour.
Remove the cheese cake from the oven and leave to cool.
Chill in the fridge . preferably overnight before serving.

We'll i baked the cheese cake before i left for mass, so by the time i came back the kitchen was filled with a subtle but sweet aroma of this delicate cheese cake, as very few people home, used half the amount said in the recipe and it also baked in 45 minutes, and I'm not waiting to cool it over night , so have bitten into it already , its soft , spongy and has a very delicate taste to it and i actually like it warm, so today being Sunday , breakfast with Juggie"s favorite 'Lemon Cheese Cake" only from Maria's Kitchen... have a fun and mad Sunday