Lemon Cheesecake for Mum

Throughout the years, my dear mumsy has always made her kids their favorite dinners on their birthdays. Now that her kiddos are all grown up (and 2/3rds of them living at home) its her turn to have dinner made for her. My brother Eric is a darn good cook, so he did most of the work, making roast chicken and various side dishes.

My only contribution this year was the cake. Mom's request this year was for this cheesecake that she found via pinterest, and I must say, it turned out pretty great. Like, super-delicious really. And it wasn't so hard to make either.

I added a quarter cup less sugar in the glaze, 'cause we like our lemon flavored sweets to be more on the tart side, and I'd do it again. I'd maybe even add a little less sugar in the crust too. But the actually cheesecake part, just do what the recipe says--it's perfect! Oh, and the recipe says to make it the day before, but being a world-class procrastinator, I left it 'till the day of. It was still fantastic, but I have to say that the leftovers the next day were even better. So if you've got it together, I'd recommend sticking to the recipe on that point too.

P.S. Isn't my mom just about the prettiest ever?!

All Sorts (of Top Notch from Last Week)

I'm not saying my weeks are consistently full of awesome and life is perfect all the time. But I'm pretty darn privileged, and it turns out that every week brings something worth writing home about. For instance, last week the fall colors really started to come out with full force. And I did not take any pictures of them. Ha! But I did take a picture of this really wonderful fall beverage. 

I recently took this recipe for pumpkin spice latte syrup from A Beautiful Mess out for a spin and it turned out pretty much awesome. The other day I was craving a london fog and a pumpkin spice latte at the same time, so I decided to make a combo london spiced latte. I was too lazy to warm the milk in a saucepan and whip up foam, so I just nuked nuked the milk, dunked a bag of David's "cream of early grey" tea and splashed in some pumpkin syrup. Yummmmm. I'm an inventor now. 

Another really great thing is that I'm taking a Skillshare course online. Specifically, I'm taking the "Design your own Logo" course, and I've been sketching non-stop. I like learning new stuff, but I'm not going back to school until I can win back a measure of my financial independence. At about $20 a class, Skillshare is pretty much my new best friend (other than my best friend, of course). And Skillshare has a lot of stuff that is relevant to small online business owners

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Sunrise Scones

Yumm. Made scones for brunch today. These have been a family favorite for years and years, but I haven't made them in a long time. The recipe comes from an old Pampered Chef's "Recipes from the Heart" cookbook:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (or 375 convect). Then combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs (I usually cut the butter into chunks and then use my hands to crumble it in the flour mixture). Add the raisins (or craisins, or pretty much any dried fruit you want). Then gently mix in the sour cream and milk. Gently! Add a bit more milk if you're having trouble coating all the flour, but don't overmix it. Then pat it out on a lightly floured surface until it's about 1 inch thick. At this point I usually baste it with an egg and sprinkle sugar on it, because they're even more awesome that way. Sugar or not, you're gonna bake them for 12-15 minutes or until they're lightly browned. Let them cool for a bit and then stuff your face! They're best fresh.