lime cheesecake

 

Oh man. It's lime cheesecake day. What's the special occasion? Well... look up. Look waaaaaaay up. That's right - we have our own little corner of the interwebs! You can now find us at http://www.unhipsquirrel.com. Truly, this had nothing to do with me making such an extravagant dessert today. I guess you could say that I just really, really wanted to make a lime cheesecake. Sometimes having a little food blog is an excuse in itself to make something sweet. I mean really... it was getting a little savoury around here.

There is no real story behind this cheesecake except for the fact that I made it for Adam's birthday a couple of years ago. Of course, we were only two people (Adam is not a party kind of guy) and I ended up eating half a cheesecake for the rest of the week. Believe me, it was my pleasure. Except the last day. I could have done without that.

jalapeno popper inspired grilled cheese

You know what's fun? Going to Jean-Talon Market. There are all kinds of exciting things there - I bought tiny zucchini, rhubarb (hurray!), heirloom carrots and tomatoes... I even bought a purple pepper. Yes. It looks like a green pepper, except it's purple. Really. I can't even begin to tell you about my level of excitement in places like this. If I could somehow make a career of going to public markets and ogling everything, I would be happy as a clam.

I always bring home jalapeno peppers because I know that even if I have nothing planned, I will find a use for them. When I saw a post on Closet Cooking with a recipe for this sandwich, I knew that nothing would stop me from recreating it. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. Kevin invented the jalapeno popper grilled cheese.

cookies 'n cream brownies

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I can't stand chocolate desserts. Wow, I really hate them for real. Sometimes though, I get the urge to bake them and prove to myself that I don't like them. Last night I did both of those things. Again.

This is no warning against these particular brownies - feedback from others indicated that they were delicious - it's just my own personal weird thing. I think that chocolate is just inherently too rich for me. Strike one. And further, if there's actual unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate in a recipe, it requires a metric ton of sugar to be "tasty" and for me, that's strike two. Just... blech. Still though, these brownies were whimsical, fun to make and popular with friends and coworkers alike. They were also worth it for the icing, which I licked off and enjoyed immensely.

mom's carrot cake

 

Man. This week has been full of cooking failures. Some days I made things that sucked, and some days I failed to make anything at all. One day, I made something good - but I took a bad picture of it (in fact, several bad pictures!). I tend to do a lot of cooking on the weekend so that during the week, if necessary, I can subsist on Fairmount bagel veggie sandwiches like an urban boho hipster. I do love cooking, I just love it more on the weekend when I am not exhausted after a long day of work. 

Somehow, I tend to have more energy for baking cakes and other delectable items than I do for preparing a proper meal for myself. Case in point: earlier this week, a carrot cake happened in my kitchen. Don't ask me how it happened. Don't ask me how much icing I ate either, because I'll never tell you!