For the Farmgirl at heart

Everything farmgirl, vintage, handmade, homemade, fabulous and fun!

Monday, September 10, 2012

The Best Cheesecake Ever. Ever.

Last night I made the best cheesecake I have ever made. Ever.  Well, it is the only cheesecake I've ever made, but it was really good.  Really, really good.  I read a blog called Whatever every single day and marvel at Meg's craftiness, the quality time she spends with her kids and her general awesomeness.  Plus she wears the cutest clothes, I wish I could shop in her closet.  Anyway, she is always talking about Pam's super delicious cheesecake.  Then I started seeing other people mention it on other blogs...all of whom read Whatever, I suppose.  Small world.  If all these people like it, it must be good, right?  I happen to love cheesecake, but since we almost never go out to dinner and when we do, we NEVER order dessert...let's just say it's been a LONG time since I've had any cheesecake.  And as I mentioned before, I have never attempted to make cheesecake before and was slightly afraid that it would involve far more skill in the kitchen than I am capable of.  But it was actually really easy.  Moo helped me dump everything into the Kitchen Aid.  I did discover that I need a new springform pan though.  Stupid one from Ikea leaked.  $4.00 pan from Ikea leaked, shocker I know.  Anyway, I over cooked it just a bit but it wasn't burnt or anything, just a tiny bit more brown than one you would get at a bakery.  But it was SO good.  This will be a recipe I make for company, surely.  Super easy, plus you are supposed to refrigerate it for a few hours or overnight before you serve it.  Perfect for company!  One less thing to make the day of!  Love that.  The only down side is that Toots and Daddy can't have dairy, so Moo and I are the only ones who can eat it...and she said she liked it, but I can't see her asking for it for dessert every night for the next week.  So this morning I took one for the team and had a slice for breakfast.  You know, so it won't go bad.  Sometimes it's hard work testing new recipes.  Really hard, tasty work.  Here is the link to the recipe:
Pam's Cheesecake featured at Whatever. Go check it out and while you're there, check out Meg's blog.  She's great, and you might find a new must read for your mornings.  You're welcome.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Norco Fair Time 2012!


 I love fair time!  I especially love our little Norco Fair.  It is this cute little fair that combines a Ranch Rodeo/Bull Riding competition with a regular old fair - carnies and all.  I hate the carnie part.  I will never ride carnie rides...there is something very unsafe to me about riding a ferris wheel that was not there half an hour ago.  Freaky.  And I'm not a big fan of rigged carnie games, although we do occasionally play them for the kids.  But I love the fair!  I love walking through the community competition building and seeing all the projects, canned and baked goods people worked so hard on.  You just know some little old lady has made that pie for every family party she has ever attended, and that there is a young woman working hard right now to perfect her recipe to beat that old lady next year.  I also love fair food!  I know, it's just a regular baked potato and corn on the cob...but there is something about the fair that makes it taste better.  The rest of the family had hot dogs with mustard, but I got a corn with butter and garlic salt (YUM!) and a baked potato with butter, sour cream, cheddar, chives and bacon (do I even need to say it?).  How could you pick a hot dog over those?  I will never understand men or children.

 The girls and I love the 4H level of the fair and always go to check out the animal entries.  We were a little late in the day, since we went after school, so we didn't get to see any competitions.  But we did get to look at all the goats, sheep, chickens and a few rabbits.  We saw a cute little group of middle school boys quizzing each other on pig parts for the swine competition the next morning and the girls spent forever trying to feed the cows some hay.  She wasn't having it, but just kind of looked at them and the hay they were holding while she chewed her cud.  Toots kept falling over trying to climb the little hay hill to get closer to the fence and the cow.
This year, Moo finally got to enter the Legos competition.  They have some fun community competitions for kids and the junior division is for ages 4 to 13.  Last year, Moo entered a drawing and a stick horse.  This year she entered a Lego Friends Treehouse.  She was SO excited to enter something in the lego category.  Each entry got marked with the number entry it was, Moo was number 11, so that they could be judged without the judged knowing who made them.  So when we saw them all out on the table and Moo didn't get a ribbon at first she was sad, but then she saw her number sticker and mistakenly thought it was her finishing place.  She said "Mom, I didn't win a ribbon but I got 11th place!"  She was so happy thinking she got 11th place, Daddy and I just couldn't tell her any different.  So if you see her, congratulate her on her 11th place finish.  I entered a hand sewn little mermaid doll.  The one Moo picked out the fabric for that I posted about a little while ago.  I didn't really think I had much of a chance because they usually have very specific categories like knitting, crochet, needlework, sewing, quilting, etc.  This year, all those categories were lumped together into just two - hand work and machine work.  Meaning that my hand sewn doll was competing against all the knitting, crochet, needlework and hand sewn entries.  I almost didn't enter it because last year there were some AMAZING knit afghans and a beautiful piece of needlework that I was sure would put me out of the running for sure.  But when I went to enter them, the ladies taking entries all comented on how cute it was and that gave me a little confidence that maybe I could compete for third if there weren't too many entries this year.  But second?  Never crossed my mind.  So yipee!  And even though this is a small fair, I'm sure if we lived out in a more "farmy" state, this fair would be a joke, I am still proud of my ribbon!  And it's already encouraging me to think of something great to make for next year!  Last year I got a first place for my zucchini bread in the silly category they added to the food competition for anything made with zucchini.  But I think this one means more because it's something I made.  I know I made the bread, but I don't know.  I don't know if that makes any sense, but I am more proud/excited about the second place in the sewing competition than I am at the first place in the zucchini competition.  And it just goes to show that I have NO idea what they look for in these competitions!  Last year I was sure my photo would win, didn't even place.  I entered the zucchini bread on a whim, since I happened to have a load of zucchini from my Mom's garden I needed to use up and was planning on making the bread anyway for the girls.  That got first place!  This year, I didn't think I really had a chance, but I thought Moo's cute little treehouse would place.  She didn't and I got second.  Like I said, no clue what they are looking for, these judges. 
Now to get thinking about what to enter next year...