Basically Just Mushy, but Also True

Some people impact my life the moment I lay eyes on them. Words don’t even have to be spoken. For me, these people are mostly children.

On thé other hand, sometimes it takes longer to build a rapport. Sometimes I see a child, even talk to them, a dozen or a hundred times before really connecting with them

And that, as a sage woman recently told me, is the beauty and the irony of being human: every person and every relationship is different. 

And here are some more beauties and ironies. 

It’s strange, really, how I can meet a person and understand immediately that they have already changed my life. 

It’s strange how my heart can literally jump at the sight of a pair of eyes in a sparkling in tiny upturned face and then turn an actual somersault inside me at the sound of a joyful giggle. 

It’s strange how the action of hugging is universal and transcends the need for words. 

It strange how a world view or strong opinion can melt and morph in the instant it takes a small hand to touch a larger one. 

It’s strange how garbled first words and mispronunciations become a new entire language. 

It’s strange how no words at all can be more powerful than many words. 

It’s strange how the pain of a child can create fissures of pain in me, how a scared sobbing girl running down the street toward me scars my heart even more. 

It’s strange that after loving sad children for so many years, their pain and fear is still contagious to me. Sometime wish I was immune to it. 

It’s strange how life works. How my/our life keeps filling fuller and fuller with children who need more love or care or safety than their caregivers can give. It’s stranger still that these same children rescue me from myself and my selfishness , love us in return, and shake up the settled routine life BTT and I live with their extravagant child happinesses and dramas and ideas  

I would love to give you a name for the child who was the inspiration for each it’s strange musing . But they are precious and tiny and innocent and they deserve privacy and respect. So I can’t   .  

Just an Experimental Survey Today, People

 

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The Minniest Cheesecakes with White Chocolates and Raspberries

My mom sent me this recipe created by Amy at Chew Out Loud by a year or so ago, raving about it’s deliciousness. It really is delicious. And that’s why I’ve adapted it to suit me. Here’s my version, the one BTT and I made today in celebration of Valentines Day.

The Minniest Cheesecakes with White Chocolates and Raspberries 

 ingrédients  :

For the Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups mixture of finely chopped walnuts (can be substituted with pecans) and finely crushed maria biscuits or graham crackers. I use a 1:3 mixture of nuts and biscuits 

For the Chocolate Lover: use crushed chocolate cookies in place of the walnut/graham cracker mixture. Oreo crumbs, for example. Or, because I don’t keep Oreo crumbs on hand, I often make a quick homemade version of chocolate cookies for crumbs.

• 4-6 TBSP butter, melted

• 1 TBSP cane sugar (optional. Add if using the walnuts.)

For the Filling:

• 170 - 225 grams white chocolate

• 1/4 cup whipping cream

•1 1/2 blocks (12oz total) cream cheese, softened to almost melted

•Optional: substitute 2-4 oz of cream cheese with equal amount softened goat cheese 

•1/4 cup cane sugar

•2 eggs

•1 tsp vanilla extract

• 2-3 tsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice ( about the freshly squeezed part. I would like to say I did that. But I don’t.) 

• frozen raspberries, crushed and/or wild blueberries  

instructions  :

Make Crust: 

•Mix crushed walnuts and biscuits together with butter and sugar (if using).

Make Filling: 

•In mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, goat cheese (if using) and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs. Add vanilla and the lime or lemon juice.

•In a saucepan on the stove top or in a bowl in the microwave melt white chocolate chips together with the cream on low heat, stirring often. Cool for a minute or two before mixing it into the cream cheese mixture. 

Assemble Cheesecakes:

•Scoop a teaspoon of the crumb mixture evenly into 48 lined mini muffin tins. Lightly press down to form bottom crusts. 

•Drizzle 1 TBSP filling over each crust. 

•Top with crushed raspberries and/or blueberries. 

•Use a toothpick or knife tip to lightly swirl the fruit into the filling. 

•It’s nice to have a couple people doing this part; a lot of times when I’ve made these there have been kids around. They were too delighted to be able to help create these by pressing the crusts and adding the fruit. 

Bake:

• Put in oven preheated to 330• (yes, I absolutely bake things at unconventional temperatures.) for 20 minutes or until tops are puffy and no longer sticky upon light touch. 

•Let cool to room temperature, then cover and chill in fridge for a couple hours. If you just can’t wait to eat them, 20 or 30 minutes in the freezer (or outside on a -20• C day) is effective for cooling them quickly. 

Eat:

•These can be served with a tiny dollop of whipped cream or coconut cream or without. 

•For one brother’s birthday he and I topped these with whipped cream and crushed m+m’s and Cadbury eggs to make these tiny bites of deliciousness even more festive and fun. 

A Few Final Notes:

•The goat cheese adds a little bit of a tangy sourish note to these cheesecakes, as does the small amount of citrus. 

•For a calmer base flavour, use the lemon juice; slightly more exciting base flavour I recommend the lime. 

•I’ve tried using varying amounts of white chocolate in this recipe, and haven’t found that using more or less affects the texture at all. It does affect the flavour, though. If you use the  smaller amount, you can barely taste the white chocolate in the finished product; if you use the larger amount, the white chocolate shines through as the key flavour.