and the natural side effect of left over cream cheese….

Is bagels.  When you have the tastiest cream cheese, aside from making cheesecake, what does one do with it?  Well, I don't know about anyone else -- but Tom makes bagels.  Beautiful, delicious carb-bombs (as my parents call them).

I don't know about too much that's better than fresh bagels with homemade cream cheese!

the carnivorous Thanksgiving guests

Jeff and Jen had smoked both a turkey and a ham for dinner (there was also corn soufflé, cranberry compote, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, a mushroom dressing, roasted brussel sprouts -- to name a few).  Sarah and I decided that clearly -- the turkey legs were the way to go!

Tom's Thanksgiving contribution

Every year, Tom brings dinner rolls to the Leftwiches.  This year was no exception…. they were delicious (as usual)!

cheesecake goodness

Most every year, Tom and I join our friends Jeff & Jen Leftwich at their house for Thanksgiving.  It is a glorious event: fantastic food, and fun people (Jeff & Jen's family, friends, and neighbors come -- so there are 25-30 people each year, if the not-so-little people are included in the head count).
The Leftwiches are cheesecake aficionados.  Every year for Christmas, Jeff makes cheesecakes as gifts -- he uses a recipe that has been handed down from his mother (and her mother…)  It's good stuff.
As we had so enjoyed the pumpkin cheesecake (Sarah Spencer's recipe) from journal club earlier this month, I decided that this year, my contribution to the Thanksgiving festivities would be a pumpkin cheesecake.  Except knowing this would be my offering to the Leftwiches, I figured it had to be "Leftwich worthy."
Step one: make the cream cheese.

This is actually quite easy; it only requires that you remember to start this process several days before you want to make the cheesecake -- as it takes ~48 hours.  You simply put milk & cream in a big pot with a mesophilic starter culture and some renet, and let it sit for a day -- then drain it with a cheese cloth for another day.  Since we get our milk delivered fresh from a local dairy, this ends up being awesome cream cheese.
Step two: make the graham crackers for the graham cracker crust.  And since we're going all out, then start out by grinding the wheat berries for the whole wheat flour!  This step (making the graham crackers, not grinding the wheat berries) ended up being more difficult than I thought -- mostly because it was very easy to burn the graham crackers.  But after two attempts, I got something usable.

The dough is actually quite basic, and really tasty.  Since it is made with molasses and brown sugar, it's basically a flat version of gingerbread…. yum.  This translated into a lovely graham cracker crust:

Step three: use the cream cheese to make the cheesecake batter, and cook it into a cheesecake.

My intention was to take a final photo, after I'd transferred the cake onto a serving platter, and garnished it with the whipped cream (just a dollop on top!) and bourbon-soaked pecans.  I guess the good news is that the cake was consumed so rapidly by all of the guests, that I never had a chance to take that last photo.
And, was it worth it?  Absolutely.  It was the best cheesecake I've ever had.  A wonderful combination of sweet & tangy/tart.  And fluffy.  And since the cream cheese is so easy to make -- I see no reason why I wouldn't do that part again.  As for the graham cracker crust: could you tell the difference?  Without a doubt.  And it was really good.  But it definitely required a whole new level of Pain In The Ass, so I'd say the biggest bang for my buck was the homemade cream cheese rather than the homemade graham crackers…..

fun trip to Phoenix

Tom and I had a great time during our annual fall pilgrimage to Phoenix.  Our first full day there, we enjoyed great weather as we listened to Jim Bolek play at the AZ Local Fest.  We actually had a lot of rain on day #2, but that's ok -- our big event for the day was cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for Alma, Tyler & Michelle.  The rest of our trip was simply relaxing…. mostly sitting poolside, soaking up the warm sunshine.  And, of course, I went jogging a few times.  I love jogging at sea level!!!
We are already looking forward to returning in the late winter/early spring.