Retirement, Christmas.

We had a delightful evening on Saturday although we had no idea we had been asked for dinner. It was a retirement party and people had brought gifts. A tad embarrassing as we hadn’t, we just hadn’t realised what we were being invited to. What a spread, there was enough food to feed an army and much to my delight it included things like Cevapcici and Pleskavica (shown in the picture) which are Serbian favourites of ours. There was so much food I didn’t get the chance to sample a lot of it. There was some nice looking salmon which Matt said was delicious. Luckily my teeth decided to be good that evening, however, then my legs played up instead. Honestly I am turning into a right old cripple.

Funnily enough I was thinking of The Twelve Days of Christmas, the funny version, the other day, then a friend published a link to a YouTube version which I enjoyed

12 Days of Christmas

The first time I ever heard this was shortly after we emigrated. I was at work and my desk was outside my boss’ office. Matt was at home and phoned me and read it to me over the phone, I was cracking up, and everyone was wondering what on earth I was laughing at.

I came across this gorgeous looking quick fix recipe in a BBC newsletter and couldn’t resist sharing it. I am not sure how it will work with the cream over here, just get the thickest, highest fat available to you. For digestive biscuits of course, use Graham wafers or crackers. Of course you could also use a pre-made Graham cracker crust.

Baileys and Chocolate Cheesecake
from the kitchen of Rob Burns

Ingredients

100g/3½ oz butter
250g/8¾ oz digestive biscuits, crushed
600g/1lb 5oz Philadelphia cream cheese
25ml/1fl oz Baileys
100ml/3½ oz icing sugar (confectioner’s)
300ml/10½ oz double cream, whipped
100g/3½oz grated chocolate
To garnish
200ml/7¼ oz double cream, whipped
cocoa powder, to dust

Preparation method
1. Melt the butter in a pan and add the crushed digestive biscuits. Mix well until the biscuits have absorbed all the butter.
2. Remove from the heat and press into the bottom of a lined 18cm/7in springform tin. Place in the refrigerator and allow to set for one hour.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Lightly whip the cream cheese then beat in the Bailey's and icing sugar. Fold in the whipped cream and grated chocolate. When smooth, spoon evenly onto the biscuits.
4. Refrigerate and allow to set for a further two hours. Once set, remove and decorate with whipped cream and cocoa powder dusted over the top. Serve.

Have a great day