Cooking the Chronicle – May 30th

At the end of May, our lives got flipped unexpectedly upside down. BH, our family and friends are all healthy, but around Pesach my husband realized he needed to start a job search and by Shavous he signed a contract to teach middle school Judiacs at a new school.

The heart breaking news is that it’s in Washington, DC, which means our time in Pittsburgh will be coming to an end in September. We fell in love the community here this past three years and we imagined staying here our whole lives. But life takes unexpected turns and can often be complex and hard. I truly believe that the universe guides us where we should go and we are practicing emunah and trusting that this is the right move for our family and careers.

At the same time, my six months of maternity leave has come to an end and I am now a working mom of three! Balancing it all is such a challenge and I have fallen behind on my cooking. Honestly, how do working parents plan and feed their children? After a day of work and a night of getting up with the babies, I often don’t have the brain power to do more than walk to Milky Way for a slice.

When my husband suggested that perhaps I gracefully bow out of cooking the Chronicle, I realized just how much I have loved doing this project. I have some catch up to do, but I am absolutely committed to the full year, no matter what is packed up in our kitchen the next few months.

This week’s recipe (“No-bake cheesecake pie with berry topping,” May 30) for example, got lost in the chaos. I was excited to see this cheesecake right before Shavous, and I made it quickly on Friday before Shabbas to bring to a dairy potluck with friends for lunch on the chat. I whipped it together, this time without my daughter, popped it in the fridge, brought it to the lunch where it was fully devoured…. Before I could even try a slice!

So we decided to do a part two—where I could both take a photo of this dairy delight, involve my daughter, and try it for myself.

The good—this is my favorite kind of cheesecake. More Israeli style, lighter and tangier. I love a dense NY-style cheesecake, but by the end of Shavuos I never want to look at a cheesecake again. This is the kind of cheesecake I could eat the entire thing, the spoons, spatula and lick the bowl. The fruit in a simple syrup made it feels special. We went for strawberries and blueberries, but I desperately wanted to slice up my mango and use that!

What felt off—in my first version, the ratio of butter to graham cracker crumbs felt off to me. I think there was too much butter, because after refrigerating the cheesecake, it was really tough to cut into the crust. On the second try, I used about 6 tablespoons of butter and thought this was perfect. It held it’s shape, but was still crumbly and tender.

Ultimately, I think the strongest testimony to this dish is that my first version was eaten up so quickly that I didn’t get to try it myself! All dairy is good dairy on Shavuos!