A new year full of positive thoughts

She says:

The start of the New Year is a time when we all try to raise the bar for ourselves and look to aim a bit higher in what we accomplish in life. One of the things I think we sometimes forget in planning these goals is that we need to have time to share our successes with others. It helps us keep momentum if we can share our positive experiences, and hear of the same from other people. But when can you find the time to just “hang out” when you have so much to get done?? You might be surprised just what you can arrange if you give it a try…

Last week Martin and I hosted a first annual neighbourhood “Dessert before Christmas” (you know, as in “we don’t need any more indulgences but what the heck!”). We have only been in our house for a few months and we wanted to meet the neighbours. We thought they might see us as a bit odd but we just told them if they didn’t come we would have to eat it all ourselves! And you know what, it worked! We had a houseful, and almost everyone said what a great idea it was and that they’d been hoping to get together as a group for 20 years. Everyone knew each other to say hi, but no one had managed to arrange a get-together in all that time.

Martin and I are already planning our summer BBQ bash which we may try to turn into a barn raising event… well, we need a new deck, so it may turn into a deck raising event like the good old days where everyone would show up to help the neighbors and enjoy good food all together. We have two great neighbours that fight over who gets to use their tractor to shovel our driveway and we plan to share the bounty from our garden, come springtime. We love our new neighbourhood, and after that night it really felt like we had made it a home, and part of a community.

In case you are wondering, there are not any houses for sale on our street, but I am sure if you take the plunge you can be the one on your street to start things off with a block party or street fair… and if you have that already, hang onto it and make sure your kids know how important it is. Friends and neighbours are the best survival equipment you can have in your life – especially if you are busy.

He says:

As mentioned by my lovely wife, on December 20th we had an open house to allow us to meet the people living around us. We both cooked up a bunch of dessert and made it a 7pm to 9pm affair.

It was extremely encouraging to see the turn out (30 people or so!) and to see how all the neighbors talk about how much fun it was and when should the next get together be. In today’s world, more and more people living in an ever growing community like Westbank need to get together once in while to talk about the needs of the neighbourhood and get to know each other. These days, not everyone goes to Church, or is part of local Lions club or even Rotary club and it certainly does not mean that we should not communicate with our neighbors.

Food and wine have the ability to open doors and loosen up people just enough to have a good time.

This is the cheesecake recipe I did and it was well received by all.

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

750g or 3 packages cream cheese, softened to room temp
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
9 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Some lemon zest
300ml heavy cream 33% plus

1 ½ cup of frozen whole raspberries
2/3 cup semisweet Calebaut chocolate chunks – Save on Food bulk

1.Combine cream cheese and sugar, mixing with an electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, two at a time, beating well after each addition. Add heavy cream, zests and vanilla

2.Pour in your greased pan. Add raspberries in the pan and mix carefully so they go everywhere. Drop the chocolate chunks in the pan too - do not swirl.

3.Bake at 325°F (160°C) for 1 hour and 15 minutes depending on your pan. Watch for an even motion on top. Loosen the cake from the rim of the pan cool before removing from the pan.

4.Decorate with fresh raspberries and whipping cream.

Makes 12 large servings.

Happy New year everyone!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.