Solstice

Last night we had a little Solstice party with the friends I’ve made from my Japanese classes.

There was a little holiday décor, made by Daniella, who takes Ikebana.

Each of us contributed something. Daniella made one of her amazing soups and a delicious salad (complete with her typically yummy dressing). Fanny made fondue

And salmon crepesAnd I made roasted sweet potato cheesecake (without the aid of a springform pan). The recipe (two links there – first for subscribers, second [identical] for others, but try the first one first, it just might work . . .) came from the November 2005 issue of Sunset magazine. This was the first cheesecake I’ve ever made, so I didn’t even know how it should look during the cooking and baking process. What I did know was that the things I bought that really, really looked like sweet potatoes weren’t sweet potatoes at all (note how this is a common theme in my cooking here). They were some kind of sweet, starchy tuber, but without the yellow flesh of sweet potatoes. They were actually sort of more like plantains (without the seeds). I roasted them all the same and just proceeded with the recipe. And it actually turned to be pretty good, if I do say so myself!

On another note, here's what it was supposed to look like!

Also, today it has been very windy here - with gusts up 45mph!