Ladies and gentlemen, we can go on and on about the best cheese cake on earth until we are yellow in the face. The fact of the matter is, there is only one best. My mom’s… Recently, my mom was out for a visit. (Actually I worked her to death tiling bathrooms.) I have to tell ya, there is nothing better than spending time with a great mom! Especially a great mom who wrote the book on cheese cake! NO! I MEAN IT! My ridiculously talented mom wrote a cheese cake book! Granted, she put this out back when the earth was still cooling, but I think the rules of vulcanization and the earth’s crust also apply to Gastronomic delights! This cheese cake is timeless! In other words, it’s all physics. Just as the crust of earth was vitrified then cooled to solidify the fine cracks and mars in the surface of the globe. Process so perfect as to render such fine details as the Grand Canyon, or perhaps Niagara falls. A process so perfect that it could also create the perfect cake. YES! The perfect cheese cake, I say was created from the same forces of nature that created the great lakes and Mt. Ararat! A crust so divine as to be only compared to the slopes of Haleakala. Lines in the strawberry glaze mirroring those of Nazca. A creamy consistency reminiscent of mother’s milk. A sweetness only tasted by the diligent honey bee on its quest for the purest nectar. Oh to dine on paradise and drink the milk of divine!!!!!!

As I wipe the tears (and cake) of joy from my cheek, I also back up a bit. My intent was to share with you this receipt of pure culinary delight. So, let’s get started.

WARNING!!!! DO NOT attempt to execute this recipe while feeling depressed, lonely or hungry. Failure to fallow this recipe to a “T” will result in a ripple in the space time continuum. The resulting exponential increase in cheese wave dispersion, most certainly could render all matter and anti-matter into cream cheese. This is a universal threat. A thick and non-life sustaining situation could result. Please take care!!!

Cheese Cake Supreme:

Crust: 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour ¼ cup sugar 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel ½ cup butter 1 slightly beaten egg yolk ¼ teaspoon vanilla

Filling: 5 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese ¼ teaspoon vanilla ¾ teaspoon grated lemon peel 1 ¾ cups sugar 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour ¼ tablespoon salt 4 or 5 eggs (1 cup) 2 egg yolks ¼ cup whipping cream

Make the crust by combining the first three ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Blend thoroughly. Pat 1/3 dough on bottom of 9 inch spring form pan (sides removed). Bake in hot oven (400f.) about 8 minutes or until golden; cool. Attach sides to bottom, butter and pat remaining dough on sides to height of 1 ¾ inches.

For filling, let cream cheese stand at room temperature to soften. Beat creamy; add vanilla and lemon peel. Mix next 3 ingredients; gradually blend into cheese. Add eggs and egg yolks, one at time, beating after each, just to blend gently stir in whipping cream. Pour the cheese mixture into crust-lined pan. Bake at 450F. For 12 minutes; reduce heat to 300F. And continue baking 55 minutes longer. Shake the pan to see if the cake is fairly firm in center. Remove from oven; cool. Loosen sides with spatula after ½ hour. Remove sides at end of 1 hour. Allow the cake to cool for 2 hours longer before glazing with your favorite sauce.

Yields 12 servings.

The family has tried a number of sauces, glazes and flambés with this cheese cake… one is better than the other. For the purposes of this blog, I have chosen the strawberry glaze. Mom would approve…

Strawberry glaze:

“A good basic glaze that can be varied by changing the fruit to black cherries, pineapple, canned or frozen peaches, black berries, etc….No. 2 cans work just right for this recipe.”

½ cup sugar 2 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca 1 ½ cups of juice (add water to drained juice to total 1 ½ cups) ¼ tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon orange juice 2 cups frozen strawberries, well drained

Combine all ingredients except the strawberries. Place in sauce pan over moderate heat and stir until blended. Cook, stirring constantly, until juice is thickened. Remove from heat and cool. Arrange fruit evenly over top of cheese cake and pour the glaze over the top. Chill several hours before serving.

Yield: About 3 ½ cups of glaze.

So, there you have it. Please be careful with this recipe and PLEASE consult your physician before attempting to taste such a powerful food. It’s that good…

Keep your pans greased ya’ll!!!

About a year ago, I was asked by a fledgling Audiophile: “Josh! What is the best speaker out there today!?!” What? That’s like asking what your favorite cheese cake is! What is the “BEST” Ben and Jerries’? What is the “BEST” Ferrari? Better yet, who is the “BEST” Jazz band? I asked him, “If you had to choose between listening to Miles Davis Kind of Blue on a bed side Sony Dream Machine (circa 1982) on an AM station, who’s transmitter was 300 miles away, or A Flock of Seagulls on a dCS Debussy front end, followed by all Ayre’ gear, powering through a set of burned in YG Acoustics Anat III Pro towers, What would you choose?” You could cut through the silence on the other end of the line. “The answer Grass Hopper is the ones you are enjoying right now.”

The point is this: There are so many machines out there. They come in all shapes and sizes. These days, they also come in every color of the rainbow and more. Do you want the cutting edge of a tweeter that has such a high frequency reach that you could open your garage door with it? Perhaps you are looking for the subtle glow of the silk dome. Mid bass punch? Perhaps a more delicate kiss with the tweeter is more you style. Sub terrainian reach from a set of fat subs? For me, I prefer the “NON-SUB” approach from my subs. If I can hear them, they be too loud and simply are not natural. Horns? Planers? Domes? Paper or carbon fiber? MDF or aluminum? Let’s not forget Beryllium! (Anyone out there had a chance to hear those diamond inverted domes in the Avalon Isis?) You get the idea. All are the “BEST”, for what they were designed to do. All were designed by someone. All have what that someone thought was closer to the actual performance in a given listening environment.

Yes, we crazy audiophiles are always looking for Nirvana. We spend hours upon hours searching out the gear that gets us closer to, well, “THERE”! We want to experience that performance in our own home. Yes! That’s it! “THE PERFORMANCE”! This is all about the performance. If you don’t love music, what is the point? We love music with such a passion; we try to hear more of it. We strive for that “LIVE” sound we heard at the concert last night. We want to hear the woman in the 13^th row with the sniffles. It brings the performance texture and a sense of realism. We want to hear the soft pop and tickle of dust on the record. It makes it sound like there is a woman in the 13^th row with the sniffles! Sounds strange to most, but this is what it is about. Live music. MUSIC!!!

So, back to my friend. We had a long discussion of this approach to audio. MUSIC! Being that this kid is half my age, he always thought good sound came from little silver discs, or more recently, bits streamed to an IPhone. Well, it was only recently that he discovered those bits BYTE! I can’t tell you the joy in my heart when he said all his recordings sounded compressed and dull after getting a taste of the 180 gram pressing of Tool-Lateralus. (Which should be in every audiophile’s, err, tool kit) ”Hallelujah!” Not only that, he heard it on a $350.00 second hand Techniques SL-1200 fitted with a Shelter MM cartridge, (roughly $175.00) Bellari tube phono pre-amp, ($250.00) Musical Fidelity X-A1 ($400.00) and a pair of Silverline Minuet Supreme speakers ($600.00) I think the cables were Audio Quest. His excitement was through the roof, so I couldn’t make out what he was saying to well. This was a guy who actually thought you needed to spend 100K on a system to run an IPod packed full of compressed crap to move the soul. (For-mentioned system would set you back a cool 380K) Nope!

I made these suggestions to him, for I knew he was on a budget. Also, I have heard, and own some of the same gear. I just knew through experience, they would sound good together. When you submit to this thing called “Audiophilia”, you will understand, all gear has a sonic signature. The trick of approaching “Nirvana” is to create a synergy between all the components own characteristics and build that “LIVE” experience. As for my friend’s system, sure nuff! I also know what he likes to listen to in his tiny little room he rents in Makiki. When you are sleeping, eating, studying, dating, and whatever else in the same 12x12 space, there is no need for a huge set of Wilson Alexandria XLF, or even a sub for that matter. The system fits the space and the “MUSIC” the owner loves most. Simple…

A few months later, I asked my friend, “What is the best set of speakers you have ever heard”? After a long pause,,,,,,,, “mine!” he said.

Enjoy them my friend…

Associated Equipment: