THR dede's shiny new bionic hip is installed

[dede62]

So it's Chocolate cheesecake. We usually do a rasberry sauce on top of the individial pieces. After we moved to Washington, we went to our (now) favorite restaurant in LaConner and they served a dessert called Death by Chocolate. It was that dessert that prompted the sauce topping. I've also changed the Kahlua and used Frangelico if you like the hazelnut flavor. It's much more mild of a flavor than the kahlua. I've also done a caramel sauce and pecans (i.e.turtle cheesecake). Lots of flexibility with it... Enjoy!

Chocolate Cheesecake

10 " springform pan
Parchment paper
Large oven bag (used for roasts)
Roasting pan
Kettle of boiling water

Crust:
9 oz chocolate wafer cookies or chocolate graham crackers
3/4 c butter

Filling:
1-3/4 c sugar
1 c cream
6 eggs
12 oz chocolate chips
2 - 8 oz pkgs cream cheese
1/4 c Kahlua

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 10" springform bottom with parchment paper. Crush chocolate wafers and mix with softened butter. Pat into bottom and 3/4 way up sides of pan. Wrap pan in oven bag and roll down sides to below the top rim. Put in roasting pan.

Melt chocolate chips and set to side. OK in microwave 20-30 secs then stir, repeat until melted (or melt on top of double boiler). Mix cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs beating one at a time. Add cream and mix. Add melted chocolate and Kahlua and mix.

Pour mixture in springform pan. Put roasting pan in oven on middle rack. Add boiling water in roasting pan to halfway up the side of springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Turn off oven. Open oven door and prop open with a wooden spoon and leave in oven for 2 hours still in water bath. Remove springform from roasting pan and remove oven bag. Wipe off pan and refrigerate overnight. Next day, run a thin knife around the edge and remove outer ring. Slide knife between parchment and crust and slide onto serving plate.

To slice, use a long, thin knife warmed using with warm water and wiped dry (a pitcher works well). Wipe knife and rewarm for each cut.

Decorate pieces with raspberry and spoon over some raspberry sauce.

Easy Raspberry Sauce

1 pint raspberries, divided (reserve 12-16 whole raspberries for decoration)
1/4 c sugar
2 tsp lemon juice

Put all ingredients into saucepan. Cook and mash with a spoon until the mixture is soft and just begins to boil. Press through a fine sieve or cheesecloth lined strainer. Cool if using with dessert. Makes about 3/4 cup.

 

[Poppet]

Hiya dede62

Yum, yum, yum!!!

How about putting this fabulous recipe in the social room... we have a recipe thread there?

Otherwise this super treat is going to get buried in the thread

 

[dede62]

Will do, Poppet. Hope you are having a Merry Christmas!

 

[Poppet]

It is almost over for us down under.. we spent the morning packing, then travelling, then unpacking.. but now I am sitting here wanting a sea eagle riding the thermal right in front of the window... We are at our coast house now

How about you?

 

[dede62]

Well you just took me there for a moment! Ahhhh. We're just relaxing watching a local interest story of a small town called Leavenworth just over the Cascade mountains and the winter wonderland there (about 1.5-2 hrs away). We only get an occasional snow here, but there it's full blown winter wonderland. I grew up in an area with lots of snow and in my old age I don't miss it. One good thing is I learned how to drive in all kinds of weather...

Will you be there for most of your time off now?

 

[Poppet]

dede62

No, just to do some jobs.. still a construction site... 8 years so far.... I want to sew some new clothes for work..

But, I am so excited about 1 Jan 2013, because then I will be saying.... I retire next year, 2014... Wahoo!

 

[dede62]

I hear that! I just hit my 15 yr anniv where I'm at and a little over 18 yrs for the State. If I retire from the state, in order to get full retirement I've got just under 12 yrs to go... If I had enough other retirement savings, I could technically retire in less than 5 years. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening.

Be careful with your jobs and don't overdo it, warrior! Try and stay cool!!

 

[Poppet]

dede62

Sure will.. I have to have my second hip done next year, before we retire, so work life balance, losing weight, and paying attention to my natural medicine are my priorities for 2013..

 

[bellaroma]

Dede, Hope you have agood day and will be thinking of you as we both go to work tommorrow. I can't believe it.
Also, stay away from the squat ninja moves
:sleigh::merrychr:

 

[dede62]

Thanks Beth. Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas with your family. :treesmiley:

I know I can't believe we're heading back tomorrow. Hubby came over and hugged me and said how fast the time now seems to have passed. I told him I was thinking of calling in sick ahead of time, as I'm not sure I want to face it... I'll have an out if I need to go home early, but I'll try and stick it out!! He's going to drive me tomorrow as I haven't gotten out and about by myself in the car yet. He's been a bit overprotective in these last few weeks...

 

[bellaroma]

Hope you first day back went well and you had a Merry Christmas

 

[dede62]

Yee haw! Made it through day 1! The morning went pretty good but by about 11:30 (4 hrs in) shiny hip was starting to whine a bit. So I broke out our friend, Ice, and I mixed a cocktail of tylenol and robaxin. Things calmed down after that. I was trying to get up and about every half hour/45 minutes to keep things from getting angry. I took my cane with me and used it in the afternoon as my stride slowed up and I didn't want to limp. Funny how a light hand on the cane takes just enough pressure off of the hip to walk much better. I started to get weary eyes around 3 and that last 1.5 hr took its sweet time passing by... The big boss (he hates being called the boss) poked his head in this afternoon and reminded me it's OK if I don't feel like staying all day. He said he'd rather have me there for a partial day than not have me at all the next day because I pushed through. After work hubby and I made a quick stop to pick up a couple staples then we headed home for some excellent leftovers. So 2 more days of work then 4 off!

Just checking in with my Bonesmart warrior buddies and hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday!

 

[bottomshollow]

on an amazing first day back to work!! Sounds like you worked smarter not harder---and you have a great boss. Just keep it slow and easy over the next few days---and follow boss's advice and leave early if you need to. Keep us posted. We care.

 

[dede62]

Thanks, Judy!!!

 

[dede62]

Day 2 back at work was much better than yesterday. Never hit the tired wall and took meds more profilactically rather than when my hip was whining. Got lots of things done for that upcoming consult and I'm feeling much better about it. But as I was going through things I identified a couple of software defects, so had to document and escalate those as well. I've found my hip gets achy as the day goes on, but I found I was up and down a lot back and forth to multiple printers. One more this week then four off! Next week's a short week as well, so it's all good!

 

[Poppet]

You will be ready for those 4 weeks off dede

 

[sissy46]

Dede, that all sounds great. You were so smart to plan this where you didn't have to go back on a Monday morning and put in a 40 hour work week. Perfect timing!

 

[dede62]

Poppet, I only wish it was another 4 weeks, but it's only 4 days...

sissy46, just dumb luck that it worked out that way. Had I kept my original 6 wk follow-up (would have been 7.5 weeks) as my OS is on vacation this week and part of next, I would have headed back on the 7th. I didn't want to use the extra leave in case I needed it for PT or something else. As it is now I have just under 2 weeks of sick leave/vacation time available til the end of January. I earn a sick day every month and just under two days of vacation a month. Even though it builds up fairly quickly, the planner in me hates it to get too low...

Decided to actually use my cane during the day at work today to see if things in there aren't so whiny by the end of the day. I'll let you know if that plan works or not. OBTW, had a small milestone this morning. I was able to put on my sock and shoe on my operated side without any aids! My new/old stretches are working!!!

 

[bellaroma]

Hi Dede, Glad you were not as tired. I keep getting up every hour to strech for a minute. I am responding during my lunch today, because I was so tired yesterday that I was in bed by 7:45, and that was after struggling to stay up that long. Glad it's Friday, but I do have to go in on New Year's Eve, but will enjoy the next 2 days.
For putting on the sock, its funny everybody is so ahead of me with walking, but I can put on a sock like a pro

 

[dede62]

Beth, all in good time, my friend. You'll be ready when you're ready with the walking. You should be good and ready by your March date. I'm hoping that for both of us our stamina will pick up next week. Even though I was tired when I got home the last two evenings I stayed up until 9 to try and force my pesky body clock back in sync. Now I'm falling asleep, but after 4+ hours, I'm staying awake for an hour or so (not by choice and not in pain - just awake), then drifting off before the alarm goes off. Part of the issue is hubby's not sleeping well and he's also up part of the night. We'll get it turned around...