My Own Diversion

 I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Eat well, enjoy your family, and be thankful for everything you have no matter how small or trivial.

This is just a small holiday poem or prayer if you will. Something to say before dinner if you are not religious.

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

A few months ago I purchased Fit for the Nintendo Wii. I absolutely love it! It’s motivating and fun and most of all it works.

What you may not know about it is where to get one for less. Blockbuster Video is a gamers best kept secret.

A friend of mine and I both came upon the game by chance at our own local Blockbuster, a month apart, and at two completely opposite ends of New Jersey.

Most stores will NOT advertise their stock so you need to ask. The list price is $89.95! Do your homework, that’s way cheaper than most other places.

One more thing and this is awesome! You can connect your Wii to the Internet and play with someone miles away. Like a friend who shares the same gaming interests as you that you can’t see because of the distance. That goes for any game on the system, not just Fit.

Happy Gaming!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes

Ingredients:

• Crust (see Notes below):
• 2 cups finely crushed ginger snaps cookies
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 6 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted
• Filling:
• 3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar, divided use
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) OR 1 cup cooked mashed pumpkin
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. (300 degrees F. for a dark springform pan) and position the oven rack in the center of the oven.

For the Crust (see Notes below):
Mix ginger snap crumbs, pecans and butter; press onto bottom and 2 inches up side of 9-inch springform pan.

For the Cheesecake Filling:
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, combine cream cheese, 3/4 cup of the sugar, and the vanilla until well blended. On low speed, add eggs one at a time, mixing each time just until blended. Remove 1-1/2 cups of the plain batter and set aside.

To the remaining plain batter, add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Using a large spoon, stir to combine.

Pour 1/2 of pumpkinbatter over crust in springform pan. Spoon 1/2 of plain batter over pumpkin layer. Repeat until all batter is used. Using a long butter knife, gently swirl through all layers of cheesecake batter without disturbing crust to achieve a marbled effect.

Bake for 55 minutes or until center is almost set. Do not overbake. Use a thin knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the crust. Cool completely on wire rack. Remove outer pan and refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, before serving.

Yield: 12 servings

Notes for Optional Pie Crust: If you don’t want to bother with a springform pan, purchase or make two small or one 10-inch oversize graham cracker or gingersnap pie crust shells. Skip the crust part of this recipe above and proceed to the fillings. Divide both fillings equally between the small pie crust shells or use same instructions for large crust and swirl. Bake at 325 degrees F for about 40 minutes for the small crusts and 45 to 50 minutes for the large.

I would like to nominate my neighbor Miss. Lynn Pierce for November’s Craziest Person Award.

This women has pushed me over the edge! It’s bad enough she complains to the landlord about every tenant that has lived in our apartment, but she has also in the past pressed harassment charges on my boyfriend for noise. Sorry sister, last time I checked noise was not harassment.

OK, so the banging on the ceiling at 8pm on a weekend and the banging on the walls Monday mornings during my laundry time, that’s normal right? How about the Christmas music blasting through the floor at 4am? I know people, it’s November!

Still, I’m an easy person to deal with. The final “push” was two weeks ago when I was standing outside of the security door to my apartment dealing with some magazine vendors. I didn’t have any socks or shoes on or a jacket. I was half inside and half outside, with the door resting against my back. As I was turning my guests away, my crazy neighbor came out and shoved the door closed, knocking me out onto the concrete. I banged on the door saying, “I don’t have keys!”. I then began ringing her doorbell repeatedly for about five minutes.

The one vendor climbed up my balcony, into my sliding glass doors, through my apartment and down the stairs to let me in. Oh boy, now I HAVE to buy a magazine!

So, at this point I go and grab some money for the mags I just bought and call my boyfriend to fill him in. I am now back at the door, waiting for my receipt, when Lynn comes out AGAIN! She sees we are in the hall now and we see her. Like a mouse she scurries back into her apartment, closes the door and is not heard from again that day. Now, if you’ve been paying attention, do you think she was going to lock me out again? I do.

Well, I pressed assault charges against the wacko! We go to court November 18Th. However, it doesn’t end there. When she found out about my charges, she filed some of her own. Want to know for what? Harassment by noise of course! That’s her forte.

Needless to say this will be fun. Know why? Because I love a challenge and my lawyer loves my money. I’ll keep you updated.