A more complicated recipe but only in that you need to keep an eye on temperature and time it well to get the perfect result. At the end of the day though, unless you burn it completely its going to look and taste great. Give it a go, you won’t be sorry.

Making the Base

To make the base we’ll use the one from the Banoffee Pie Recipe.

Ingredients

• One packet of McVities Chocolate Hob-Nobs (or similar-digestives will do)
• 2 tablespoons margarine (or butter)

Method

1. Crush the biscuits in a freezer bag with a rolling pin until they are reduced to crumbs.
2. Gently heat some margarine in a saucepan until liquid (or just leave some out at room temperature to soften).
3. Pour crumbs and liquid/soft margarine and mix in with the crumbs until they start to bind together.
4. Transfer the biscuit crumbs to a round dish (a large Pyrex dish is good) and pat with a spoon so that they cover the base.
5. Place in the fridge to set.

For the cheesecake filling:

Ingredients

• 1/2 pounds cream cheese (5 8-ounce packages)
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, optional
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 5 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon of honey (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Have all ingredients at room temperature.
2. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan
3. With an electric whisk or mixer, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until creamy
4. Gradually add the sugar and flour; beat until smooth and creamy, scraping the beaters and sides of bowl, about 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Beat in the vanilla
6. Beat in the eggs and yolks one at a time, just until incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl and the beaters after each addition.
7. On low speed, beat in the cream.
8. Add the honey and beat if desired
9. Scrape the batter into the crust and smooth the top.
10. Bake for 15 minutes at 500 degrees.
11. Reduce the oven temperature to 200 F and bake for 1 hour more.
12. Turn the oven off, prop the oven door open. Let the cake cool in oven for 30 minutes.
13. Remove to a rack and let cool completely in the pan before unmolding.
14. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably 24 hours before serving.

An irregular (although getting more regular) spot whereby our hero highlights books that he may or may not have purchased – on new comics day several years ago – if he had been so inclined.

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Ah, June 1981. Major League Baseball goes on strike; the Iranian president is deposed and we the first recognised case of AIDs is revealed. More importantly, 3 Marvel Superheroes could be about to bite the big one thanks to the rambunctuous Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime. It looks as though some sort of human canonball has targetted The Thing; a firebreather looks to be set to melt Iceman and Giant Man is going to be driven to dizzy distraction by a clown on a unicycle.  Things don’t look good for Bill Foster, especially when he’s not really named as part of the Two-In-One team up.

However, thanks to history, we know he survives this battle. Unfortunately only to be taken out by the most ridiculously named character * in the history of ridiculously named characters, Clor in Civil War.

* Save for Rulk

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Don’t worry readers. Zatanna found them down the back of the sofa.

http://manbabies.com/

*shudder*

Psychoville is a new black comedy mystery created by Steve Pemberton and Reece Sheersmith (one half of The League of Gentlemen). 5 characters based throughout the UK are sent a mysterious letter from a master blackmailer. What secrets do they hold and what does the blackmailer want from them?

Currently on the BBC, the show got into its stride straight away introducing the major players and giving hints to their dark and sad pasts. Shearsmith and Pemberton have created another group of grotesque characters and this time they are aided by solid performances by Dawn French and Jason Tompkins.

To add to the fun, there is a viral promotion which kicked off a few weeks ago and seems to be continuing throughout the run – check out the inbox on the Experience area which gives you clues to solve and websites to visit. Remember to turn up the volume on your machine to get the full effect. Heh.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/psychoville/

So, who is the new Batgirl going to be? Here are the latest betting odds ahead of the reveal some time around issue #4 of the new series.

Barbara Gordon:  Fan favorite but unless there is some sprinkling of deus ex machina pixie dust, unlikely.  10/1

Cassandra Cain:  A bit screwed up by Deathstroke and unlikely to spend much time caressing her yellow boots when putting them on. Seriously. 7/1

Helena Bertinelli : She was Batgirl at one time although actually pretended to be Batman. She doesn’t need the hassle. 50/1

Stephanie Brown: Spoiler. Robin. Spoiler. Dead, but actually hidden by the woman who pretended she let her die. Or something. A good outside bet. 13/1

Kate Kane: Batwoman now and awesome. Don’t mess. 1000/1

Selina Kyle: Catwoman and loving it. Doesn’t need another identity. 1000/1

WendyKutter: Well, didn’t look to healthy at the end of the Oracle miniseries but the paralysis could very likely be temprorary. Would go down like a cup of cold sick with fandom. Shoe-in. 4/7

Misfit: Uh, no. So it probably will be. Evens

Dr Leslie Thompkins:  Yeah. Perhaps she teams up with Aunt May and they rotate the cowl. 1,000,000/1

Jason Todd: An outsider, but perhaps when he fell off that train he had such horrific injuries that he had to have extensive plastic surgery, including gender reassignment. Yeah, that would really screw with Dick Grayson now wouldn’t it? 40/1

Whoever is under the spandex, and whether they have a mouth cut into their mask or not, DC will keep teasing us for quite some time to come. And there may be some time to change their mind, so how about helping me campaign for Jason Todd? Hmmm? Anyone? 

An irregular spot whereby our hero highlights books that he may or may not have purchased – on new comics day several years ago – if he had been so inclined.

As if the cover wasn’t enough to draw me into buying this book, the plot has me positively gagging to pick up a back issue or give up comics altogether. I’m not really too sure how I feel about anything now:

For the first several pages, She-Hulk is skipping rope, apparently naked. Jen complains that a respected superhero and lawyer is being reduced to this due to a simple joke she made in the letters column.

Jen goes to pick Weezi up at the airport, but is surprised to find that Weezi had put on weight since last they met. As they fly home in Jen’s car, Weezi tells her that she has always had a bit of a weight problem. Back when she was the Blonde Phantom, she always got enough exercise to keep the pounds off, but after she retired she stopped watching her figure.

Suddenly Jen loses control of the steering! The car flies straight up into space! Weezi says that she thought Jen’s car was only capable of one trip through space, and it already had it! Jen says that’s right, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping the car from flying into space!

Umm, yeah. I think if I had bought it, I would have run right back to the shop and got hold of this.

Ah, much better. I feel much calmer now.

In this case, a picture is worth a thousand whys.

Rebecca - Jewish American Girl

Meet Julie and Ivy: Creative 70s Girls

http://store.americangirl.com/agshop/static/dolls.jsf/uniqueId/2/nodeId/11/webMenuId/5/sName/Dolls

This week is slightly different, in that I’m going to give you tips as well as the recipe. The reason for that is because the line between excellent risotto and crap risotto is so thin that your dinner can be sublime one minute and not even rat fodder the next.

The main tip is time; you need to make time for this dish. It doesn’t take long, but you need to concentrate and follow the basic rules and at the end of it, you will be rewarded. The whole prep and cooking is 30-40 minutes, so its not like you’re going to have to stand over the pan for 2-3 hours, but a little committment will go a long way.

Getting down to the nitty gritty, the key to great risotto is measuring and controlling the addition of the liquids; specifically the stock which flavours the dish and helps to create that wonderful, creamy texture. Add a little at a time and stir in until it is all absorbed, then add some more and stir in until that is absorbed. Rinse/repeat. Stirring breaks down the starch in the rice which is then released into, and absorbed by the rice which makes the creamy goodness.

One extra bit of advice is buy the right rice. In the main it is easy as the packets are usually labelled Risotto rice, but if not look for Arborio or Carnaroli – both give a creamy texture, the former with a stickiness and the latter with more bite.

The recipe below is the simplest that I make regularly – adding peas gives you some of that 5-a-day vegetable goodness but still retains the ease of preparation. Adding other veg earlier in the process (ie cubed carrots; diced peppers; chopped asparagus tips) or seafood can make you look like a chef of the highest order. Mushroom risotto can be extremely delicious – buy some dried shitakes and you can use them to make stock to really infuse the mushroom flavour into the risotto.

 Ingredients

• a knob of butter
• one onion chopped finely
• 300g risotto rice
• 125ml of white wine
• 1 litre of hot chicken or vegetable stock
• 50-100g peas (frozen)
• shaved/grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Heat the butter in the pan over a low heat
2. Add the onion and sweat until soft
3. Turn up the heat to medium and add the rice, stirring for a few minutes until all grains are coated
4. Add the wine and stir in until it is all absorbed
5. Add a ladle of stock and stir gently until it is absorbed
6. Continue adding stock a ladle at a time and stir until absorbed before adding the next – about 18-20 minutes in total
7. Add the peas towards the end and stir – again there will be liquid to absorb
8. Taste the risotto – the rice should be creamy but with a little bite
9. Remove from the heat and add the shaved parmesan
10. Serve immediately in flat plates to show off dish

Up Next: Baked cheesecake

I’ve had a lot of things going through my head today. At some point, I’ve thought they would be the right fodder for my normal Monday rant/vent/expression of slight concern but by the time I start writing something else has taken over. That may be more to do with the randomness of my thought process today, or that I can’t bring myself to analyse any of the problems in too much depth.

So in an attempt to put all of the other rubbish behind me, I’ve picked a discussion topic which is always close to my heart – the corporate challenge.

I may be alone in this, but I hate the word now. Absolutely despise it. If someone says to me “The challenge is” or “My challenge to you is” or “Ah, thats the challenge” I really do feel a rage building up inside of me.

Let me explain.

When I joined my current organisation, I liked the word challenge. I would use it on occassion, and especially at interviews – “I’m looking for a new challenge”; “While I like my job, it is not a challenge any more” etc, etc. Sometimes challenge and I would meet up at the weekend, when I had to do some decorating or take on another difficult crossword. Challenge and I saw each other quite regularly, but not exclusively.

However, shortly after joining my current workplace, I realised how quickly challenge can turn. Sitting in one meeting and being given one challenge wasn’t that rare to me, but two, sometimes three mentions of different challenges in a single meeting…. that was new territory.

Still, I was out to impress and donning my metaphorical sword, shield and sandals (quite fetching with a bottle opener on the sole) I slew each challenge with the requisite swiftness, with an eye on quality and risk. Afterwards, once the olive oil was metaphoricaly washed off my torso with a nice bath, I proudly took the hydra’s heads to my boss and dumped them on his desk. Of course, being a hydra, more heads/challenges would grow. And grow. And grow.

Challenge was used so frequently that I soon realised that it wasn’t as powerful as I had once thought, and in fact it was just an impotent word used to try and convey importance in the heat of the moment.

So now challenge makes me feel sick. Occassionally I look back on our heyday together and remember the good times, but the images quickly turn from summer days relaxing in the sun with a tuna cheese half-and-half to venomous exchanges and recriminations late at night over Skype.

Sometimes, I do miss the old challenge.

On Monday I jumped on the bandwagon a little to discuss the state of the Justice League of America and left things hanging a little by saying “we’re going to fix it”. I have to say that when I did so it was a spur of the moment thing, but following publication the idea began to take shape and the 24 hour bout of man flu cannot take all the credit. So, how am I going to fix the Justice League?

Why, make a pitch to DC Comics to take over the writing duties of course.

At this point in our proceedings, I’ll quite happily give you a few minutes to fully digest this statement and enjoy the hearty laugh which you no doubt are in the midst of enjoying. No rush. I’ve got time. Hear, have a look at this lovely cover by Ed McGuinness.

Wasn’t that nice?

So, I’m halfway through the manifesto and hope to publish this next week. It is not the most mightiest of tomes,  but I think it adequately captures what I’m trying to achieve and demonstrates a clear vision for where I want to take the Justice League. 

Don’t touch that dial!