Games In The Dark

I had a dream, I had an awesome dream
People in the park, playing games in the dark
Lionel Ritchie : Say You, Say Me

Yeah, Ritchie definitely hit on a fun idea back then. And perhaps it's one idea you could adopt - trolling an unlit park and uh... make new friends, come Saturday night.

That's right. Saturday night. If you didn't know already, it's Earth Hour this 28th March from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm. One hour where the lights go off in a vote for Earth.

Of course, one might wonder what one is to do with all the lights off. Personally, I'd like to think one can have quite a bit of fun, besides visiting the park. Here are a few ideas off the top of my head:

1. Get your neighbours to switch off their lights too, and everyone can bermesra down by the pool and barbeque pit with some candles and guitar.

2. Invite friends over to your place, light some candles and get drunk silly.

3. Get creative and take photos in the darkness.

4. Go to bed early. Preferably with some one.

5. Head to your local sauna and hang around in the dark room.

Haven't figured out what my plans for the night would be. Maybe look for some Earth Hour friendly establishment to chill out in. So, what will YOU be doing?

Three By Seven

If I've seemed to have a certain faraway look in my eyes these recent days, I apologise. I suppose I'm just that little bit preoccupied with petty, inconsequential thoughts. Like what sort of toiletries can be packed into 100ml bottles and how? Should I bring a sandwich bag? How many articles of clothing would fit into my backpack? And what sort of assortment shall I put in there? Or should I just get a bigger backpack?

Oh oh oh... should I bring Bob-bob along?

Twenty one, twenty one, twenty one.

And counting.

For Cold Days When One Needs To Stock Up On Insulation

The slab of Philadelphia Cream Cheese sat in the bowl, looking quite pleased with itself. Poor thing. It didn't know it was gonna get a rather severe beating.

I squeezed a little lime juice over it (the better to sting the cheese with), and got down to it. Whip whip whip. Philadelphia cream cheese cowered and slipped around the bowl, trying to escape. I stoically scraped the sides and carried on. Whip whip whip.

Finally the cheese smoothened out, though not as fluffy as I would have liked it. Maybe I wasn't harsh enough, didn't bruise it enough. Ah heck, I'm too nice, I guess. I would do anything for food, but I won't do that.

Letting the cheese take a breather, I reached for the saucepan and set it over a low, smouldering flame. Peanut butter, smooth smooth peanut butter went spooning into my saucepan. Slop, slop. Hmmm... maybe another slop. Just about as much as the cheese in the bowl. Waiting in the saucepan was a pool of sweetened condensed milk, hopefully enough to coax the peanut butter into a smooth, peanuty, milky liquid mixture. Stir stir stir. Looks like it worked.

The saucepan now hovered above the bowl, tipping, slowly tipping. And the peanut butter milk flowed. Swirl. Golden brown streaked the pale yellow of the subdued cheese. Swirl. The colors folded, the flavors unfolded. Swirl. Oh how it shines.

Out comes the whisk. The cream is waiting. Whisk whisk whisk. The cream frothens. Whisk some more. The cream thickens. Whisk again. Oh why the heck aren't those peaks forming? Forget it. I'm done, even if the cream is not.

In goes the cream, with the cream cheese that's been violated by the peanut butter that's been scalded by the condensed milk, and the whole abused lot gets folded together. Happiness.

Interlude: Check on the cookie base. Should be ready now. Two packs worth of Oreo crumbs (twisted, licked - well, scraped, to be honest - clean of cream, and crushed... totally crushed) glued together with butter and pressed to the bottom of a pan. Two hours in the fridge oughta do it. It did do it.

So the peanut butter and cheese goo gets poured over the cookie base and the whole gang gets to chill in the freezer overnight to set. Then it's down to the fridge so that it wouldn't come out like a brick when it's time to serve.

And so it is done. Hopefully an improvement over the peanut butter cheesecake I had tried before (two years back!). And I think it is - definitely the Oreo base was a better choice over chocolatised rice puffs. There are those who'd like it to be less cheesy. And there are those who'd like it to be less peanut buttery. For me, I like it any which way, as long as the cake gets eaten and I don't have too much leftover ingredients lying around.

And now to fatten up!