Sweet Cranberries

The recipe contest required that entries use at least one cranberry product from the company sponsor and my wheels began to turn. No doubt I would enter a dessert recipe, and cranberry and chocolate would make a natural pairing, but plenty of other people had already used that combo. I needed something really different.

What about cranberry and white chocolate? Hmmm – okay. Now, should I make a cake, pie, cookies or cheesecake…? I decided to create a cheesecake with whole berry cranberry sauce in the filling and also as a pureed topping. I hoped to nail it within three tries and my neighbors agreed to be guinea pigs.

Since I’ve never liked side crusts on cheesecakes mine would only have a bottom crust – with nuts. I imagined a bright red, translucent glaze atop the white filling, and maybe some curls of white chocolate too.

Three tries and several weeks later, my neighbors and I had chosen the second version. Dense yet moist, the filling showcased a big dose of cranberry flavor and a whisper of melted white chocolate. Finally, white chocolate curls peeked out from between two layers of glaze, thinned with a bit of cranberry juice cocktail.

Somebody else won the contest but I gained a spectacular recipe that I'll forever enjoy sharing with friends and family.

Cranberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

At least 12 servings

1 cup finely crushed graham crackers

1/8 cup finely chopped walnuts

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 1/2 pounds low-fat cream cheese, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

5 large eggs

12 ounces Ocean Spray Whole Cranberry Sauce

4 ounces white chocolate, melted

¼ cup heavy cream

12 ounces Ocean Spray Whole Cranberry Sauce

6-8 teaspoons Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice

1 ounce shaved white chocolate

Crust: Combine crushed graham crackers, walnuts and cinnamon.

Stir in melted butter. Press crust onto bottom of springform pan to

just above lower lip inside pan. Refrigerate until filling is ready.

Filling: Stir cranberry sauce in a small bowl until it breaks apart and

becomes slightly liquid. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat
cream cheese until smooth and then beat in granulated and brown
sugar, a little at a time, until mixture is fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a
time, beating thoroughly after each egg. Beat in cranberry sauce
and white chocolate. Pour filling into pan and bake the cheesecake
in the middle of the oven at 325 degrees, for 1 1/2 hours (times may
vary with individual ovens). Allow cheesecake to cool on a wire rack
before refrigerating, covered, overnight.

Topping: Puree cranberry sauce to make a thick, smooth sauce,

and the spread half on top and sides of cheesecake. Top with
shaved white chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Spread
remaining sauce over the entire cheesecake and serve.

Make Me an Irish Coffee

It’s early Thursday morning near the fog-shrouded piers of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. After walking for 20 minutes in the chilly morning air, The Buena Vista Café and its legendary Irish coffee beckon me. When I order the signature beverage my server simply says, “Make me one.”

Legend has it that in November 1952, then-owner of the cafe, Jack Koeppler, and international travel writer, Stanton Deleplane, tried to re-create the popular beverage served at Shannon Airport in Ireland, without much success. But Koeppler was so determined that he visited the Airport to taste the real thing and, many tastings later, he nailed the legendary coffee and whiskey mixture, while a local dairy owner helped him recreate the foam.

As the fog thins, cable cars spring to life, cars douse their headlights and dedicated cyclists challenge the city's famed hills. The foam on my Irish coffee lasts for more than 20 minutes in its special six-ounce glass – enough time to make a major dent in a steaming plate of Crab Benedict. It's worth $7.50 to taste a bit of history with my meal.

Another World

I have lived in Midwestern cities for more than 35 of my 50+ years, and our 20-something daughters grew up in the Kansas City area. As college approached, both girls chose out-of-state schools. Our 'Arizona daughter' moved to a whole other world of climate and vegetation.

I first saw palm trees in our suburban neighborhood outside of Oakland, California, during elementary school. I loved their whispery voices, when breezes rustled the lush palm fronds. But all too soon, we moved back to a more temperate climate, far from palm fronds and ocean breezes.

Palm trees of all shapes and sizes greeted me, my siblings, and my parents in Orlando, when we attended the grand opening of Disney World. I hungrily drank in images of the tropical greenery and stored them for retrieval during gray Pittsburgh days.

At 10 a.m. on my 21^st birthday, I arrived in Ft. Lauderdale from snowbound Ohio, with six friends, anticipating a week of sun and fun. My jaw dropped as we drove along a wide boulevard lined for many blocks by the tallest palms I had ever seen. It remains my most vivid memory of a memorable trip.

Thirty years later, at Arizona State, I found another ‘boulevard’ lined with stories-high palms that rustled in the slightest breeze and bowed before strong winds. This time, they flanked a wide sidewalk that bisected the campus and overshadowed my daughter as she walked to classes. And I envied her, a bit, for living in this tropical paradise.

Christopher Elbow's Chocolate Heaven

At Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates, in Kansas City, Mo., Elbow and his staff of three create and store 10,000 to 12,000 handmade chocolates per average week. Between November and Valentine’s day, they churn out 30,000 to 40,000 pieces each week.

There are Belgian-style chocolates –with molded exteriors, a thick shell and soft fillings; and French-style, with a thin, delicate chocolate shell formed when a ‘curtain’ of chocolate pours over flavored fillings. Dark chocolate pairs with French lavender and black tea combines with citrus.

The chocolates are gorgeous too. Architectural and design magazines and individual artists inspire Elbow’s designs. Sprays of white cocoa butter splattered across Tahitian vanilla enrobed chocolates mimic Jackson Pollack’s painting style.

Everyone has specific jobs to do. J.K. cleanly cuts large slabs of ganache with a ‘guitar’ slicer and then quickly arranges it on cooling trays so her hands do not melt the chocolate. Steven paints bon bon molds with finger strokes of colored liquid cocoa butter.

Ethan fills boxes with chocolates and flavor diagrams. As 60 confections emerge from the French enrobing machine onto chilled fillings, every 90 seconds, Elbow transfers pre-printed ‘pages’ of repeating cocoa butter patterns onto the finished tray. They repeat each process dozens of times every day and I marvel at their consistency.

After I say good-bye, the scent of fine chocolate lingers on my clothes for hours.

Hidden Beauty

Early afternoon sun beats down on the familiar winding, narrow streets and warm, adobe buildings of Santa Fe. At every turn a graceful archway, turquoise window frame, or rough-hewn vigas (roof beams that extend beyond the outer edge of buildings) draw my eye. An outdoor market that occupies one street corner overflows with decorative strings and wreaths of chilies, imported kilim rugs, hand-painted ceramic tiles, and heat-infused gourmet foods.

I wander into a crowded store and discover it is the basement of another I have visited during each of five previous trips to the City Different. An indoor ‘mall’ set inside an antique, multi-level adobe structure seems smaller and less attractive than before. I commit street names and junctures to memory, in preparation for future trips.

A series of balconies that surround a quiet courtyard beckon my camera. While standing on one of the tiny overlooks I scan for the perfect shot, but no angle or view seems quite right. Dejected, I prepare to put the camera away. Suddenly the perfect silhouette appears immediately before me – and that single image perfectly summarizes everything I love about this magical city.

Ojo's Healing Waters

One copper circle inside another decorates a gushing stone-faced fountain at the entrance to Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs, in rural northern New Mexico. Ojo offers a unique collection of four geothermal mineral springs in a single location. The logo represents this ‘hot eye,’ as it mirrors a petroglyph found in nearby ruins.

From 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., guests enjoy high desert beauty as they escape from the rat race and to the quiet, natural world that is Ojo. Cell phones don’t work here, so birds flying overhead, flowing and lapping water and muted conversation provide a gentle sound track.

Bathe in the 105-degree arsenic pool to heal a variety of skin conditions and decrease arthritis and stomach ulcers. At 109 degrees, the iron pool improves blood flow. A dip in the steamy, enclosed, soda pool improves your digestion, while a cup of 104-degree water from the Lithia spring improves digestion and boosts your mood.

Guests also may reserve a private outdoor mineral pool. After dark, each one becomes a grotto with an otherworldly quality. Brilliant stars sprinkle across the deep black sky and a blazing piñon-wood fire burns in the small adobe fireplace. Back-lit cliffs send shimmers across the water. Dash through the chilly night air, feed the blaze, and return to enveloping warmth.

10,000 Balloons

A sea of people already fills seats throughout the basketball stadium, half an hour before the ceremony begins. Shades of maroon and gold mark sections filled with new graduates, as their loved ones create a cacophony of color and style nearby. Each person wonders where four, or five, or six years of study has gone - how it has come to an end in the blink of an eye.

Thousands of balloons shift in a secure net, high above the crowd, awaiting the final congratulatory comment and student processional into the ‘real world.’ Large video screens spring to life, as Arizona State University’s president introduces esteemed colleagues and guests that share the stage. We gaze at Jessica, whose fuchsia floral lei makes it easier to find her amidst the throngs, hold each other’s hand for a moment and grin, before returning our attention to the festivities.

Two hours pass with amazing speed, despite the 6,000+ graduates on the floor. After the speeches, masters and doctoral candidates, and a handful of distinguished undergraduates cross the stage to receive their diplomas. The president then congratulates students from each department of study within the university, and they stand together as they celebrate ends and beginnings.

A maroon and gold cloud rains down on the graduates as the overhead net drops. The crowd disperses into scorching heat, hundreds of hugs, and a flurry of photographs.