Mmmm Cheesecake!

So I heard this rumor it's National Cheesecake Day!  How are you celebrating?  I wish I had planned ahead and made my favorite cheesecake to enjoy today.  Of course I didn't, so I'm settling for sharing my favorite cheesecake recipe with you instead.  (Besides, I'd much rather share the recipe, than share the cheesecake!)

I have to confess that I used to despise cheesecake.  It was always just too rich and never tasted good to me.  I even sat on my sister's birthday cheesecake once, on accident (the cake was covered up), but I'm sure at the time she thought it was because I didn't like them!  So basically I avoided cheesecake until my husband introduced me to this recipe.  This New York style cheesecake is D-I-V-I-N-E!  The recipe is from Cook's Illustrated, who I always trust to come up with the best because they test everything and really get behind the science of how to cook, or in this case bake, well.

I'm not going to post the actual recipe because I'm sure its copyrighted.  The recipe is available on Cook's Illustrated website if you are a member or in a 2002 publication of the magazine (sorry I can't figure out which one at the moment!).  It's also been spotted on many recipe sites online.  The picture above is from The Baking Pan.  They include not only the cheesecake recipe, but also the amazing strawberry topping recipe to go with it.  They also give Cook's Illustrated the credit in their sources which so many other sites do not!

This cheesecake is great by itself, but a delicious topping really does put it over the top!  The strawberry is a regular around here, but I've also taken quite a liking to a blackberry topping made using the same recipe just substituting blackberries and blackberry jam.  So if you are planning on making this cheesecake, definitely plan on making a great topping too!

Here's a picture of the last cheesecake I made.  It may not be the prettiest thing in the world, but trust me it is one of the best tasting cheesecakes you'll ever eat!

And there's no reason you can't add a little color to it!  I made this cheesecake for my daughter's first birthday party last year.  The colorful surprise was definitely a treat!  Follow steps 6 and 7 on the cheesecake recipe found here to get the rainbow pattern.

I forgot to clean off the spatula before pouring the purple into the cake so that's why there are some plain cheesecake swirls mixed in on the top!  

That didn't stop us from enjoying it though.  Here's the birthday girl enjoying her slice!  I can't believe this was over a year ago already!!

French for Kids - Wrapping Up and Ratatouille!

I intended on finishing all of my French week blog posts immediately after our French week, but of course that didn't happen.  With my daughter's second birthday party last weekend, and the planning and prep that went into it I got majorly sidetracked from blogging!  But better late than never right?

We ran out of time to do all of the projects I had intended for our Introduction to France week.  I went a little crazy with the lesson planning, and I scheduled the activities for the week my birthday fell on.  Basically nothing preschool related got done that day!  However, since we are going to continue incorporating French into our regular preschool routine, I'm sure we'll get to all the other fun projects eventually.

Although I've been practicing my French with the help of a few free iPhone apps, I'm no where near at a level where I could read a book in French.  So I decided to hunt for a book about France geared for kids, and I found this gem on our last trip to the library.  The book is about a girl who travels to Paris and visits all of the major landmarks there.  It is a very cute little story and very simple for young children.  At the end is a two-page spread with more details about all the landmarks mentioned throughout the book.  It's a fantastic way to introduce (or reinforce) these famous places.

Written by Leslie Kimmelman and Illustrated by Sarah McMenemy

The unexpected surprise in the book is the cute little rat hidden on every page!  My son had a blast searching for it in all the pictures.  He wanted to go through the book several times to keep finding the little guy over and over.  I think this would be the perfect story to read before or after watching the movie Ratatouille and/or actually making ratatouille with your kids!

Ratatouille recipe from SmittenKitchen.com

I didn't have what I needed on hand so I haven't actually made this dish yet (I need to remember to include grocery shopping in the lesson plans next time!), however this is a beautiful and I bet delicious recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  Kids would have a blast helping to layer in the veggies and it would also be a great opportunity to discuss the names of the vegetables and the names of the colors in French while you are preparing it!

We don't currently own the movie Ratatouille so that was also off the menu (pun intended!).  We watched Beauty in the Beast instead.  We've watched it before but it was a great way to finish off a fantastically French week.  My son was able to pick up on some of the French words that are said in the movie, and I pointed out a few he missed.

Although we didn't make the ratatouille we did enjoy some other French foods during our French week.  I already posted about how we made quiche, but no French week would be complete with bread!  I LOVE homemade bread and even though we've been low carbing recently, I made the splurge!  Here's a great YouTube video on an easy French bread recipe.  I have no idea if this is actually a truly French recipe, but it is truly good bread!!

Here's a picture of one of my loaves using this recipe.  It was perfectly crunchy of the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.  We ate one loaf right away with dinner, just sliced with a little butter.  The next morning we enjoyed some French toast, or "pain perdu", made from the other loaf of the French bread.

A sliced loaf of French bread

And that was the end of our Introduction to France week.  We spent a lot of time that week on repetition that's not necessarily easy to portray in these posts.   In the last few weeks, we've spent at least 15 minutes or more each day working on words, numbers, or basic phrases in French.  And it's paying off, because my son is very eager to learn how to say everything in French now!  He likes to randomly come up and remind me how to say his colors in French.  I love it!.  I'm also still adding to my "en Francais" board on Pinterest whenever I come across great French sites and other France activities for kids.    Become a follower to keep up with all of my latest finds!  I hope you've enjoyed and are inspired to share a little French culture and language with your children as well!

French for Kids - Favorite Songs

Throughout our French week, we worked on quite a few songs, "les chansons", and nursery rhymes.  This post is to share links to some of our favorites!

Link:  http://www.mamalisa.com/?p=22&t=ec&c=22

First up, an amazing compilation of songs and nursery rhymes including the French and English translations can be found here at Mama Lisa's World.  The ever popular "Frere Jaques" was definitely the easiest one for my four year old to pick up on.  We sing it in the car, in the bathtub, and everywhere else really.  Weeks later, he's still singing it!

There are so many songs on that website, and the best part is most of them include sheet music or links to MIDI files and MP3's so you can hear someone singing the song in French!

Our second favorite song during France week was "Alouette".  I have heard this song so many times before, but I never realized until that week what this song actually says!  The song is used to teach body parts, using parts on a bird, and actually refers to all the places you'll pluck feather off of the bird!!  I found this great video on YouTube that is a funky animated version of the song.  It reminds me of Angry Birds, and my son, a big fan of that game on my phone, absolutely loved watching this video and learning this song!

I'd point out the area of the body referred to when it was mentioned (pat my head for "tete", use my hand for a beak for "bec", make chicken wing arms for "les ailes", etc.).  The song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" is also translated nicely in French and is a great tool for teaching parts of the body to youngsters.

I like this video for learning "les jours de la semaine", the days of the week, in French.  It has a nice melody, it repeats a few times for repetitions and once with only music giving you or your child the opportunity to say the words by themselves, and its a bright colorful video to watch as well.   

This is a cute and simple video for learning the number 1-10 in French.  I like the simplicity of this video and that it goes through the numbers forwards and backwards.  

This is another counting video, this time for number 1-20 in French.  I like this one because it includes the names of the numbers on some of the repetitions, and the animations are hilarious.  Perfect for keeping kids interested.  I don't get why worms with arms in Jamaica though!

I hope you enjoy these videos as much as we have!  YouTube has proven to be an excellent resource in my endeavor to teach French to our kids.  I have pinned a few more songs to my "en Francais" board over on Pinterest.  We still have several more I want to learn and teach the kids, and I'm always keeping my eye out for new ones to add to that list!