memory.

mom: what are you making? (as i am pressing the cookie crust into the sides of a springform pan)

me: cheesecake

mom: for who?

me: my buddy/customer

mom: yeah? what's this, chocolate cake?

me: brownies

mom: is that for someone too? can i eat some?

me: for the cheesecake, it goes into the cheesecake. you don't eat chocolate, mom... (the smell must've enticed her) but yes have some, i wont use all of it.

mom: it goes into the cheesecake? oh, and do you remember that one time you made that one cake that i like? can you make me that cake for tomorrow morning? it's my friend's birthday. 

me: (good thing i remember that one time and that one cake...) ok sure. wait, did you say tomorrow? (glancing over to oven clock. 8:34pm. on a school night.) well, i guess i can try. 

mom: thanks! (walks away)

me: ... (still confused as to why my mom is so good at that... it's rare when she doesn't get her way. why didn't i get that gene?)

needless to say, i made TWO cakes last night.

it is quite strange how memory works. for some, no memory can be recalled for the life of them and for others memory is filled to the brim, spilling out almost all the time. is it due to suppression or living completely in the present while others hold on so tightly to the past? no matter, the transmission between the five senses, brain and memory never seizes to amaze me. it's a chain reaction and mine is quite good at returning my stored memory into the forefront of my mind. (although as i rack up the years in this lifetime, that return rate is struggling a bit..) 

take this cheesecake for example.  i've made it once, maybe twice but quite some time ago. i remember running across Smitten Kitchen's post and i could not get it out of my mind. it just sounded decadent. there are alot of recipes i screen and catalogue for some special occasion that never seems to present itself. then one day i was menu planning for our annual family of friends' thanksgiving dinner. there were two birthdays approaching and i made sure that the celebrants' favorites were woven into the menu. for one, it was chicken fried steak plus fixin's (we obviously don't adhere to tradition). and for the other, i focused on his sweet tooth. i knew his favorite dessert was cheesecake and set out to inquire about his ideal. this was the response i got: 'oh man, if there was such a thing as cheesecake with a brownie crust, or brownie with cheesecake on top, just somehow brownie and cheesecake in one bite.' and before he finished that sentence, a billboard flashed Deb's BROWNIE MOSAIC CHEESECAKE brightly across my mind.

what exactly is a brownie mosaic cheesecake, you ask? let me take you on a visual journey. it is much more enticing that way.

start with the brownies.

cube them.

make the chocolate cookie crust...

make cheesecake filling and yes, the brownies go in, whole.

bake.

and give it the chocolate. ganache. treatment.

tadaaah!

so when said friend called to tell me he had read my inaugural cake post and wanted to support my endeavor, he simply said, "i want my cheesecake. mail it to me." and like that instance with my mom, i knew exactly what he was talking about. oh, the things that trigger our memories. it's good to know that  in some small way, i made an impression (i know, it's just cake..) and whatever triggers it, whatever emotion it evokes, it was embedded in their memory.

for the recipe, go here.

sealed with love for its travel to the bay area!