at last

2 things:

1) SO happy kate winslet finally won an oscar

2) SO happy i finally found champagne vinegar

this little bottle is hard to find. the quest for champagne vinegar began when i saw the recipe for goat cheese cheesecake with honeyed cranberries in food & wine february. it was the only thing on the ingredient list i could not easily procure at my local kroger's. and i did check about 10 kroger's, including kenwood and hyde park. not because i have OCD and/or ridiculousness, but i happened to be on rotation last month with the clinical pharmacist team that goes from store to store. so i was already there and just had to walk to the vinegar aisle, surprised each time to find pomegranate but no champagne. i also tried world market and country fresh market to no avail.

a trip to jungle jim's paid off.

finally, i could make my cheesecake.

of course, in my feverish obsession to find the fabled vinegar, i failed to recollect only 1 teaspoon is called for in the recipe. now i have enough left over to create this cheesecake (topping) approximately 30 more times.

the recipe was pretty straightforward and simple when i got down to it. the finished product, however, met with mixed reviews. i thought it was a fun twist on an old favorite. my mom liked the topping but doesn't like people messing with the standard cheesecake. brian wouldn't try it because he hates goat cheese.

for comparison, below is the photo from food & wine and the picture of mine. guess which is which. ha.