My mom, bless her, was more at home at work than in the kitchen. She’s not a bad cook, she’s just uninterested in spending the time preparing everything when and if she has something more stimulating to do. She likes eating well, so if the choice is between slapping something together in the microwave or eating out, eating out always wins. Growing up, she taught me that if you’re going to bake something, do it from scratch, and use real ingredients. She didn’t go as far as buy Madagascar vanilla and fancy springform pans like I did, but cake mixes, frozen prepared foods, and anything labeled “low-fat” was verboten in the house.
Just because I did vegan March and am now almost done with no-pasta, no-ramen April, people keep assuming that I’m some kind of heath health (damn typos!) nut. Yesterday, when I brought in a cake for a co-worker’s birthday, everyone kept asking me “is it made from soy?” believing that someone who eats salad for lunch is going to attempt to make a dessert out of tofu.
As those of you who follow me on Twitter know, I made a Thin Mint cheesecake, following this recipe. And yeah, I used full-fat cream cheese, sour cream and chocolate. For the topping, I made real whipped cream by using a hand mixer. I even wrote the happy birthday message on the top with green gel to keep the thing mint color coordinated.
We put candles in it, everybody sang, ate, and enjoyed it. But afterwards, they kept asking me, “is this some kind of vegan thing?” As if I would spend 200% more money and time on making a cake dairy free, just to mess with them and their carnivorous sensibilities.
I kept trying to explain to everyone that I was raised in a make-it-real-or-don’t-make-it-at-all family, and that when I want to eat healthy, I eat salad, and when I want to eat unhealthy, I go all the way. But that explanation made everyone unhappy because even though the cake was delicious, nobody wanted to be reminded of exactly how unhealthy it was. That’s when I told a co-worker to think of it as a salad. A salad made of fat. And when my boss asked me if he was going to be alright if he partook, I told him yes. As long as it was the last thing he ate until Wednesday.
26 responses so far ↓
Allie // April 29, 2008 at 8:59 am
Wow. That’s impressive — a salad made of fat.
I think you’re on to something though. A lot of “low fat” stuff has all sorts of weird fillers and whatnot to make it that way. So it stands to reason that a little bit of the real stuff is better than eating chemicals.
sid // April 29, 2008 at 9:11 am
man that cake sounds awesome. Now i’m “hungry”. why does no one ever bring cake to work, here????
nancypearlwannabe // April 29, 2008 at 9:29 am
Mmm. How did you have any Thin Mints leftover to make it, by the way?
courtney // April 29, 2008 at 9:35 am
I think I missed the entire point of this post because I was imagining what a Thin Mint cheesecake would taste like. I do believe it would be delicious. Mmmmm.
3carnations // April 29, 2008 at 9:39 am
I can’t remember the last time I had cheesecake…and that makes me the tiniest bit sad. Perhaps I should make some? (thinks of those darn pants…oh never mind)
lizgwiz // April 29, 2008 at 9:53 am
From now on I’m eating nothing BUT salads. Pizza salads, burrito salads, mashed potato salads. Yum.
erikka // April 29, 2008 at 10:00 am
wow, that cheesecake sounds A-MAZE-ing.
i also live by a similar credo - if you’re gonna do something, do it all the way, not half assed like drinking diet soda instead of drinking soda. as if that can ease one’s conscious…ha!
also, i like how you referred to yourself as a ‘heath nut.’ I really like heath bar topping on my blizzards if and when i go to Dairy Queen.
I like that, too, but it probably had more to do with Heath Ledger, or the fact that I type too fast. Thanks for the catch!
ho-ho-kus man // April 29, 2008 at 10:40 am
A slight revision, I have it on excellent authority that the birthday person never thoght for a moment about how unhealthy the cake might be. It is too hard to think about healthy eating when your tastebuds are getting a pleasurable workout.
Jenn // April 29, 2008 at 10:47 am
I can’t cook, but I can bake. I love making homemade cookies and cakes. Everyone assumes I used the pre-packaged stuff. No way man! Your cake sounds oh so delicious!
apollocreed // April 29, 2008 at 11:34 am
Making things low fat is never any fun.
jennifer // April 29, 2008 at 11:48 am
Poor Noelle. If I had spent that much time and effort working on the desserts, I would feel a bit offended if everyone asked me suspiciously “Is this healthy or something?”
You stick to your guns and eat right. You’ll out live all of us!
Jen
Aaron // April 29, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Once again, you blog, I crave sweets. A trend is beginning.
andrea // April 29, 2008 at 12:25 pm
You made a cheese cake for your coworkers? Do you want to come to my place of employment? I’m a vegetarian and I love how everyone thinks I’m trying to trick them by putting something soy or the like into their food. As if I had time to do that, or do I…
Tara // April 29, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I grew up pretty much the same way, my mom’s outlook on food was very similar. My sister is full on vegan now, and mostly raw; we’re not sure where that came from but I can definitely see a lot of her points of view. I am not as strict as her but I have certainly started taking a hard look at what I’m putting in my body, it is really eye opening. I hate the misconception that vegetarians are trying to be sneaky and coercive, they are just trying to be good to their bodies.
cadiz12 // April 29, 2008 at 1:24 pm
good gravy, it sounds like the birthday person understands how lucky s/he is, so that’s good. but i’m with your mom: halfway just isn’t nearly as worth it. one can always make up for a nice, juicy fat salad in other ways.
Laurel // April 29, 2008 at 1:35 pm
That cheesecake sounds soooo worth it. My birthday is July 24th–I am looking forward to receiving MY Fat Salad on that date!
BOSSY // April 29, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Bossy likes healthy as much as the next guy. Pringles are healthy, right?
-R- // April 29, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I have had two vegan cakes. One tasted like wax. The other one was really good. But thin mint cheesecake sounds better than both.
Jennifer M. // April 29, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Your post made me thinkg of the etymology of the word salad to see if it could be made from fat. And the answer is - strangely - kinda sorta but not exactly.
Salad derives from the vulgar Latin for salt given that salt is an important ingredient of salad dressing (or something like that). So did your cheesecake have salt?
And then there is the expression “salad days” which refers to a youthful time and was coined by Shakespeare, but I think that refers back to a bunch of leaves given that it is Cleopatra is talking about her “salad days”, back when she was “green in judgement”
And all of that is completely useless, but I’m at working waiting for 4 people to greenlight something and I’m kinda stuck until they do. So at least I am learning something in the interim.
Meghan // April 29, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Sweet fancy moses, Thin Mint Cheesecake!!! I’m trying to wrap my mind around the awesomeness of that, but I just can’t.
Pants // April 29, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Salads made of fat are the best.
Stefanie // April 29, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I’m actually a little concerned that someone might run with this idea and we’ll have an entire country of already overweight and clueless people thinking cheesecake is good for them because it’s called a salad. Wait. We already have restaurants serving three-pound salads piled with ham and deep-fried, breaded chicken, and cheese. No worries; you didn’t start it.
Also, for some reason the idea of mint mixing with my cheesecake doesn’t appeal to me. Now, a Tagalong cheesecake… THAT I could get behind!
mickey // April 29, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Those people need to learn to just enjoy cake and not question its provenance. It’s cake- eat it.
I’m with Erikka: Heath Blizzard all the way.
Anika // April 29, 2008 at 11:58 pm
That sounds SO good! I feel like I’ve gained five pounds just thinking about it, but it sounds so worth it!
Kristabella // April 30, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I’m pretty sure that if a cheesecake is Vegan, you won’t have to ask. You’ll KNOW.
shane // April 30, 2008 at 6:50 pm
As the, ahem, aforementioned co-worker, let me go on record as saying that I’m still laughing over “a salad made of fat” (which, come on, would make a great name for either a band or a blog) AND the cake was beyond delicious. Also, at no time did I harbor the slightest suspicion that it could possibly be listed in the “healthy” column. Just sayin’.
Leave a Comment