While I really miss holidays I realise that the reality of a lockdown has probably been a blessing for the state of our house. Last year occasional spells of hot weather and going away had dampened our motivation to work on the house during summer, which is why we spent the entire winter with no soft furnishings, no TV and a living room with bare, freshly plastered walls and a half finished floor. We sort of got used to our house being perpetually dishevelled – you can get used to surprisingly uncomfortable things if you put your mind to it 😉 – but now the cup has overflown and the annoyance of living like this has motivated us to start working on things again.
This weekend is phase 2 of our living room skirting board project. We cut and installed nearly half of the skirting boards last weekend, this weekend we shall continue with the other half and then it will take yet another weekend to patch up screw holes, caulk all of the gaps and paint the boards – something I will be taking charge of as with my near pathological attention to detail and proclivity for tasks that require hand dexterity I appear to do fairly well with things like that. What is the most time consuming and difficult thing about this job is cutting the boards at exactly the right angle. Victorian houses have a lot of charm, yet part of that charm is that they feature no straight edges or 90° angles, which makes seemingly straightforward things like fitting skirting boards quite a challenge. Luckily Duncan is good at trigonometry and he is getting the hang of using a mitre saw like a pro, so things are gathering speed. We are really spurred on by how good the room looks already, despite it being not quite finished and very messy and so the motivation is at an all time high. As we are bang in the middle of the strawberry season right now and I’ve spent way too much time on Pinterest looking for interior design ideas, I’ve made a super easy and quick yet delicious strawberry cheesecake slice for today. It requires no baking whatsoever and the entire thing is made in a food processor (base) and a blender (creamy layers). It contains no oil, it’s naturally gluten-free and is entirely sweetened with dates and maple syrup. It’s set with agar agar, but the amount of it is carefully calibrated to make sure the layers are just barely set. The result is delicate, creamy and a pleasure to eat and not a rubbery slice that you could bounce off a wall. Agar agar is quite heat tolerant, which makes this a perfect hot weather dessert. I hope you’ll make it and enjoy it as much as we did.
6 Medjool dates (115 g / 4 oz), pitted and soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes ¼-½ tsp fine salt (I like ½ tsp better) 1 cup / 125 g pecans 1 cup / 90 g jumbo rolled oats 1½ tsp softened coconut oil (optional)
WHITE LAYER
230 g / 1 cup thick vegan coconut yogurt* (I used The Coconut Collaborative) 45 ml / 3 tbsp maple syrup 2 tsp vanilla extract or ½ vanilla bean ½ cup / 75 g cashews, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes 1½ tsp agar powder**
PINK LAYER
300 g / 10.5 oz RIPE strawberries, more to decorate ½ cup / 75 g cashews, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes 30 ml / 2 tbsp maple syrup 2¼ tsp agar powder**
CHEESECAKE MIXTURE
