National Cheesecake Day

For those of you who didn't know, yesterday was National Cheesecake Day. Yes, it does exist and no, it's not too good to be true! My friends and I celebrated by going to The Cheesecake Factory and getting cheesecake for half-off. It turned into a girl's night out and we had so much fun! The seven of us each ordered a different kind of cheesecake. . . Sundae Brownie (mine), Lemon Raspberry, Banana Cream, Carrot Cake, White Chocolate Raspberry, Devil's Food and Chocolate Torte. They were all so beautiful! (Mine is the one with the cherry on top!)

We each took a bite of our own, and then proceeded to pass our plates to the left, taking a bite of the next, and then passing that one on until we had tried each different cheesecake and were left to devour what was left of our own. The flavors and richness overwhelmed me and I couldn't even finish my piece. Me not finish dessert?! Now that's saying something!

We decided to box the left-overs and take them to the boys. :)

Oh, it was a wonderful night! I must admit though that despite the wide variety of flavors (I spent forever ogling the menu trying to decide), I think I would have preferred to order just the plain old cheesecake with maybe some strawberries or cherries on top. I didn't get the satisfying essence of cream cheese because it was masked by all the other flavors. I'll tell you what though, nothing beats my mom's homemade cheesecake. Hers is the best ever! Sometimes she even makes huckleberry sauce to go on top. YUMM. I'd like to see The Cheesecake Factory top that!

Growing up I was a cheesecake junkie. Not in the sense that I ate it all the time, but that it was my absolute favorite dessert, and when we did have it I could never get enough. I'll never forget one night when my mom decided to make a cheesecake and I refused to go to bed without having a piece first. Cheesecake takes a long time to make and then after it has baked, it has to cool for hours. Well, I didn't want to wait til the next day, so I insisted on eating a piece of hot cheesecake. Long story short - it wasn't very good. The taste and texture were all wrong. Definitely not worth the temper tantrum I threw. I am ashamed to admit how old I was at this time because if I remember correctly, we were in our second house so I must have been about 12. Wow.

Although my hunger for cheesecake has subsided over the years, I do enjoy a good piece now and then.