Birthday in Paradise

Birthday celebration on Pipe Muh Bligh

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a wonderful day.  We started the morning off with a trip into town with Steve and Rene and Stacy (s/v Pipe muh Bligh).  Stacy and Rene made it to George Town yesterday and Rene's birthday was on the 10th so we had a little celebrating to do.  After the trip to town I went to we spent part of the afternoon on Pipe muh Bligh (we: Me, Troy, Rene, Stacy, Steve, Shane and Michael).  Steve made a rum cake for Rene and I and Stacy made us some guacamole and, of course we decided that we needed to have a little taste of Zaya to celebrate the occasion.  Yummy, yummy afternoon snacks!  I got some really great and thoughtful gifts and a great card from my cruising friends on Morning Glory, Kaleo and Sea Yawl Later.  I was thinking that the day couldn't get much better, and then........

The late afternoon was spent at the Regatta Awards Ceremony.  We were anxious to hear the results of the races and other events.  Sea Yawl Later won first place and Guiding Light was second in the "In the Harbour Race" and Sea Yawl Later was second and Guiding Light was third in the "Around the Island Race".  We raced with Shane on Guiding Light in the "Around the Island Race" so we were excited about our third place.  That was also the race with the photography, fishing and cooking contests.  We didn't place in the photography event (still keeping the N.N.G.P. credentials), but we won the fishing event, in fact we were the only boat to catch a fish!  We caught a really beautiful mahi-mahi.  The most exciting event for me was winning the "baking under way" event.  I was told that every one of the judges voted my dessert 1st place!  What a great way to cap the birthday celebrations.

We ended the evening with a round of celebratory drinks on Guiding Light with Shane, Michael, Steve, Rene and Stacy.  What a wonderful birthday in paradise!

I have had many requests for my cheesecake recipe.  It has now won two different cooking contests. It's called Sopapilla Cheesecake, but we took the liberty of renaming it for the last event.  This years George Town Cruising Regatta theme as Gold, so we decided on Golden Creme Brulee Cheesecake. It is really very simple to make:

3 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 (8 ounce) cans of crescent rolls

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 cup sliced almonds

*Preheat oven to 350 deg.

*Beat cream cheese with 1 1/2 cups sugar and the vanilla extract until smooth

*Unroll crescent dough and press 1 can into the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch baking dish

*Spread cream cheese mixture over crescent rolls

*Cover with remaining can of crescent rolls

*Drizzle melted butter over the top

*Stir 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon in a small bowl

*Sprinkle over cheesecake and top with almonds

*Bake in preheated oven until crescent dough had puffed and turned golden brown, about 45 minutes

*Cool completely in the pan before cutting