Anniversary Berry Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake + NZ Photos

I’m really giddy because today is a super special day – exactly one year ago, to the day, I married my best friend. My confidant, my biggest supporter, and the one who can always make us smile. While this day marks our first year as a mr & mrs, we’ve actually been together for 7 years! Seven years!! I love him so much – I never knew that I would meet the man of my life in high school (who thinks that these days???? In fact in high school my mom was so whatever about meeting him because she never thought I’d meet the one so early). I fully realize I gush, unnecessarily, on this blog so I’ll stop this for now. We had a pretty typical weekend – date night on Friday, photographed a wedding together on Saturday, and then yoga (me) + taking Annie to her first nose work class today. Then of course, Alex made steak, his favorite dish. We drank some cab sauv and danced to our wedding song. Then we finished editing our New Zealand trip photos (finally), which you can find HERE. I’ve included some because I just love them so much, and it just transported me back to a beautiful, lush, country full of wonderful, kind people, sheep, and awe-inducing landscapes. It was probably one of our best trips, ever.Two other happy things: 1) we all know about the awesome supreme court decision, which made everyone in the vicinity tear up and hug each other with joy. 2) Definitely nowhere near as exciting, but I was super humbled and flattered that this little blog was mentioned in Culture Trip’s USA’s 10 Most Talented Food Bloggers to Follow. Yay! Ok, let’s talk cheesecake shall we? 

Lemon Blueberry tart with Vanilla Pastry Cream

I made this for a friend’s birthday party last week, and I’ll be making this for a work barbecue potluck next wednesday. With blueberries abound both in grocery stores and the farmers markets, it’d be a shame not to incorporate them into some sort of dessert. Fruit tarts have always been a favorite of mine. I know I’ve announced my love for pies over and over again, but chilled fruit tarts, especially in the summer, are a close second. It’s the crumbly crust paired with chilled vanilla pastry cream and topped with fresh fruit. Blueberries are (in my opinion) a superb choice because they are not too sweet and not too tangy. In fact, I remember years and years ago, when I was taking my SATs, my parents told me to bring blueberries, because they were “smart foods”. Ok. I know that’s nonsense and that blueberries will not suddenly boost my mental intelligence, but there was something comforting about bringing fresh blueberries as a snack during break. I still bring blueberries to work as a snack :).

I really love this because you can easily adapt it for ANY fruit. In fact, I’ve topped it with fresh peaches, mandarins, kiwis, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. It’s extremely versatile and easy to prepare. The reason I bring this to a lot of potlucks or barbecues is that it can be assembled and chilled beforehand. On a particularly busy day, I can plan it this way: make the pastry the night before to chill overnight. Make the pastry cream the night before as well. The morning of the potluck, bake the crust and set aside. Go and do whatever errands I have (like a family portrait session!). Come back, fill shell with pastry cream, throw some blueberries on, brush with syrup, quickly zest a lemon. Cover with foil and tell the husband to drive to potluck. 

Do you see how fat these are? Add a simple lemon syrup, sprinkled with lemon zest, and these blueberry tarts will give little bites full of sugary, tarty, creamy goodness. I had extra crust and cream, so I decided to fill these cute little mini-tart shells I had on hand. They were a good way to test the taste. And by test… I actually mean devour. These little ones did not last, let me tell you.