Birthday Cheesecake!

Besides just enjoying being in France with my family, my main birthday highlight this year was the cheesecake my sweet husband worked very hard to prepare! For those of you who have had it before, this is the Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake recipe, with "fruits rouges" (a blend of raspberries, blackberries, cassis, etc.) substituted for the strawberry purée. We had recently learned about a type of cream cheese available here called "fromage à tartiner" that seemed to work perfectly. I was a VERY happy birthday girl! ;) Two EBP students recently had birthdays as well, and so we were able (I forced myself!) to share a piece with them after Tuesday's prayer meeting. (In the picture in the middle, I am just about to blow out the candles on yet another little sweet treat that one of our students had left on our doorstep for my birthday.)

Wednesday was a holiday here (Armistice Day). I was very ready for a day off! We had talked about taking a day trip somewhere, but due to the weather and how worn-out we all were after a lot of recent activity, we decided just to take a short drive into the French countryside and then to return home for some family time and R&R. The gray day actually provided a different kind of beauty for us as we explored some country roads just outside the city near La Brede.