Clash of the Tarte Tatin

I lied. There was no tarte tatin, although I wanted there to be. Apples did play a part in this so all is not lost. Now since the last post, I've been thinking more about cakes. Why do I like the idea of them, the warm comforting sweetness they bring, more than the actual thing that is cake? Like every other person in the world, I have my likes and I have my dislikes. But so many of mine seem highly contradictory (perhaps only in my diminishing mind). For example: I love cheese. I've eaten entire wedges of brie, scoffed countless baby camemberts, gouged into gouda, pizza, lasagna, raclette, fondue. My entire family has snuck down into the kitchen for midnight cheese feasts. I've made paneer and eaten a block of cream cheese and pickles for dinner. Cheese is good. But once it is presented to me as the dessert hybrid known more commonly as cheesecake I lose all interest. I just never liked the stuff. I don't mind my mother's recipe as much but admittedly it tastes more of lemon panna cotta than cheesecake. Regardless of my historical preferences however, I always believe you should try everything again. Your mind changes, your taste buds change, your environment changes so why wouldn't your experience of a particular food - even one you don't expect to like- change too? This led me to ordering a little slice of apple crumble cheesecake from Secret Recipe.

Now I love fruit. I also have a soft spot for cooked apples; just something about the floral fragrance and gentle texture with just enough bite to remind you of it's former firm fruity glory. I loved the apple part. Perhaps it was my preexisting partiality rather than the quality of the overstored chunks of fruit. In hindsight they may have been a bit flaccid. The crumble was slightly pasty and the cheese was slightly too thick for my liking. A decent store-bought dessert if you are of the cheesecake inclined persuasion. If you want the cosy heartwarming embrace of your grandmother's  apple crumble, you may be better off turning a McD's apple pie inside out. Oh wait, they don't have those in Thailand... I'll just curl up under the covers now and weep quietly.