Strawberry Cheesecake

Nothing quite says spring to me like the arrival of fresh, ripe, sweet strawberries.  Their vibrant color, intense flavor and charming shape make me think that if there ever was a time to use the word 'bodacious' when describing fruit, this would be it! What better way to celebrate this beautiful season than with a gorgeous (and may I say sexy?) dessert that flaunts the beguiling strawberry.

Blackberry Shortbread

You know that moment when you're paging through the pictures in a cookbook and your heart does that little flip thingy it do...your eyes dart over to the corresponding recipe, you quickly scan the ingredients, and fall more and more in lust with every word?  A love-at-first-sight kind of thing. Well, when I ran across a recipe for blackberry shortbread in one of my cookbooks, I knew I was besotted, that I had the fever, and there was nothing for it except to quickly bake the darn things.