2025 donation list

my giving list for 2025 is like last years, in that it reflects some of the places we've lived this year. i've skipped a couple because my finances aren't looking so great (nearly $2k hospital bill was not helpful, plus taxes, and so many flights!), but I may go back and donate regardless.

january - prisoners literature project
february - pbs
march -  soft paw vintage
april - various national parks in hawaii
may - npr
june - molokai heritage trust
july - 
august - 
september / october - algalita and moore institute thru long beach gives
november - ywca south florida
december - east jesus

2024 donation list

2023 donation list

2022 donation list

2021 donation list

2020 donation list

mini chocolate basque cheesecakes

basque cheesecake: Basque Cheesecake (with crust!)

chocolate versions - Chocolate Basque Cheesecake, Chocolate Basque Burnt Cheesecake, and Chocolate Basque Cheesecake

oreo crust - 18 regular oreos, scant 4 tsp butter

cheesecake (ingredients mostly from the first cbc link from Catherine Zhang)
16 oz (450 g or two bricks) cream cheese, room temperature
200g (7 oz) dark chocolate, 65-70%.
    if regular chocolate, can add bit sugar
    melt at 20 second intervals in microwave
1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar
1 tbsp (7 g) cocoa powder (can add 1/2 tsp extra if non dutch processed)
1 tsp instant coffee (pretty much 1 packet of the travel size ones)
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream

using a cupcake tin and liners, you'll make about 20 mini cheesecakes with the full cheesecake recipe.

like with the actual recipe, you don't need to pre-bake the crusts, just put into fridge while you prep the cheesecake. 

fill cupcake liners pretty near the top. they will rise a little, but not nearly as much as the full sized cake does. 

you can preheat the oven 25 degrees higher, then just before you put them in, drop it by 25 degrees.

december 2025 donation

j's current work contract is in la. we've been here for about two months now, but took our first trip away, to palm springs! j's brother was there for a work training and had a room, so we stayed with him for a night. palm springs was / is okay, but i was really excited for the "new" desert x art installations at the salton sea, and especially for east jesus!, which i've never actually been to. last time we tried, it was during the pandemic and the residents there weren't allowing visitors.

east jesus is actually a lot more... organized than i thought? i thought it was just a subsection of slab city, which it is? but it's actually quite a bit more than that. anyway. i'm not interested in explaining it, but if you're interested, you can read about it on their website. 

anyway, so i donated my usual $25 via venmo to their cause because weird desert art is one of my favorite things :)