When in doubt, make a cheesecake.

So Tropical Storm Debby has been the major subject of conversation around these parts this week; I spent a particularly nerve-wracking two-and-a-half hours driving past accident after accident on the interstate on Sunday night, and was greeted by swinging power lines, downed tree branches and two seriously freaked-out felines when I woke up on Monday morning. In spite of the fact that it would have been much, much easier to stay in bed instead of venturing out into the rain and wind and driving to work, I did end up making it to the office relatively unscathed, although the amount of debris and flooding I encountered makes me slightly (read: very) concerned about what will happen if we get an actual hurricane this year.

But on the bright side, if a tropical storm isn't an excuse to make a mug of homemade hot chocolate and fresh whipped cream, I don't know what is. So there's that.

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In other news, Father's Day was two weeks ago (oh, hey, my middle name is Obvious), and I've been meaning to tell you about what I gave--or, rather, made--my dad for the occasion. 

Here's the thing about my father: He is notoriously picky. He likes books, but only suspense novels, and he's persnickety about which ones he'll read--although, randomly, he got really into The Hunger Games a few weeks ago. He hates shopping, although he does like being gifted clothing--but seriously, how many polo shirts or pairs of Sperry topsiders does one man need? 

Here's the other thing about my father: He and I are pretty much the same person. We don't have the easiest relationship, but our internal hard-wiring is identical. 

So when I decided to make him a cheesecake for Father's Day ("Cheesecake for Father's Day" is totally the name of my band's first single), I knew he'd like it--and I was right. So I scoured the Internet for cheesecake recipes and, even though there were a bunch of super-fancy flavored ones that looked delicious, I settled on a classic New York-style version by--who else?--Martha Stewart.

We've talked about how I met Martha Stewart, right? I did an interview with her for work last year and she was quite lovely; I was ridiculously nervous, but she was calm and cool and collected, and she kindly posed for a totally fangirl picture with me. After our interview, which was in someone's house on Siesta Key because the owner of the home was throwing a party in her honor, I followed her and her publicist out of the room, and right as we were about to part ways, she turned to me and asked, without batting an eyelash, "Excuse me, do you know how long this party is going to last?" Oh, Martha.

Anyway, Martha's cheesecake is truly a thing to behold: It has a rich, buttery graham cracker crust and a filling that's made of an obscene amount of cream cheese, as well as sugar, sour cream and a little hint of lemon. But what's nice about this cake is that, despite the rich ingredients, it's really, really light. The lemon helps that, of course, but something about the way the other ingredients come together makes for a creamy, almost fluffy cake that practically melts on your tongue. There's no brick-like restaurant cheesecake here. Here's the recipe if you'd like to make it yourself.

By the way, my dad loved the cheesecake, but I didn't get to try it because I made it on Father's Day and it needed to chill for at least eight hours--which meant I had to leave for Sarasota before it was done (hello, my middle name has changed from Obvious to Dummy). But my delightful mother squirreled away a piece for me and I got to have it when I was at my parents' house this weekend, so my taste buds have experienced this cake first hand--cross my heart. And trust me, it's delicious.

Photo: Martha Stewart