a few weeks ago daniel’s work hosted a cheesecake competition where people could sign up to bring in their cheesecake and possibly win prizes for placing in the top three tastiest. daniel was really excited about this so he signed himself me up. although i had never baked anything remotely as complicated as a cheesecake, he was somehow very confident in my abilities. i threw down the gauntlet and started asking around for recipes. a friend of mine (a crazy talented baker who is responsible for the weight gain of many) had one that she swore was a hit every time so i went out to buy the ingredients, staring carefully and reading (and re-reading) the label on each item since i am a complete doorknob when it comes to baking. i studied the recipe carefully, translating it from hebrew to english to avoid any confusion in the kitchen. after what felt like battle to me, the cake turned out looking quite nice, but i double checked with my friend to make sure any slip ups in the recipe wouldn’t result in making anyone deathly ill. with the green light from her, i gave daniel the cake and off it went to join its cheesecake buddies to be judged by his colleagues. to my great surprise, it had won 2nd place. a monumental victory.
when i told my friend that i was planning to make the cake again for a dinner party, we decided to make an event out of it and, this time, she would do the baking. this worked out great for me because while now i know that i am perfectly capable, i would still rather not. i also had the chance to hear explanations for why certain things are done a certain way and learned cool kitchen tricks – such as: hang your dish towel on the oven handle while baking for quick drying! i can also now say i know what all the functions on my oven do. another huge victory for me.
for the record, this cheesecake really is absolutely delicious and i highly recommend the recipe – it’s easy? i mean, sure, why not – it’s easy! especially with this step-by-step by the very woman who baked it (it’s in hebrew, but that’s nothing a little google translate can’t fix).
shyness not a factor 
