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Cheescake Catastrophe!

It seems like every night this week I've been getting to bed after midnight.  I really hate that but all these things keep crowding in either convincing me that it's worth staying up late or just distracting me so I don't know how late it is.  I was so excited and convinced that TONIGHT I would be in bed by 10.  And yet, here I sit at 11:23pm writing this.  Why?  I'll tell you.

I decided to make a cheesecake.  I've never made a cheesecake before, but today, I went to the store and bought the ingredients.  I knew that I would have to wait until the boys were in bed before I attempted such a task.  Even the simplest recipes usually have to be saved for nap time or bedtime.  So at 8pm I put Baby One to bed and started this exciting endeavor.

Now, for the first hour and a half that I was working on said endeavor I was also putting Baby One back in his bed every 2-5 minutes or so.  This probably contributed to some of the following Cheesecake Catastrophes.

Catastrophe #1:  I had only 1 cup of Graham cracker crumbs when I needed 1 1/4 cup.  Fix #1: I proceeded to substitute the final fifth of the crumbs with Golden Grahams cereal.


Catastrophe #2: Realized that I had misread the measuring bowl and had actually crushed 1 1/4 LITERS of graham crackers and Golden Grahams cereal.  Fix #2: I put the remaining crumbs in a Freezer bag and put them back in the graham cracker box to use later (for all the cheesecakes I make).

Catastrophe #3: In trying to melt the chocolate (Oh yes, there is chocolate in this cheesecake) I burnt the chocolate.  I've never seen burnt chocolate before.  I realized that I didn't know how to work my microwave (which is relatively new).  Fix #3: I read the instructions (Oh yes, I did!) and tried melting the other half of the chocolate bar all the while thanking GOD that the bar had TWICE the chocolate I actually needed, thus giving me a second chance.

Catastrophe #4: I realized that I had no idea how to wrap a springform pan in foil to avoid the water bath leaking in. Fix #4: I looked it up online.  Found no very useful suggestions and did the best I could.  We'll see how it goes.  Who knew there was such a thing as a "Leakproof" Springform pan?

Catastrophe #5: Lumps!  Horror of horrors there were LUMPS in my batter!  I'm hoping the taste is enough to make that forgiveable! Fix #5: Not much of a fix for this one at this point.  I didn't put a couple of larger lumps in though.

Catastrophe #6: I put the springform pan with the cheesecake in it in the roasting pan (The only thing I could find that was big enough to put the springform pan in) and went to pour hot water in the roasting pan.  I definitely spilled water on top of my cheesecake.  The aluminum foil is certainly not going to take care of that one.  Fix # 6: Lots and lots and LOTS of paper towels.  I stuck just the corners in until I stopped getting water on them and started getting batter.  I think it's going to work out all right.

Catastrophe #7: I put the cheesecake in at 11:15 and it's going to take 1 hour and 10 minutes to cook, then, an hour to cool and THEN I can put it in the refrigerator to chill.  This means that I am for sure going to be up past midnight AGAIN.  Fix #7: Somebody help me!  Why do I keep staying up past midnight when I know the babies are going to have me up no later than 7 (and probably more like 6)?



So why am I making a cheesecake?  A dear friend of mine is having a birthday soon and I was hoping to surprise her with a cheesecake on Sunday when there will be a gathering at her place.  Even with all the catastrophes and one more late night, she is totally, completely worth it.

I'm just hoping for no Catastrophe 8.