Cheesecake whoas...or ughs...or I QUITS! So that thing I've been saying about having the right tools in the kitchen to make spending time in the kitchen more enjoyable has just bit me in the butt! I'm making a cheesecake to take to work, along with 3 other co-workers. These cakes will be judged by management and our other co-workers and the winner; well, the winner wins the satisfaction of knowing their's was the best.

Let me just say that I've never used cream cheese for anything other than spreading it on a bagel and I've never made a cheesecake before. I'm sitting in my kitchen with the mess from having just made dinner for everyone on top of the mess from STARTING to make a cheesecake. I made the crust just fine. No problem. Feeling pretty good about myself! Get to the part where I gotta make the filling and it falls apart quickly! Two reasons. Reason 1: I'm not well prepared. I read the recipe once before starting to make the cake....that I've NEVER made before. Genius. Real genius. Because I only read the recipe once about a week ago, I'm trying to mix 3 8oz packages of cream cheese, 8oz mascarpone cheese, 3Tbs flour and a pinch of salt NOT at room temperature. I guess the room temperature part is important because cream cheese is thick and hard and tough! Geeez! Reason 2: I don't have the proper tools! The recipe calls for a "stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment". A what?! Well, I have a hand held mixer and it ain't got no paddle attachment. So, I attach the balloon whisk...MISTAKE. All the cream cheese fills up inside the whisk and then it don't mix no more. Plus the cream cheese is too hard for the wires of the wittle whisk and it starts to bend them! I scrape all the cheese out and put on this other attachment...don't know what it's called, but it looks better than the whisk. NOPE! Same thing! I scrap all the cheese out...muttering a few choice words and figure fine, I've been working out! I'm a tough broad! I can just grab a paddle and mix it on my own. Onlt a few short seconds later I discover that's laugh out loud funny. Cream cheese 3 ; so called cook (me) zero. So, now I'm sitting here waiting for the cream cheese to get to room temperature and I'm just hoping I can somehow mix it! UGH!....does it matter how cool the crust gets before I add the filling?? I guess I'll find out. This is not fun so far. Soulution: Get the right tool. I need to price stand mixers, or find out who has one so I can maybe borrow it next time! I'll be back. Going to check the cream cheese now.